[RIKA]

It was early and I and one other shooter were at the range. First thing he did was to show me his beautiful pinned and recessed S&W Mod 19. We had been shooting for about 1/2 hour when I walked back to my car to get some ice water. Next thing I knew there was a loud explosion; I turned to see the man drop the revolver and stagger backward onto one of the shooting benches. He was bleeding badly from a small scalp wound. I offered to call the paramedics but he said he was okay and used some kleenex to slow/stop the bleeding. The explosion had broken and bent the top strap upward and totally detached the upper 3 chambers of the cylinder. His revolver was totally ruined.

After he calmed down a little I taped a couple of 4x4 gauze pads to his forehead. He said that he had made up some new 357 reloads and thought that he might have double charged a couple of cases.

What really shook me up was the chunk of cylinder metal that I found lodged in the top of my gun case. If I hadn't gone for water it could have hit me in the chest.

Other shooters began to arrive shortly afterward so I helped him pack up his stuff. I was so shaken up that I left at the same time.

I've never seen a kaboom before and it frightened me. Makes me think about my own reloading practices and the importance of not overstressing your firearm with loads it is not designed for. Also how we can be here one second and next moment we are dead.

Just my thoughts. I had to talk.

RIKA

 

[DJetAce]

Wasn't a Glock was it? Joking Erika. I have never had a gun blow up, but I have had the cartridge case fail in a few automatics and the magazine blow out the bottom.

I know of two people who have had revolvers blow up like the one you described. One used the wrong power at the wrong charge and the other used 2.7 gr of bulleseye.

Glad you walked away (and the other shooter) from that one. That's why I always wear glasses and hearing protection.

 

[Garand]

Glad your safe, it just goes to prove when your reloading be vey diligent.

 

[b0B_]

Shoulda kept shooting. Practice under stress or duress is good.

 

[Magnum88C]

Glad to hear you're ok. Both of ya.

Question I have is if he reloaded the rounds and thought there might be a double charge or two, why didn't he pull the bullets and find out?

I had a kaboom once. I was shooting Armscor ammo (Philipino crap), which everyone insisted was plenty good. Anyway, popping off rounds (.45 acp) and KERBLAM! it rcoiled like a .44, huge muzzle flash, magazine shot out he bottom and the frame cracked around the grip screw. That was the only damage. Thank God it was a Ruger.

I refuse to shoot that brand of ammo anymore.

 

[Hard Ball]

He was lucky. That time.

 

[GBullet]

RIKA, I'm happy that you were not hurt.

Things can be replaced, people can't.

 

[Aslan]

likewise glad to see you're ok...

:devil:

 

[Rich Z]

It sounds like he needs to change his reloading methodology.

I would always load 50 cartridges at a time in a loading block, doing all of the cases at a time for each step. When it came to the powder loading step, I could then glance into each case to check that the powder level looked the same in each case before proceeding to the step to insert the projectile. About the only thing bad about doing it that way is that I discovered that you should be careful about sneezing. Powder will fly everywhere and you have to dump all the cases and start over loading powder into them. :blowup:

 

[TODD 3465]

Rika- Glad you are ok and the guy only had a minor injury from it.

When it comes to mistakes in reloading- "When in doubt throw it out." I'd rather toss some rounds into the garbage instead of hurting myself or others; plus ruining a good handgun.

 

[brass hammer]

Glad All Concerned

are O.K.[ THANK GOD FOR THIRST, HUH , RIKA?]

rich, you have the best/safest way of doing it , thats how an ol' timer taught me, the same as you explained!

i ran about 150 .38sp 4 months ago , got side tracked, and had an odd feeling with 1 50rd 'block'[didn't do the visual] it felt strong enough that i tagged all 3 .357mag[glad i did] there were 3 loads that kicked/recoiled at what felt like +p magnum levels, i ran them through a colt's mk3 6"trooper


my little road trip to montana has had the 'chocks' thrown to it as the kids dad got out of jail and is throwing up a fuss[he WILL] sign the p.o.a. papers this week, as i have no desire to look at interstate kiddnapping charges



thanks.

 

[mrostov]

Sounds like what will eventually happen to someone's 11.5" CAR-15 I've heard about.

 

[Rich Z]

Heck, everyone who reloads SHOULD have a bullet puller handy. I loaded up over 1,000 10mms once and found that the load was a little too hot. I pulled every one of them using a kinetic bullet puller and started over. Told the wife I was going into the back room to "whack off".

 

[DJetAce]

mrostov,

I have no doubt if ever stup*kid even owned a 11" CAR and did that he would be owning a heap of junk after he blew it up. Notice he has never posted any kind of link to any match shooter that overloads an AR like that. He is just encouraging people to get hurt (either breaking the law or overloading their gun.)

 

[mrostov]

What I found to be quite special was the talk to how it was 'ok' and 'routine' for 5.56mm primers to get blown out of the casings during firing.

 

[TODD 3465]

Rich Z DOes have a point to keeping him around.

Melvin is a prime example of what NOT TO DO.

 

[andy]

He'd have had to be using some high intensity powder, or a double charge would be REALLY noticable, either visible to the eye or even creating a bullet seating problem. For common practice ammo, it's best to stay with something like 2400 powder, which won't let you double charge a 357. Problem is, u use a LOT of powder. Quite likely, he skipped a charge and the primer only detonation left the bullet stuck in the bore. u have to learn to NOTICE loads that sound or feel differently when you fire them, and know to check the bore when you detect said differences.

 

[andy]

it IS QUITE ROUTINE for the military match shooters, for 600 yd shooting, to use loads that stretch the primer pockets REALLY badly, and thus, in the AR, blowing a primer now and then is harmless.

 

[andy]

unlike YOU, stupid, I dont constantly practice with the hottest load I can find or work up.

 

[Garand]

Funny, when I shot Service Rifle, I used normal everyday ball ammo that was issued to me!