Did You Ever Have A Gun Explode?

gunpaq

Did you ever have a gun explode on you? I thought I would ask this question since I was reminded today of the time a 12 ga SxS exploded on me 34 years ago. My explosion was due to a blocked right barrel and resulted in my left index finger being severly injured but save and 100% useable. The right barrel burst on the outer side at the end of the forearm due to a wad of money stored in the barrel by my grandfather as it was his gun and I had snuck it out of the house without permission. What a lesson to learn: injury, insult, and a good rear kicking from my dad, grandfather, and the doctor who sewed me up.

Pack slow, fall stable, pull high, hit dead center.

ref44

I had a PolyTech .308 come apart on me a few years back. I am certain that I accidently used a powder funnel containing a small amount of pistol powder that I did not see in the bottom. I added the proper rifle powder to the funnel and made 10 numbered reloads. It was the first one that I thought was the beginning of WW3 when I pulled the trigger. I later pulled the bullets on the last nine, and they all appeared normal in texture for the rifle powder. Wood went every direction, and I never found some metal parts. I saw a huge ball of fire at the muzzle in bright daylight, and part of the brass flowed down into the barrel ahead of the chamber. I was fortunate not to have been hurt.

I fired a friend's Uberti .45 three times one day and handed it back to him. When he fired the fourth round, the cylinder blew into several pieces, one of which went through both sides of a plastic box on the next bench. The topstrap od the revolver was arched upward quite a bit. He was not hurt either. He had a new progressive reloader and believes he pulled the handle two or three times at one station, not realizing he dumped three powder charges.

Both of these incidents show the importance of being extremely careful when reloading. I would argue that it is often the seasoned and experienced reloader who can easily become careless and inattentive to what he is doing.

wipala

Never had one blow up on me but I bought an RG 38 at a garage sale that had blown up on someone else. The top strap was gone the barrel was pushed forward and down. (Got it for parts as a customer needed a hammer and grips.)The cylinder looked like a Arkansas smile. Was headed to the Tulsa gunshow the next day and took it with me. Wrapped my hand in an ace bandage went up to Pat Garret of Blue Star ammunition and asked him what the heck kind of loads he was selling He turned white and started stammering. I couldn't keep my face straight and busted out laughing.He was so pi$$ed and relieved he didn't know where to cuss or cry.

Remember here at DeeDee"s If we can't kill it, it's immortal
D.D.Snavely

Big Sky Redneck

Wipala, I woulda loved to know what was going thru his mind right then!! And BTW, that was mean, funny but mean!

reb8600

In 1966 my dad had a remington model 721 270 cal. A shell blew up in it. I think he said it was the bolt that came back and broke his glasses but he was not hurt. Gunsmith was surprised that the gun was not damaged. I still use this gun to hunt with. It functions and shoots excellant.

Guncontrol-The ability to hit what your aiming at.

Mobuck

I have a personal experience with a rifle failure. I had a 1917 enfield ( supposedly one of the strongest action around) that had been rechambered to 308 norma and drilled/tapped at some time in it's past. I had it rebarrelled to 257 wby. I had about 200 rounds through it ( all medium level handloads) and wanted to try a different bullet. The first shot of a starting load blew the primer so I cleaned everything up, reduced the load by 2 grains, checked the cartridge length, and went back to the bench. The next shot produced the expected velocity and looked fine. The 3rd shot resulted in a catastrophic failure with the front action ring splitting through the scope base holes, the barrel went 10 feet forward, and the stock disintegrated. The worst part was that the left side of the receiver peeled back, broke off, and buried itself in my neck. It shattered my jaw on the left and came within a 16th of an inch of my carotid artery. I lost at least 3 pints of blood, was life flighted to a trauma center, and had 7 hours of surgery. Myjaw still has a hollow place form all the bone loss and I have 12-14 inches of scars on my face and neck. I have severe nerve damage on the left side of my face and a permanent droop on that side. I think this should be a warning to all those who build rilfes on surplus actions. I don't use a surplus action for any cartridge generating more pressure than the original design of the action. I think the major problem was the result of improper annealing of the area on top of the front ring during the drilling and tapping operation.

Mobuck

Mr. Lobo

Wow, Thanks to all! This is enough to scare the sh!# out of a new reloader...I think this is just what I needed. "Measure twice" keeps ringing in my head. I had a friend give me some 30-30's he had reloaded that blew open the receiver on the first round. When I asked him about the load he laughed and told me they were hot loads. That was the last reload I accepted from that "friend". Gun still shoots fine and my shoulder finally recovered.

Jim

Laredo Lefty

I had a gun failure with factory ammo. A few years ago I was out shooting my newly acquired Marlin Camp Carbine in 9mm. I was shooting some factory loaded ammo from europe which may have been sub-machinegun ammo, but still should have been ok for a carbine. The ammo had a headstamp PPU 60. I had fired 30 to 40 of these shells with no problem, them it happened. Since Iam left handed, my face was exposed to the ejection port. The gun blew and I got a face full of hot gases and blast. After recovering in 2-3 secs I felt a rapid dripping onto my t-shirt, turned out to be blood running from a schrapnel hole in my right cheek. Good thing I was wearing my shooting glasses or I would be typing by braille now. Upon checking out the gun I found that the bullet stopped in the barrel ( there was no obstruction as the previous bullet hit the target), the overpressure smashed the polymer trigger housing, cracked the stock, and ruined my day. I found fragments of the casing in the action, and tapped the bullet back down the barrel to recover it.
I contacted Marlin. They told me to send them the gun. After a couple weeks I recieved a brand new carbine from the factory.

Happy shooting & wear your glasses--- Joe--

Dupont

Was shooting my wifes Phoenix Arms HP22 at some pop cans one day using standered velocity 22 ammo. Switched over to some HV shells.
pulled the trigger on a few rounds, everything fine. Loaded up a new mag, pulled the trigger, POOF went the gun! Boy that did not sound right I said as I was looking at the barrel and front half of the slide, about 5 feet in front of me on the ground! Only damage to the pistol was a broken slide. No injury on my end! Called phoenix arms, they warranteed it. Have since found 2 more new slides, Just in case! Now only use standered velocity ammo in it!!! And we dont use it much!!

BTW Phoenix Arms is now out of buisness, last I heard? Those pistols wound up having a lot of warrenty repairs and call backs! Cheap pistols but better than a Jeninngs and some of the first Norincos!Made in the USA to boot!

Of course I can play the piano, as long as it has pedals!

ndbilly

Friend was an avid rifle shooter and reloader but had never owned anything but a.22 in the handgun line. He bought a 10MM when they were relatively new (don't think it was a Bren) and some brass, dies and other components and loaded up 50 rds. He hands me a full mag and says go to it. Seven rounds in the magazine and the first six went off as planned. Seventh round stung the hell out of my hand (ever have a small firecracker go off in your hand?) and something hit my thigh and my cheek at the same time. I said a quick thanks to John Moses B. when I learned that it was the magazine that had hit my thigh after blowing out of the well, relieving the excess pressure caused, we later surmised, by the projectile from the last round being loaded atop a double charge of Bullseye. What hit my cheek, just below my right eye was a piece of unburned powder, I thought. About a year later, this piece of "powder" worked its way to the surface and turned out to be a very tiny piece of metal.

offeror

No, but then I've been shooting all calibers of Glocks for 15 years, and I don't reload, so why would I?



- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Warpig883

lyman 1860 Army revolver with steel frame. I had all six loaded and greased when I pulled the trigger the one under the hammer went off and the very bottom one also. Blew the ramrod off and the ramrod latch out of its dovetail. small cut on my hand. I magnafluxed the cylinder thinking it was cracked and the fire went through the crack but the cylinder was good. Only thing I can figure is the cap blew off the bottom nipple and the fire got in that way.