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chain fire in a henry!

dunntawkindunntawkin Member Posts: 18 ✭✭
edited May 2008 in Black Powder and Cowboy Action Shooting
I had the unfortunate experience of a chain fire in the magazine while loading my Uberti made henry rifle in 45 colt...I had just loaded about ten cartridges (yes they were flat nose) when my thumb slipped off the follower which made it slam down on the stack of cartridges...next thing I remember I was standing looking down at a stream of blood flowing from my nose. All ten cartridges exploded in the magazine sending a bunch of brass right into my face, chest and arms. My father and a bunch of my friends from the shooting range rushed over to see what had happened because of the godawful noise this made...next thing ya know I was speeding down the highway on the was to the hospital...I remember Mickey holding a t-shirt to my chest and me holding another rag of some sort to my nose. When I got to the hospital my wife was there, (she was a nurse in the emergency room, and on duty!) and all the people taking care of me I knew personally...Well I lived to tell the tale...but I hope this lesson will save anybody else from the same fate...I can only surmise that I had a high primer on one of the 45 colt cartridges...you can believe I inspect the heck out of the primers now after I reload a bunch on my trusty dillon 550..
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Comments

  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,669 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Great God what a disaster! Glad you are ok.
    We need photos.
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  • Spider7115Spider7115 Member Posts: 29,704 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Thus was born the loading gate...

    Glad you're ok. That has happened on more than one occasion on the Henrys. The Model 1866 is much safer. Please post pics when you can.
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  • PaganPagan Member Posts: 272 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The original Henry's where .44 rimfire which probably made them safer then the reproduction center fire rifles. Glad to hear you survived this calamity with all your parts intact.
    Truly,
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  • R D HenryR D Henry Member Posts: 190 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    You were extremely lucky that it didn't turn out worse.

    I shot a Henry in CAS matches for years, and never had a problem with it. You have to be very careful when loading so as not to have the follower slam down on the rounds.

    I've loaded on a 550 for about 10 years and never had a high primer. If the shell plate is properly adjusted, it won't let you advance the round, preventing a high primer.

    The problem was the follower slipping out of your hand and slamming the rounds. You also have to be careful when picking up the rifle from a loading table so you don't clip the follower on the edge of the table, causing the same end result.

    On the upside, get a 73! It's not as barrel heavy and a helluva lot easier to take down for cleaning!

    Glad you're still here to tell the story, it's one you'll never forget!
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  • Mort4570Mort4570 Member Posts: 472 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    WOW
    you are one lucky fella despite your injuries.They could have been much more severe as I"m sure you know.

    Hope you heal up fast.
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  • LEE3370LEE3370 Member Posts: 24 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I am sorry for your pain, but thank you so very much for the info.
    I just bought a new Uberti Henry and haven't shot it yet. I didn't know this could happen.
    I reload on a Dillon SQB but prime in a hand primer so I can feel each primer as I lay the primed brass in the bowl.
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  • Wolf.Wolf. Member Posts: 2,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    --
    So, minor flesh wounds and more smarts for you.

    More importantly [}:)], what happened to your Henry rifle?
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  • dunntawkindunntawkin Member Posts: 18 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    thanx for all the replies...didn't know all ya all had experience! yeah! I'm a lucky dude!....but what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger!
    here's a good thought....a rock pile is a rock pile till a man envisions a castle!
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  • PATBUZZARDPATBUZZARD Member Posts: 3,556 ✭
    edited November -1
    Glad your OK, got any pictures of what is left of the rifle?
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  • Winston BodeWinston Bode Member Posts: 1,628 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I was standing next to a shooter who was shooting copy of a Le Mat. He cocked the hammer back and fire the first shot and it chain fired the cylinder to the left of the one under the hammer. I wasn't sure I saw or heard what I thought I had seen and heard and before I could say anything he cocked the hammer back and it went "click" when he pulled the trigger. He cocked the hammer back again and when he pulled the trigger it fired the cylinder under the hammer and again the one to the left of it. The second time it blew parts off of the gun so I made him stop and go to the unloading table. I did not feel like it was safe for him to continue. First and only time to see a chain fire in a cap and ball revolver.


    Luckily, no one was hurt.


    Bode
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  • Wolf.Wolf. Member Posts: 2,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    ==
    Sounds like the guy was lucky it didn't blow parts off of him!

    Strange that it chain-fired twice in a row like that.
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  • dunntawkindunntawkin Member Posts: 18 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    actually I'm still using the same henry....I had a friend of mine make a mould of the rifle and he used that to squeese the bulges back to the origional shape using a vice and this mould of the rifle barrell and magazine....the thing looked really funny after the accident because of every place there was a cartridge in the magazine there was this perfect round bulge!....unfortunately I never took any pictures.....too damn embarrased!

    Dunntawkin SASS# 334
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  • Spider7115Spider7115 Member Posts: 29,704 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by dunntawkin
    actually I'm still using the same henry....I had a friend of mine make a mould of the rifle and he used that to squeese the bulges back to the origional shape using a vice and this mould of the rifle barrell and magazine....the thing looked really funny after the accident because of every place there was a cartridge in the magazine there was this perfect round bulge!....unfortunately I never took any pictures.....too damn embarrased!

    Dunntawkin SASS# 334
    OK, pardon my ignorance but I'm confused. Are you saying that 10 compressed rounds of .45LC cartridges exploded inside the magazine tube and the tube remained intact? There were no end or side ruptures and you can actually use that same tube again? I don't see how that's possible. Also, how did you get injured if the magazine didn't shred? I had visions of flying shards of magazine steel caused by the explosion of the cartridges.
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  • dunntawkindunntawkin Member Posts: 18 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Well...a henry has a open magazine so you can see all the cartridges that you have loaded....check them out!...and yes, I am shooting the exact gun at SASS events today...the shrapnel that hit me were only pieces of the brass cases that exploded in small strips exiting the magazine...the 250 grain bullets were still in the magazine! I was using a charge of 6.5 grains of IMR 700x..giving me a velicity of about 800 fps. I still use the same load...
    Dunntawkin SASS#334
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  • breakerdanbreakerdan Member Posts: 364 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My dad uses a Uberti Henry replica in 44-40. He hasnt had a chainfire, but shot the window out of his truck w/ it. He checked the chamber and slowly shut the lever. The saftey notch on the hammer engaged and then failed, dropping the hammer. He has used leveractions for over 40 years and hasnt had this happen since a 1892 Winchester in 25-20 that was worn out did this in the late 60's.
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  • HAIRYHAIRY Member Posts: 23,606
    edited November -1
    Had a loading tube for a Spencer .45 Scofield drop off a shelf onto the floor (covered with a rug) and three rounds went off. Needless to say, removed all the rounds from the other tubes.
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  • rgergergerge Member Posts: 183 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I had a '58 rem chain fire, turned the whole end of the gun white, scared the dirt out of me and my buds. 5 rounds fired at once, this was one of my first bp guns when I was in my youth, guy at the gun shop sold me a .44 mold instead of the .451. Really keeps the skeeters away though.
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  • SmileyBobSmileyBob Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yeah, I wanted to get an 1861 Henry replica for SASS, so I could also use it for Civvy War. The local club said that that gun was a no go. Apparently they had had a similar situation and didn't want any 61's around.
    SmileyBob
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  • edmond_dufferedmond_duffer Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm a newbie to this forum, but not to guns. However, I am just getting into Cowboy Action Shooting and am finding this forum in particular very informative. I am selling a 1917 Remington in the auctions so I can try to get some type of lever gun.

    This stuff is VERY interesting. Glad you weren't hurt any wose than you were!
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  • machine gun moranmachine gun moran Member Posts: 5,198
    edited November -1
    I once wondered if it was necessary to lube every cylinder-load of roundballs. I tried it without lube once. On the first shot, the load under the hammer fired - along with the one to the left and the next two to the right, leaving only two. Ball-shards raised dust from the ground from right in front of me, to everywhere in sight. The gun (an Uberti Navy) wasn't harmed, but had lead smears all over the front end. Never did that again. The lube does serve as a spark-arrestor at the chamber mouths, as well as a bore-lube.

    Another lesson I learned was to avoid really short-barreled black-powder pistols. I once shortened a .44 to replicate a hideout gun that I had seen in a museum photograph. When I fired it, I started about six fires in the grass and one on my left tennis shoe. Maybe 3F would have worked better than 2F.

    My experience with the quality of BP guns follows the comments posted here, Uberti being about the best, Pietta a close second.

    About Dillon 550's, I bought one and found that it wouldn't seat the primers squarely. The problem was that the hole for the priming ram in the sliding carrier-block had been drilled crooked, resulting in the ram face contacting only one side of the primer. I took the carrier-block over to the factory (I lived in Phoenix at the time) and was ecstatic when they gave me THREE new ones. And I was chagrined when I got home and discovered that ALL of them had crooked ram-holes. So I did my priming on an RCBS using a straight-line seater, finished the loading on the Dillon, and then sold the Dillon.
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