Reload mishap

[SCV-Sop]

Glad this wasn't me/mine. Sent to me from my shooting league. There is such a thing as too hot.

[Blackdog F4i]

Ooops.

This is why I like to stick with loads that come close to filling the case. Makes it hard to double charge.

[Oldnoob]

I hope the shooter is ok and no one got hurt.

[zsmith47]

Was this a .38?

[zeplin]

YIKES!

Good advice from Blackdog.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Ho-lee shi...uh...crap!

[cbr600_kitty]

Lol.....holy cr*p is right.....

[SCV-Sop]

As far as I understand this was turned into local law enforcement to destroy the now converted hammer. The shooter is OK but got a good knock on the head.

The worst I've done is ruined two barrels by:
1) shooting a squib that left a slug in the barrel and then followed it with a good round which bulged the barrel.
2) ruined a glock barrel by shooting unsized and unlubed cast lead wich resulted in over pressure and slightly bulged the barrel at the breach.

So given my personal missteps and the relatively minor consequences I can't imagine how much one has to go over the edge to blow the top off a gun.

I imagine if one pushes the limits over and over again it stresses the equipment and then one day.......

This looks to be a 44 which has longer cases and leaves a lot of room for over charge. I can't imagine one being able to overload a 38 and do this.

I personally would have kept the gun, and mounted it above my reload press as a reminder like I do my runied barrels.

BTW: Blue Dot is a good powder that takes up a lot of space and is hard to over load with when loading 9 and 40. It is dirty though.

[willbird]

It is an S&W fixed sight revolver, not sure if they make those in 44 or not. A case FULL of Hogdon clays or Bullseye would probably damage a 38 like that....

Looking at it I'm wondering if it is a 45 colt maybe ?? It looks as though the explosion also made the rounds in the adjacent cylinders fire too.

[zeplin]

It is an S&W fixed sight revolver, not sure if they make those in 44 or not. A case FULL of Hogdon clays or Bullseye would probably damage a 38 like that....

Looking at it I'm wondering if it is a 45 colt maybe ?? It looks as though the explosion also made the rounds in the adjacent cylinders fire too.

I think you're right on that. I was thinking the round peeled open the one cylinder. I was also puzzled by the bullet being beyond the cylinder. Looks like the kind of harmonics(wrong term?) you could get with black powder revolvers.

[willbird]

What caught my eye was how the adjacent rounds were burst open, it may not have been a high pressure event...maybe akin to what you get when you toss live rounds in a bonfire...

Something else really odd too, look where the top strap fractured, there was a crack there already old enough that oil seeped into it, it is darker in color than the new fracture, it is common to see metal parts fail like that, a fracture develops over time and the older portion is oxidized, and only a very small area shows a clean fracture when it finally fails completely. We machinists would say "that has been broken a long time and it finally failed....see how only this small area is a fresh break"

If you look close you can maybe see some of the same deal near the locking bolt of the adj cylinder at the bottom right of the photo...it looks like an older fracture.

Bill