gun blew up

[jonas302]

Well I wouldn't have been in a picture taking mood right then

[dragonrider]

Glad you were not hurt worse than you are, Hope you heal well and quickly.

As a check I grabbed a 45-70 case and put 52 grns of 2400 in it. pics below





It may not seem like it but there is 7/16" of space in the case and with a little tapping to settle it one can get it to 1/2" easily. I then grabbed a boolit that weighed in at just 400 grains and placed it into the case, as it is an unsized case the boolit just dropped right in, as can be seen in the next two photos a boolit can easily be installed and crimped into place without noticing that there is excess powder in the case.





I won't say that this is exactly what happened but that it could easily have been what happed.

[lar45]

Wow, I would like to thank you for sharing the story and pics.
I just shared the pics with the boys and said, this is why dad doesn't want to be interupted while reloading.
I hope you heal up without too many complications.

[jeepyj]

Get well wishes. I wish you the best figuring out what happened for your peace of mind.
jeepyj

[VintageRifle]

I hope you have a speedy recovery. Thanks for sharing.

[fouronesix]

Absolutely speedy recovery and best wishes. Takes real courage to share and I do appreciate the reminder. Knock on wood…. I've never kaboomed one after 50 years of reloading/shooting but that means little. I've done plenty of other bone head stunts. ANYONE who thinks they are above such mistakes, circumstances or accidents during any number of daily activities are either fooling themselves or trying to fool others. The best any of us can do is do our best and stay vigilant.

[TXGunNut]

Quarantine the gun, ammo and loading equipment NOW! Heal up and join me and others in hoping for a full and complete recovery. Once you have healed up, examine the gun, ammo and loading equipment. If you don't know what to look for let us know.

[CLAYPOOL]

My first trip out to shoot Prairie dogs my oldest came out and loaded shells for me. I told her to make certain as to what she was doing as me and my partner was going to be 60 miles from the only hospital (Rapid City) in that area. She still talks about how much fun that was. Her brother didn't get to help.. 1000 .22-250.

[snuffy]

That's just terrible. It'll take several months to heal, then make sure you get therapy. Looks like there's some muscle damage, maybe nerves as well.

It took a lot of courage to show this. Opening up to conjecture, then finding proof of what happened. I did the same thing a couple of years ago. I'll try to find the post, BRB.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...charge-will-do

Wow 2011, seems like just last year. It sure did make me more careful. 55 years of loading makes you get complacent. If anything you should be MORE careful.

[starmac]

Hope for a speedy recovery, no matter what went wrong, your bad experience reminds us all to be carefull.

[tdoyka]

i wish you a speedy recovery.

[MaryB]

Prayers for a speedy recovery and full use of the hand! A a good reminder that every step needs to be checked twice! I only load in 50 rounds blocks right now but m looking a a Lee Loadmaster... AR-15 goes through lots of ammo!

[shoot-n-lead]

Prayers for a speedy recovery and full use of the hand! A a good reminder that every step needs to be checked twice! I only load in 50 rounds blocks right now but m looking a a Lee Loadmaster... AR-15 goes through lots of ammo!

If you get the Loadmaster...be very careful as the malfunctions from the priming system can be a real distraction with them and that can lead to squibs and double charges due to stopping the press to clear the priming problem.

[Mk42gunner]

Always remember that things (possessions) can be replaced, people can't. Glad you weren't hurt worse.

Look on the bright side, you now have a golden excuse for any future flinches: "I suddenly thought about the day my rifle blew completely apart."

Robert

[MaryB]

First thing the loadmaster would get would be the upgrades for the priming system and a lot of testing of it to make sure it works right.

[A pause for the COZ]

Your not the first guy to blow up a 45-70 using 2400.
Small loads of fast powder are a known risk in these big cases. It can cause detonation.
Thats were the whole load explodes instead of burning.
Here is a good read about that from MD's pages. There has been some pretty experienced shooters blow 45-70's
http://www.reloadammo.com/liteload.htm

Also could have a problem a bullet stuck in to far against the lands causing an over pressure.Who knows? Your really never going to find out unless you run into another over charged round when you take the other ones apart. It is pretty amazing just how much power is released when one of those goes.
I know I am sticking to a slower powder in my 54-70.I will pray for a fast recovery for you.

[betschet50]

sorry to hear that hope you recover fast that's a hard lesson the gun can be replaced but your hand can't. this is a good post to keep us from getting complacent Safety in #1.

[freebullet]

Thank you for sharing your experience. Best wishes for a speedy uneventful recovery.

I had a squib a couple years ago and it made me take a hard look at all my reload processing. We caught it and didn't have any issues, but I made changes to make sure it doesn't happen again.

If you run a progressive get a lock out die.

[gew98]

I stay away from such loadings like this. I had a trapdoor let go almost 30 years ago using 405 gn lead pushed bu Unique. Breechblock took my hat off and got speckled with powder. I'll never know if it was detonation or a double charge. But ever since then...hell no !. You are risking way too much reloading this way when there are plenty of surplus and designed powders for these applications. When I stopped loading for 7mm Rem mag I started using my surplus wc860 for the 45 70. Mild and a little dirty...but fun and SAFE.

[Land Owner]

They are not helped by folks who pat their hands and tell them "now, now you poor soul".

I had always heard the Deep South dispensation for incredulity poised as "bless your heart". Now there are two.



Rule Number One: This hobby can and will bite, injure, maim, and kill.

I made a hand gun squib load on a progressive press, have had primers that failed to seat or go off on first strike, introduced a different powder into a depleted measure - days later (and FIRED the mistake), and once, in another naive way, grossly annealed 300x.223 cases that the first 2 fired cases exhibited exceedingly soft primer pockets - so 48 cases were unloaded and all 300 cases were crushed.

Dodged a bullet or two of my own making? We live. We learn. We reread Rule #1. We move forward.

When faced with one's own death or dismemberment, it is paramount to pay close(r) attention. Were it not for the wit of Mr. Gary Larsen's "FAR SIDE" comics we would not be able to laugh at the "late" Thag Simmons and the Stegosaurus' "Thagomizer". https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=thagomizer+cartoon