Ballester molina kaboom

[alfadan]

Yesterday I installed a wilson combat drop-in barrel in my inherited BM. I have never done this, but after watching many pros on youtube, I felt fairly confident. It went well and I was trying some rounds and after about 20 rounds had a case rupture at the bottom. It was very unsettling.
The gun seems fine except for broken grip panels and warped mag follower. I had no real injuries thank goodness.
The loads were some older ones I had given dad. I'm glad this didn't happen to him. I thought I had screwed something up but I rechecked my install and everything seems correct. At first I figured it fired out of battery, but the case was still jammed fully seated and the primer was flat and extruded. I pulled the remaining loads and all were at 5g unique. I must have double charged that one or maybe the bullet set back. I'm still shook up but reminded how serious reloading can be. Cant seem to load pics from my phone so will load some later.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

If it's not too late, don't remove the case from the barrel. Send it to Wilson and see what they say. Since it's not the entire gun, all you have to do is mail it to them in a 1st class padded envelope.

Ballester Molinas are tough pistols. I once handled an auction of police evidence weapons. Among them was a Balleser that someone had found in the main street of town where it had been run over by at least one truck. The slide was cracked open on the bottom side to the left of the firing pin and spread apart about 1/8 inch. The lucky winner bummed a couple of .45 ACP rounds from me and took it outside the shop and test fired it. It worked without a hitch.....! A pawn shop that is currently doing my transfers has one in their display case priced at $800.

[Jkrem]

I built a 1911 back in the day when BM slides in cosmoline were $20. As I recall it took so draw filing to get it to mate with the frame but it ended up functioning flawlessly. Kinda wish I still had it.

[Texas by God]

That HAD to be a double charge. As DG said, the Ballester Molina is one tough pistol. Mine is my favorite .45 of all even though I've owned Colts and Kimbers. I'm glad your ok.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[alfadan]

Thanks. My immediate thought after no injuries were found was "s..t! I just blew up dad's gun!" They really are a stout military pistol. On the plus side, the new barrel shows good promise with much better accuracy and just some leading; but these were commercial cast and, of course, one at like 50kpsi! The original barrel is badly pitted and very worn tolerances.

[alfadan]

some pics262165262166262165262167

[Outpost75]

Yup! Looks like a double charge to me.

When you repair the gun consider a set of machined titanium grips and next time it will just drive the magazine into the dirt.

[megasupermagnum]

With that much exposed, is there any chance the brass simply gave way? I never trusted unsupported chambers like that.

[Mk42gunner]

Glad you weren't hurt.

I can't remember if 1911 grips will fit on a Ballester Molina or not, but as I remember it back in the 1980's and 90's when people were loading the .38 Super to very high pressures level to make major, the recommendation was to use Pachmayr grips for the added insurance of a steel liner for when a case gave way.

Robert

[Der Gebirgsjager]

No, 1911 grips won't fit; although you might modify them to work. The only readily straight across interchangeable parts are the magazines and barrels. What I'm wondering about-- what I can see of the case has a silver color. Was it a WW II steel case, an aluminum Blazer case, nickel, or what? Or is it just the lighting?

[Martin Luber]

Yes, what is the case headstamp...odd

[AZ Pete]

Yes, what is the case headstamp...odd

from the photo, Winchester.

[alfadan]

I'm not sure if the case support is normal I don't remember how much is exposed as I've only had one other 1911 type pistol. The amount is visually identical to the original barrel, so must be ok. I suppose it could have been a weak case, but the way it protested when fired, I do think it was a double charge. yeah grip options are limited, but cdnn has them for $15.
The case is a normal brass winchester, just lighting and scorch marks. At the time I loaded those, my .45 acp loading setup was less than ideal and with different steps than all my other pistol loading routines, and my safety steps failed me. This is my first and hopefully last major issue like this. Thanks guys

[CA Dude]

I had the same thing happen in my P 226 Sig in 40 S&W. It blew out the bottom of the case and auto ejected the magazine. The round was a factory load. It also blew the primer out of the case. I never found the primer. An inspection of the case reveled that the flash hole in the case was at least twice as large as it should have been. The only damage to the pistol was a cracked grip. The magazine wasn't damaged and I still shoot the pistol without issues.

[fatelk]

Glad you weren't hurt. I have a Ballester Molina that I bought in the mid '90s. It was stolen out of my truck 20 years ago. The cops actually found it, under the seat of a stolen car when they arrested a punk kid who'd been burglarizing houses. They called me in to ID it, since I didn't have the serial number. He pulled it out of a bag and I immediately said "That's it". He asked how I could be so sure at a glance, and I told him he'd never see another set of grips quite like that, since I'd spent untold hours making them by hand.

The original barrel was so bad that I literally couldn't hit a target 7 yards away. The bullets that accidentally hit the paper were tumbling. Looking down the bore, there was a ghost of rifling, but it was essentially smoothbore. I put an old Colt barrel on it and it shoots OK. The original grips were trashed so I made replacements. I forget what I made them out of but they turned out nice. They are definitely not interchangeable with 1911 grips, not even close, way different.

Off topic, but funny story about getting my stolen gun back: the detective told me they'd need to hang onto it for evidence and would let me know when they were done and I could have it back. I waited months and they never called. One night I was coming home late from hanging out with friends, and I got pulled over, maybe 1am. I wasn't speeding or anything; I had a license plate light out. I'm sure he was just bored on the night shift and looking for drunks. Coincidentally it was the officer who originally took the report for my stolen guns. After a verbal warning about the light, he asked me if I'd gotten my gun back yet. I said no, they said they'd let me know.
He said "Oh, no. They'll never call you. You have to go down there and bug them about it, or you'll never get it back.

Sure enough, I went down the next day and asked about it. It took some time for them to find it, but I did get it back.

[Larry Gibson]

Yup! Looks like a double charge to me...…...

Me too.....classic case of double charge in M1911 45 ACP.

OP; what did you load the ammo on?

[Greg S]

Without reading g all the above posts, had a simular incident occur myself with Fiochi brass that was almost like balloon head 45 Colt brass on one side. Load was 5.8 Unique and a 230 LRN. Check your pulled down brass and what is left of the case that was in the barrel.

[alfadan]

I loaded them with an old lee turret press. I like the lee powder-through-expander dies, but didn't have one for 45 at the time so was charging them in a loading block with a powder funnel.
Making a set of grips is a project I'd like to try someday, good time to try checkering too.

[onelight]

Sure glad you weren't hurt , scary stuff.
It looks like it was quite a job to get the slide open you can see where the extractor was pulling through the rim.
This is a sad example of what some of the guys have been explaining to me that a 1911 won't unlock under pressure .

[djryan13]

Glad you came out relatively unhurt. Yeah, looks like double charge. Please post press info.

Maybe those grips can be salvaged by glueing? At least you will be back in business. Be safe..

[alfadan]

Old lee turret press indexed manually. As bas as this was, I think the pressure going into the mag well is better than a burst barrel or slide to the face. I had to use a deadblow to get it open. Not unlocking under pressure is the correct operation though isn't it?

[alfadan]

I did glue the panels back together. If they break again I'll have another set on hand.

[onelight]

Not unlocking under pressure is the correct operation though isn't it?

Yes we like that:D it looks to me like Mr. Browning saved us an injury .

[Larry Gibson]

I loaded them with an old lee turret press. I like the lee powder-through-expander dies, but didn't have one for 45 at the time so was charging them in a loading block with a powder funnel.......

Probably where the double charge occurred. Long ago, after a similar experience with another cartridge I adopted a golden rule I never violate...… A case in a loading block already has powder in it.

In other words I quit filling cases in the loading block with a funnel. Even those I know a double charge will over flow. I just don't charge cases in a loading block any more and haven't had a double charge since.

Good you're ok.

[onelight]

Probably where the double charge occurred. Long ago, after a similar experience with another cartridge I adopted a golden rule I never violate...… A case in a loading block already has powder in it.

In other words I quit filling cases in the loading block with a funnel. Even those I know a double charge will over flow. I just don't charge cases in a loading block any more and haven't had a double charge since.

Good you're ok.
Me neither. When using a loading block empty cases are mouth down , charged are mouth up of course.
I move the case mouth down to the powder measure.