blown barrels and brains MIA

[indian joe]

Had an interesting day yesterday - walked into the LGS and there on the counter a barrel from a modern (black painted finish not blued) shotgun - opened up like a bean can at the business end - didnt ask the server guy but the screw in choke was blown clear off - looked to me like the owner shot a big slug load with the full choke insert in -----

Then a couple hours later at a gunsmith mates place he shows a barrel from an old S&W 38 with two seriously obvious ring bulges in the barrel - lumps you could see from feet away, not just little ones - woulda thought doin the first one would be scary enough to prevent a second............................................ .

[toallmy]

Your post reminded me of a day in my youth , a older cousin and myself were tramping through the woods after some squirrels , well Joseph had one in a tree so he takes his shot , I can still see his face after he took the shot , with the shotgun still at his shoulder he said " I sure hope that's a leaf " well it wasn't .

[Conditor22]

I got a lump in a Ruger P90 barrel.

the first shot hit the target and registered on the chrony
the second shot hit the target, registered on the chrony, and jammed the slide open.
The tech at Ruger said on rare occasions a bullet will separate in the barrel and only part of it will exit the barrel.

There is practically no way to tell when this happens --- it was time for a new barrel :(

[JSnover]

The tech at Ruger said on rare occasions a bullet will separate in the barrel and only part of it will exit the barrel.

There is practically no way to tell when this happens --- it was time for a new barrel :(

As I was wondered how/why this would happen I remembered a handful of live 44 magnum rounds I picked up at the range. I pulled them apart and was afraid they'd break my kinetic puller, I had to to whack them so hard.
Unknown powders, mixed headstamps, mixed bullets (all were jacketed but some had cannelures and some didn't). The crimps were unbelievable, leaving deep grooves in the non-cannelure bullets.

[contender1]

We deal with firearms. They are mechanical objects, subject to our use & abuse. When mixing that with an explosive compound, and some unknowns,, occasionally, you get problems.
Throw in the human factor,, and you can REALLY have problems when the uneducated, or the momentary lapse of judgement, or the just plain stupid do things that cause such disasters.

I teach Hunter Safety.
I have, (for instructional purposes,) a Ruger Super Blackhawk, that has a blown cylinder & a bulged frame. Several fired cases from improper ammo used in the wrong chambers. I have seen blown barrels or actions on many guns, stacks of bullets in a barrel, & many other things. I'm also the first guy that Ruger had a barrel separate from the frame on the .44 Redhawk.

In general, almost always,, blown guns come back to the owner/operator. Debris in a barrel. Excessive reloads. Squibs, and failure to pay attention. Kitchen table gun butchers, (NOT real gunsmiths!) Use of the wrong ammo in a gun.

So, when I teach,, I always say; "Humans are fallible, we make mistakes. But are we gonna do as Forest Gump says; Stupid is as stupid does.? SAFETY FIRST,, and pay attention always."

[Drm50]

Bulges=barrel obstruction or over sized projectile. Back in 1980s I sold a new Thompson SMG look alike. It had nothing in common with the Auto Ordinance models, other than looks. It was a heavy gun straight blowback design. I didn’t stock this kind of novelty guns, it was ordered by customer.
This guy brings it back with barrel bulged and split clear up behind forearm, it splintered forearm.
The compensator was full of plastic fragments. I don’t know what he was shooting, he was sticking to story it was new Win Ammo. He wanted his money back and I said ok, bring ammo back too and we will get Winchester and the gun company to look at damage and refund your money. Guy took gun and left, never came back. Now days with idiots on You Tube shooting all kinds of items in guns it’s a wonder more people aren’t injured.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Was that one of those Volunteer Arms Thompson lookalikes? The were heavy, ugly, but very reliable and durable, so the guy that blew one up must have done something really outrageous.

As for bulged revolver barrels, I have seen two S&W K-frame barrels that had 5 or 6 lead slugs stacked up in them with bulges that looked like a snake that swallowed some big eggs. Amazingly, the barrels didn't split. Both had different stories-- the first was being used in a PPC match, and the owner was engaging in rapid double action fire and somehow didn't realize that the first shot stuck in the barrel and just continued to empty the gun. The other was apparently used in a gun fight and adrenalin over rode sensory perception.

[indian joe]

Was that one of those Volunteer Arms Thompson lookalikes? The were heavy, ugly, but very reliable and durable, so the guy that blew one up must have done something really outrageous.

As for bulged revolver barrels, I have seen two S&W K-frame barrels that had 5 or 6 lead slugs stacked up in them with bulges that looked like a snake that swallowed some big eggs. Amazingly, the barrels didn't split. Both had different stories-- the first was being used in a PPC match, and the owner was engaging in rapid double action fire and somehow didn't realize that the first shot stuck in the barrel and just continued to empty the gun. The other was apparently used in a gun fight and adrenalin over rode sensory perception.

I just thought it interesting that in a country town, I would see two in the one day !
Watch the tink tink tink boys (cowboy action) going at it flat out - would they be able to stop in time if they had a squib load? I really doubt it - proly wouldnt even register !

[megasupermagnum]

More than likely the shotgun barrel was plugged. A slug will not do that. The very worst I've heard a slug do was shoot a choke out of the threads, but that took a sabot (non compressible) slug through a turkey choke to do it. I've also heard of tight chokes splitting, again lead shot only chokes, especially old thin barrel guns. A slug can't cause the end of a barrel to blow open like that.

Barrel obstructions are the #1 most dangerous instance for firearms. Squib loads, double charges are no small threat either.

[dverna]

About ten years ago, there were problems with Federal Gold Medal hull separations. A section of the hulls would remain in the barrel. I knocked out four of them. The serious trap shooters shot break open guns so they would find the problem. The less serious shooters did not shoot Gold Medals.

I stopped reloading those hulls. But most of the separations occurred on first firing.

Blowing up a shotgun is not difficult. There is not much “meat” around those chambers.

[indian joe]

[QUOTE=megasupermagnum;5022106]More than likely the shotgun barrel was plugged. A slug will not do that. The very worst I've heard a slug do was shoot a choke out of the threads, but that took a sabot (non compressible) slug through a turkey choke to do it. I've also heard of tight chokes splitting, again lead shot only chokes, especially old thin barrel guns. A slug can't cause the end of a barrel to blow open like that.

In a case like this ---cant --- is a really BIG word --!!!!

I didnt examine closely - some one elses blown barrel sitting on the counter - left it sit - but got a reasonable decent look at it -
1) the muzzle end was clean - nary a sign of dirt- mud stain - grit - nothing
2) screw in choke at the muzzle was still n place
3) breech end of the screw in choke appeared to be crumpled up inside like it had been picked up and concertina'ed forward
4) barrel (really thin barrel) was ruptured out just behind the screw in choke threads
5) the whole innards of the choke assembly was a smokey grey colour - looked like whatever the projectile was had been scrunched through the crumpled up choke tube and at the same time the side blew out of the barrel just behind it

If the opportunity arises I will follow this up - curiosity killed the cat and all that!!!!!

......

[TRX]

As I was wondered how/why this would happen I remembered a handful of live 44 magnum rounds I picked up at the range. I pulled them apart and was afraid they'd break my kinetic puller, I had to to whack them so hard.
Unknown powders, mixed headstamps, mixed bullets (all were jacketed but some had cannelures and some didn't). The crimps were unbelievable, leaving deep grooves in the non-cannelure bullets.

A friend had a 1911 stolen. Ten years later he got a postcard from a city PD in a neighboring county; they had recovered it from a "prohibited person". Took a few weeks for paperwork and bureaucracy, but he got it back.

His two-month-old (when stolen) Springfield was almost undamaged; it looked like it had spent most of its time in someone's sock drawer. The magazine had six rounds of the most miscellaneous-looking .45 ACP you could imagine; all six were different headstamps, various different bullets. One lead round-nose, two round-nose and one hollowpoint brass jacketed, and two round nose bullets with silver-white jackets that might be aluminum. Who the heck ever made aluminum-jacketed .451" bullets?! Varying amounts of at least three different powders when I broke them down, too. Light-colored floury stuff I didn't recognize.

The bullets were all tight in the cases, so they'd evidently been sized before the bullets were inserted, but... no. I was glad I took a look at the bag with the cartridges (yes, the PD put them in the box!) before my friend loaded the magazine, or he might have had a nasty surprise.

[Skipper]

and two round nose bullets with silver-white jackets that might be aluminum. Who the heck ever made aluminum-jacketed .451" bullets?

Winchester Silvertips

[tai95]

When I was in the army, they decided we all should love sand and shipped us over to the desert. Before we went all the way out into the middle of nowhere they decided we should qualify on our weapons. They dug out the nastiest looked belted 50 ammo you ever saw. I think the date stamp was late vietnam era, military is great at dating stuff. Most of the ammo ran fine, but every once in a while a tracer was randomly exploding about 20ft out the barrel. That was til the one guy shooting a few feet away had one explode in the breech. It blew the barrel and top plate off and welded the bolt carrier to the side plate. I think that's one of the reasons they issue brown underwear. Hides the stain from stuff like that.

The only positive was being a combat engineer they let us blow the rest of that batch so it wouldn't happen again.

[Winger Ed.]

At the public range near where I lived in the city, they had a glass front display counter with interesting things in it.

One item was the frame & barrel of a lever action.
The barrel was split open like a flower, and looked like something you'd see in a cartoon.

I remember seeing a article about squib loads in a military safety publication.
It showed a picture of the duty revolver the Air Force MPs carried in .38Spec.
They cut the barrel in half to show all six FMJs stacked in the middle of the barrel...... but it didn't burst.

[Stephen Cohen]

Drm50 hit the nail on the head about you tube being awash with morons who think they know more than ammo manufactures, sadly some of these morons have a license to sell arms and god forbid give advice. Winger Ed I have a picture of the revolver you mention and wonder how anyone could do that. Regards Stephen

[dtknowles]

I blew up my dad's single shot Ithaca 20 gage. I must have dragged the muzzle thru a snow drift because when I shot it the barrel split near but short of the muzzle. Not a big split. I got snow in the muzzle of my Win 94 30-30 but I noticed it. Sneaking around in snowy woods while watching for game and trying to be quiet, sometimes you don't keep the muzzle out of the snow.

Tim

[Winger Ed.]

Winger Ed I have a picture of the revolver you mention and wonder how anyone could do that. Regards Stephen

I figured it was a combination of things:
The stars came together with the strength of a S&W revolver, the low power loads of GI issue .38Spec. ,
and a few guys that shouldn't really have been handling firearms.

[Stephen Cohen]

I figured it was a combination of things:
The stars came together with the strength of a S&W revolver, the low power loads of GI issue .38Spec. ,
and a few guys that shouldn't really have been handling firearms.

Well said sir. Regards Stephen

[Harter66]

Cowboy action .......I wonder if Jerry Mikiluk has done it more than once .

Ammo production alone has it in for shotguns .
Rem nitro steel is marked right on the side of the 2-3/4" case 1050 B.A.R. which converts to a very handy 15,000 psi . After the second jam and more than one peeled case wall and brass damaged I stopped shooting them period .
I had a tube shoot off in an FC case once and stopped loading those as well . Just think for a moment about shoving that plastic wrapped solid slug at .780 up a barrel at @.715 through a choke @.700 ....... I'm just glad after the Rem thing that it was a Steel Special BPS which has a lot more meat in it than some .

[Peregrine]

I figured it was a combination of things:
The stars came together with the strength of a S&W revolver, the low power loads of GI issue .38Spec. ,
and a few guys that shouldn't really have been handling firearms.
You're forgetting the cylinder gap. I've seen similar cross sectioned revolver barrels.
It seems with revolvers it's possible to stack multiple rounds in barrels after squibs because the pressure is vented through the gap, which out otherwise blow out catastrophically after the first shot in a design without that quirk.

I also remember a story about a hi-point carbine that got returned to the factory (and subsequently refurbished) that had then barrel stacked full of rounds. It seems that blowbacks are sometimes also able to survive multiple stuck rounds by nature of not being a locked breech.

[ulav8r]

When I was working at The Gun Exchange, a customer brought in a Blackhawk that he had shot surplus tracer rounds into, not through. Claimed the tracers had "welded the barrel shut." I removed 6 bullets from the bore, no damage done to the gun.

[Butzbach]

Your post reminded me of a day in my youth , a older cousin and myself were tramping through the woods after some squirrels , well Joseph had one in a tree so he takes his shot , I can still see his face after he took the shot , with the shotgun still at his shoulder he said " I sure hope that's a leaf " well it wasn't .
I don’t get it.

[Texas by God]

A friend brought over a S&W Chiefs Special that his son was shooting " till it quit working"- it had two bullets in the barrel and one bridging the cylinder gap- and one live one still in the cylinder. The ammo was the 130gr fmj .38 Special. It took some careful drill and worm work, and a new locking bolt; but it survived with no damage. I offered to buy it because it shot so well; no luck.
Another friend bought some subsonic 147gr 9mm cast ammo at a gun show. Shooting his Marlin Camp Carbine; he began to wonder where it was hitting.... he stuck 5 in the barrel. They came out easy with a brass rod and the gun lives on.
One needs to observe bullet impacts and odd report, obviously!

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