Rifle blew up

[abunaitoo]

We had a rifle blow up yesterday at the range.
Looked like a Ruger All American. 308.
Guy just got it. Was shooting handloads.
Fired about 10 rounds through it when it blew.
He didn't know he blew it.
Fortunately the guy next to him noticed the barrel and stopped him.
He had chambered another round and was about to fire.
From the looks of it, he had a squib load, bullet got stuck in the barrel, and boom.
No one got hurt.
Bolt worked fine.
Don't have pictures because can't afford a phone with a camera.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

A description would be useful, but if it was simply an amputated barrel, that would be pretty sure to be a fairly substantial bore obstruction. If it was a bullet, it would be pretty sure to be a very small or omitted powder charge. The case which produced the blowup might show excessive pressure signs or might not. But the case from which the lodged bullet came would show the signs of extremely low pressure.

It is quite possible that the action will be unimpaired and reusable, but it needs careful checking out by a gunsmith, and not just any good gunsmith, but one who understands this situation.

[mcdaniel.mac]

Good to hear the shooter is fine. I'd be interested to hear more about the cause and the damage. Sounds like Ruger's rifle kept the shooter safe. Good for them!

[6bg6ga]

This is why one must be careful when reloading. Bullets tend to get stuck in the barrel when there isn't power in the case or the charge is low. Makes for a bad shooting day.

[OS OK]

I'm starting to get the idea that when someone hears you are a handloader they are wary of you. Maybe they pick their kit up and move down the bench a couple or three spaces...in case you suddenly detonate yourself.
When I got into this back in the day, when my hair was not grey...there was a level of respect for a man who was able to assemble his own cartridges, someone who worked with molten lead...how mysterious. If you were one of the chosen few allowed into that mysterious place where he does his magic, you marveled at the gizmos he had, the tools, his stock and the myriad styles of boolits and brass cases, all the obsolete cartridges standing in the window sill or on a plaque.
He was usually one of the best shots around, or was the hunter who always brought the remarkable buck home across the front car fender, the go to guy so to speak in the gun world. He was the guy whose opinion about a deer rifle got repeated...what he said was usually the 'bottom line' so to speak.

What has happened?

I keep hearing of the fellas around here who never have enough time to do this or that, or they want something because it saves so much time even though it may not do the best job for them...I kinda look at it in wonderment and can't put a finger on the culprit. Do we not stress enough the seriousness of this passion, not put enough emphasis on attention to detail...has the marketing and retail end pushed past the margin where any odd duck coming down the road can just buy one of the reloading 'complete packages' and go home to their garage and just 'assemble' until their hearts are delighted...I dunnoh, just can't put a finger on it...perhaps we have become so many that we just hear of this happening more just because of numbers....? I dunnoh.

[6bg6ga]

Well said OS OK. Handloaders used to be respected and admired because they took pride in reloading and the attention to detail. They took the time to work up a load for extreme accuracy. As a kid I remember watching my father as he was reloading and tricked a charge into the pan on his scale and carefully put the little funnel onto the neck of his 30-06 and dumped the charge into each one. He might load up say 10 of a particular charge and then make an adjustment and reload another 10 that might have been a tenth or two heavier charge. I remember his 1/2" groups with only a 4 power scope at 100 yards at the range. He would load say 4 or 5 different loads and keep the results written down to obtain that perfect load.

[victorfox]

Well the advent of internet, youtube, etc had its ill effects...

I see videos of guys doing stuff that makes me frown or shiver.. Many look like suicidal fools.

[6bg6ga]

Many may be

[Ole Joe Clarke]

I noticed the same thing. A kid has just bought a "kit" three weeks ago, became an expert, and so he posts a U tube video on the net showing how to do it. Some of those videos are absolutely scary.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

[10x]

I noticed the same thing. A kid has just bought a "kit" three weeks ago, became an expert, and so he posts a U tube video on the net showing how to do it. Some of those videos are absolutely scary.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

The feeling you get when the guy at the range next to you who is shooting his first reloaded his first rounds tells you that he is using 2 grains above max load....

[OS OK]

Leon, the sad part is that I'll leave a short comment trying to help them on the YouTube vids and they usually come back at you with vengeance...I know that this is a shortcoming on my part but..."I just don't give a damn anymore...let fools find their own salvation."

[opos]

I'm an old man that has loaded since the early 60's....so far have not had any "events" of note...did have one "accidental discharge" back in the 50's but that was operator error and nothing else and no damage...but did get my attention.

I'm a low volume loader so I use a single stage press for my rifle loads and a Lee Classic Turret press for the 4 handgun calibers I load..I'm a strictly by the book man on load development and seldom if ever get much load data off the internet...once in a while someone I know and trust will post and I may have a conversation with them and then check their data with my resources.

The thing that I've noticed on several other boards is the flurry of new loaders that have gotten AR's or some other form of "tactical" rifles and have become 1000 round a weekend shooters over night. Then comes the question about what equipment to get to start reloading...and I watch the other new folks pushing them toward the high end progressive presses with all the automated features..then the old timers ring in with "start with a single stage" and go from there. I can't imagine trying to understand the basics of loading and all that goes with it as well as powders and primers, etc while trying to figure out how to use a high end progressive.

It sort of reminds me of my flying days (I no longer fly). I began flying in the 50's in the simplest of single engine airplanes...and old J3 Cub...I got a solid foundation in the basics of flying and then slowly began to move up in performance and complexity...I finally ended up with a high speed, complex aircraft that had accounted for many private pilot deaths and injuries due to the "pilot" being way behind that kind of plane....I never had a scrape and flew it all over the Southwest in business....high altitudes as well....but no way would I have attempted to hop in that Bonanza and go flying with low hours or as a "learning" experience.

Wish folks would just slow down a bit..hate to see the outcome and it's not good for the hobby...I am not perfect..I may have a kaboom today at the range....but with thousands of rounds having been loaded carefully over a lot of years I might stand a better chance of all ok than if this was my 3rd box of 44 mag and I just used my brand new "Superdog 4000 Speedy Loader" with a new load I saw on the internet.

[OS OK]

Yep, those fellas that go out on weekends and spray lead...I suppose they have fun and that's ok but I just can't justify the cost.
I had opportunity to get behind a .50 in the Corps and bounce a 55 gallon drum at 600 yards like a tin can...that was soooo fine an experience. Today, after that, nothing even comes close so I leave the spraying to those who never experienced the real deal.

[DerekP Houston]

I kinda prefer to get the corner stall away from everyone else at the range....I've seen squibs from factory rounds and over pressured handloads. Judging by the number of holes in the ceiling and walls I'm surprised half the people can hit the standard sized target. Makes collecting my brass easier anyways.

[edler7]

I see a lot of "immediate gratification isn't quick enough" in people today. Nobody wants to earn their stripes, just have them handed to them. The pride of learning the ropes isn't around much anymore.

[OS OK]

"Ropes...What ropes?.. We don't need no stinking ropes! We gots de iPhone dude!"

[Kraschenbirn]

Yup...some days I have a real problem understanding how some shooters at our club got past our membership committee and made it through the mandatory range safety orientation.

Bill

[Ballistics in Scotland]

It sort of reminds me of my flying days (I no longer fly). I began flying in the 50's in the simplest of single engine airplanes...and old J3 Cub...I got a solid foundation in the basics of flying and then slowly began to move up in performance and complexity...I finally ended up with a high speed, complex aircraft that had accounted for many private pilot deaths and injuries due to the "pilot" being way behind that kind of plane....I never had a scrape and flew it all over the Southwest in business....high altitudes as well....but no way would I have attempted to hop in that Bonanza and go flying with low hours or as a "learning" experience.

Ah yes, the fork-tail doctor killer. I'm not sure whether its accident rate came from that unique design feature or from performance and complexity. In 1970 I hade some very interesting conversations with the leader of a group of Soviet students in Paris, and he told me he taught himself to fly in the early 50s, from the instruction book which came with a Polikarpov biplane. It was on a vast facility which was landable grassland to the horizon and in an era when a little death and loss of obsolete hardware was no big thing in Russia. He said it couldn't be stalled, and as long as you kept near the ground, you could just slow down till it become its own parachute. If the grass was long enough to show the direction of a strong wind, you could do a vertical landing. Then he would say "I don't suppose you have that much freedom in your country?"

[jmorris]

I saved the photos from the most blown up rifle I have ever seen, the fellow knew it though. It was a result of the poor guy grabbing a can of titegroup instead of Varget.






Despite the totaled rifle he was actually really lucky, he only suffered hand damage.

[lefty o]

I kinda prefer to get the corner stall away from everyone else at the range....I've seen squibs from factory rounds and over pressured handloads. Judging by the number of holes in the ceiling and walls I'm surprised half the people can hit the standard sized target. Makes collecting my brass easier anyways.

holes in the ceiling usually come from the muzzle loader guys.