Blowing Up Guns

[Ganderite]

I have lost track of how many I have blow up. All but 2 were done deliberately.

The 2 accidental ones:

Shooting a 1911 rapid fire with old (30yr+) factory Remington match ammo. One round squibbed and the next one was on the way before I could react. Second round blew the barrel. We were able to use a vice to force the action open and then change the barrel. Pistol was back in use the next day. Good thing. it was not my pistol.

Blew open the chamber of a 357 mag revolver. Load was medium power - except for the double charge. Turned out a mouse had made a nest in one of my drums of powder and was collecting kernels of corn. The corn got mixed with my powder and caused some funny powder charges.

The deliberate ones:

Unfortunately I had to turn in my notebook when I left CIL (ammunition division). We would get letters of compliant and blown up guns. Shooter always blamed the ammo.

We were pretty good at identifying the usual causes (a patch in the barrel) or a muzzle dubbed into the mud. But sometimes we were stumped as to how or why so we would run some test to try to duplicate the results.

If the action is blown to pieces, it is probably pistol powder in a rifle case. This is a terrify prospect if it is factory ammo. (We never saw it with our ammo, but I later saw it with the ammo of another maker. It blew up a lot of guns and some people were hurt.)

Blowing up a barrel with an obstruction is not as easy as you would think. I have done it many times, using bullets, cleaning rods, mud and patches as obstructions. As a rough rule of thumb, if the obstruction is half way down the barrel, or farther, the barrel will split. If the obstruction is near the chamber, not much happens.

We deliberately shot the wrong caliber ammo in rifles, many times. It never caused much of a problem. I heard of it blowing up a gun, once. The proof house fire a 308 proof round in a 25-06. One customer wrote us to say he really preferred our 303 Savage ammo because it did not kick as hard as the other 303. I determined 303 Savage would shoot fairly reliably, but, of course, accuracy was an issue (in a 303 Brit rifle).

Since those days I have occasionally deliberately blown up a rifle, in the attempt to try to learn something or to prove something. It is a fitting end to a junker rifle. But, unless you use pistol powder, it is not easy.

 

[ted_dent]

I have lost track of how many I have blow up. All but 2 were done deliberately.

The 2 accidental ones:

Shooting a 1911 rapid fire with old (30yr+) factory Remington match ammo. One round squibbed and the next one was on the way before I could react. Second round blew the barrel. We were able to use a vice to force the action open and then change the barrel. Pistol was back in use the next day. Good thing. it was not my pistol.

I'm surprised this happened. The one saving grace of getting a squib in a semi-auto is that usually the round doesn't generate enough pressure to cycle the action so it prevents a second round from being chambered and fired. Seen this happen many times. Not the case with revolvers, of course. As long as the squib has enough poop for the bullet to clear the forcing cone it's very easy to fire another round into it. A friend of mine had that happen. Fired a squib, fired another round and blew the cylinder of a S&W 686 in half. It was an indoor range and one half of the cylinder went through one side shield and the other half went through the other side shield. No one hurt, luckily.

I always try to pay particular attention if a round doesn't sound 'right' when it goes off. Can lead to big problems.

 

[Spawn-Inc]

so far in my gun career i've only wrecked one barrel in my norinco 1911 when one round got stuck in the barrel but had enough powder to cycle the next round during rapid fire. it bulged the barrel and locked up the action a bit.

 

[Ganderite]

I'm surprised this happened. The one saving grace of getting a squib in a semi-auto is that usually the round doesn't generate enough pressure to cycle the action so it prevents a second round from being chambered and fired. Seen this happen many times. Not the case with revolvers, of course. As long as the squib has enough poop for the bullet to clear the forcing cone it's very easy to fire another round into it. A friend of mine had that happen. Fired a squib, fired another round and blew the cylinder of a S&W 686 in half. It was an indoor range and one half of the cylinder went through one side shield and the other half went through the other side shield. No one hurt, luckily.

I always try to pay particular attention if a round doesn't sound 'right' when it goes off. Can lead to big problems.

With a standard spring, the action probably would not have cycled a fresh round. It was a target pistol with a light spring.

 

[scout]

Turned out a mouse had made a nest in one of my drums of powder and was collecting kernels of corn. The corn got mixed with my powder and caused some funny powder charges.

Would mouse turds be considered progressive or regressive in the powder mix???

 

[Dogleg]

so far in my gun career i've only wrecked one barrel in my norinco 1911 when one round got stuck in the barrel but had enough powder to cycle the next round during rapid fire. it bulged the barrel and locked up the action a bit.

Did something similar with a 32 Browning many moons ago. It bulged the barrel and we got it apart with a hammer. Worked the bulge down with a file and went back to shooting it. OK, so that part isn't recommended but that's what happened. S&B factory ammo, shot about the same after as before.

 

[the spank]

I have never blown one up and never been present thankfully when a couple fellows blew up trap guns at the club. Hope I never have to experience it.

 

[BattleRife]

I've worn one out, but not yet blown one up. Something to look forward to

In all honesty, I've been party or witness to several hundred thousand shots fired, but only two catastrophic failures:
One, my rattly Inglis High Power locked up tight and warped the slide when the barrel skipped right over the cam and tried to recoil backwards with the barrel still locked to the slide, and:

Two, a guy beside me had a squib, but didn't recognize the significance and fired again, splitting the cylinder on his brother in law's Smith & Wesson 686. The gun was months old, he was pissed. But I didn't even notice it happened until it was pointed out to me.

 

[ted_dent]

With a standard spring, the action probably would not have cycled a fresh round. It was a target pistol with a light spring.

That makes sense. A squib would have a pretty tough time cycling the 16 pound standard spring but I could possibly see it with a 9-10 pound softball spring.

 

[Andy]

About 10 years ago I tried to blow up a Carcano, but not the original version, the supposedly dangerously weak "Cooey Carcano". I failed - I suppose if the full case of Unique I used was substituted for a full case of Bullseye I might have succeeded. People still believe the old myths that the Cooey Carcano is "dangerous" though. I caused quite a sh*t storm over it.

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/foru...ton-Carcano-quot-A-Myth-Busted-Updated-2-June

 

[fingers284]

I've never had a gun blow up on me but have been close to two other fellows that did, nobody was hurt. one was a SAA clone with a suspected double charge, the other was a 1911(again a suspected double charge) that blew the slide off the gun and the mag out the bottom, grips both cracked, incredibly lucky the shooter didn't even have a scraped skin of any kind.

Actually the most "exciting" event I was witness too was a chain fire with a cap & ball revolver...more excitement than a heart should be able to stand at any one time...lead & fire going every direction at once.

 

[Boomer]

I had a house fire in December 2000, and subsequently recovered 2 of the many guns I had at the time, (custom 700 Remington .222 and Ruger #1 .416 Rigby) and I asked the question on CGN whether it was possible to heat treat them so they would be safe and useable. The answer of course was a resounding negative, and Guntech suggested I dispose of them in such a way that they could never again be put back together by an unscrupulous individual, and sold to some unwitting person who didn't know he held a pipe bomb. Now, I like blowing stuff up as much as the next guy, so I rigged the chambers up with high explosive and detonating cord and got the following result . . .

Before . . .






Sorry, no before Ruger pics



After . . .






I still have the pieces, but I doubt they are salvageable.

 

[Hitzy]

This was a CGN'er loading at the range with pistol and rifle powder...
Guess what wound up in the rifle?

 

[lyman54]

It must take quite a bit to accidently blow up a Mauser action.

 

[lyman54]

This was a CGN'er loading at the range with pistol and rifle powder...
Guess what wound up in the rifle?

I'll guess half his fingers

 

[H4831]

I have read so much on the great dangers of loading a partial load of slow burning powder in a rifle, that I couldn't resist trying. From what I read the worst case scenario would be a half case, or so, of slow powder, with the rifle angling down. And to make it super dangerous, it would have a weak primer that didn't fully start the powder burning at once.
The theory went that if the powder was in the front of the case, it was supposed to block up the gas from blowing the bullet out of the barrel!
I had a Schmidt-Rubin that had been rechambered to 308 Winchester that I was not in love with, so it went to the test.
I primed some cases, using LR mag, LR standard, large pistol magnum and large pistol standard. Into every case went half a case full of H4831 powder and a 180 grain hunting bullet was firmly seated.
I drove down a back trail until I found a convenient tree a little over a foot across. I tied the rifle to the tree in a vertical position with the barrel pointing down. For safety I could stand on the other side of the tree, with just a string up and over a limb and tied to the trigger.
I loaded the cartridge with the magnum rifle primer and yanked the string. There was a fairly light bang and the bullet blew a hole in the ground at the foot of the tree.
I then went to the rifle primer, with the same result.
The large pistol magnum primer had the same effect, hole in the ground, but the large pistol standard primer resulted in deep silence, as the primer failed to ignite the powder.
Damn, still had the rifle.
Actually, I was so sure that my test would end just this way, that I never even bothered to set up my camera, to record the great event!

 

[tootall]

Garand build gone wrong...

 

[Ganderite]

I have read so much on the great dangers of loading a partial load of slow burning powder in a rifle, that I couldn't resist trying. From what I read the worst case scenario would be a half case, or so, of slow powder, with the rifle angling down. And to make it super dangerous, it would have a weak primer that didn't fully start the powder burning at once.
The theory went that if the powder was in the front of the case, it was supposed to block up the gas from blowing the bullet out of the barrel!
I had a Schmidt-Rubin that had been rechambered to 308 Winchester that I was not in love with, so it went to the test.
I primed some cases, using LR mag, LR standard, large pistol magnum and large pistol standard. Into every case went half a case full of H4831 powder and a 180 grain hunting bullet was firmly seated.
I drove down a back trail until I found a convenient tree a little over a foot across. I tied the rifle to the tree in a vertical position with the barrel pointing down. For safety I could stand on the other side of the tree, with just a string up and over a limb and tied to the trigger.
I loaded the cartridge with the magnum rifle primer and yanked the string. There was a fairly light bang and the bullet blew a hole in the ground at the foot of the tree.
I then went to the rifle primer, with the same result.
The large pistol magnum primer had the same effect, hole in the ground, but the large pistol standard primer resulted in deep silence, as the primer failed to ignite the powder.
Damn, still had the rifle.
Actually, I was so sure that my test would end just this way, that I never even bothered to set up my camera, to record the great event!

Many, if not most of my attempts to blow up a rifle failed on the first attempt. You really have to try hard. This is why a smile when someone worries about his OAL or switching primers and gets lots of internet advice of danger.

Even a case full of pistol powder in a rifle cannot be relied upon to blow up the rifle every time. Sometimes it just brazes the action closed with vaporized brass.

 

[tootall]

Many, if not most of my attempts to blow up a rifle failed on the first attempt. You really have to try hard. This is why a smile when someone worries about his OAL or switching primers and gets lots of internet advice of danger.

Even a case full of pistol powder in a rifle cannot be relied upon to blow up the rifle every time. Sometimes it just brazes the action closed with vaporized brass.

This really surprises me.
The internet panic, not so much...

 

[burnt_servo]

Sometimes it just brazes the action closed with vaporized brass.

that would be cool to see first hand