Barrel blowout - As uncommon as I think?
I had an "incident" this past weekend that could have been fatal, but thankfully wasn't.
My wife & I were staying at a fire tower up near the Canadian border for the weekend. We took all of our guns with us to get in some range practice.
We were almost finished shooting and I had some ammo left for the .38. We decided to shoot it off and get in some more target practice with the Model 14.
While we were shooting we had some reloads malfunction (to use the term loosely).
I was using a box of reloads that I friend had built.
For the record, he has been reloading for nearly 30 years.
I unknowingly had 4 casings split on me while ranging in my Model 14. One bullet is now jammed in the barrel after slamming into another that apparently was jammed in the barrel from the shot before.
I had only fired 23 rounds prior to the malfunction. #24 & #25 was the end of the shooting day for my wife & I, needless to say.
2 shots involved here. I will try to keep them straight.
It seems that the "1st" shot casing split and only pushed the bullet partially thru the barrel. My wife & I never noticed the malfunction. The "1st" shot felt and sounded normal (BANG), no difference from all the others, same sound level & standard recoil. The "2nd" shot darned near took of my hands. It made a "BOOM" much louder than my .357 and the recoil was worse than anything I have ever experienced.
The "1st" bullet popped out as if in slow motion. My wife and I saw it actually bounce off the target and back toward us. Her face was nearly white and she asked me what just happened, as if she thought we should be dead or something.
I told her that I thought the gun had just "BLOWN UP".
I put it down to make sure it was safe and a few minutes later picked it up and checked out what had happened. I opened the cylinder, popped out the casings then looked at the barrel. I was shocked to see the bullet in the end of the barrel.
I picked up all of the casings and discovered that 2 of them were cracked, nearly from top to bottom. I then started scouring the ground for what had "popped out". I thought it was the bullet from the shot before and it had been pushed out of the barrel from the last shot. Well I guess I was right. I actually managed to recover the "1st" bullet after about a 1/2 hour of looking. It is shown in the pics.
The "2nd" bullet jammed in the barrel and my Model 14 is now useless, and pics will show that too.
Look at the reflections between the jammed bullet and the ejector pin. You can see the curves in the reflections showing the small bulge in the barrel.
When we got back to our room I searched thru all of my brass and discovered that 4 casings had been split.
I am taking my Model 14 to the gunsmith this week to see if there is any damage the to rest of the revolver, and see if it can be salvaged by just replacing the barrel. I don't know if the frame or cylinder were damaged in the back blast. He will know for sure. I will let you know later.
The end of the story is I will never fire anything but factory loads from now on. I guess that the standard 30-30 is okay by me.
NO MORE RELOADS FOR ME, Thanks !!!
Thanks to Smith & Wesson for building such a strong barrel and a quality gun. It saved my life!
My wife & I were staying at a fire tower up near the Canadian border for the weekend. We took all of our guns with us to get in some range practice.
We were almost finished shooting and I had some ammo left for the .38. We decided to shoot it off and get in some more target practice with the Model 14.
While we were shooting we had some reloads malfunction (to use the term loosely).
I was using a box of reloads that I friend had built.
For the record, he has been reloading for nearly 30 years.
I unknowingly had 4 casings split on me while ranging in my Model 14. One bullet is now jammed in the barrel after slamming into another that apparently was jammed in the barrel from the shot before.
I had only fired 23 rounds prior to the malfunction. #24 & #25 was the end of the shooting day for my wife & I, needless to say.
2 shots involved here. I will try to keep them straight.
It seems that the "1st" shot casing split and only pushed the bullet partially thru the barrel. My wife & I never noticed the malfunction. The "1st" shot felt and sounded normal (BANG), no difference from all the others, same sound level & standard recoil. The "2nd" shot darned near took of my hands. It made a "BOOM" much louder than my .357 and the recoil was worse than anything I have ever experienced.
The "1st" bullet popped out as if in slow motion. My wife and I saw it actually bounce off the target and back toward us. Her face was nearly white and she asked me what just happened, as if she thought we should be dead or something.
I told her that I thought the gun had just "BLOWN UP".
I put it down to make sure it was safe and a few minutes later picked it up and checked out what had happened. I opened the cylinder, popped out the casings then looked at the barrel. I was shocked to see the bullet in the end of the barrel.
I picked up all of the casings and discovered that 2 of them were cracked, nearly from top to bottom. I then started scouring the ground for what had "popped out". I thought it was the bullet from the shot before and it had been pushed out of the barrel from the last shot. Well I guess I was right. I actually managed to recover the "1st" bullet after about a 1/2 hour of looking. It is shown in the pics.
The "2nd" bullet jammed in the barrel and my Model 14 is now useless, and pics will show that too.
Look at the reflections between the jammed bullet and the ejector pin. You can see the curves in the reflections showing the small bulge in the barrel.
When we got back to our room I searched thru all of my brass and discovered that 4 casings had been split.
I am taking my Model 14 to the gunsmith this week to see if there is any damage the to rest of the revolver, and see if it can be salvaged by just replacing the barrel. I don't know if the frame or cylinder were damaged in the back blast. He will know for sure. I will let you know later.
The end of the story is I will never fire anything but factory loads from now on. I guess that the standard 30-30 is okay by me.
NO MORE RELOADS FOR ME, Thanks !!!
Thanks to Smith & Wesson for building such a strong barrel and a quality gun. It saved my life!
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Not as uncommon as all that. I notice that Internet Generation Shooters tend to take "squibs" that leave bullets stuck in the barrel rather casually.
1. Your gun is probably repairable by only replacing the barrel. The "back blast" is not likely to have done other damage besides the bulge where you stuck the bullet and drove it out. I have seen several such occurrences.
2. The split case did not cause the bullet to stick in the barrel. That is a separate fault caused by simple wear and repeated reloading. Nicklel plated .38 Special cases are notorious for short reloading life. The bullet failed to exit the barrel because your friend failed to put powder in the cartridge.
3. Mark Twain wrote:
"The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won't sit upon a cold stove lid, either."
I have been reloading for well over 30 years and have never stuck a bullet in a barrel, although I have seen several in person and the results of many others. MY conclusion was that I will not shoot other people's reloads in my guns. My reloads have thus far been satisfactory. And if they don't stay that way, I have nobody to blame but myself.0 -
A great analysis by Hawk.
But, I think even less of your reloader friend. Look at the dull finish on the cases showing the nickel was worn away; you can even see the brass showing through on the one with the biggest split. These cases were WAY past their usable life; my guess is that he dug them out of the dirt in front of the firing line at some range.
Experience, yes; good judgement, no.
Neal0 -
BTW, if you think that couldn't have happened with factory ammo (the squib or the splits) than you would be wrong.
I've had factory ammo that left the bullet in the barrel, and I've had factory fresh cases split.0 -
I had a Model 27 once with a ringed barrel from an experience similar to yours. Accuracy and power were not noticably affected though every time I picked it up I couldn't resist running a thumb and finger down the length of the barrel to confirm the bulge. Depending on how much you shoot it; how you feel about cleaning it; and how much the idea of a bulged barrel bothers you; may not need to replace the barrel.
Good idea to get that stuck bullet out, though! [:D][:D]0 -
Seems odd that the "1st" had a normal bang sound and/or recoil if it resulted in the bullet still in the bbl. 0 -
I suspect Bullet #1 did not have as much recoil and Bang but in rapid firing of a revolver this can be easily overlooked. It takes exit of bullet and gasses under pressure to get normal recoil you will get some BANG from escaping gas between rear of barrel and front of cylinder. 0 -
I,ve been reloading 38's for over 40 yrs. and been pitching nickle brass almost that long. Will only load it if I KNOW it is once fired.
Shot my 14 in hnters pistol sill. for years with my loads, MAX, and never had a squib.0 -
Hi...Even new factory rounds can be split. I bought a 20-round box of Winchester 41 magnum, that had four split cases in the box. Fired them with no ill effects, then discarded the split cases. Sometimes reloads will split too, and then those cases are discarded, too.
Split cases did not cause the stuck bullet....little or no powder charge did. I never shoot other people's reloads, either. I have reloaded my own shells for forty years, with no ill effects or squibs. BT0
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