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Guns you've blown up #9681100 03/13/15
Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 23,101 Annapolis, Md. G gnoahhh OP Campfire Ranger
OP gnoahhh Campfire Ranger G Joined: Nov 2005 Posts: 23,101 Annapolis, Md.	Reading of Shrapnel's misadventures in another forum, I got the idea for a thread on blown up guns. Anybody who has been immersed in the game deeply enough and long enough would have encountered such a thing, if not actually had it happen to him too. My incident involved a pristine 1920's vintage Colt Police Positive .32. Even though I did (and still do) handload the cartridge, I succumbed to the temptation to buy a baggie full of someone's old reloads at a gun show for like $5, thinking I would break them down for the brass. Shortly thereafter I found myself in a plinking session with a buddy and ran through all of my own loads for the gun. There being lots of shooting time left, I ran back in the house and said "what the heck" and grabbed the baggie of mystery ammo. Halfway through what seemed to be normal old fashioned mild .32 Long loads, one blew. The whole top half of the cylinder disappeared, and the top strap bent like a banana. It felt/sounded like a .357 had gone off in that little gun. My buddy and I frantically patted ourselves down checking for shrapnel wounds, but we were unscathed- but mightily scared. We put the guns away and retired to porch and dug out a bottle of scotch to dispel the shakes. I still have that blown up pistol 28 years later (minus some parts I cannibalized for another gun restoration) , kept as a reminder that one shall not trust a stranger's cheap reloads. The only thing I can think of as the cause was there must have been one with a case full of Bullseye in it. Breaking down the remainder of the unfired ones didn't turn up any overloads. "You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty

GB1

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681114 03/13/15
Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 96,121 S Steelhead Campfire Oracle
Steelhead Campfire Oracle S Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 96,121	Savage 110 300 Win Mag "Dear Lord, save me from Your followers"

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681138 03/13/15
Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 22,274 Back in Texas, for good! tex_n_cal Campfire Ranger
tex_n_cal Campfire Ranger Joined: Dec 2002 Posts: 22,274 Back in Texas, for good!	Never have blown one up. Have occasionally flirted with disaster, and been scolded by wimmins... "...the designer of the .270 Ingwe cartridge!..."

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681142 03/13/15
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 24,566 Likes: 1 Bozeman, MT shrapnel Campfire Ranger
shrapnel Campfire Ranger Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 24,566 Likes: 1 Bozeman, MT	I hope this goes on for pages...

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681144 03/13/15
Joined: Jan 2005 Posts: 57,485 Alaska R rost495 Campfire Kahuna
rost495 Campfire Kahuna R Joined: Jan 2005 Posts: 57,485 Alaska	Never seen it happen. I did blow a new muzzle brake off that was a friends rifle sighting in for him. Turns out the factory was about to send recall as they had found this out just prior to my call... no big deal, send it back, they fixed it and replaced the brake and it was still the same sub moa 7stw it had been. We can keep Larry Root and all his idiotic blabber and user names on here, but we can't get Ralph back..... Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over....

IC B2

Re: Guns you've blown up rost495 #9681171 03/13/15
Joined: May 2002 Posts: 10,005 Likes: 1 J Jericho Campfire Outfitter
Jericho Campfire Outfitter J Joined: May 2002 Posts: 10,005 Likes: 1	Had a high school friend who owned an old single shot 12 gauge and one day while small game hunting the muzzle peeled back about 4 inches after he fired it.

Re: Guns you've blown up rost495 #9681177 03/13/15
Joined: Dec 2006 Posts: 2,934 Pennsylvania P PennDog Campfire Regular
PennDog Campfire Regular P Joined: Dec 2006 Posts: 2,934 Pennsylvania	Man I do not have photos but I had just got a vintage 22 hornet/28 gauge and couldn't wait to fire the thing soooo took it to a gunsmith friend of mine - who went to Trinidad gunsmithing school with me and we did "all" the safety checks.....except firing pin protrusion and firing pin hole shape on the breech face. Seems as though the hole was/is enlarged and the firing pin pierced the primer allowing the gas to flow back into the action and blew the firing pin out through the stock. Luckily for me the firing pin was at an angle away from my face - if it would have been the upper 28 gauge barrel I could have had some serious issues Did have a good shot though that hit right where I was aiming PennDog Last edited by PennDog; 03/13/15.

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681203 03/13/15
Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 96,121 S Steelhead Campfire Oracle
Steelhead Campfire Oracle S Joined: Oct 2002 Posts: 96,121	I've been around a few shotgun barrels getting peeled back. "Dear Lord, save me from Your followers"

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681209 03/13/15
Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 26,524 Old North State RWE Campfire Ranger
RWE Campfire Ranger Joined: Sep 2007 Posts: 26,524 Old North State	SxS action I was working up 30-30 loads for. A combination of powder used, and I didn't bush the strikers. You have been warned.

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681223 03/13/15
Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 5,131 Connecticut / Florida M Mike_S Campfire Tracker
Mike_S Campfire Tracker M Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 5,131 Connecticut / Florida	I witnessed a Remington 1187 that let go on the skeet range. My friend was shooting doubles station 2 when on the low bird (second shot) their was to me 2 explosions. A pop then a boom. He got both birds, and the barrel let go destroying the fore-end and magazine tube. I have been shooting mostly left handed shotguns ever since. He was right handed right hand shotgun. A lefty might have gotten a face full of iron.

IC B3

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681228 03/13/15
Joined: May 2008 Posts: 823 West TN 6 66niteowl Campfire Regular
66niteowl Campfire Regular 6 Joined: May 2008 Posts: 823 West TN	Glock 45 ACP, double charge

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681237 03/13/15
Joined: Nov 2013 Posts: 28,809 Likes: 3 West of the Blue Ridge Pappy348 Campfire Ranger
Pappy348 Campfire Ranger Joined: Nov 2013 Posts: 28,809 Likes: 3 West of the Blue Ridge	I've told this one before, but here goes anyway... I used to frequent a public range located on the top of a "mountain" in a nearby WMA. The range attracted people from all over, including several nearby states as it was free and also went to 200 yards. One guy I used to see there a lot was a collector of military rifles. He used to park at one of the 200 yard benches, set up his targets, and just shoot. One day, I was a couple of benches over and noticed he was shooting what I thought was a nice 1917 Enfield. I went over to get a closer look and he explained that it was a P14 the Brits had chambered in 7.92 during the war for experimental reasons of some sort and that he had paid $1100 for it. What provenance he had I have no idea, and why he would choose to shoot such a rare and expensive bird is a mystery. I sat down at my bench and began shooting. One of his shots sounded strange, even through the muffs and something struck me and landed on my bench. It looked like a piece of an extractor. I looked over at him and he was sitting there looking a bit stunned. I went over to check on him and found him examining the rifle, which was a mess. The end of the extractor had blown off and flown over and hit me. The magazine box had blown out, bending the floorplate and rupturing the wood around it. The bolt was locked up solid. The shooter was okay, if a little shellshocked, and had just a few specks of blood on his face from powder bits. He was very lucky, as I can't recall ever seeing him with eye protection. Some months later, I met him there again and asked if he had figured out what had happened. He said as far as he could tell, a round of the wrong cartridge, probably a .308 had gotten mixed in with his ammo, but his gunsmith wasn't sure. The rifle was being repaired, but was pretty much ruined as a collector's piece. What fresh Hell is this?

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681460 03/13/15
Joined: Mar 2003 Posts: 8,423 dogzapper Campfire Kahuna Emeritus & Campfire Outfitter
dogzapper Campfire Kahuna Emeritus & Campfire Outfitter Joined: Mar 2003 Posts: 8,423	I blew up the first Kimber 6PPC every made. It's serial number was 6PPC-1. I was sent to the range with the rifle and five boxes of Sako ammo. In my stupidity, I didn't tie the rifle to a tire and fire it by lanyard. I fired it from the shoulder and it literally blew up. The receiver split at the top,the barrel landed about thirty yards downrange, the scope hopped up in the air and hit my head, the bolt stayed in the receiver, but the cocking piece literally blew up ... parts of it left in my right hand still. The worst part was that the receiver had a gas relief hole in the bottom of the action, but nobody had thought to drill the heavy laminated stock so that the gas could actually escape. When the gas hit the laminated wood, it opened up like a duckfoot. When the stock closed back up, a bunch of the skin of my left hand was squished and inside of the stock. When the round went off, my face burned and I could not see. My face hurt and my left hand was on fire. The stock was stuck to my left hand. My glasses were like sandblasted by steel and brass and there was blood flowing from my forehead and down my face. Somehow, I got my glasses off and the blood out of my eyes. At that point in time, Greg Warne and three potential investors showed up to witness the firing of Greg's newest wunderkind. When Greg saw me ... bleeding and helpless ... he blanched and suggested that the group retire to a nicer place. I croaked, "Could one of you please take a screwdriver and open the laminations, so I can get my hand out of this stock?" They all looked blankly at me, got in Greg's fancy leased automobile and drove off. Typical rich yuppie pukes. I finally got the stock off my hand, the bleeding stopped and the rifle pieces gathered up. I took the sh1t back to Kimber of Oregon and dumped it on Greg's desk. That was the last shot I fired for Kimber. Reason for the blowup was simple. There were no gunsmiths at Kimber. When Clymer called to ask if the 6PPC reamer was to be "target" (meaning turned neck) or sporter (not turned neck), the secretary said, "Well, Kimber makes accurate rifles, to send us a target reamer, you silly " So, I put a non-turned cartridge in a chamber that was intended for a turned case neck. The neck had no expansion room and the bullet became a solid bore obstruction. Can you spell D.E.T.O.N.A.T.I.O.N ???? I'm lucky the blowup didn't kill me. The bolt could easily have blown back between my eyes and into my brain. Might I state that the rifle was built by fools who knew very little about firearms? Anyway, that is my opinion. Blessings, Steve "God Loves Each Of Us As If There Were Only One Of Us" Saint Augustine of Hippo - AD 397

Re: Guns you've blown up gnoahhh #9681478 03/13/15
Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 5,082 Etna, Wyoming S Snake River Marksman Campfire Tracker
Snake River Marksman Campfire Tracker S Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 5,082 Etna, Wyoming	Twice. An Anne Arundel county swat guy had a squib in his 45cal glock while doing double taps. The second round bulged the barrel. A few years ago I was doing double taps with my Springfield 1911. The first round was a squib. I noticed it was different just as I pulled the trigger a second time. Ruptured the barrel, otherwise no damage to me or the pistol. As gnoahhh said, if you're around this stuff long enough it will either happen to you, or to someone you know. Stupidity is expensive If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

Re: Guns you've blown up Snake River Marksman #9681489 03/13/15
Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 28,387 Likes: 1 Idaho, USA Jim in Idaho Campfire Ranger
Jim in Idaho Campfire Ranger Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 28,387 Likes: 1 Idaho, USA	None so far, though looking at my handloading practices in retrospect I really tried. Damn Remington 700's are too strong... Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery. Hit the target, all else is twaddle!

Re: Guns you've blown up Steelhead #9681506 03/13/15
Joined: Jan 2005 Posts: 10,718 2 222Rem Campfire Outfitter
222Rem Campfire Outfitter 2 Joined: Jan 2005 Posts: 10,718	Originally Posted by Steelhead Savage 110 300 Win Mag A classic Campfire moment. Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. --Winston Churchill

Re: Guns you've blown up 222Rem #9681516 03/13/15
Joined: Jan 2007 Posts: 11,556 Likes: 3 lawrence county MO L ldholton Campfire Outfitter
ldholton Campfire Outfitter L Joined: Jan 2007 Posts: 11,556 Likes: 3 lawrence county MO	Originally Posted by 222Rem Originally Posted by Steelhead Savage 110 300 Win Mag A classic Campfire moment. Would you take load advice from the guy that caused that ?? really ? Makes me think of the old phrase " stupid hurts" . I konw I know.... chit happens

Re: Guns you've blown up dogzapper #9681523 03/13/15
Joined: Jan 2005 Posts: 10,718 2 222Rem Campfire Outfitter
222Rem Campfire Outfitter 2 Joined: Jan 2005 Posts: 10,718	Originally Posted by dogzapper Might I state that the rifle was built by fools who knew very little about firearms? Anyway, that is my opinion. I DO like the .22LRs from that era, but knowing what a clown the owner was takes away a bit of their aura. In your opinion (lawyer hedge in place) didn't Kimber of Oregon fold because of a nose candy problem? Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. --Winston Churchill

Re: Guns you've blown up 66niteowl #9681525 03/13/15
Joined: Jan 2007 Posts: 11,556 Likes: 3 lawrence county MO L ldholton Campfire Outfitter
ldholton Campfire Outfitter L Joined: Jan 2007 Posts: 11,556 Likes: 3 lawrence county MO	Originally Posted by 66niteowl Glock 45 ACP, double charge Did the gun "blow up" or case rupture at "unsupported" area and blow nmag out the bottom of pistol ? Last edited by ldholton; 03/13/15.

Re: Guns you've blown up dogzapper #9681552 03/13/15
Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 13,928 PA moosemike Campfire Outfitter
moosemike Campfire Outfitter Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 13,928 PA	Originally Posted by dogzapper I blew up the first Kimber 6PPC every made. It's serial number was 6PPC-1. I was sent to the range with the rifle and five boxes of Sako ammo. In my stupidity, I didn't tie the rifle to a tire and fire it by lanyard. I fired it from the shoulder and it literally blew up. The receiver split at the top,the barrel landed about thirty yards downrange, the scope hopped up in the air and hit my head, the bolt stayed in the receiver, but the cocking piece literally blew up ... parts of it left in my right hand still. The worst part was that the receiver had a gas relief hole in the bottom of the action, but nobody had thought to drill the heavy laminated stock so that the gas could actually escape. When the gas hit the laminated wood, it opened up like a duckfoot. When the stock closed back up, a bunch of the skin of my left hand was squished and inside of the stock. When the round went off, my face burned and I could not see. My face hurt and my left hand was on fire. The stock was stuck to my left hand. My glasses were like sandblasted by steel and brass and there was blood flowing from my forehead and down my face. Somehow, I got my glasses off and the blood out of my eyes. At that point in time, Greg Warne and three potential investors showed up to witness the firing of Greg's newest wunderkind. When Greg saw me ... bleeding and helpless ... he blanched and suggested that the group retire to a nicer place. I croaked, "Could one of you please take a screwdriver and open the laminations, so I can get my hand out of this stock?" They all looked blankly at me, got in Greg's fancy leased automobile and drove off. Typical rich yuppie pukes. I finally got the stock off my hand, the bleeding stopped and the rifle pieces gathered up. I took the sh1t back to Kimber of Oregon and dumped it on Greg's desk. That was the last shot I fired for Kimber. Reason for the blowup was simple. There were no gunsmiths at Kimber. When Clymer called to ask if the 6PPC reamer was to be "target" (meaning turned neck) or sporter (not turned neck), the secretary said, "Well, Kimber makes accurate rifles, to send us a target reamer, you silly " So, I put a non-turned cartridge in a chamber that was intended for a turned case neck. The neck had no expansion room and the bullet became a solid bore obstruction. Can you spell D.E.T.O.N.A.T.I.O.N ???? I'm lucky the blowup didn't kill me. The bolt could easily have blown back between my eyes and into my brain. Might I state that the rifle was built by fools who knew very little about firearms? Anyway, that is my opinion. Blessings, Steve That's going to be hard to top! I'd have sued somebody.

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