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That is one of the saddest pictures I've ever seen...Hope nobody got hurt.

A few years back I blew up a Mexican Mauser that was rebarreled to 284 Winchester. I bought it years before at a gun show for a hundred bucks, over the years the barrel wore out and I was going to have a new barrel put on it but realized that the handloads that I had on hand might not work or even fit in the new chamber. I decided to shoot all those loads rather than pull the bullets and save the powder. It was a hot Nevada day, about 90 degrees, I had 60 rounds to shoot and fired about 40 from the shoulder, shoulder got sore so I switched to shooting from the hip, had six rounds left, pulled the trigger, something hit me in the chest and my right hand began to sting, dropped the rifle on the ground. I picked it up and noticed black soot around the gas holes on top of the receiver, bolt would not open.
Took the rifle to a gunsmith, he called me the next day and told me to come down to his shop, I received a lecture and then he showed me the bolt, the front of the bolt was missing, one of the lugs was cracked, he told me that I was lucky the lug did not let go, I told him I was shooting from the hip when it happened, he said that instead of losing my face I would have lost my manhood. What happened in his opinion was that the barrel got so hot that it shrank and the chamber was so hot that it caused the powder in the case to change it's chemical make up, I am assuming that he knew what he was talking about.

I didn't blow one up but should have.

I was new to reloading (40 years ago) and was at a buddies. We had jointly purchased some reloading equipment. He was the "expert" as he had reloaded with others equipment in the past. We had a new scale 10-10 and were loading 38's for a security six 357.

We went outside to try one of the "new" loads and it sounded strange, much bigger bang and recoil than we had previously experienced. We looked at each other with astonished surprise and went back inside to check the scale. Sure enough an overload for a 38, luckily not so much so that the Ruger 357 Security Six couldn't handle.

We and the pistol were unscathed but once again experience can be a good thing. We learned how to properly read and double check that scale.

I also have a replica 1861 44 cap and ball with a bulged barrel that was given to me by my BIL, I never did get the story of what happened with that one. Only evasive answers. It shoots without incident and is accurate.

I noticed the lens cap appeared to be still on the scope and wondered what the story was.

It does appear you were successful in your endeavors.

I once had a ramrod stuck in a ML and shot it from a distance using a string with no incident. It don't remember the ramrod being usable afterwards though.

I'll have to call BS on your gunsmith. If barrels got so hot the chemical composition of the powder could be changed, belt fed machine guns would be blowing up every time they went into combat. Also, anyone who has any understanding of the properties of metals (which most gunsmiths should) would know that steel expands as it gets hotter so the chamber couldn't shrink. I'd find another gunsmith.

And yet he seems so proud of himself.......

You didn't rub lard on your balls!!

And that's why I don't shoot black powder!!

Yep, I seriously doubt that barrel got hotter than a machine gun barrel. Steel most definately expands as it heats up.

It would have molecularly debonded from the heat and side stress. The resulting violent sub-particle shifting would have caused an anti-elastic disassociation of the metal. Crack!

As an aside, I wore out three trigger fingers and two hats. But it happened in the European southern hemisphere, so I didn't bring them back. I should have.

Had a barrel split at the chamber on a 1927 Sistema Colt 1911. Blew the magazine out and bulged the slide.

Here's some idiots blowing a cap and ball with what looks like smokeless.
https://youtu.be/WgVRMUGzm24

I've been present when 3 blew up and I guess one was my fault. An old neighbor bought a 99 243 and asked me to load for it. I was loading 243 in a rem 600 and wanted to shoot the same load. Worked up from 5 grains below and saw no problems. Decided ti sight it in with new scope and also see how many loads the brass would stand at the same time. If I remember correctly the load was Sierra 100 grainers with 45 grains of h4831. The ww2 surplus stuff. The 5th round split the but stock and halfway opened the lever. No harm to me. The gunsmith had never seen a 99 come apart but said it was ruined. Sides bulged on action etc. in his opinion it would be impossible to put enough 4831 in a 243 to blow it up. He had no idea why it blew.
My cousin and I were shooting rabbits and I heard a really loud crack. Looked over and the floor plate was on the ground the stock was split and he had blood and powder and brass flecks all over his face. Pre-64 model70 243 was the weapon and the problem was a guy had given him some powder. The can said h380 but had been replaced with h110 and written lightly in pencil on the top of the can. Sure soured me on opened powder.
The third incident was a Mauser 98 rebarreled to 7x57imp. Barrel split from muzzle through the receiver ( no harm except to barrel ). No cause was ever determined

Back in thew early 90's I managed to explode a Ruger Security Six. I had loaded 12 rounds of 357 to try some Accurate Arms powder. he first 3 fired fine, the fourth sounded really loud. I went to check it out and found half the cylinder was missing (never found it)the top strap was hooved way up, and the front sight was rotated about 1/8 of a turn to the left.I had been loading for about 20 years without incident. and thank god have not had another since. As near as a trusted friend who has loaded a lot more than I have always thought I had undercharged one and got a detonation with the fast burning powder I was using. Certainly does leave the knees weak in the aftermath of kaboom like that.
Bill

Never had one go to pieces but have had to hammer the bolts open a time or two.
Well come to think about it i did load some 40 grain 22 cal bullets in a 223 case just to see how fast they would go.
Back then i had to send the 788 to get an extractor installed and in the brother in laws mini-14 the trigger group came out in his hand.
glad i only loaded a few up.

Been a whole lot more careful after that.

Never blew up a gun, but had a case let go in a 1911 once, blew the mag out and the grips off. No blood, new grips and mag catch and it was g2g. I did witness a military Mauser 98 letting go once, split receiver, launched barrel and splintered stock. Near as the owner could figure, he had IMR 4227 and IMR 4350 on the loading bench at the same time and he got his powders crossed. Luckily only minor damage to the shooter.

Blew a primer once, never a firearm.

I've seen a Ruger Hawkeye in .204 blow up, the action was ruined and the shooter got pieces of case in his face. Still don't know what caused that, and there was a gunsmith there too.

I've blown a few primers and beaten a few bolts open but never had a full-on blow-up.

Worst was working up loads for my new at the time Kimber Montana in 243. Can't recall which powder I was working with @ the time but somehow there were a few .257 diameter bullets in with the .243 partitions I had been working with. You'd think that when I scraped all of that jacket material off upon seating the bullet that the warning sirens would've gone off. But, I'm sure I was in a hurry at the time and dismissed it as a case that wasn't chamfered well. I recall it was a partial box that had been given to my dad by a friend of his and when I heard where it came from I wasn't surprised. The guy who gave him the bullets was well known for several times firing 223Rem ammo in his 22-250 B78.

ssssshhh.....

Had a LC Smith, I was standing besides throwing clays for, do that one afternoon with a friend. I was throwing for him and all of a sudden the barrel peeled back like it was made out of tissue paper. Might have been a stuck wad, but we were both certain he hit the bird on the previous round. Not damascus, either. The gun was his Dad's and his Dad was a gruff one. That took the urge to shoot away for the day.

I never blew a gun up, but I did lock the bolt on a 460 Wby tight enough to need the 2x4 stub and mallet treatment. I was trying to find a load for a box of 600 grain Barnes I had bought that weren't made anymore, and data for the thumpers was nowhere to be found. So, at the wise old age of 25, I thought I could "back into" it using data for the "common" 500 grainers. In hindsight, I probably wasn't too many grains off from backing into a lot more than I bargained for. But, undaunted, I verified the rifle was visually undamaged, dropped the charge 10 grains, and worked up to an accurate load. Never really enjoyed shooting 600 grains out of that gun, all that much though. I saved those for the guys at the range that wanted to shoot just it "just once".

I melted a barrel on an M60 in the Army...

had two rounds blow and mess up a rifle... both loads were 25 grains of H 335 and a 55 grain bullet, in 223...

one reason I don't trust H 335..