Overloading a Sixgun

[Blaine]

Too much powder, and no common sense, and Poof

[Grizz]

a little JB-WELD will have that fixed in a jiffy

[Grizz]

that might explain why early revolvers DIDN'T HAVE A TOP STRAP

[Bill in Oregon]

Blaine, I hope that wasn't yours. Are you all right?

[Blaine]

Blaine, I hope that wasn't yours. Are you all right?

Oh, no! Just showing how weak a Sixgun can be sometimes....

[J Miller]

OUCH!

Last time I saw one like that it had been disassembled by a double charge of Bullseye.


Joe

[ollogger]

seen a Ruger Blackhawk come apart like that, it was a 44 mag, he was shooting his buddies reloads



ollogger

[Marvin S]

That will buff out

[Shasta]

It ain't just sixguns. For the first time in my life I was present when a firearm let go from a suspected double charge just last month:



It was a Swedish Mauser 6.5x55 firing a cast lead bullet load. Thankfully my friend was not seriously injured. He got a really bloody nose and fractured two fingers on his left hand, but came out of the incident way better than his rifle did!

Shasta

[vancelw]

Danggit. I thought this was going to be a thread about Jack walking and chewing bubble gum at the same time.

[hondo1892]

That's scary. Photo's like this is what makes me very cautious when using my Dillon 450 press. I could probably load more rounds but I move slow to make sure I don't double charge a round.
Glad to hear the feller shooting the Mauser didn't get hurt real bad.

[Aussie Chris]

I do remember Jack shared a picture of his 1886 that was not pretty. Metal fatigue I recall

Chris

[piller]

That makes me think "Ouch!".

[Bill in Oregon]

Wow, a Swede letting go! I have seen photos of the Mosin Nagants in pieces that Bannerman "converted" to .30-06 -- and a "smokeless" rolling block in 7mm that open like a flower, but never a Swede.

[Blaine]

Danggit. I thought this was going to be a thread about Jack walking and chewing bubble gum at the same time.

Nope....Too grounded in reality to imagine that.

[mikld]

I have an 8 1/2x11 color photo of a Ruger Super Blackhawk in the same condition on the wall behind my press, just as a reminder "keep yer mind on yer reloadin'"...

[yooper2]

Had a beautiful Police Positive Special Target come apart in my hand like the above sixgun. Not my gun or loads, probably a double charge of Titegroup although the owner said he extremely careful. No injury to me but it took a while to get over the flinch.


Eric

[earlmck]

So what is the story behind that particular one, Blaine?

[marlinman93]

I had a friend who could fix one like that! He passed away a long time ago, but he was a master gunsmith, and former Colt engraver. I met Rudy Merrick when he had a table next to mine at our OAC collector shows, and he always brought something very cool to display.
Rudy showed up one weekend with an early BP frame Colt SAA that was minty, and knowing him I was sure he'd restored it. He asks me if I could tell what was done to it, and I looked it over as close as possible, since I knew he always had surprises. Only thing I could discern was the restoration. He reaches in his shirt pocket and pulls out pictures that showed it looking just like the gun above!
Rudy said he bought a replacement cylinder for it, and then proceeded to bend and tweak the frame, and top strap back into spec. Then once he had it shaped correctly, he welded up the breaks, and shaped it all back down to factory original specs. Then color cased, and blued the parts, and make it look brand new! It was scary how perfect it looked after a catastrophic event like it had gone through!

[Rockrat]

I have a Silhouette S&W 29 that looks like that, except that the top strap is about 90 degrees to the bore. Not a double charge, but an undercharge of slow powder.

[Mike Armstrong]

When I was a freshman in college I landed my "dream" weekend job, helping run the Sheriff's Dept. reloading operation at the range. Lots of grunt work at first, like reconditioning .38 Spl. cases and sorting them to cull out any that showed weak spots or cracks or oversized primer pockets, putting the bad ones in the "brass barrel" etc. Later I graduated to helping run and load up the press and powder measure, doing a QC check on randomly chosen rounds, packaging them for the deputies (and the many other LEAs that used the range).

In those days, LEOs used practically nothing but .38 Spl. revolvers as sidearms (plus whatever off-duty guns they could get permission to carry and, yes, off-the-books "drop guns" in some cases). So we specialized in one round, the .38 with wadcutters that most practiced and qualified with. The service carry load was .38 roundnoses (although some of the cops REALLY carried SuperVels bought with their own money, in defiance of the regs). .357s were verboten--PC had already been invented!

When I got there, they had pretty much accepted a blown up S&W every ten months or so! There was at least one on every gunshop wall, and plenty had been stripped and sold for parts. The department used Bullseye because it was cheap and clean burning. It also left space for a double charge which almost ensures a detonation and a wrecked gun.

When a deputy lost vision in one eye because of a blowup and sued the department for a WHOPPING settlement (this was CA in the '60s, where personal injury civil lawsuits became the national industry that they are today), they switched to a bulkier--and much dirtier--and slightly more expensive-- powder that would stop the loader when it threw a double charge. Slow learners; even a kid knew what the cause and remedy were, but kids didn't make policy, nor did the guys who were suffering the blowups.

I still see blown-up S&W Model 10s and 15s on gunshop walls!

[piller]

Mistakes can, and do happen. Not to everyone. Some people are cautious enough that they never have things like that happen, BUT the chances of a mistake go up with every time you reload. Funny, but I remember RKrodle having a rifle barrel split open because a wasp crawled in unnoticed while the gun was cooling between shots. Things happen. How could you predict a wasp crawling in to the barrel?

[Elfego baca]

On one occasion a ‘few’ years ago my son came by with one of my 44 magnum reloads.
It would not chamber in his Superblackhawk.
I tried and agreed!
When I decomposed the cartridge two bullets were found!
I use a Dillon 550.
After that I weigh each cartridge to check for overloads.

Loading only a full case of powder is the remedy!

[JimT]

On one occasion a ‘few’ years ago my son came by with one of my 44 magnum reloads.
It would not chamber in his Superblackhawk.
I tried and agreed!
When I decomposed the cartridge two bullets were found!
I use a Dillon 550.
After that I weigh each cartridge to check for overloads.

Loading only a full case of powder is the remedy!

Quite a few guns have been blown due to that very thing.
Light loads for Cowboy Action ...
Cast bullets
Bullet lube buildup in the seating die holds a bullet
Loader thinks he forgot and adds a bullet ...

I read of one guy who blew 3 .44-40 sixguns that way ... finally weighed the cartridges and found several like that.

[Blaine]

So what is the story behind that particular one, Blaine?

Not mine, although about 20 years ago I was loading some real sketchy 45-70 load for the 1895GS....405s and running them to over 2100fps...

[Grizz]

So what is the story behind that particular one, Blaine?

Not mine, although about 20 years ago I was loading some real sketchy 45-70 load for the 1895GS....405s and running them to over 2100fps...

405s or 425s ? was that a cast load?

[Blaine]

So what is the story behind that particular one, Blaine?

Not mine, although about 20 years ago I was loading some real sketchy 45-70 load for the 1895GS....405s and running them to over 2100fps...

405s or 425s ? was that a cast load?

Those Remington 405 softpoints...we might have tried them in the BFR days....

[fordwannabe]

A buddy of mine works at Cabelas in Hamburg Pa. He had a guy come in with a super Blackhawk in the same general condition. Guy was trying to get a refund of his purchase price as the gun blew up. He was asked if it was factory or reloads? Reloads. How much powder did he use? A case full with Just enough to seat the bullet. He was asked what powder? Why, does it matter?