Almost forty years ago, the late Ken Waters was testing some revolvers for accuracy using hollow-base wadcutters when he reported having the following disconcerting experience after determining some extreme anomalies with the velocities being registered by his Oehler Model 31 chronotach: "...Walking downrange to have a look at the target, I encountered surprise number two. Lying on the floor of my indoor range were the just-fired wadcutter bullets, each with a hole clear through it from end to end. Staring at these in wonderment, I suddenly realized what had happened. The extreme deep hollow bases had allowed the thin center web to shoot out at higher velocity, triggering the chronograph screens, while the main cylindrical portion of the bullet, acting like a sabot, had dropped off.
"Hard on the heels of that thought came the realization that one of these tubular bullets might well have lodged in the barrel after the escape of driving powder gas through its center hole. Hurrying back to the shooting bench with that dread possibility in mind, I picked up the Ruger and checked the breech. And there it was. The fifth (and last) bullet fired had done just that, its hollow base flared out and wedged in the barrel breech, its center shot out!
"What if that had occurred with the first, second, third or fourth shot instead of the last round? Would the next shot blown out the cylinder wall or top strap? I don't know, but in pondering what the consequences might have been, I recalled those reports we've been hearing of late, of quality revolvers blowing up with light target loads with wadcutter bullets.
"There has been the usual nonsensical speculation as to whether the powder detonated in those cases, which didn't make any sense and which I didn't accept. The NRA's recent series of tests disproved that theory. Now I think we know the answer as to what
really happened-an unnoticed obstruction in the barrel! No one checks the barrel of a revolver after each shot, yet there's no other way the presence of an obstruction such as this would be known.
"Those bullets were from an old lot produced by a manufacturer who went out of business, but this occurrence should furnish enough incentive to other makers of hollow-base wadcutters to investigate the possibility of it happening with their product. As a double check, I reran the same load tests, this time using
solid-base wadcutters, and had no trouble whatsoever, obtaining fine accuracy and normal velocities..."
After reading this account all those many years ago, I have used only solid base wadcutter bullets when reloading for Bullseye competition, whether warranted or not.