Wow, Ruger blew up!

Wonder how many of he reloading idiots claimed it wasn't their fault but the fault of the gun when they over-charged the case.
 
Wonder how many of he reloading idiots claimed it wasn't their fault but the fault of the gun when they over-charged the case.
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All of them. Just like the "damned gun just went off all by itself" when explaining accidental discharges.
 
I did have a gun go off all by itself once, a Savage Fox double barrel 12 gauge.

Something broke internally, and I closed the action, the left barrel fired.

Though, that's odd, let me try that again.

Made darned sure my hands were away from the trigger, reloaded, and BOOM.

Relatively easy fix, but it's a damned good lesson why, when loading a double, you should ALWAYS keep the muzzles pointed at the ground and bring the butt up to close it, not the barrels.
 
A local dealer showed me a three pieces of a destroyed cylinder of a new S&W 340 PD. The fourth piece of the cylinder could not be found.

The dealer told me the owner was using .38 Special factory ammo, purchased at the same time as the revolver.

No one was injured.
 
What does Ruger do when someone experiences a barrel failure? If you were to buy a used Redhawk, not overload it and the barrel snapped, will they replace the gun? They acknowledge that this was a problem on a limited number of firearms, are they still out in the wild and subject to this failure?
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It's a specific type of failure and only a problem on a certain serial number range. Ruger issued a recall IIRC as it is a factory defect.
 
If it's a proper firing line, everybody is supposed to be behind everybody else's muzzle. Worst that can happen is hand damage.

Wrong!
I was standing on a firing line when the man to my right, who was shooting right handed,,, this is important to see how he was holding the gun,,,
Blew up an AR 15.
When the gun blew up he was left with the pistol grip and stock in one hand and the forgrip in the other.
The T handle hit me in the face, broke my nose and destroyed a set of glasses. No, it didn’t pass through his head, it hit the wood structure of the line cover and bounced back and hit me.
There is NO safe place to stand when a stupid person does something stupid like reload a .223 "accidentally" with pistol powder.
 
Quote:
Wonder how many of he reloading idiots claimed it wasn`t their fault...

I wouldn`t go to the reloading site here on TFL and word that statement as such. All reloaders aren`t idiots.
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Wasn't referring to ALL, just the idiots that manufactured the overcharged loads that caused the above pictured firearms to blow up. Being a handloader, I can say that not all are idiots. :)
 
Not to deter the thread from blowing things up, but, has anyone ever seen these types of failures from factory loaded ammo?
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I don't believe I've ever gotten a factory overload but I have gotten factory squibs. Barrel obstructions can add excitement to one's day and don't need a double charge to do it.

It's my understanding (could be wrong here) that revolvers are more susceptible to squibs lodging in the barrel due to pressure escaping at the b/c gap. Thus we get BANG - BANG - BANG - poof - BLAMMO. No doubt more common with handloads but not unheard of with factory rounds.

I suspect the factory squib, together with a fleet of liability conscious lawyers, is a reason behind the revolver manual's verbose cautions on clearing misfires.
 
Casull and Bullseye

Tom2 said:
Guy who said a Freedom Arms has not blown up, I bet some might have been bent or loosened by the loads in those other kabooms. Maybe the reason is that people that drop that much on a SA revolver are more knowledgable and careful about loads? Might be that no one has tried hard enough to blow one up yet. There are limits to what any gun can handle at some point and someone out there is just dying to find out what those limits are, apparently. No such thing as an indestructable gun. No magic metals.
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I racall when Dick Casull first came out with his eponymous revolver in .454 Casull 30 or so years ago, it was reviewed in a Gun magazine (Guns, Shooting Times or Guns & Ammo, most likely. That's what I read back then.) The authors tested their example. Here is the quote I committed to memory

We loaded up a cartridge to the top with Bullseye and then pressed a bullet on top of it. (About a triple charge). We then tied the revolver to a tire, and tied a string to the trigger. We backed off and lay down behind a log and pulled the string. Every screw in the gun was loose, but the gun was still within spec in every dimension.

Now, this was before Freedom Arms, when Dick Casull was first starting to market his guns in that cartridge.

Does anyone actually personally know of a Freeedom Arms letting go? And does anyone know if the current production is significantly different from the ones Dick Casull was building in the '70s and early '80s?

I am not challenging anyone, but just curious. The gun is (or should be) a legend, but it is not supernatural. Just a good shootin' iron.

Lost Sheep

(To the original poster) Thanks for the pictures. I own an early Redhawk 5.5" and wonder sometimes if it is one of those "Monday" guns. But I don't worry about it overmuch.

Does anyone personally know of a FA Model 83 letting go?
 
This is impossible. Rugers can't be blown up. Tauruses either. Only Smith and Wessons blow up.
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Here, I fixed it for you Tim.:D

This is impossible. S&W's can't be blown up. Only Tauruses and Rugers blow up.

I would bet that 95% or more of these blow ups we see are from double charged reloads. I have been to a few "gun gatherings" for the AR or AK build. Bunch of guys at the reloading press, cranking out ammo, drinking a beer and smoking and joking.
 
blow-upblackhawk.jpg
 
Definitely a fixer-upper. Looks like a New Model Blackhawk, 45LC. Blew the whole topstrap off...you really gotta "try" to pull that one off.
 
Alot to be said for those reloaders who refuse to use progressive reloaders and powder measures.35 years of very careful reloading has never failed me.Visual inspection of each charged case is mandatory as constantly looking at the reloading data,right gun, right powder, right weight,right bullet.I have very few guns that have ever seen "factory ammo". I will stick with my ancient methods on a single stage press and keep my guns in one piece.
 
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