A Friend’s Gun Exploded Today w/ RST Shell
 

This is my friend’s W. Richards which correct me if I’m wrong but it’s not the same as a Westly Richards. He was hunting bobwhites this am in TN and he fired the second barrel at a quail and the barrel burst. He was shooting RST shells and he says that he doesn’t believe the barrel was plugged. This was the first shot of that barrel today and he cleaned the gun last week. Luckily he wasn’t hurt just shook up. Any thoughts?

Does he remember if he checked the bores before loading ? Glad he is ok ! What shell was he shooting ?

He was shooting the 2.5 inch 20 gauge ultra lites

Your friend is a lucky guy/gal. Not sure how anything other than an obstruction could cause that to happen. I look forward to the replies.

-Victor

Those RST 2.5 Ultra Lites are 3/4 oz @ 1100fps. A very light load with almost zero recoil in my Parker 20s. Those are my favorite shells for shooting clays. That is a scary picture and I am glad your friend is okay.

Could a 28 Ga. shell have been down in that barrel? That is quite the explosion

looks like a classic obstruction blow out

was it the first shot of the day for that barrel?

glad he is ok,

Most likely a stuck wad obstruction from the previous shot fired in that barrel. Very, very unfortunate.





.

Or the muzzle got stuck in the dirt.

Lots of questions to be answered
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...K7G9IBs4g/edit

A ring bulge is confirmation of an obstruction, and almost always lifts the rib

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../333454755.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../345860568.jpg

Thin barrels usually just split

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../406729359.jpg