End of Barrel Blown off

[Casey]

FYI,
I just thought I'd share this little tidbit.
A friend of mine was duck hunting this weekend and managed to blow the end of the barrel off of his Browning BPS. The culprit appears to be Steel shot that was stuck together from moisture. Guess we really need to think twice before launching a load of these down barrels that can't be replaced.

In case you can't tell, I just love these little smilies!!!

[Mills]

Gotta be careful with those modern barrels.

[ed good]

did the same thing myself about 60 years ago. was huntin in a swamp along the Altamaha river in south east Georgia. had my trusty stevens model 94 .410 in hand. stuck the muzzle of the 410 in the mud and figured no big deal and I would just shoot the mud out...well that did work, but hit also pealed back about four inches of the barrel, sorta like a banana...my dad sawed off the damaged part of the barrel and then I had a dandy little cylinder bore quail gun...wonder where that little gun is now?

[Kensal Rise]

The good news in this tale is that he didn't blow the end off a Parker barrel. It's just another reason NOT to use steel shot for any purpose. Especially in an old double.

[B. Dudley]

How did he KNOW it was steel stuck together that caused it?
A little difficult of a situation to know what actually happened.
One could only speculate.

[Bill Murphy]

Yup, has anyone ever opened up a steel shot shell and found the shot rusted together? Did the victim examine the inside of his remaining shells? Junk in the muzzle would be my guess.

[Casey]

Originally Posted by Brian Dudley

How did he KNOW it w steel stuck together that caused it?
A little difficult of a situation to know what actually happened.
One could only speculate.

Sorry for the lack of clarity.
Unless one had been in the hull at the time of firing, riding the wad and shot column through the barrel, accompanied by a metallurgist with a VERY expensive camera, there's no way one could truly KNOW what happened.
I plead guilty to making an assumption and stating that shot appeared to be the culprit.

Additionally, he cut open some shells and found rust.
I inspected some new winchester shells that I have and (here's that word again) it appears that the melt job on some of the crimps goes clear through the plastic thus providing a path for moisture to reach the shot.

As far as the powder getting wet, the wad can form a fairly good seal. Perhaps it's possible to get the shot wet but not the powder.

[OH Osthaus]

I have a hard time believing a load would stick together that hard after ignition, even if it had taken oon water and frozen.

The BPS was my bad weather gun when I was a died hard duck hunter. Its a solid gun.

But I wonder if this could happen if the choke tube was loose?

[Bill Murphy]

First person to shoot ducks in freezing weather with wet shells? Junk in the muzzle.

[J. A. EARLY]

Better get rid of that weak BPS. If it is a 12 3.5" gun I'll buy what is left and scrap it for him. (I'm serious.)