60947 Fires it's last shot

[David Yeatts]

Thank you all for your opinions, suggestions, and good wishes. The main reason I was not injured, good safety glasses and gloves. I take a bit of ribbing once in a while but with out them my hand would have been cut.
Now on to a better description, the shell blew up, the only part we found was about half the plastic hull. I will continue to look for the brass head and the piece which blew off the barrel but rain and a lot of snow has kept the range closed. Back blase caused the gun to open, this back force plus the downward pressure snapped the stock. Everyone who saw it happen said the stock was broken before I dropped the gun. It was the top part of the stock and action which hit me.
The hull was a Federal and it have been reloaded a number of times and in eight or nine years the first to fail in any way. I have had other shells blow up on me (Cheddite is very bad I limit them to no more than 3 reloads) but the guns have remained intact. I have checked all 12 of the other hulls and all have there base wads and I broke the bird on 4 high. Could there have been an obstruction in the barrel, I do not know for sure. These are the things I know for sure.
I am going to get all three and the gun that are going to the Southern checked out by experts and two others are going to be sleeved one in 28 and the other in 410, never ever want a repeat. A lot of old hulls will also be hitting the dustbin.
Dave
The photo was correct the the left chamber was deformed

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by David Yeatts

Thank you all for your opinions, suggestions, and good wishes. The main reason I was not injured, good safety glasses and gloves.

I have had other shells blow up on me (Cheddite is very bad I limit them to no more than 3 reloads) but the guns have remained intact. I have checked all 12 of the other hulls and all have there base wads and I broke the bird on 4 high.
A lot of old hulls will also be hitting the dustbin.

Dave

Glad you are OK, what an awful thing to have happen, You make a good point about always wearing safety glasses and at least one glove on your barrel hand for sure.

I am thinking out loud here, 10ga Federal hulls have a tendency to split down the side from repeated firings. Could it be possible that when a hull with a split is fired the pressure could vent through the split before the crimp can open venting all the pressure against the chamber wall?

Someone mentioned detonation, I think that is most likely a myth. The NRA commissioned H.P. White Lab to make/prove detonation could occur in a 38 special as so many were blowing up with reported light loads. Thousands of deliberate attempts to create the conditions for detonation and none happened.

[Smoothebore]

David, I'm glad you are okay. I'm not an expert either, but just thinking about what can cause an obstructed barrel. Everyone who reloads has occasionally experienced a squibb load, where the full powder charge doesn't drop when loading the shell. When it's fired, it makes the sound of a pop or pffft. When fired, it only has the power of a few grains of powder, or even the primer only. The squibb has enough power to eject the shot, but the wad is often left behind in the barrel. That could have been shot number 12, but the sound would have been obvious, allerting you to check the barrels.


There is also such a thing as a tumbled wad. This is a rare occurance when the wad is deformed by being loaded improperly. It may have been twisted, or folded over sideways, or a shot cup petal folded under. I have experienced a tumbled wad in shooting, one time. The report sounds like any other normal shell, but the wad melted and tumbled and stuck solid midway in the barrel. Up until that time I had only occasionally checked my barrels during shooting. Luckily, I checked that time, and found the obstruction. It took a cleaning rod, and considerable effort to get it clear. Since then, the regimen is to blow in each barrel, and visually inspect after every shot. This could have been your shot number twelve.


Dave