Cartridge problem

[GH-16]

My story along these lines involve an older .410 hardware store SxS hammer gun with fluid steel barrels

This was a friends gun which he had shot for several seasons while dove hunting. He was using factory ammo when he pulled up on a dove, pulled the trigger & seconds later he was on the ground holding his right eye screaming in pain. After all the dust settled and we got him emergency medical care, we looked the gun over to see what happened. The hammer was broken into two pieces & the firing pin had blown out the back of the breech ball. We never did find the firing pin. The conclusion we came to for the cause of this failure was a pierced primer that let chamber pressure back into the action which caused the firing pin to blow out and did the hammer damage at the same time.

Luckily my friend was wearing shooting glasses which protected him some. The glasses did shatter and he did loose his vision in that eye. The doctor said that if he hadn't been wearing the glasses there was a good possibility he would have been killed.

I also have a sad story where my best friend was stuck & killed by lightning while we were out dog training in June of '97. We were only about forty feet apart from each other. He was killed and I only had minor muscle/nerve related issues out of the ordeal. Emotionally I still have issues to this day from it.