I'll start this one off. One time at a pistol shoot, I watched the guy beside me make a Linebaugh Custom Six in 500 Linebaugh into a couple thousand dollar paper weight.
The guy had tried to download the loads so the recoil wasn't so "abbusive." This caused the round to become critical. I cut the cylinder in half, taking one brass and pulling it apart like a cork screw. Squish one brass as flat as a pancake, and the third brass was completely blown apart.It actually broke three cylinder!!!!
The top strap looked like a horse shoe, and the rear sight ended up on a guys plate who was about 10yrds. behind him eating a hot dog.
Thank the Lord no one was hurt by any flying part. THis is a good reason for beginning reloader to stay within the guide lines that are set for the caliber you working with...

A cop was shooting a stainless Redhawk with a 7 1/2" barrel using factory ammo when the barrel flew off. Upon inspection we could see it came apart where the barrel meet the frame leaving the the threaded portion in the gun. That was incredable....

The very reason I don't reload. I have an attitude of "the more the merrier" and that just doesn't work with reloading. I like big guns, big trucks, thick steaks, straight Kentucky Bourbon, grand slam homeruns followed next inning by a suicide squeeze.... so I opt to go online for my ammo. Sorry if you don't understand.
"A man's got to know his limitations..."

I understand, reloading is not for everyone. I do reload, and enjoy it, but I also understand that it must be approached with caution.
I have also seen factory ammo cause issues though. When in Africa with my Father-n-law, he was shooting a 338 win. mag rifle. The load was so hot it litterally welded the case to the barrel walls. WAY TOO HOT, and this was factory.
That one round almost ruined our hunt!!!!

Almost ruined more than a hunt.

To stay within the starting load guideline and work up slowly to max levels is the key.Its jokers who think they can get away with doing as they please and everything will be just fine attitude which scares many away when they see Mr. attitude about blow himself up.Reloading is about using common sense,stay within the lab guidelines and you'll be fine,but with todays professors of all knowledge???! even Mc Donalds has to put a warning on their coffee just to let everyone know its hot! In the case James was talking about, Ruger found that there was a problem with too much grease in the threads(something like that) which caused a problem with the barrels potentually coming off ,thats why they designed the SRH,so that wasn't a problem with reloading but a problem from the manufacturer,I believe John Taffin wrote about it in one of his articles.

I started reloading a few years ago. I started with a Dillon. Excellent machine. However, with anything when the human factor comes into play a lot can go wrong if your not careful. I had to learn on my own. Yes, I have had a few squibs, nothing more. Whatever I shoot I don't go Rambo like many with semi autos. I understand my gun and what I am capable of. Best thing about SAs IMHO, you take more time, enjoy it more and appreciate the rewards. BTW, I am looking for a single stage to add to my operation.

Not sure what you mean by "Critical"...but too light of a powder charge will not do this on its' own...it takes other variables. The too little powder causeing an explosion is a myth unless it causes a squib that is ignored followed by another round. H110 is anohter powder that this myth revolves around...too little H110 will not blow up!! it just causes a squib.

The 500 accident is not really possible with magnum powder like H110. It fills your case full of powder with just enough room left over to get the bullet in..(and in some cases not enough room)

Guys loading light loads, in big guns, blow things up because of the super fast powder that they use.

This was almost certanly caused by one of three things.

1)a double or tripple charge of fast powder (titegroup,unique,etc
2)a squib load that was ignored as a missfire, and followed by another round.
3) he grabbed his h6s and thought it was H110 resulting it a gross overload.

We could add a 4th if he was loading with a progressive press it is possible that a bullet hung up in his seat die resulting in 2 bullets being put into one case.

Most likely it was No.1...a double charge of fast powder...this is about the only thing that can cause a failure like the one you describe.

I agree. Sounds like too much of a good thing.

I have seen a guy one time forget to change the powder charge in his progressive reloader, and was loading a 44 charge in a 375mag.. The pressure was so high that the primers were pushed out, and the cases were swelled in cylinder. Another lucky guy he didn't blow himself up.

From my understanding a load too light can cause a SCLID(sudden catastrophic load induced disassembly). The way it was explained was yes you will get a squib, but the pressure behing it has to go someplace.....and that can cause the Sclid. I have never had this experience....just relaying what I was taught.

Mike,

This is one of those cast v. lead kinda things, as Freedom has pointed out. I too have seen and heard this caution. The problem is that many folks have tested this, to some extent. It usually shows up in the gun rags every so often where a big name writer attempts to prove or dispell.

The problem (at least as how I view it) is that in most instances the reports involve a gun with handloads. Once the handload enters the equation, you are stuck with the fact that it could have been a double charge. Or charge and a half (bridged powders in the drop) or a whole host of other problems. I generally try to avoid these discussions, because really they come down to a lot of unknowns.

What I do know to be fact, because I am a chrony nut with all of my handloading is that you can pick a powder cartridge combination where you can get some large swings in velocity just from the powdr choice, and how you settle it in the case. And in the case of something like H110/296, you go too low on the powder or introduce the wrong environmental variable and you can get huge swings in velocity. Like may hundred feet.

I also know from Mic McPherson's extensive ballistic work that you can get a powder column and bullet moving in a case before the main powder ignition happens. His work is centered more on rifle cartridges (bottleneck) but I do not think straightwalled cases would be called apple to oranges. We know a primer will move a bullet, so it is not to hard to imagine a primer will also not move the powder column with it.

We also know that it is possible to spike pressures significantly if your choice of bullet does not have enough leade or freebore to allow for the bullet to release properly. Maybe not so much in rifle loads, but I can say for certainty that if your 45acp custom barrel is short chambered enough to allow seating but not enough leade, you can pierce primers. That's high pressure.

So while I do not really have an opinion as to whether the whole theory is right or wrong, I do know that I would not like to have a bullet crammed into the rifling lead before the main powder charge ignites. So I guess where I come down is that I am not a believer in too much space detonation, but probably the ignition sequence getting way out of design kilter ;^)

Craig

I have seen this several times on the Bragging Board, however, it took a bit of work to find it… LOL

DertieDawg has several pictures up of a Anniversary edition SBH that had a double load.

That's scary.

That was pretty much how that 500 Linebaugh looked like. The only difference was, is that the top strap never broke. It just turned into a horse shoe shape...

So that's how they blow. Looks good. At least it's in a safe direction.

Bullseye shooters have been trying for decades to figure out what can cause a light wadcutter load to seemingly detonate, destroying the gun. There have been many theorys, but I don't believe anyone has ever been able to deliberately replicate the situation in a controlled environment.

The Redhawk incident follows the pattern of a known factory defect that Ruger has since remedied.

I was recently talking to an old reloading buddy. He use to place cotton in the case ontop of the powder when loading light wadcutter loads. He said it stopped the chance of what you are referring to in Bullseye shooter's. I don't know if it made a difference, but he felt it did..

I had a Kahr arms CW9 and was breaking it in before carrying per the manufactuers recommended break in period. I was using Winchester white box ammo 115 gr for the break in period. About round 275 I had a round that must have been a double load. The slide went beyond the slide stop and slammed into my hand. My buddy shooting next to me stopped shooting and said that was an unusally loud round. I showed him my now broken gun and bleeding hand. I sent the gun to KAHR who replaced the slide and slide stop for free. I also sent the remaining ammo from the box as well. I wish I had followed up with them on what they discovered with the ammo but sadly I didn't.
Another mishap with factory ammo was with a glock a guy was shooting with at a USPSA match I was RO'ing for. He was shooting Winchester white box as well and his slide departed the gun and hit his chest rig he had on. He was a SOF operator who shoots with us on a regular basis when hes not deployed over seas. It was a shock to both of us. And just last month a guy bulged his barrel on his glock 19 shooting reloads when a squib pushed the bullet into the barrel and the slide didn't cycle. He cleared his weapon and fired 2 rounds before the RO stopped him from firing a third round. It was interesting to see the barrel bulged out but did not bust.

I have never seen a double charge in person, though it scares the sh#& out of me, the best advice I got when i started hand loading was to use a powder that if you ever double charge would over flow the case, so use a powder that filled the case and didn't leave excess space.

I look at every darn case before seating a bullet. Even when I I am running my progressive loader on a high volume run.

Well, I have certainly learned alot from this thread. Thanks to everyone for the info.

cfish2,I'm reloading mostly on my turret press.I take the cartridge out to make sure the primer is seated fully and also check to make sure I have powder in each case,it does make for a little more time reloading,but I know my rounds are safe and I listen to cd's while reloading making an enjoyable experience-I like to reload anyway,so the extra time doesn't really bother me.

My brother in law blew a old model .357 to smitherines. We finally figured out he doubled charged with tru blue powder. reflex264

That is the reason my Father always told me to pick a powder that filled the case up… He felt like the little extra cost for penny’s the powder cost was worth it.

Both the Lyman and Hornady books tell you to fill the case up 90% or more. After looking at the pictures I understand why they have such good lawyers on staff… LOL

That exactly how I do it as well. Except for the CD. Maybe I should try that next time.

I use the turret as well though do things in stages,
Size and flair all my cases, then hand prime the cases, I find I can have a stash of primed cases ready to load it saves me time and breaks up my reloading time.

Music and an adult bevarage always make it more enjoyable!

I have found music will effect electonic scales, like an RCBS Chargemaster.

I agree, I always do one step at a time. I also double check the powder measurement very frequently. I take this very seriously. I would be heart broken if I ever damaged one of my guns, not to mention that I can't afford to replace some of the guns I have.

Well put! I have the same mentality, just towards my three young son. The oldest of which is just now getting into the sport.


Duane

You hit the nail on the head Duane. I have a 3yrld. son that loves to trap with dad. It won't be long before he's out there at the range with dad!!!

was shooting a friends goldcup that was throwing lead all over the hill side. took it apart to clean it, only thing holding the mag well to the frame was the front of the trigger guard and the wooden grips. he loved running hot loads. nailed that frame above his reloading bench. saw a chain fire from a cap&ball, that was fun for a min. or two.

LOL, I have had multiple chain fires back when I was in college. I probably put over a thousand rounds thru my first 1858 remington copy I had. I use to hunt like a fool with it in CO when I lived there. And when the shooting was good I sometimes cut corners on loading the sucker and had 3 chambers go boom one right behind the other even though it seemed they all went boom at once. Scared the crap out of me the first time.

CFish, I my first handgun was a 1858 Rem. Those remarks sound familial to me... LOL I had to learn how to change hunting loads to keep them from chain firing...