I was reading the specialty pistols forum and there is a guy on that forum that thinks he double charged a load in his Ruger Black Hawk. No one got hurt but you never know what can happen. Guys, please be very careful while reloading! Thought I would post it hear for all to see.





By the way, he called Ruger and told them what happened and that it wasn't their fault but just wanted them to be aware. Ruger asked him to send it to them and they sent him a brand new one. Now THAT is GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

Wow!!! That had to be a serious powder charge to do that to a Blackhawk! Was the shooter or anyone else injured? Thats great that Ruger replaced the gun even though it appears to be a reloading error.

So... 30 grains of Bullseye is not a good load for my Ruger BH? Wheres my bullet puller?
Kidding aside, I am glad no one was hurt.

Shawn

If any one locates the missing rear sight assembly I could use it. I picked up a Bisley BH in .44 to day but it had a cheap scope and a cheaper mount on it but no rear sight.

Shawn

that could have hurt.

WOW! That is a really hot load. Imagine the force coming from that shot! I saw one of a Colt Anaconda that looked about the same as that!

http://www.thegunzone.com/anaconda.html

When it comes to the powder I triple check to make sure I am not laid out on the ground!

KABOOM!!! Not good.

I know that there are powders that are suppose to be accurate and use a minimal amount… but I will stick with H110 and 2400. I couldn’t live with myself if one of my family members had this happen with one of my loads.

I just realised that is the commemorative flat top 44, I wonder if he'll get another one of those or a regular SBH

Use enough powder there Butch?

Dont know Rod, but they did send him a brand new one.

No idea what happened to that revolver, but I'm convinced that sometimes blow-up are the result of severely reduced charges. (Despite what some 'experts' say.) Many years ago I shot a lot of ISU Centrefire match. From time to time you'd see guns like that one. Everyone would snicker a claim the bloke must have done a double charge. The problem with that theory is that the type of loads used in the match were so low that even a triple load would still be below the proof levels. The theory is that a reduced charge can be distributed in such a way that the air mixture around it allowed detonation rather than burn in a small percentage of cases. As a consequence I've always gone with loads that fill the case.

That is pretty much what I have heard Hunter4752001. My Dad told me my and then looked it up in a reloading manual. Something to do with the primmer igniting the powder laterally threw out the cartridge creating too much chamber pressure and exploding instead of uniformly igniting the powder from the base of the case. It would be the equivalent of not seating a Black Powder projectile all the way down the barrel.

The owner of the Gun (on another site) said he used a double powder charge.

Duane

Man, that's terrible! Glad no one was hurt. Went and looked at the pictures of the Colt Anaconda too, which got me to thinking. I never hear any of you serious handgun hunting guys talking about what you critter you shot today or the load you worked up today for your Anaconda. If they are not in favor with serious hunters and shooter, why is that? I've never owned one, myself.

IMO the Anaconda is a beast of a gun. I know of some folks that take a plenty with theirs. They are a bit on the high side in cost. The Anacondas are out there, and being used well.

I lived on Kodiak Island, Alaska back in '87 for a year. A friend of mine there that was a commercial fisherman carried an Anaconda for back-up when deer hunting. One year he somehow lost it out of the holster and didn't know it 'till later, but when he retraced his steps, he never could find it. He was pretty sick. The next year, while he was hunting in the exact same area, he stumbled over that same pistol, still laying there in the leaves a year later. There was no rust on it. I tell you, he was extactic. If you know anything about the climate on Kodiak and the rainfall they get, a year spent lying on the ground there can be brutal. I saw the gun. It was impressively clean.

BriarHopper, that is one lucky SOB! If I had lost a gun like that, I would run head first into the biggest tree I could find.

With a reduced charge, the theory is that the extra space in the case allows the sparks from the primer to ignite the powder in two (or more) places at the same time (if the powder is not up against the primer) therefore creating twice the amount of pressure (or more), which in turn blows up the gun. The guy on the other forum said he thinks he double charged it and of all the comments left, not one person brought up the reduced charge theory. This is on the Specialty Pistols website. Now you see why I claim this site is the best, most informed forum on the web. When I first read it, I thought of the reduced charge load that I had read about but could not remember how to explain it so I did not respond. Hunter, yours and TCMans responses here reminded me of the theory but I still can not find where on the internet it is that I read about it.
Vin

I have seen a few Anacondas for sale around here, but the price is always too high for me to be interested. I got both my Rugers for half or a third of the price and feel the Ruger to be alot stronger than the Colt.

I agree DD.

It has to do more with the burn rate AND surface area. The small powder loads of 4-8 grains (Clays-Titegroup) in a 44 are not as uniform as the 16 –22(or whatever) grains of 2400 or equivalent. But they are not dangerous. Powders like H110 and 296 are dangerous at lower pressures because of the potential hang fires. If you load a 7mm Mag with a reduced load of a slow burning powder like IMR 4831 it has the potential to explode because the primmer will ignite the powder from stem to stern all at once. Double loads of Unique, which a 44 case can hold, just make the chamber pressures go off the charts and are just as dangerous. That is the reason I like powders that fill the case up in all of my cartridge weather it is a straight wall or a bottleneck. The most important thing is to be very meticulous when you are reloading!

I saw a 54 Custom flintlock, brand new mind you, that the owner didn’t seat the bullet all the way down. His barrel had a 12 crack from the touch hole to the muzzle were it was split like a banana.

TCMan I know a guy who did this with his 7mm because his barrel had dipped in the dirt and was clogged.

When I was a kid, a neighbor did the same with a 12 ga shotgun. He let the muzzle dip into the snow, then fired at a bird, splitting the barrel. Luckily he was not injured.

I used to re-load for my 45/70, and except for putting in primers, I did every single shell complete, one at a time. When I measured out the powder and poured it in the case, I put the bullet in right then. I was using an old dinasaur RCBS press, and it was painfully slow, but I never trusted myself to do it any other way. I was always afraid I would get distracted (try NOT getting distracted in a house full of seven kids and a phone on call from any of your church members OR business clients ;)) and do something unfortunate and dangerous. My oldest son is almost 17 now, and he is getting together the components to start re-loading, so we will be starting back up soon. And I am sure I will be stressing to him care over speed when it comes time to teach him.

Nothing wrong with taking it slow. I'm sure I'm one of the slowest reloaders around. I do all my loading with a single stage or a hand press and double check, triple check or more, every step along the way.

I hear you pab1, I can't see what the rush is on reloading. I always measure the powder 3-4 times to be sure it is excatly what I want.

I'm very thankful I wasn't anywhere near that! Glad everyone was OK.

Definetly would be a moment. Had one myself as kid when squirrel hunting in snow with a single shot 20 gauge. Tripped in snow, squirrel ran by and took a shot not checking end of barrel. Blew the last two inches of the barrel apart, bent the entire barrel. Pretty sure the action came open too. I don't think I'll ever forget that and learned my lesson.

OUCH!!!!!