If I am successful in posting this it is an email I received from another site. I know nothing about the fellow who sent this and do not in any way vouch for his credentials. I find it interesting that he claims to have seen so many blown up guns, I'm 66 years old, have been a serious gun buff since childhood and have yet to see even one blow-up, but I post this for your consideration.
Dear CoyoteJoe,
markkw has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Bore conditioning/Seasoning - in the Muzzleloaders forum of Shooters Forum.
Here is the message that has just been posted:
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Joe, Yes, it has been identified as being from India and no, it is not the only one I have seen turn loose. The information I have on this particular one is that it burst with a 100gr paper cartridge blank charge (no ball). How correct that info is, I do not know, as it is third party. What I have seen is several others, not only from India but Pakistan, Turkey and China - all sold as reenactment pieces by reenactment supply shops (all at incredible profit margins too) and all have suffered catastophic failures. Ball seated over 70gr of 2F in a Brown Bess similar to the one shown and the barrel peeled open like a zipper down the top from the breech almost to the muzzle. The failure happened with the second round fired from the brand new out of the box gun. Other than some minor powder burns, the shooter was not seriously injured. Another "made in India" victim wasn't so lucky, he has a nice scar on the side of his head and lost 50% vision in his right eye because the breechplug that was only soldered into the barrel turned loose and came back through the stock hitting him in the face - yes, from only a 70gr blank charge. A made in china pistol sold as a "firing replica" by a reenactment supply fell off a table onto a concrete floor and the barrel shattered like glass since it was made from brittle junk cast iron and not even steel. Another pistol made in pakistan chunk of the barrel blew out the lock and part of the stock the first time it was fired with a 30gr blank charge and a card wad. SxS 12ga perc. made in turkey left barrel split from the breechplug about 8" forward. Zouave made in india 6" split opened down the right side of the barrel from a rather light charge under a mini.
It would be interesting to know if the lab tested only the alloy or if they tested the structural intergrity following the mfg process - the alloy may test good but if it's tubing, therein lies the failure and that strait split tells a lot. I've seen plenty of split hyrdaulic, water and steam lines from various causes and every split import barrel I've seen has the tell-tale indications of being made from tubing because those strait-line splits follow the seam/draw points every time. There was absolutely no excuse for anyone selling a gun with a breechplug that was simply soldered to the back of the barrel. The Zouave was quite interesting too since within the opening of the split, you could clearly see the cold weld line where the two sides of the joint were not even melted together.
Nothing is idiot proof, the best quality drilled barrel made from the best alloy available can be made to blow-up if loaded improperly but inviting disaster with junk that doesn't even rate high enough to be called "sub-standard" just doesn't make sense. Not being ugly here but is risking your safety and that of those around you worth saving a couple bucks?
***************
Dear CoyoteJoe,
markkw has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Bore conditioning/Seasoning - in the Muzzleloaders forum of Shooters Forum.
Here is the message that has just been posted:
***************
Joe, Yes, it has been identified as being from India and no, it is not the only one I have seen turn loose. The information I have on this particular one is that it burst with a 100gr paper cartridge blank charge (no ball). How correct that info is, I do not know, as it is third party. What I have seen is several others, not only from India but Pakistan, Turkey and China - all sold as reenactment pieces by reenactment supply shops (all at incredible profit margins too) and all have suffered catastophic failures. Ball seated over 70gr of 2F in a Brown Bess similar to the one shown and the barrel peeled open like a zipper down the top from the breech almost to the muzzle. The failure happened with the second round fired from the brand new out of the box gun. Other than some minor powder burns, the shooter was not seriously injured. Another "made in India" victim wasn't so lucky, he has a nice scar on the side of his head and lost 50% vision in his right eye because the breechplug that was only soldered into the barrel turned loose and came back through the stock hitting him in the face - yes, from only a 70gr blank charge. A made in china pistol sold as a "firing replica" by a reenactment supply fell off a table onto a concrete floor and the barrel shattered like glass since it was made from brittle junk cast iron and not even steel. Another pistol made in pakistan chunk of the barrel blew out the lock and part of the stock the first time it was fired with a 30gr blank charge and a card wad. SxS 12ga perc. made in turkey left barrel split from the breechplug about 8" forward. Zouave made in india 6" split opened down the right side of the barrel from a rather light charge under a mini.
It would be interesting to know if the lab tested only the alloy or if they tested the structural intergrity following the mfg process - the alloy may test good but if it's tubing, therein lies the failure and that strait split tells a lot. I've seen plenty of split hyrdaulic, water and steam lines from various causes and every split import barrel I've seen has the tell-tale indications of being made from tubing because those strait-line splits follow the seam/draw points every time. There was absolutely no excuse for anyone selling a gun with a breechplug that was simply soldered to the back of the barrel. The Zouave was quite interesting too since within the opening of the split, you could clearly see the cold weld line where the two sides of the joint were not even melted together.
Nothing is idiot proof, the best quality drilled barrel made from the best alloy available can be made to blow-up if loaded improperly but inviting disaster with junk that doesn't even rate high enough to be called "sub-standard" just doesn't make sense. Not being ugly here but is risking your safety and that of those around you worth saving a couple bucks?
***************
