EXPLODING BARRELS

[dave61965]

If somebody don't let see the bore with with a very tight patch there is no point in trying to buy, that's why I never buy over the Internet or if I buy by Internet I buy only new and never used, so I have for the minimum the warranty on the product: a ordinary person never will give any warranty ...

I just passed on on rifle that was a couple of hrs away that I found on an online classified, I offered to purchase if I could drive over and take a look but the seller wouldn’t have it, he insisted on shipping, no local pickup, I had to pass, just not worth the risk to me not knowing the guy or anything about him.

 

[Sun City]

I don't 'swab'!

I'm a 'wiper'....twixt every shot!

Hawken Caplock Accuracy by Sharps Man, on Flickr

Hot diggittydog.....I screwed up and posted in the wrong place!! I'll take 20 lashes with a wet noodle!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!

 

[nhmoose]

I just passed on on rifle that was a couple of hrs away that I found on an online classified, I offered to purchase if I could drive over and take a look but the seller wouldn’t have it, he insisted on shipping, no local pickup, I had to pass, just not worth the risk to me not knowing the guy or anything about him.

I don't let anyone I do not know come to my house to look at any gun I have for sale as I do not want to get robbed then or anytime after. Hows that?

Talk about thread drift post needs closing

 

[dave61965]

I don't let anyone I do not know come to my house to look at any gun I have for sale as I do not want to get robbed then or anytime after. Hows that?

Talk about thread drift post needs closing

Neither do I but I’ve met plenty of people at a local gun store, a local PD parking lot where designated a safe trade area etc, if he had been a member on here with some history I’d take a different view, joe blow on the net, not so much, HOWS THAT ?

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

Dont plug the barrel with dirt.
Sm

 

[Stumpkiller]

Swabbing/not swabbing is almost like arguing about religion. The non-swabbers seem to think like they will get a special place in heaven for not cleaning their barrels between. The swabbers think like you. Better accuracy and a safer practice. The non-swabbers do not want to be confused with logic.

And here all this time I figured the swabbers thought they were doing some kind of penance to gain them faster access to heaven. Non-swabbers are just us lazy slobs who don't want to carry a workshop to the range with us. ;-)

When did plinking for fun become wrong?

And chances are - if you can set the load with the firelock's wood rammer (with reference mark for fully seated) you don't have to worry about the barrel shattering when you pull the trigger.

 

[Robert McPhee]

Back to exploding RIFLE barrels: Have any of us actually witnessed a BP rifle barrel blow up? If so, what was the purported cause?

 

[Carbon 6]

The swabbers don't want to be confused with empirical evidence.

When I shot competition, I too did not swab between shots and I won a lot of trophies, and prizes. It was more a product of youth than anything.
These days I swab between shots, and I can still hit the head of a squirrel.

What has swabbing taught me ?
It has taught me that the advantages of swabbing between shots far outweigh the disadvantages. That the advantages go beyond simple accuracy.

 

[Barrie Dale]

I swab every sec shot. Works quite well for me. I have witnessed a exploded Barrel at the range. Brand new Glock 9mm with only 17rds thru it. I helped pick pieces out of the shooters hand. Home made ammo I believe was charged twice. NO warranty on the glock at all.

 

[ugly old guy]

Back to exploding RIFLE barrels: Have any of us actually witnessed a BP rifle barrel blow up? If so, what was the purported cause?

Yes. I have seen a ML barrel explode on a YouTube "Educational Video" by two morons concerning how using modern smokeless powder in a muzzleloader is "not a good idea."

Cause:
Smokeless Powder.

Rifle:
Appeared to be a CVA/Traditions "Kentucky" Rifle.

The stock, trigger, breech, and percussion side lock were destroyed.
Surprisingly, the drum and nipple remained intact with the breech plug, in what was left of that poor abused CVA/Traditions "Kentucky" rifle's barrel.

The two "people" (note quotes) responsible for the video are "morons" in my book, for intentionally destroying a fine ML rifle.

As for personally witnessing a ML barrel blow at the range or during a reeinactment, no.
No, I have not seen that.

Full Disclosure:

Nor have I witnessed a modern cartridge arm blow it's barrel.

It would seem those who hand load follow the recipies in the various reloading manuals for whatever caliber they are reloading.

 

[steam1993]

Back to exploding RIFLE barrels: Have any of us actually witnessed a BP rifle barrel blow up? If so, what was the purported cause?

Not a bp gun, but i did have a remington 870 shotgun, that i had bust on me, lost 2 inches of the end of the muzzle. Was told by a gunsmith that there may have been a metaltic blockedge in the muzzle. I DONT WANT ever to have that happen agin.

 

[MN284]

One day at the range saw an AR-type blow the receiver apart. Shooter was unhurt, very lucky. Also no other shooters within 50 feet, so also OK. Shooter claimed it was factory ammo. Do not know what caused the problem.

 

[Zonie]

The only blown up barrel I've had a chance to examine (if I leave out the .22 barrel on my first rifle that I tried to "shoot out" a stuck bullet on) was an IAB 1874 Sharps cartridge rifle that had been loaded with a .45-70 cartridge. (Yes, I know. We aren't supposed to talk about these guns on the forum.)
The barrel was split just ahead of the chamber and it totally shattered the forearm.

The gun owner swore he had been shooting real black powder but there wasn't a trace of fouling on any of the steel or wood parts.
That told me, he had tried shooting smokeless powder in it and who knows how much of it he had loaded into the cartridge?

 

[ugly old guy]

The gun owner swore he had been shooting real black powder but there wasn't a trace of fouling on any of the steel or wood parts.
That told me, he had tried shooting smokeless powder in it and who knows how much of it he had loaded into the cartridge?

Also says he wasn't using any factory loads.
That weak 1873 Trap door Springfield (originals and reproductions) can handle them just fine.
(factory .45-70 are intentionally underloaded, specifically so the can be safely used in those rifles.)

 

[Dphar1950]

Back to exploding RIFLE barrels: Have any of us actually witnessed a BP rifle barrel blow up? If so, what was the purported cause?

Lots of photos and written accounts. Had a split Douglas in my hands back in the 60s. There were a lot of such things when TC was having its "problems" with their "Hawken". Seemed like one a month at one time but unless you subscribed to the Buckskin Report you would not see it unless very rarely. AND you are not likely to see such things in magazines today. They are about making advertisers happy not scaring readers. They live on advertisers. Telling the TRUTH and put a magazine out of business. You can also be SUED for telling the truth. On another site a few years ago there was a photo of a re-enactor who lost his left hand when the fouler barrel failed at the too deep "wedding bands" (stress riser). The poster stated they he was sure, from the contour, it was from a maker who brags none of his barrels have ever failed. The same guy who stated, in print, that if they encountered a crack in the leaded screw stock they use for barrels when profiling they would still sell the barrel if it went away as the diameter was reduced. I lost the post and the photo when they updated the site and I had not downloaded it. The only thing I have learned about discussing barrels steels and blow ups (actual barrel FAILURES not just bulges) in MLs and the prime cause of this is that its like banging one's head on a post. Its only get better when you stop. Eveyone is an expert. But almost no one has actually done any research or talked to REAL barrel makers or metallurgists who have studied the issue. One big name custom modern barrel maker told a good friend, also well experienced in MLs and brass suppository guns, that if you went to a steel mill and watched them make the lower grade steels you would never want a barrel made from the stuff. Gun Barrel quality bars are CERTIFIED (and marked) to be free of gross flaws and they are only made in full furnace melts with a cleaned furnace (I am told). So "small" makers have to POOL orders to get the tonnage up. And of course it costs more. (ML shooter are notoriously cheap). The other thing is that, as I have found, many metallurgists will not even comment for fear they will be called as an expert witness in some lawsuit. Oh, and one more thing. Its impossible to proof a barrel made of unsuitable steel and think its now "safe". Proof only finds gross flaws (like the cracks cited above, or sloppy installation of parts ect.) and in fact can cause a unsuitable steel to fail at a later date. This from, yeah, a metallurgist.

 

[Stophel]

and here we go.

 

[Stony Broke]

I was once standing behind a friend that had a lever action 1895 Winchester blow up on him. The barrel held together, but the receiver was split wide open. I grabbed him and turned him around, and his entire face was instantly swelled up from the concussion. I took a wet towel and placed it over his face for a while, and he was okay mostly. He did have to go to an eye doctor later to have some particles of powder removed from his eyes, where they had become embedded.
I have seen several guys injured with firearms over my lifetime, and I always try my best to be as careful as possible from a safety standpoint in handling firearms as well as loading for them. It was determined that the fellow I mentioned above used the wrong powder..

 

[Twisted_1in66]

My younger brother had a Pietta 1860 Colt cap and ball pistol. He ran out of BP and even though the barrel says to only use BP or BP substitute, he used smokeless powder. I didn't see it happen, but I did see the barrel. It was separated into about 5 pieces with a bulge near the breech and the pieces turned out like a bloomed flower and curled back. Damn lucky he didn't kill himself. That was about 15-years ago and he knows better now.

Twisted_1in66
Dan

 

[Twisted_1in66]

While we're on the bit about blown up barrels, here's a picture of a Pedersoli musket where the breech exploded do to "barrel obstruction"

Twisted_1in66
Dan

 

[Twisted_1in66]

Hmmm...posted a pic of a Pedersoli musket that had the breech explode on it due to "barrel obstruction" and evidently that's a no-no as it got deleted...sorry about that.

Twisted_1in66
Dan