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50 cal blows up!!!
- Thread starter sksvlad
- Start date
Eggburt1969
Well-Known Member
Yes I watched that a few days ago. It wasn't a pleasant experience, as I've had a similar experience myself. Though that was due to a hardware failure and not ammunition and then hardware failure due to (it would seem) overpressure.
One wonders what the cause was? A proof round? Degraded (aged) propellant? It was certainly producing one hell of a muzzle flash that coincided with projectile assemblies seeming to break up.
One wonders what the cause was? A proof round? Degraded (aged) propellant? It was certainly producing one hell of a muzzle flash that coincided with projectile assemblies seeming to break up.
sksvlad
Well-Known Member
Here is a much more detailed account of the same https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1449kJKxlMQ
Eggburt1969
Well-Known Member
Sorry, I 'had' watched the long one, not the short one. The longer one doesn't really tell you what caused the high pressure failure. He makes a few comments, but doesn't say anything concrete.
I take it this video was due in response to the accident
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71OGayW7CnI
I've not bothered to watch it as I tend to ignore what he says now, well other than some of his historical stuff. He's not very good with regards to ballistics or detonics. Well frankly he's terrible at both, along with big guns and munitions. Watching people going on about stuff when they think they know all about the subject, when in reality they don't, just winds me up. This especially so when they make error after error, but everyone thinks they're the best thing since sliced bread.
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Bellifortis
Well-Known Member
A similar accident happened near here some years ago. A hunter wanted to sight in his huntingrifle which had been for repairs. The "good old soul of the shooting club"(a very experienced gun instructor) was assisting this guest. On firing the first shot, the barrel blew up and fragments hit the "good old soul of the club" so badly, that he bled to death. It turned out the hunter had chambered an 8 x 57 IS round in an 8 X 57 I barrel. I also only learned the difference through talks about this accident. Especially with older rounds you should really know your material very well.
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I was at Bisley many years ago when someone blew up their Mosin Nagant. The shooter was lucky that the barrel and receiver stayed intact and although the bolt body was bent it stayed in the receiver. It seems like the shooter was using a bunch of ammunition of unknown origin and we think a bullet had become lodged in the barrel without the shooter realising and another cartridge was then fired into it.
Handguns seem to have more issues than rifles. I was at a UKPSA pistol comp in the 1990’s when a shooter dropped his Glock. It transpired that the bottom of the breech had blown out, the gas vented through the grip blowing the magazine out of the pistol. I think the shooter was lucky enough to only have cuts and bruises to his hand.
In the early 1980’s when working in the gun trade we had a few handguns brought into the shop after mishaps.
I remember an S&W Model 19 revolver with only half a cylinder and top strap blown off, an Italian made Colt 1873 replica that had a crack running the full length of the barrel, and a Colt Python with FIVE bullets stuck in the barrel.
Handguns seem to have more issues than rifles. I was at a UKPSA pistol comp in the 1990’s when a shooter dropped his Glock. It transpired that the bottom of the breech had blown out, the gas vented through the grip blowing the magazine out of the pistol. I think the shooter was lucky enough to only have cuts and bruises to his hand.
In the early 1980’s when working in the gun trade we had a few handguns brought into the shop after mishaps.
I remember an S&W Model 19 revolver with only half a cylinder and top strap blown off, an Italian made Colt 1873 replica that had a crack running the full length of the barrel, and a Colt Python with FIVE bullets stuck in the barrel.