Have you ever damaged a gun?

The brass will rupture and vent the gas somewhere.

Right into the action.

Thats what does all the damage to the gun.

No, I have never damaged a gun with a reload.
But as of this year, I have only been reloading 50 years.

rc

I blew up a Glock about two months ago. I still swear it was not an overcharged reload, but you never know.

It basically blew the back of the brass out and blew off the extractor. My buddy was shooting it at the time. The blast mostly went out of the slide, but some went out of the mag well. He had a black ring on his hand where he was "teacupping".

Sent the gun back to Glock and got it back in about three weeks with a new extractor and inspection for free.

I'm not as experienced as rcmodel but I have been reloading for over 47 years. In that period of time I have blown two primers which sent gas back through the bolt on my rifles. Neither of the rifles was damaged but one of the incidents was so strong that it bent the extractor. A good gunsmith applied heat to the extractor and bent it back into shape. If you handload and push the upper limits the odds are favorable for this to happen, it's just like all of the planets coming into alignment. It doesn't happen often but it does happen. All it takes is for several things to occur at the same time. The ingredients for a problem include a brass case that is thicker than normal or harder than normal or weaker than normal, a hot powder charge or excessive powder charge, a primer that is hotter than normal or an enlarged primer pocket, a bullet that is slightly oversized or harder than normal, a hot day and a dirty barrel. To avoid the problem most experiences reloaders stay away from extremely hot loads and watch for pressure signs. Shooter

I never like to say never but in 56 years reloading I have avoided the above. Avoid max loads ( they are never the most accurate) & ALWAYS visual your pistol cases before you seat the bullet

I've reloaded about 36 years now, I never say never! I'm a fairly new member to a gun club, with the upcoming hunting seasons, sight-ins will be the new order of the day for me, in some regards, not really looking forward to this duty! As the Op mentioned, "someone standing next to him ruined his .270." I've seen one instance, and have heard by the bucketload about others firearms coming apart with reloads, this is why the intimidation/trepidation. Visual inspection of firearms and ammo is one step, however, not knowing the other guys intelligence at the reload table, many factors are in play here! Stay safe!

I once had, what is believed to be, a high primer that went off out of battery when I was shooting my 1911. I had to cut the slide stop off to get the gun apart, but other than that, there was no damage to gun or shooter. Beat the fired casing out of the chamber, checked/gauged everything, put a new slide stop in and kept shooting.

I have seen at least four Glocks blow up. I was ROing for a guy when his let go. All four guns were trashed. Three were replaced by Glock for free, one guy had to pay 50% of retail for a new gun, but got some nice upgrades so it wasn't a total loss for him. People keep telling me Glocks never jam and never blow up, I just tell them they don't shoot enough.

Hmmmm, interesting. No, I have not damaged a gun nor had anyone nearby do it in my presence. However I keep hearing about "KABOOMS". I have only been at it for 55 years.

I wrote a short paper on the subject of avoiding these problems and it can be found here if you are interested:

I have stuck a bullet in a barrel with what must have been an undercharged round. But I realized what happened and didn't touch off another cartridge.

That's the closest I've come. I would imagine squibs (and unintentionally chasing after them with another bullet) are responsible for the majority of "whoops the gun broke" issues.

I once had an incident with a .270 Win chambered Remington 700. When I touched off the shot, it went bang like normal and I lifted the bolt without undue force and pulled the bolt back but nothing ejected. So I pushed the bolt stop out of the way and pulled the bolt out. The brass had expanded to completely fill the bolt head. I had to bash the end of the casing on a rock to get it out. None of the other loads did that. I think maybe I got a really soft casing. It was PMC, late 80's vintage.

People keep telling me Glocks never jam and never blow up, I just tell them they don't shoot enough.

Click to expand...

Every gun will jam and every gun will blow up when fed ammo that makes a gun blow up. Thats simple fact.

Myself as well have never damaged a firearm, but I have only been reloading for a little over 30 yrs..

I implement every single step I can to prevent mistakes that could result in over pressures, or under pressures from causing a catrostrophic failure. Some folks who reload actually go too far in reducing the load and get into trouble that way, where as others jump from minimum published data to max without doing a proper work up. A lodged bullet that doesn't exit the barrel can be just as catrostrophic, as, exceeding the pressure limits by over charging a cartridge. This is why it is so important to follow published data, and work up, or down, in .1 grain increments. And never rely soley on volume measuring device without first checking to see what they are throwing.

GS

I haven't damaged a firearm from my reloads (yet - and hopefully never) but I did manage to bugger up a 22 pistol when the shooting table I was using broke. Of course - the pistol just had to nose dive perfectly to the the ragged edge concrete anchor for the stand - right into the crown...

I've been reloading for only 43 years and I have also never damaged a firearm with a reloaded shell.
I also hear these stories about people blowing up firearms from, well, problems, but personally have never seen it myself.

I know it happens, Personally, I had an uncle that was loading rifle shells with pistol powder and blow up a model 70. He ended up going blind from it.

Quote from the movie "Forrest Gump": Stupid is as Stupid does.

I buy a few guns at every gun show.
I test fire ~50% of them.
I blow up ~2% of them. Blown up hand guns go into bags. Boxes for long guns.
I take apart 5% of them and never put them together again, maybe using one part for making something else.

My brother thinks that some of the guns I work on are destroyed by sloppy gunsmithing. I tell him I am not making jewelry for women. He should form PETG, people for the ethical treatment of guns.

In 40+ years of independent reloading I have never had a problem unless you count intentionally sticking a bullet trying to find a minimum load that can be shot. IMHO if you follow the printed instructions and pay attention to the brass condition and charges especially, you probably will also have great results. "Hey Bubba hold my beer so I can make some super loads." NEVER yields a safe result.

I'm never damaged a gun using any ammo but did put a RIA/Armscor 1911 CS back together wrong so the recoil spring reverse plug in and didn't get it alined correct braking it.

When I used to reload my .44mag ammo with a (then, about $15) Lee Loader, I missed a powder charge. Primer only stuck the bullet about 1" inside the barrel. Took me A WHILE to pound it out.

I realized what was wrong when I hear kind of "Poof" instead of "BANG!"

I have to say I've seen/heard of 30-40 "Kabooms" here on the various forums ect.. over the last couple years.60 to 70% were using Titegroup and 9 out of 10 were Glocks.I don't know what that all means but there it is.
I did see a .32 or.38cal 6 shot revolver(don't know the brand, just saw it in a showcase). The barrel was ground/cut in section to see the 6 squished bullets all piled up in the barrel. Apparently the first one didn't go out the end so the shooter thought one of the next five would clear the blockage. I really wanted to ask the fellow,

WHAT THE *****?????

Nope but came VERY close. Double charge 38 wadcutter loaded on an old Star Progressive. Fortunately shot out of a Model 28 N frame. Took it like a champ...but you could NOT read the headstamp on the case anymore...would have liked to chronographed that one Pounded the bullets out of every last remaining lot of those, sold the Star to a collector, bought a Dillon...and paid attention..no more problems in about 30 years or so and still have the 28.

Yes, I shot some black tipped German ammo thru my H&k p7. After about 20 rounds, it blew the extractor out. Later I found out , that ammo was made for sub guns only. After replacing the parts, it fired perfectly.

If dropping them from a tree because your life depends on it, then yes! I got myself in a very picarious position back in the 1980's while litterally hanging off the Mogion Rim after shooting at, and missing a bear. I had no choice but to drop my rem 700 some 20' to the ground. Surprisingly the only thing that happened is it bent the objective end of the Leupold, but didn't ruin anything.

I have seen a good number of KB's happen over the years due to improper reloading though. One fellow bought an expensive reloading set up and totally exploded his brand new Weatherby, and not one of the low end one's either. And destroyed the very expensive Leupold that once sat on top of it as well. He blamed me because I sold him the entire reloading kit, and didn't explain to him how to do it properly? In my defense, I tried to convince him to let me come by his house that day after work to get him set up and explain the process to him in detail, but he was too proud to stoop to that level. Even the owner of the high end sporting goods store got blamed, even though he offered to drop by his home as well to and get him set up and on the right course. Fortunatly he wasn't seriously injured, although his face and hands were pretty badly burned and bruised up, not to mention his ego and wallet of course. It was a bad situation because I went to high school with him years earlier, and had hunted with him off and on over the years.
But this is what happens when someone refuses to read the books they buy or accept help form those with expertise and knowledge of certain tasks.

GS

I did see a .32 or.38cal 6 shot revolver(don't know the brand, just saw it in a showcase). The barrel was ground/cut in section to see the 6 squished bullets all piled up in the barrel. Apparently the first one didn't go out the end so the shooter thought one of the next five would clear the blockage. I really wanted to ask the fellow,

WHAT THE *****?????

I once saw a beautiful Colt Python that had 6 in the barrel. Gunsmith was beating them out and they just kept falling out.

Doyle

I've been reloading since 1974 and haven't had any problems yet. Read. Study. Think. Pay attention.