Blazers blowing up a gun?????

[Doug.38PR]

I just came from looking around at the The Pasadena Gun center over in Pasadena, Texas. They emphasize that they do not allow Blazer ammunition on their range. Not because Blazer is cheap garbage that they don't want to clean up along with the good extra brass. But rather because of the picture below. I took a picture of this with my cell phone camera.
That is a S&W Chief's Special/M36 blown to bits with the cylinder in about three pieces.
According to the range men, that is not the work of +P+, handloads, or even +P but standard .38 Special LRN by CCI Blazer in aluminum cases. The claim is that the aluminum cases aren't always strong enough and will blow up when fired and blow the gun up along with it.
Thoughts. Comments

 

[Outlaws]

Hogwash.

They either had handloads in the Blazer box because a lot of privately owned ranges dont' allow handloads, or someone had one fluke...which would have made them some serious $$$ had they sued CCI.

 

[Car Knocker]

Given that there have been tens of millions (if not hundreds of millions) of Blazers sold and shot, if their argument were true then there would be thousands of similar displays around the country. I haven't seen them. Handguns have been blown up by factory brass-cased ammo; where is the display for those? Oh, they just don't want to you to use non-reloadable ammo? How convenient! Another point: what proof are they offering that Blazers in fact caused that damage? Logically, why is Blazer still in business if this were true? Surely there is no shortage of lawyers willing to sue?

 

[Azrael256]

Picture isn't working for me, but...

I could see the aluminum being brittle enough to allow a case rupture if the pistol were out of spec. I could also see an automatic tearing up a case head if the aluminum didn't shrink and turn loose of the chamber quick enough. Basically, you lose the safety net (small though it is) you get with brass in a slightly out of spec gun.

But completely blowing out a revolver cylinder? I don't think so. The strength of the case has very little to do with it in a revolver. I could see a blown case head jamming up the works pretty bad, but complete destrution of the cylinder sounds like a WAY overpressure round, or some years of shooting real hot handloads.

Revolvers existed for too many years before cases, brass or aluminum, came on the market for me to believe that Blazer blew up a gun.

 

[LeonCarr]

I own 5 9mm Glock Handguns (17(2), 19, 26, 34) and those five handguns have had about 50,000 rounds put through them. About 49,000 of those 50,000 rounds were Blazers. No ammunition related malfunctions, and only one that was operator induced .

The guys at Stinkadena Gun Center are full of Male Bovine Fecal Matter.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[Lone_Gunman]

I think the photo was staged.

They don't want Blazer on their range because they don't want to have to sort aluminum from brass.

Do you know if they allow steel cased ammo such as Wolf?

 

[Outlaws]

Oh I forgot....

CCI Blazer probably has 1/3 of the market for 'plinking' ammo. I wonder how many people stroll into this range with a box and then have to buy some overprice range ammo that "isn't as dangerous".

 

[TC-TX]

Total Hogwash!!!

This smells of a staged display -

To validate their ban on CCI... To keep from having to sort brass... To sell more over-priced, Range Ammo...

Looks a tad bit LIBELOUS to me...???

YMMV...

 

[Doug.38PR]

I think the photo was staged.

No I was there, i am the one that took the photo. The display is real and on site. I looked at the gun and saw the blown up parts. It was not a photo on the wall. I took the photo of the blown up gun right there in the display.

Now, whether the display is staged is another story. I was shocked and kept insisting to them that it had to have been +P+ or hand loads. I told them I had fired Blazer ammo before (but generally stay away from it ) and never has blown up any of my Colt OPs

 

[JohnKSa]

So, they want us to believe that a thin cylinder of aluminum you can crush between your thumb and forefinger provides such a huge level of reinforcement to the thick, hardened steel revolver cylinder that if said thin weak aluminum cylinder is compromised, the thick, hardened steel cylinder and barrel blows to bits.

Nope...can't swallow it.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

No I was there, i am the one that took the photo.

Sorry, I meant the display. I think the display was staged. My guess is someone blew up their S&W with a handload that was too hot, and used the opportunity to create a fake display of what Blazer can do.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

If the cylinder was so weak that the case remaining intact was all that kept the cylinder from blowing apart, then any ammo would eventually cause the gun to fail.

If it isn't a handload or overly powerful factory load for which the gun was not rated, then the gun itself was likely cheap, defective, or otherwise in poor repair.

 

[Golddog]

Bull****. I've shot thousands upon thousands of Blazers, mostly in 9mm (much higher pressures than .38's), without the whisper of a hint of a problem. Brass cases have been much more subject to cracking, in my experience.

 

[aryfrosty]

Blazers too hot?

I never call anybody on tall tales, but I think I'd make an exception and call those guys at the range who staged up those pictures of Blazer damage and told you they were straight up true tales. I'm not an expert, but I have been shooting for 47 years and have shot handloads, all sorts of factory loads and probably enough Blazers to blow up a pocket battleship and I have never had the first sign of excessive pressure in a Blazer. im sitting here right now with a Taurus Titanium snubby .45 Colt in my pocket laoded with Blazer hollow points. I also have several handguns with aluminum frames and another with a Titanium cylinder. Without calling a pig a porker I'd say those folks at that range were tired up policing up aluminum hulls.

 

[driven]

Overpressure and Underpressure loads?

It's hard to tell in the photo but it looks like the barrels in the display are bulged toward the muzzle end. An overpressure round wouldn't do that, but a bullet stuck in the barrel, followed by another one sure would. Are they saying Blazer is so bad that this happens too?!

Sorry, I've shot enough of it to know better. There'd be a thousand lawsuits against CCI and the product would be pulled if this were true!

 

[DWARREN123]

May be possible but, in my poor opinion, not likely.

 

[hksw]

Aluminum cases rupturing upon detonation? Quite possible. It'll even happen to brass and steel case.

Aluminum cased normal pressure ammo expoding a revolver cylinder and bend the top strap up? IMO, total range counter commando BS.

I'm thinking possible squib load followed up by a standard round.

 

[Wil Terry]

HERE'S MY TWO CENTS WORTH...

Back about 12 or 14 years ago I had a round of BLAZER 380 88GR JHP blow the slide off a BERSA 380ACP pistol. The slide was cut in two.
EAGLE IMPORTS replaced the pistol with a new one, no questions asked.

 

[JohnKSa]

Eagle Imports is the company that imports Bersa.

If they replaced the pistol without asking questions, wouldn't that imply that the problem was with the gun and not the ammunition?

 

[sm]

aryfrosty,

I'm with you. Shot lots of Blazer and continue to from Semis and Revolvers - never a problem.

Still like the old "flying ashtray" for Carry in 45ACP as well.

 

[TC-TX]

"they replaced the pistol without asking questions"???

Quote from JohnKSa:
If they replaced the pistol without asking questions, wouldn't that imply that the problem was with the gun and not the ammunition?

Bullseye! A Direct Hit!

If the weapon is damaged or otherwise flawed, ANY load manufactured by ANYONE has the potential to deliver this kind of experience...

No one said the K-Boom did not happen - obviously it did...

The point in question is the cause - Cracked frame, squib, etc... Sure.

Aluminum cases blowing up guns... I doubt it...

YMMV...

 

[RON in PA]

I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV, but I'd wager that if CCI-Speer found out about the display they would at the very least attempt to get a restraining order on the dysplay.

I have to go along with what everybody else says, Blazer is good ammo and the revolver had something else wrong when it blew.

 

[Stainz]

No mercury in their primers, low residue propellant, TMJ, the Blazer ammo is super for an indoor range... just a bit hard to separate, if you sell your brass. Sure, some cheaply made firearms suggest brass-only in their semi-auto's - due to unsupported chamber areas - but the Blazers would probably work well there, too. I've had, as a part-time RO at a public range, commercial brass cased ammo blow out the sides, too. Working at a range has educated me as well... we buy our 9mm Blazers from a local chain, as their <$5/50 is cheaper than wholesale... and, try to reload anything for $0.10/round!

I have had a 629MG really blow up in my hands. It was my fault - and not an overload. The previous round pinged a steel plate, and the barrel is perfect, the only salvageable part, so no stuck bullet in the tube there. It was a dirty chamber - lead/residue from the day's shooting of only Specials and Russians kept the hard-to-insert 300gr LSWC .44 Magnums, which made 865 fps with 6.2gr Titegroup (A warm .44 Special load at best.), unable to uncrimp the long bullet, effectively blocking the chamber for the fast Titegroup powder. Hodgdon's and S&W, after testing the remnants, agreed that was likely the cause - and that small amount of powder could produce a grenade of such a fine revolver... with a blocked chamber/bore. That is what must have happened... the wrong ammo, 9mm or .357M in a .38 chamber, or even a 'stuck'/blocked bullet.

I have had split cases - even a single .44 Special 200gr GD Blazer. They shared one common thread - hard to extract, but no cylinder damage - or even marring. I have shot thousands of 9mm, .45 ACP, .44 Special, and even .45 Colt Blazers. One ftf 9mm - and that split .44 Special case - and that's it. My experience with commercial brass ammo is much less, as I reload now, but has still produced more errant ammo. I agree with the majority... that 'myth' is busted.

Stainz

 

[Koveras]

The cylinder may well have blown when a Blazer round was fired, but that doesn't mean the real damage was caused then. The cylinder could have been easily damaged long before by too-heavy reloads, "gun show special" ammo, or even +P+ ammo.

I too fire thousands of rounds of Blazer ammo every year. In all of that, a few years ago I had one 9mm case that was too long to chamber. That's been the only failure so far. I will continue risking life and limb with it...

 

[GrandmasterB]

There's another gunshop/indoor range here in the Houston area that touts the same thing about Blazers. It's the range on north 59. I tend to believe that they just don't want to sort out the aluminum from the brass cases.

I agree with other posters that CCI would be getting sued and would have the integrity to pull their products from shelves if they were truly defective. Something else must have happened here.

I don't shoot a lot of Blazers since I started reloading, but I still buy their 9mm because it is so darn cheap. I have been very happy with CCI Blazers and will continue to purchase them and shoot them, just not at those ranges where they are not allowed. And I also do not buy ammo from those businesses, nor do I buy anything else from them either.