Have you ever damaged a gun?

[Double_J]

I have only had one squib load, and I knew it when I pulled the trigger. It just did not sound "right." The next thing I did was field strip and inspect the gun...and I found the bullet right at the end of the barrel. I used a long screwdriver and a hammer to extract the bullet, and after a brief check of the rest of my ammo went back to shooting.

My reloading buddy was not so lucky with his "incident." He had an overcharge and blew the magazine out, and bent the barrel on his 1911. He also still to this day 10 years later has metal fragments in his face from the brass. When we got to his house we pulled every round from that batch, and only 2 more rounds were overcharged, and those by not that much. We did change powders to one with a larger "safety window" and started checking each charge weight.

 

[16in50calNavalRifle]

I was hoping Clark would check in on this thread, and I'm not disappointed! Interesting to know the approximate numbers on your "testing" stock!

Striker Fred, that's amazing about the cylinder full of bullets in the barrel. As stated by others, the only rational and sophisticated reaction to that is ..... WT*?

Aside from the idiot mark I put on my XD the very first time I field stripped it (well of course it was the first time, that's why it happened), no damage to guns yet ..... and my thanks to many here for never relenting about being careful, being smart, and paying attention in reloading.

I think the extremely fastidious approach I've developed to quality control on my reloads is actually part of what I enjoy about the whole process. Which may raise certain questions ..... (!)

 

[HOWARD J]

I blew the slide & bolt out of a 30 carbine using new ammo from the Philippines. Must have been quite an overload as it blew the parts about 30 feet behind me. Lucky no one was killed. I did not damage the gun--I don't know why.

 

[918v]

I peened the hell out of a Gen-2 Glock by running hot 357 loads through it.

 

[blackwalnut]

Damaged guns and blowing up Glocks....

Guns do not blow up for the heck of it. There is always a human being behind the blow up who caused it. I get tired of all the Glock bashing. Some of you cheap reloaders out there reload brass that should be in the scrap barrel. Dont blame the Glock blame the idiot who shoved crap in the chamber and you 1911 guys seem to have a continuous problem with Glocks. They have been around a while now since the early 80s in the USA and a little bit longer in Europe. Did Gaston Glock crap in your shooting bags?

Are you envious of superior design (Oh my its uses Browning design concepts doesnt it?) .

Even John Moses Browning was developing better designs until the Lord took him. Also the pistol was based on US Army requirement and they pay money for these things. Browning had to eat too.

I Have been shooting for well over 30 years on publlic and private ranges and have never seen a Glock blow up but I have seen a fair # of 1911s fall on their faces usually because a wannabee pistol smith that knows it all fussed with it and ran their own crap reloads through.

Too bad if nobody likes this its the truth.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

haha glock fanboys are all the same

 

[243winxb]

Had a Colt Trooper that failed from heat/hot loads. Looked like this GP100

[/URL][/IMG] My S&W M29 44 mag. needed some work. The extractor peened/pinched the pin. To many load of W296.

[/URL][/IMG] I feel none were my fault. Click photos for larger view. More KABOOMs here > http://www.photobucket.com/kabooom not mine.

 

[johnatw]

Peening

918v mentions peening a barrel, what exactly is peening and what causes it?
Thanks,
John

 

[243winxb]

Not sure if i am using the word correctly.

Peening - The cylinder/extractor was forced back into the frame harder than normal from many hot loads. The metal flowed outward, pinching the pin, so that it could not move correctly.

peening a barrel

No idea??

 

[918v]

I did not peen the barrel. I peened the slide right where it sits over the locking block. This happened because Glock's superior design allows the frame to flex and slap the locking block against the slide under recoil. Glock's design, while superior, wasn't superior enough so the engineers had to revise it. They made the locking block longer and wider to spread the force of the impact over a larger surface. This is said to prevent peening. Now Glock's design is considered super duper. The Gen-4 design was supposed to be radical, but they downgraded it to totally awesome after some guns were less than 100% reliable.

 

[Clark]

B.F. Skinner said that the more we understand the circumstances, the less we blame or give credit for results.
My father, the gun designer, told me that everyone thinks they can get away with more than a couple innovations in a design, but they never do.
So far I remain ignorant of Glock's circumstances, as I still marvel at how many new things he got right.
I own 3 Glocks, just as over load test subjects, and have not fired any of them in 10 years.

 

[RandyP]

knock wood, never a personal issue in 50 years of shooting. Can't recall seeing any at the ranges either.

The computer/software notion of GIGO applies to reloading too - garbage in, garbage out.

I am unaware of a caliber/style of ammo that cannot be reloading wrong. I accept that a few folks might not enjoy posting their own personal failures to follow safety protocols, and 'could' instead blame the firearm for 'failing'. lol

 

[lefteyedom]

Is there freebore or not?

I had a Custom 257 Weatherby built on a left hand Savage action. It implode on the first shot, locked up tighter than a safe. I posted the story here on THR.

The lesson learned, a chamber cast is well worth the time and money when buying a used custom built rifle. Free-Bore matters.

 

[beex215]

i dropped and scratched it, thats about the most damage ive done. also had one lodged bullet.

 

[GW Staar]

Here I thought I was an old fart!! Newbie here......having loaded for only 40 years. I never have ruined a gun either, but my nephew from southern Colorado did. Beautiful Remington BDL 7mm Magnum, with a barrel that was split like a banana.

It was NOT reloading-caused though. The dummy left his laser pointer in the barrel when he touched off a round. He brought the gun to me, to take to my favorite smith to get it fixed. The smith said, "I thought Myth Busters on TV debunked that one? And went back and got his camera!

Anyway, he checked it out and said he could replace the barrel, but he wouldn't guarantee the receiver to be safe for 7mm Mag.

My nephew decided not to fix it and it has it displayed over his fireplace to remind him to be more careful with details. Quite a conversation starter on display!

 

[788Ham]

I saved a friend from a possible KB some years back. This guy bought Wetherby .300,, really proud of his purchase, but went to Wally World to buy his ammo. He was telling a couple other guys at work about buying the ammo, for $24 a box, "Really got a good deal on it." Later when I ask about it, he told me, "I always buy 10 boxes for each firearm." When I told him the Winchester .300 ammo wouldn't fit, or fire properly, man did he get pissed! He didn't believe me, so he asked another guy that reloads, finally believed him. He took the ammo back to WW to get his money back...... they wouldn't do it.

 

[ranger335v]

I've been reloading for rifles, handguns and shotguns since '65, I've never had an overload, squib, blooper or a round that wouldn't chamber in use. A carefully designed and methodical work approach precludes such reloading errors.

The only firearm I've ever damaged was once when my old Marlin 336 dropped off the edge of a 25 ft high tree stand before I had it secured, it hit on the butt plate and broke the stock at the wrist.

 

[ranger335v]

"He took the (.300 Win mag) ammo back to WW to get his money back...... they wouldn't do it."[/I]

And they should not have. A good illustration that a fool and his money are soon parted tho!

 

[Certaindeaf]

Handloaded for around 35 years. No problems, knock on wood.
Damaged a few though.. always hurts your soul. Once, I bent and scarred a model 7 trigger guard, scarred the bolt knob and the plastic stock a bit by slipping on some boulders while wearing some dumb, cheap, worn out boots. All we can hope in life is to learn.

 

[Hondo 60]

I had either a dbl charge or a severe setback in my 1911.
(of course it was brand new - first time at the range)

No damage to the gun, but one of the grips cracked in half and it blew out the bottom of the magazine.
(never did find the spring)
Ruined 2 pcs of brass & chipped my glasses.
(I thank GOD I was wearin glasses, cuz that could've been my eye ball.)

Not catastrophic, but certainly a wake-up call.

 

[JoeDaddy]

I cracked the forcing cone on my model 19 sw 357, but not from hot loads as more of a design flaw and heavy use. Took about 10k rounds to do it.

 

[GLShooter]

You want pictures????

Greg