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Post by dougader on Feb 7, 2015 12:34:57 GMT -5
Oh, man, that about breaks your heart. Ouch.
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Post by seancass on Feb 7, 2015 15:11:02 GMT -5
That Linebaugh is heart wrenching, but no injuries so it could be worse. That's a theme with most failed revolvers.
I've had one hangfire. I think there was water residue from wet tumbling and not thoroughly drying. This was an very light 44mag load with Unique. I got a POP fffssshhhhp(one-quarter to a half second burn) . The bullet made it just to the barrel, so i could remove the cylinder and get it out.
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Paden
.375 Atomic
Lower Goldstream Creek
Posts: 1,132
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Post by Paden on Feb 7, 2015 23:02:18 GMT -5
Story is here on the forum. Can someone point to where?
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Post by seancass on Feb 7, 2015 23:21:22 GMT -5
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kabar
.240 Incinerator
Posts: 20
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Post by kabar on Feb 8, 2015 0:04:08 GMT -5
Been in Kaytod's shoes myself. Blew up .a .45 Colt stainless Bisley 2-3 years ago. Felt part of the cylinder brush my hair as it flew past. My guess is a double charge of Universal. First and only accident in 40 years of reloading. Better to be lucky than good. Picture of the wrecked hand gun is on the wall above my reloading bench as a reminder. Have had a misfire or two over the years with smokeless rounds, but never a hangfire that I can recall except with a flinter.
Ken.
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Post by contender on Feb 8, 2015 11:41:17 GMT -5
I too have some doubts about the whole story. And, of course, we can only speculate as to the actual events, as none of us were there. But, the part about the round exploding & injuring him made me pause. An older firearms instructor I once knew used to demonstrate to students what happened to ammo when in a fire or detonated w/o being in a gun. He'd place a live 30-06 round on a hot plate. Place a cardboard box over the entire area, (a big enough box to not catch fire,) and heat the round to where it'd detonate. Nothing would penetrate the cardboard, and no serious damages to anything. Now I know if the round was directly in the hand, it could cause some damage, but I'd want to know how "serious" it was. Next, as noted, a 30 second delay, or heck, even a 15 second delay is a LONG delay for a hang fire. The above comment about an obstruction in the flash hole is an interesting thought. Still,,,,,,,,,, ? Since no one witnessed the event, and all anybody has to go on is the word of the shooter, I'd have to pause. Even many honest folks get embarrassed, and fail to fully disclose events of their embarrassments.
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Post by kaytod on Feb 8, 2015 12:13:32 GMT -5
Here is a picture for you all. Here is the situation. Bullseye shooting match. Taurus PT 1911. 255 gn RNFP 5.5 Unique The round did not chamber, so I ejected it, with some resistance, wiped the cartridge off thinking it my have picked up some grime. Reloaded said round into the magazine and tried it again. Slide was still not in battery. Tried to pull the slide to the rear by thumb and forefinger at the rear of the slide and it wouldn't budge. So I grasp the slide with my left hand and the grip with my right and pressed the two apart. However, I did a dumb thing. I had my fingers over the ejection port so when the round did dislodge from the chamber with force, the bullet nose was prohibited from clearing the ejection port, kicking the rear of the round inward to the fancy extended ejector ( which I now hate as they resemble a Glock firing pin ) My middle finger was right on the cartridge when it was set off by the ejector resulting in a ruptured case and skinned finger. I came away with a far better technique and a healthy dislike for the extended ejectors in a 1911. OH the reason why it wouldn't chamber was, one of my .454 diameter bullets found it's way into the .452's
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Post by contender on Feb 9, 2015 10:14:43 GMT -5
As a USPSA RO, I've seen a few detonations of a round when being ejected. Looking at the above pic, I see it did draw a bit of blood, but didn't destroy the finger or hand. This coincides with what I mentioned about a round going off unsupported. I truly know that in the above case, it hurt like the dickens. But, it healed & taught a lesson. And the above wasn't a hangfire, it was a detonation caused by the ejector. Good post kaytod, and I'm glad you weren't seriously hurt.
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dmize
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 2,825
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Post by dmize on Feb 9, 2015 10:19:56 GMT -5
I never gave a single thought to the external extractor thing. But it makes a lot of sense even without the picture.
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Post by kaytod on Feb 9, 2015 10:53:11 GMT -5
Nope, no missing fingertip. Although it was numb enough that I had to check when the incident happened! Just lost the flesh on the fingertip which grew back just fine.
I'll have to get some pictures of the two types of ejectors. The original 1911 was just a small angled bump inside the left side of the frame. The new "extended ejectors" have a square piece the protrudes out forward. Hence the protrusion looks like a firing pin.
Yes the above incident was my fault with a bad technique to clear the gun. If it had a Gov't style ejector, I don't think I would have had an issue. However with the "improved" version it quickly taught me a lesson.
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Post by 98redline on Feb 9, 2015 12:19:41 GMT -5
Todd's theory sound plausible but when things go haywire finding the real reason for it is darn near impossible without a forensics lab who really knows their gun stuff. I took he top half of a cylinder off a 45 colt Bisley years ago, the odds on reason was that the round had a double charge of HS-6 in it, low volume powder very easy to do. But even today the charged round to the left of the fired round also ruptured and burned when the cylinder came appart. I have always wondered if in fact a tall primer actually went off against a seam left on the frame window during casting at Ruger when the main round fired detonating the whole mess. In the end it is impossible to say what happened, the top half of the cylinder was never located, the top strap was stretched up in a rainbow but never failed. It is more of a testimate to the strength of Blackhawks that anything else, I was spooked but not hurt by the events and I have doubled down on my carefulness during the reloading steps. Reminds me of this incident. I was there when it happened. Story is here on the forum. 31 of HS-6 That picture makes me cry just a little inside. While I have never experienced a hangfire myself, I have trouble getting my head around the fact that an unchambered round ignited and the blast was enough to mess up this guy's fingers really badly. The nature of a hangfire would imply that the full flame from the primer did not ignite the powder so even if it did go off, it would have been less of a full charge ignition and more of a partial charge or a "pop" Color me skeptical as well.
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Post by sixshot on Feb 9, 2015 14:35:51 GMT -5
Several years ago in one of the more popular reloading mags I read where a Ballastics lab was doing their normal testing of factory ammo. The guy had a misfire with a rifle cartridge, left the bolt closed for the normal amount of time, then lifted the bolt, inspected the round & set it on the table & chamber another round. When he did the round sitting on the table went off! Can't remember the final outcome but I'm guessing he went home early that day. Something I did see myself in Jackson Hole, Wyoming about 10 years ago at a USPSA match was a master class open shooter have a squib load that jammed his gun, the case had ruptured & locked up the gun. The crazy thing was the primer was in backwards but it had fired & the bullet was lodged in the barrel!
Dick
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Post by 98redline on Feb 9, 2015 15:05:03 GMT -5
The crazy thing was the primer was in backwards but it had fired & the bullet was lodged in the barrel! Dick There is a whole lot of "What the Heck?" going on there.
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Post by bobwright on Feb 9, 2015 17:05:20 GMT -5
The consensus is that the round went off about 30 sec after the misfire. The likely cause is – he primed these cases using a hand primer (perhaps a Lee Auto Prime or similar) and one primer went in “cockeyed.” He then forced the primer home. The primer apparently showed visible damage due to the primer seating process. Something doesn't seem to add up to me. Most often when a round explodes not confined to the gun's chamber, the primer blows out, usually completely out of the primer pocket. I'd sure like to see the remains of the round. And thirty seconds is a long time for the powder to smolder, or the priming compound also. Bob Wright
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wdr2
.30 Stingray
Posts: 147
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Post by wdr2 on Feb 9, 2015 19:42:18 GMT -5
Some good thoughts here. I too expect there is more to this story. I simply posted the story as it was relayed to us at our club meeting. I'll ask around for more details and post here if I find out more,
Bill
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