Posted on 10/09/2017 5:13:20 AM PDT by w1n1
Shotguns can kaboom just like any firearm can. Faulty loaded ammunition can be the death to a fine shotgun.
These seven shotgun kabooms send these weapons to their doom.
This skeet shooter had a nasty surprise waiting for him…
Squib art A little destructive art.
This shotgun was a total loss from a badly loaded shell.
Now that is indeed a sad and scary sight. See the rest of the 7 shotguns kaboom here.
We have reloaded shot shells since I was about 14, I’m now almost 70.
Don’t hunt as much now, but reloading is still worth the effort.
My father is 92, he has his grandfather’s double barrel, hammerless, 12 ga shotgun. (Damascus barrel, never to be shot again) Untold number of times it has been shot. His grandfather saw to it that his children and grand children were fed.
I’ve been reloading rifle and hand gun cartridges since the 1970’s.
There is a danger, I have a family friend who put a double charge of powder in a reload for a fine, very expensive 45 auto pistol. He survived it with no real damage, but he as very lucky. That expensive hand gun will never be fired again. (he is a mechanical engineer?)
Had an old double barrel coach gun with hammers with a dirt dobber nest in the left barrel. Went to load it and couldn’t see daylight through one of the barrels. Rodded it out, and sure enough, a dirt clod. Could have been a bad day real easy
I’ve done it. Blew up a 16ga winchester with a special Hawk Load. Blew out the left side of the chamber and part of the forestock splintered. That was about 1963-4.
Leaving out one of the two wads, and filling the void with extra powder and shot is not recommended.
What is your agenda here?
I have a 20 gauge L.C. Smith field gun from the mid-late 1940s.
I’ve cleaned and put it away for the next generation to enjoy.
I hope the next generation was smarter than my generation who destroyed the 16ga.
“a special Hawk Load”
I know it can be done. But such mistakes should be avoided.
Sane loads are pretty easy. Be careful to not stick the barrel in the mud before firing.
What kind of powder did you use?
I still have my first shotgun. It was a Montgomery Wards private label made by a Remington subsidiary in Brazil.
Shotgun: For the heavy stuff, use ONLY factory loads, period.
For the rifle/pistol cartridges: Load the Powder charge in lots of 50—visually check the powder level in EVERY case in the loading block of 50 with a flashlight.
This only takes a few seconds.
Then weigh your charge in the scale for the NEXT 50.
At least I haven’t blown anything up——YET!
It was a paper shell, plastic’s were just coming on the market.
The standard formula was a measure of flake propellant, two fibre wads probably 3/4 - 1 inch in total, and a measure of shot. We skipped one wad and added extra powder and shot to make up the space.
The loader had 4 stations as I remember it.
We also had a lot of fun shooting the primer’s against brick walls with our wrist rockets.
I used to hunt pheasants in SW Iowa with a pal from Norwalk, IA.
He carried an old .410 single with a shell in the chamber and two in his shirt pocket.
He nearly always brought home three birds.
(and I was humping around with a 12 ga. A-5.)
Some folks have the gift for shooting on the fly. I have my moments when reactive shooting, but once I start thinking about it it’s gone.
The reason for formula’s for reloads is to prevent overpressure.
Even minor changes in weight of shot or bullet with fixed powder load can be fatal.
This is an outgrowth of the days of Proof Testing guns. Back then they used black powder, harder to over load charge.
With modern powder, precision scales are a must.
Just adding shot and powder both is very dangerous. You discovered that.
At 11-12 yrs old metal fatigue is pretty far outside your scope.
Now we would be a Youtube celebrity.
That is what I do. Any oddball charge stands out.
Celebrity?
There is a difference in being famous and being infamous. hee hee hee
I’m well enough known locally. hee hee hee
“Hawk Load” That’s what we call it. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Singularly the dumbest thing we ever did.
Yes, but you are still here.
Life was simple when we were growing up. Not so today.
But we were more reality based. Now everything is an abstraction or an illusion.
Simple usually works.
My shotgun shooting is pure instinct. No time to lead a bird when hunting with a dog at very close range.
It is simply tracking with eyes throw up shotgun with remembered cheek weld and pulling the trigger. Guys who shoot clay birds, never seem to get that.
Today, it is a rare method. It is the only method that works for quail hunting.
(I shoot clay birds the same way, others don’t get it)
Yank off their heads, throw them in the backpack and give the dogs the head as a treat. Good times.
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