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By the way, the guys who worked there must not have been doing this long, as the 1911 was/is one of the worst offenders of the case failure blowout. I can't count the number of times some guy in IPSC matches would blow a case in his 1911 from a double charge of powder.

Er...actually...and don't hold me to this....

But I don't know any IPSC reloaders who would double charge a case. In fact, about 99% of any double charged pistol cartrige will result in catastrophic failure FIRST time, every time. Also, I do believe that a double charge is practically guaranteed to damage the weapon! It takes far less to just blow a case head. :-)

HOWEVER....there was a great mystery back around 1990 or so whereby a lot of IPSC shooters were blowing up good guns (mostly Colt Series 70s) and for a time, nobody could figure out why. From what I read, a great majority of the blow-ups were light loads. Somebody (and please forgive me for my lack of references here because it's been a LONG time) finally concluded that it was a phenomenon called "flash-over". I remember reading that they were able to reproduce it as well, at least to some degree.

From what I understand, flash-over is where a very light load spreads itself out along the inner case wall when the weapon is lowered to a horizontal position to fire. It was determined that this presented a LARGE area by which to produce a flame front via primer ignition. Then, instead of having a flame front consisting of the inner diameter of the .45ACP casing, there was one that could extend the length of the inside of the casing! In short, TOO much ignited TOO fast, building TOO much pressure, and *ka-boom*. We know the rest of the story. :-)

But anyway...that's what I remember about IPSC shooters having a bad rap for blowing up .45ACPs. :-)

I can't count the number of times some guy in IPSC matches would blow a case in his 1911 from a double charge of powder.

If it was a .38 Super, it probably wasn't from a double charge, as much as over pressure on reloaded cases. In order to get major caliber scoring in a .38 Super, you really need to push the envelope when it comes to the loads and pressure. You've got to very carefully inspect those cases, and it's easy to miss some that have bulged a bit. Even with ramped barrels, you'll sometimes get a blown case. In 6 years of shooting USPSA competition and practice 2 nights a week, and bowling pin matches once a week, I only saw 5 blown cases, 4 of which were .38 Super. I did see a double loaded .45 with 231 blow the magazine out of a 1911. But that was the only time I ever saw a double charge.

Mark

Not to quibble, but I don't see how this:
"I can't count the number of times some guy in IPSC matches would blow a case in his 1911 from a double charge of powder."
Should damn the 1911 - a double charge of powder is likely to disrupt anything it's loaded into. And, although I've erred myself at times, double charging (or loading with the primer all by itself) generally means the guy should be looking for another hobby.

(Worst I ever saw was a guy blowing up his absolutely beautiful refinished M-1 using ammo he'd borrowed from a friend - last seen hightailing it away from the range.)