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Man dies after rifle explodes
The Morning Call (Allentown) ^
| July 1, 2002
| Joe McDonald
Posted on 07/01/2002 10:00:31 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed
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I wonder if he was shooting reloads.
To: *bang_list
Bang
To: Beelzebubba
Most likely an overload.
One gun range I went to had about 5 handguns hanging on the wall with the cylinders blown apart from hot handloads.
Could have also been smokeless in a 'black powder only' gun.
To: Beelzebubba
a ''wonderful antique'' with iron tresses. Trusses or trestles?
4
posted on
07/01/2002 10:10:19 AM PDT
by
Restorer
To: Beelzebubba
Or an old "curio/relic" rifle with a dubious pedigree.
5
posted on
07/01/2002 10:10:38 AM PDT
by
El Sordo
To: rockfish59
Could have also been smokeless in a 'black powder only' gun.
That's my bet.
To: Beelzebubba
I wonder if he was shooting reloads.My first thought, too. Makes you wonder if he was pushing the max load listed. Too many folks don't have the proper respect for pressures.
The only thing I use other folks' reloads for is to recover the brass.
To: Beelzebubba
There was an explosion in the barrel of the rifle that Glenn deRuiter, 54, of 268 W. Portal Road, Bethlehem Township, Hunterdon County, was firing, Grim said. Could have been a underpressure (squib) load that lodged a bullet in the barrel.
The explosion occurs on the next round. Chances are good he was playing with reloads.
But, there is nothing wrong with reloads per se. They are an integral part of our gun culture. Like everything else with guns, reloads require clear thinking, attention to detail and safety above all else.
8
posted on
07/01/2002 10:22:34 AM PDT
by
TC Rider
To: rockfish59
Most likely an overload. One gun range I went to had about 5 handguns hanging on the wall with the cylinders blown apart from hot handloads. It can happen, even to careful reloaders... I knew a guy who accidentally grabbed a can of Winchester 231 instead of the Winchester 296 he wanted for a .44Mag load!
As I recall, about 7 gr of 231 is a very nice, light load with a 240gr LSWC bullet. About 29gr of 296 is a very heavy load wih the same bullet. This guy put 29gr of 231 behind that bullet! It blew the cylinder apart!
Mark
9
posted on
07/01/2002 10:23:22 AM PDT
by
MarkL
To: white trash redneck
This guy had probably been chucking his "hot-loads" through this rifle for years. All the time weakening the rings/chamber and tempting fate. Sounds to me like the thing finally gave up. Hot-loads + old rifle = roulette IMO.
EBUCK
10
posted on
07/01/2002 10:24:42 AM PDT
by
EBUCK
To: Beelzebubba
Huh... I guess guns actually do kill people...
To: EBUCK
Folks also sometimes forget the effect of ambient temperature on pressure. A max load with safe pressure when it's in the 50's can be too hot when the temp is in the 90's.
To: MarkL
That's when an overload of 'Bullseye' takes on a whole new meaning.
To: white trash redneck
You are right. Also the loads could have been old and the cases swollen or fractured from over use. Always use new or once fired brass is a good rule.
EBUCK
14
posted on
07/01/2002 10:35:37 AM PDT
by
EBUCK
To: TC Rider
Could have been a underpressure (squib) load that lodged a bullet in the barrel.That was my guess.
15
posted on
07/01/2002 10:36:01 AM PDT
by
MileHi
To: white trash redneck
Folks also sometimes forget the effect of ambient temperature on pressure. A max load with safe pressure when it's in the 50's can be too hot when the temp is in the 90's. Yeah, but not enough to blow up the chamber on a modern rifle. My guess is he forgot to put powder in a round and the primer had enough pressure to push the bullet into the barrel (it's happened to me). When he pulled the empty case from the chamber he probably looked at it a little funny then decided he had a brain fart and forgot to pull the last fired case from the chamber, loaded another and pulled the trigger.
16
posted on
07/01/2002 10:38:58 AM PDT
by
6ppc
To: 6ppc
Yeah, but not enough to blow up the chamber on a modern rifle. My guess is he forgot to put powder in a round and the primer had enough pressure to push the bullet into the barrel (it's happened to me).That's why I weigh every completed round. The unloaded ones stick out like sore thumbs.
EBUCK
17
posted on
07/01/2002 10:48:18 AM PDT
by
EBUCK
To: Beelzebubba
I have had 2 guns explode on me. One, was a 20 guage & .222 over/under. The 20 guage blew up like in the cartoons at the end of the barrel.
The other was a 6 shot semi-automatic 12 guage. on the 3rd or 4th round (attempting to rapidly fire all 6) the cap on the end of the ammo tube (or whatever it is actually called) came off and the whole thing just went to pieces.
Luckily I was not injured in anyway from either instance.
To: rockfish59
I've still got the mangled barrel of my first shotgun. Dad double-charged a round. Luckily for everyone, he was shooting and no-one was hurt. I shoot left-handed. A piece of shrapnel that came off the barrel would have removed the right side of my head had I been shooting.
19
posted on
07/01/2002 10:57:47 AM PDT
by
NerdDad
To: NerdDad
Ouch!
But nothing compares to what happened here:
USS Iowa
And in her glory days!
Broadside!
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