Very fortunate

[lwh723]

Never thought I would need to do one of these posts since I generally use a witness mark, although I’m not sure, I think I managed to double load. By an act of God, I was not injured at all.

Story goes like most double loads, I had multiple loads out, was talking, and not using a witness mark. I thought I had pulled 5 bullets out to size, and there were 4 bullets left afterward, so that's why I'm not 100% sure it was a double load. However, the bullet did seem to seat a little hard, like the powder wasn't compressing--another mistake not stopping right then and checking. Since I was being stupid and not using a witness mark on my range rod, we'll never know.

Thankfully, God showed mercy on me. Even though I was holding the stock in front of the lug, all I had was one small sliver that I easily flicked out with a finger nail.

Specifics

Pac-Nor Sendero Contour, interrupted fluting.
310 APB
70gr H4198
Win 209
040 Bushing


Since the barrel split up and out, the little 32mm bell on my NF only got a small scratch.

No pictures of the forend of the stock, but besides a couple of maybe 2" pieces, it was pretty much a bunch of little pieces.

There's a ton of copper fouling on the two "peels" that split upwards. I assume the bullet(s) exited that way.

[Deleted]

Wow Luke your very lucky! Glad your okay!

[madcityhoosier]

Luke... I'm thankful you walked away from this! This will definitely be on my mind at my next range trip.

[lttac]

Wow buddy that's terrible but glad you're ok

[hankinsrfls]

Luke.. We really need to know if this was a double load and if so what was the powder and charge weights. If this was not a double load should we be expecting more blown up PAC-NOR barrels... Or others.?

Krieger will not even make a 45 caliber barrel in the Remington Sendaro contour, because they believe its to week to hold the pressures. On top of that those flutes look pretty deep..

I am happy to know you are ok and got out of that one un-harmed.... Jeff.

[Deleted]

Thank God you are alright Luke ....nobody EVER plans on double loading...and you know what your doing....this situation solidifies my decision to not sell a guy a bp barrel that he want to shoot smokeless with....Again,I'm glad you are alright brother....whew.....

[dannoboone]

I feel good that you weren't seriously hurt. I feel
sick about your beautiful rifle.

God wanted you around so I could buy more stuff
from you.

Thank-you for being man enough to share this. It
just may be a warning to the wise to be double
careful.

[03mossy]

Wow! Glad your ok!

[markb317]

Glad you still have your hand..
Looks like its a good time to try out one of those Brux barrels you have.

[southarkrob]

Glad you are ok!!! Sucks about your gun.

[rileydog]

<2 on the flutes . So glad you weren't hurt . I know that was your baby . Stuff always happens just before the season. Hope you have a backup or get another one together fast .

[airborneike]

Luke,

Glad you are not hurt...that is one scary sight...

Looks like the initial fracture started in one of the flutes and the two loose barrel pieces let go right at the nose of the breech plug...all possible weak points. A good de-construction of this may help us in going forward with our builds.

Hope the cause/reason can be identified...

Hate the loss of a beautiful rifle but thankful you and others are not harmed...other than a good pants cleanout!

Luke, thanks for having the courage to post this...stand up guy!

Mike

[deadeer]

OMG! So glad you are OK! Let this be an ABSOLUTE reminder to everybody that you need to be careful and not be distracted. It can happen to anybody.

Jay

[Deleted]

My immediate reaction to this when I saw it was, God was looking over you.

Think it cant happen to you? Think again. while I didn't have a blow up I did swell one slightly a while back, double load? NO, don't think so.
We might never know what happened to Lukes barrel and I will never know for sure on mine but I believe mine was a too dirty barrel and a not completely seated bullet although Im only 95 percent sure of that.

Bottom line is this, distraction and an unmarked rod spells DISASTER. I have already talked with Luke about this and the pics he posted here are a grim reminder for all of us no matter how green or seasoned we are it can and does happen if we get lax.

while we all regret the loss of a nice gun Im very thankful it was not worse and I know Luke is. like I told Luke, these pics WILL SAVE SOMEONES BUTT!

Remember, smokeless is not for the masses, only the diligent need apply. This like all other activities using things that go bang is dangerous and we must stay on our toes. Thank you Lord for watching over Luke, I ask that you will keep us all safe doing what we love so dearly....


I will add, it takes balls to post pictures like this, only a stand up guy would show the world these pics, a pat on the back is in order...

[rebelrick]

God has a plan for you.
Glad you are safe.

[rlp10ml]

Thank the good Lord you are OK Luke.

[mike243]

dang that's ugly, glad you were not hurt, started to double load mine and caught my self before I rammed it home, it can happen to any body but I will have a range rod with witness marks on it very soon to keep track of whats what.

[tnhunter54]

Dang Luke glad your ok, I'm new to smokeless and just getting started so this is a real heads up for me. Witness mark will be the first thing I do when I get my new gun.

[hydrodog]

Good to see you were not injured,close call. Keep us posted on the new build.

[ET]

Luke

I agree with the others that by the grace of God you have been spared serious consequences from such a barrel failure incident.

To me where the most extreme bends in the barrel slivers exist suggest where peak pressure occurred and where more than likely the initial failure occurred.
To me also the flutes look deep say basically ½ the barrel wall thickness and could be a major factor in this incident.

Being human and exposed to distraction which IMO is the #1 culprit for making a mistake in this area only added safeguards can help prevent such an incident. That was a hard lesson learned by me.

Your open honesty of this incident added credibility to who you are in my book.



Ed

[bigmoose]

Do you think the flutting weakened the barrel, in any event your a lucky gent

everyone thinks it can't happen to them

put some extra money in the poor box this week

best wishes, Marty

[1gifford]

Luke
Glad the only thing hurt was the barrel.

I think this is a strong reminder from a respected member that it can happen to any of us.

I am sure you said your prayers last night for sure!

Tom

[Deleted]

Thanks and kudos to you for swallowing your pride and sharing this Luke, that takes guts. It serves as a great reminder to everyone, sorry about your loss on a beautiful rig but that's immaterial, you're okay and thank god for that. That's a scary sight for sure....

[dave d.]

Like I'm so glad you weren't hurt it was definitely I gift from above. Thanks for posting this just shows that this can happen to even the most experienced shooters so we all need to avoid distractions.

[bluedog]

Someone said it earlier but deserves repeating; God must have a plan for you! Have you pulled the trigger yet again on another rifle? I am curious as to what that experience will do to your mind the next time you are about to squeeze the trigger. I think I would be screwed up for awhile. Glad you are OK!

[Deleted]

Holy smokes!
Glad to hear that you weren't hurt!

[edge]

WOW!

Thanks for sharing and glad you were not hurt.

Some thoughts on using a range rod without a witness mark.
Yes you should use one, but when you get that feeling that something might not be right then place the rod next to the barrel and mark where the breechplug should end ( it does not have to be exact ).
Next measure where the load stops.
You know how long your bullet is so the rest SHOULD BE ALL powder!

MOST powders we use in the 45 caliber rifles take up BETWEEN 0.275 and 0.30 inches per ten grains.
(Lil'Gun and Norma 200 are about 0.250 and 4759 is almost 0.375 and they are the exceptions.)

So if you use 80 grains of a "normal powder" the powder column should not exceed 0.3 x 8 or 2.4 inches.

If the powder takes up much more than 2 1/2  inches then you probably either don't have the bullet seated, a double load of powder or two bullets! If you can't get the bullet lower in the barrel then dump the load!

edge.

PS if you use a very short bullet then this might be harder to do and you should get familiar with your particular powders and bullets

[encore50a]

So glad you weren't hurt.

Thank you for sharing.

[lwh723]

Thanks for going easy on me guys. As has been said, hopefully, we can learn from this.

It does appear that the failure point was at the start of the flutes. I wish I could say with 100% certainty I had or hadn't double loaded. This would be my first double load in 19 years of MZ's, but I'm plenty absentminded at times to where I have no doubt I could have double loaded. The way the top two peels are forced up significantly more than the bottom half, I would theorize that is from a double load getting pushed up and out. Additionally, to me, the copper fouling also supports this theory as I would think the bullet on a single load would still travel down the barrel (but that's pure conjecture). Other double loads have also shown a lot of copper fouling too. Finally, the semi-hard stop when seating the bullet reminded me of the one time I sat a bullet with no powder, but could have been bullet on bullet? Basically, everything in the story is the standard double load story we hear, but I can't for the life of me remember doing it.

[lwh723]

And yes, I did shoot again that day. There was some pucker factor, but I got over it.