Super BlackHawk Failed - Opinion/Advice?

[MrMopar]

My son was shooting my Super Blackhawk in .44 mag this weekend. Two shots fired fine. Third was very loud, my son said he felt a pressure wave across his face.

Result was the cylinder split and the top strap bent.

I do reload and I am cautious. But, I could have made a mistake.

I need an opinion, is this:
1. Case failure?
2. Hot reload?
3. Cylinder failed on gun?
4. Something else I do not know about?

I included a shot of the case. It is split neck down on each side directly opposite each other.

[45_auto]

Severe overpressure from an overloaded cartridge.

[Steve in PA]

Since you said you reload, what was the supposed load you were using?

[F. Guffey]

I do reload and I am cautious. But, I could have made a mistake.

I reload and I can not afford to make a mistake. Hornady accused me of making too many mistakes they claimed their cam lock bullet puller could not stand up the work load. I went to visit them.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=341348

Nothing like making an excuse, I load on progressive and single stage presses. I do not get into mortal combat with reloading. I will take the time to weight components then total the weight. After loading I weight the loaded ammo and compare the weight with the weight of the components.

Not knowing what is going to happen when I pull the trigger is not exciting.

F. Guffey

[Hunter Customs]

I would rule out 1&3, even though I don't know what your reloading recipe was I would have to go with 2&4.

The cause appears to be from severe over pressure but that does not necessarily translate to an over charged round.

[mehavey]

God bless Bill Ruger....

[The Verminator]

Likely a round got double-charged.

I saw it happen with a Model 10 Smith and it looked about the same.

[NoSecondBest]

Almost 50 years of reloading, range officer, and sponsored shooter: my opinion is double charged load, and I'd suspect they were pretty hot to begin with. If you're loading on a progressive, use a powder that will fill the case over half full. If on a single stage or turret, check each cartridge before seating bullet.

[4V50 Gary]

#2. Hot load.

[Guggmeister]

I use VV N110 because, among other reasons, it fills the case.

[madmo44mag]

Hmmmmmmmmm - Over changed load.
I have been abusing Ruger 44 mag firearms for years and have pushed well past the safe limit of loading with 2400 and IMR 4227 powders and never blown a Ruger up. A S&W model 29 yes, twice but not a Ruger SBH or RH.
If just the cyl was split I would say a defect to the cyl but the top strap tells the tell.
You may not have had a double charge but had a very hot charge that was compressed and that can be a very bad thing.

[Lucas McCain]

What kind of bullets were you using? Check the primer strike, could it be a hot load and out of time?

[MrMopar]

I appreciate the responses. I am on a firewall so I can only respond certain times.

1. I weigh all my magnum loads after they are complete.
2. I must have missed one.
3. Yes, I did indeed thank God for Bill Ruger. My son was shooting. I could not have handled the guilt.
4. All loads are now being gone through again.

What I usually load is 9 grains Titegroup behind a 240 grain bullet. I need to check which bullet. I do not know off top of my head if we were shooting jacketed or lead. Titegroup can be double charged.

[MrMopar]

An interesting aside, the empty shell in the adjacent position was crushed. Not sure what to think about that.

[g.willikers]

One of the drawbacks of reloading is your pals who don't reload wanting you to do it for them.
If you have friends like that, just show them the picture.
That oughta' cure the problem.

[NoSecondBest]

Hmmmmmmmmm - Over changed load.
I have been abusing Ruger 44 mag firearms for years and have pushed well past the safe limit of loading with 2400 and IMR 4227 powders and never blown a Ruger up.

Can you fit a double charge of either into a 44mag case ( I don't know if you can or not)? Your comment about pushing "well past the safe limit" says a lot . If it's no longer safe, it's not safe or smart to do it.

[45 Dragoon]

MrMopar, glad your son is OK!! Lessons the hard way are not forgotten. I don't think you are not smart, on the contrary, I think you are smarter!!

NoSecondBest, just think, if that dummy Elmer Keith hadn't pushed the limits with the special, we wouldn't have the great .44 mag. Thanks Mr. Keith.

Mike
www.goonsgunworks.com

[NoSecondBest]

NoSecondBest, just think, if that dummy Elmer Keith hadn't pushed the limits with the special, we wouldn't have the great .44 mag. Thanks Mr. Keith.

I don't disagree with the Elmer Keith comment but you have to know when to quit. We have a lot of data now days Elmer didn't have. Hopefully we've learned from both Elmer and the manufacturers of the loading manuals available today that Elmer didn't have. We've come a long way since then and it would be foolish to not learn from it.

[TMD]

What I usually load is 9 grains Titegroup behind a 240 grain bullet. I need to check which bullet. I do not know off top of my head if we were shooting jacketed or lead. Titegroup can be double charged.

3X that amount of Titegroup can fit in a .44 mag case.

[MrMopar]

OK, weighed the last 25 loads I had complete. 23.3 to 23.7 GRAMs. That ain't right.

So I took apart the 6 of them that were over 23.5 grams.

The cases do not weigh the same. They vary by .5 GRAMS. WTH. I have 4 different case manufacturers.

Checked powder weight on 2. One was 13 GRAINS. One was 6 GRAINS.

I guess I need to group cases by manufacturer, weigh each charge and figure out WTH is going on.

Hornady LNL. Maybe powder is not dropping correctly. I am now going to disassemble the other 20 or so cartridges and weigh the powder. Strange stuff happening.

What am I not seeing. I have been reloading for three years. .38, .45 colt, .357mag, 44 mag and now 454 Casull. Never a problem. Til now.

A bit discouraged. Thought I was very careful. I guess I have to weigh each powder drop? Why have a progressive?

[James K]

Something is wrong somewhere. 23 grams is around 350 grains, an impossible load. (Even a .50 BMG won't hold that much!)

If one of your unfired rounds held 6 grains of powder and one 13 grains, you evidently are double charging some cases, explaining the blown cylinder.

Your use of "grams" is bothersome. If you are trying to weigh charges using a scientific scale, I strongly recommend you get an inexpensive powder scale calibrated in grains. There is too much chance of getting your weight systems mixed up.

Jim

[NoSecondBest]

A bit discouraged. Thought I was very careful. I guess I have to weigh each powder drop? Why have a progressive?

Use a different powder on a progressive.....as I said earlier. Use something that will show if you double charge. This is a pitfall of progressives and I know, I use two of them. They just require a little more care. Also, weighing completed rounds to verify powder isn't a good idea. If you want to use this powder, be prepared to weigh at least every five rounds or so to see if they are dropping uniform. If not, something's wrong. Too much variation. Be safe.

[James K]

I have loaded many thousands of .38 Special rounds with a Dillon and never double charged any. (Easy to do when the load is 2.7 grains of Bullseye!) It doesn't matter what tool you use, you have to concentrate on the job and eliminate distractions.

Jim

[Snyper]

Quote:
NoSecondBest, just think, if that dummy Elmer Keith hadn't pushed the limits with the special, we wouldn't have the great .44 mag. Thanks Mr. Keith.

Elmer blew up his share of guns too
He just didn't post the pictures on the internet

[James K]

Sad, but the guns he mostly blew up were Colt SAA's; old junk then, valuable antiques today.

Jim