Blew up new Ruger 45Colt/45ACP

[MarkJD]

Made a major mistake somewhere handloading for my 6 month old New Model Ruger Blackhawk 45Colt/ACP convertable. Used load date from the Nosler website for making a "Ruger only" load.

This time used 10.9gr of Unique, Starline 45 Colt brass topped with a 250gr Nosler Sporting Handgun Revolver bullet. Had previously tried 10.3 then 10.6 grains of Unique with no problem. OAL were all 1.600".

For crimping I use the Lee Factory Crimp Die. The crimp die is adjusted about a half turn lower from making contact with the case mouth.

The Starline cases are all brand new. I had to resize the cases because the bullets almost slid down inside the case with with no effort. Even after resizing the cases I didn't like how the bullets were so loose. I could finger push them into the case.

So this time I sized 3 cases using the 45ACP resizing die and loaded them with the above data. Bullets pushed into the case just like the other calipers I reload do.

Loaded all 3 shells into the Ruger and took the first shot over the chrono. Velocity was 973fps. Shot was a little smoky which I thought was unusual but then I saw the top half of my cylinder had blown off, top frame is bent and everything is jammed in place. Disbelief and surprised to say the least! Would have expected far more recoil or recoil pushed in a odd direction. The 2nd shell in line was blown out of the gun and torn open. I found those parts along with 2 pieces of the shell that blew. No sign of the cylinder pieces. Third shell is flattened and cracked still in the cylinder.

I count myself as extremely lucky I wasn't damaged. I am also concerned with what I did wrong in my reloading. Only been reloading for 2 years so still learning. I am assuming I set the scale counter weights wrong. I use a RCBS balance beam. I also have a Hornady electronic scale that I had quit using. Hated having to turn the thing back on all the time. Plan now is to set the counter weights on the balance beam scale, throw a charge and use the electronic scale to verify.

Is there anything else that could have prevented this from happening?

[snuffy]

Pictures?

You didn't say, but I assume you checked the barrel to assure there wasn't a bullet stuck in it? Or some other kind of barrel obstruction?

The only other possible cause is a double charge. 20.8 grains of unique powder would certainly take apart just about any revolver. Oh, I see you're using a beam scale with wire weights in notches? Yeah that would do it if the tens weight was in the 20 notch instead of the 10.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

that is unusual... are you sure it was Unique powder??? I certainly wouldn't recommend it, but would have guessed a Ruger could take as much Unique as you could fit in a case???

I just cracked a cylinder on a 44 Special Ruger that had more than a double charge in a handload that was in with my FIL's stuff over 20 years old...

could the bullet have gotten deformed with the trouble you were having seating / crimping

[T. O'Heir]

Those Nosler "Ruger only" loads were tested in a 12" Contender. There was something horribly wrong with those loads if the velocity was only 973fps. Starting loads of Unique are faster than that. You weigh 'em?
A 45ACP resizing die does not properly size .45 Colt cases either.

[TimSr]

There was something horribly wrong with those loads if the velocity was only 973fps.

That was my first thought, but then if the chamber that contains and directs all the pressure comes apart, you are not likely to see the velocity you'd expect from one that stayed together.

[Savage99]

I suspect a double charge in that 45 Colt case!

That old 45 Colt case will take twenty five grains of slow burning powder.

I look down into every case I have filled with powder to check for over charges or empties.

I have been handloading since 1953 and have never had a problem.

Take care.

Your double charge picture.

[condor bravo]

Perhaps a slamfire due to a high primer in one of the adjacent rounds slammimg against the recoil plate during firing. Probably more damage would have been done however if a slamfire. It looks like just one cylinder was blown out.

[MarkJD]

I assumed before I shot this time the barrel was clear. Last it was used the number of shots and holes in the target matched.

The scale counter weight in the notches has me thinking too. It's possible the 10s counter weight wasn't fully in the notch but hanging on the edge giving a couple more grains?

A double charge would have filed the case. Something I hope I would have noticed. I'm nearly 100% certain I used the Unique powder I intended. I'm real careful about that since I caught my self using the wrong canister of powder once early on in my reloading. Can never be 100% certain though.

The bullet shouldn't have been deformed because the problem I had seating/crimping early on was the bullets were too loose IMO. Better now that I resized the cases with the 45ACP die.

[schmellba99]

You should have stopped when you said you could finger push the projectiles into the cases even after resizing them.

There is a problem that you didn't address right there.

If you have some of the Starline brass, I'd keep it as is and take some good measurements. I'd also size some and take some more measurements, as well as take measurements of your projectiles.

As far as what caused the KABOOM, who knows? My best guess would be that if the projectile was really that loose, it could have come out of the cylinder at enough of an angle to the axis of the bore that it wedged in the forcing cone, which caused a massive pressure spike.

You are one lucky SOB that you aren't pulling shrapnel out of your body!

[MSD Mike]

While I don't think 10.9 grains of Unique should blow up a gun it is a stout load. I have the same revolver and the 8.5 load is in the upper 900's for velocity.
If a loose bullet got pushed down in the case that might increase pressure enough to do it.

Mike

[skizzums]

geez, glad you weren't injured. sorry about your pistol.

unfortunate that you don't have any other loaded rounds you could pull and measure.

[LE-28]

As far as your Hornady electronic scale, I leave mine plugged in all the time, it doesn't hurt it.

They actually work better that way anyways. Their all warmed up, no drifting and so on.

What year is that Ruger, I have an old model Ruger flat top from the early 1970s and I don't think it will take "Ruger only loads".

Only the modern New Model Blackhawk Rugers will take the higher pressures I think. I'm not chancing it with my old 3 screw.

If its an old model that may be why it didn't handle a Ruger only load.

[MarkJD]

Thinking on this some more... My thought originally about using the 45 ACP sizing die on the 45 Colt cases came about because both are using a .451" bullet. Could this have caused neck tension extreme enough to hold the bullet too long after firing causing a pressure spike?

[snuffy]

Thinking on this some more... My thought originally about using the 45 ACP sizing die on the 45 Colt cases came about because both are using a .451" bullet. Could this have caused neck tension extreme enough to hold the bullet too long after firing causing a pressure spike?

NOPE! Bullet pull or the most sever crimp have little to no relation to pressure. Certainly NOT enough to blow a strong revolver like a Ruger. Bullet pull,(How tightly the bullet is held by neck tension), and crimp do two things. #1 is holding the bullet in place so it can't b easily moved by the chambering action, and 2 is to give the primer a chance to ignite the powder, a slight delay.

This is what a double charge will do to a Ruger 44 mag;


300 grain Lee cast with what was SUPPOSED to be 11.3 grains of H-Blu-Dot.

I was distracted, didn't visually check powder level and used a powder that CAN be double charged without overflowing the case. Yes, it took a lot of force to seat that one boolit, but I proved it could be done.

[SHR970]

That was not neck tension. That was an overcharge of Powder. I looked up the TC loads in my Lymans and 10.9 gr. is well under the max load. Speer 12 puts that .4 gr. over for a 260 gr. bullet...but again, that is still in the margins. Speer loads are held to 25k psi max., the BH's will handle well beyond that.

Speer 12 sows the 260 gr. w/ Bullseye @ 9.4 gr. max. Even @ 1.5 gr. over w/ BE all you should have experienced was hard to extract cases.

I'm waiting for Clark to chime in.....he has gone out of his way to "disassemble" various firearms w/ overloads.

Set your scale and drop 10.9 gr. of Unique on it; then ask yourself if that pile resembles what you remember dropping into the case. If it does I'm willing to bet you double charged...if not, you set your scale incorrectly.

[Mike / Tx]

I think the biggest issue was you loaded Ruger only loads for a revolver that really isn't designed to shoot them.

Before the jumping up and down starts, there are several frame sized BH's and this one is NOT the one for the higher test loads. It is only designed for the lower pressure stuff not the Ruger only ones. Had you stuck within the range of the Tier 1 loads from the list for the 45 270 SAA in this link, you would still have a nice handgun to play around with,
https://www.riflemagazine.com/magazi...246partial.pdf

I have looked real hard at picking one of those convertible 45's up, and in my research I noted that there were several different versions of the BH frame which would explain most of what you have there, and the higher load would explain the other half. Not saying it CAN'T be done, but just that it shouldn't.

For me years ago I got confused with which frame I could load stout and which one I couldn't and got tired to trying to remember, so I just bought the Redhawk in each caliber, (well except for the 357). I still only load to the tier 2 loads in that above link, if I need more I use my 454 for the top end stuff.

[smee78]

Well I'm glad your safe and I hope you learned something. So what you doing with that extra 45acp cylinder?

[Savage99]

Stand above the powder filled cases in the loading block and look down into each one.

On bottlenecked cases use a flashlight.

[Slamfire]

I don't understand why one round of a 250 grain bullet going 973 fps would blow the cylinder. The pressures should not be that high. Unless, this is a example of metal fatigue.

How many rounds have you put through that pistol and how many of them were maximum "Ruger Only" loads?

[603Country]

Whoa...Savage99 has been reloading since 1953? Dang, that has to be a forum record. I am very impressed.

[Darren007]

I think the biggest issue was you loaded Ruger only loads for a revolver that really isn't designed to shoot them.

Nonsense. And ironically, the link you post even contradicts you.

The Ruger Blackhawk, regardless if they have varying frame sizes, is more than capable of handling the loads you point out in Table 2 and the 10.9gr of Unique he loaded with the Nosler 250gr, as Nosler lists 11.3gr as max. It is highly doubtful that any bullet or powder manufacturer is going to just generically say these loads are safe for the Ruger Blackhawk, if in fact there are varying frame sizes limiting certain loads, without so much as a warning or how to tell which frame is which.

In regards to the OP's gun, I'm willing to bet it was a double charge.

[Bongo Boy]

All I can do is express my deepest sympathy for your loss, and greatest happiness for your hanging on to what's truly important.

What your experience does for me, though, is to completely stop my complaining about propellants such as 4227 where a double charge is impossible. I was apt to whimper and whine about compressed loads below max, now I stop my whining. Mostly because I have NO experience with Unique, I've always mistakenly equated it to Bullseye--doesn't matter why and doesn't matter too much that this is wrong--the point being, I've generally assumed it to be a faster, small case powder. Thing is, for big loads in big cases, it looks like it may not be the best choice where mistakes can be made--and that's all of us, everywhere.

I'm really warming up to the expensive, inefficient 300-MP, 4227, No 9 type propellants where you do your best to jam 24 gr of them into a case that they barely fit into, hoping to score near-max performance. With a light on your press, there's no way a double load will get through the system--you'd have spillage all over the place.

Of course it's not certain if you even had a double--could have been any number of factors. I've blown out primers left and right with 800X, and just today I had a primer anvil stick to the bolt face of my Grizzly preventing the next round from going home. Not the first time I've had primers blown out of cases with Starline brass and 800X, with charges 15% lower than other folks are having great fun with. Mysteries of the handloader's art.

[Sevens]

Too many red flags here. Pretty sure it was Unique? Have no other rounds to chase down evidence? Not sure if the scale was set properly?

[MarkJD]

A double charge would overflow the case. First thing I did when I got home was to see if a double charge would fit. My first thought as to what happened. No way, spilled all over. I am leaning towards wrong setting on the scale. This is disheartening because I check and double check the published load data, scale setting and powder required. I can get about 13.5 grains or so of Unique in the case before it becomes real evident it is going to be nearly a compressed load. I kept telling myself it can't be but it looks like it could very well be.

Yes I was very fortunate the only thing injured was the revolver. It could have been so much worse. I thought I was careful before but that is going to be raised to a new level! Thanks for all the comments and help.

[snuffy]

I just filled a 45 colt case to-the-top with unique powder. It weighed 24.0 grains. So 21.8 grains would fit with a little room to seat a bullet without compressing the powder. I believe the bullet could be seated, the loose nature of unique would allow a lot of compression without bulging the case.

A case charged like that would be real obvious to even casual observation if anyone looked at it.