I'd hope everyone pays attention to what Lagopus has posted about that rifle failure.
I'll relate a similar tale that involved an individual shooting a factory 12 ga. 32 gram shot shell that had been rolling back & forth on the dashboard of a pickup truck for quite a while, a few years in the Texas heat & cold. It was fired at a rattlesnake in a modern pump shotgun w/double action bars & it blew the receiver and the back [chamber] portion of that gun up. It was a catastrophic failure & resulted in destruction of the first order. It did not result in an injury, but could have just as easily, IMHO. It is quite likely that the powder in that cartridge had become 'dust' and as such had zero deterrent and an exponetially increased surface area. In other words, the powder detonated rather than burned. FWIW, The dif in defs between burning and detonation in the simplest of terms is the speed or burning rate, if you will.
Thanks for posting this. You guys may have saved me a ruptured barrel and potential injury. I have an old 12ga shell that I found in the back of a cargo van that I traded for. I thought "what the heck" and threw it in my range box. Was planning to shoot it next time out. I think instead I'll cut it open and reclaim the shot. Will let you know what the powder looks like.
