doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Blown 1877 Purdey Damascus

At this point, I'll throw out a wild-assed guess and say he left the gun where mud dauber wasps were able to build a nest in the barrels, or there was some other bore obstruction. The closest I ever came to a Shotgun blow-up was a strange feeling that I should check the barrel on a shotgun I was pointing at a groundhog near my garden. I lowered the gun and eased back into the garage and saw the barrel was plugged solid with a mud dauber nest. I now keep tape over the muzzle of my garage gun.

Second guess would be a problem with the cartridge. The gun was tried and true for 141 years. Every shell you chamber is a brand new unproven potential problem. Even factory loads with strict quality control sometimes get recalled due to screw-ups. Might be worth sending out some unfired shells from that box for pressure testing. At this point, guessing is just discussion.

I'm guessing that it wasn't a fault with the barrels. As mentioned, likely an obstruction or a shell issue.

It'll be interesting to see the pics ............whether it was a chamber blow out or down the barrel aways. That tells a lot in itself.

If the chamber blew it was almost certainly an overload that caused it. If it was way down the barrels, an obstruction.

SRH

Unlike Wakeman and jOe, I�ll be waiting for the evidence before deciding what went wrong.

Don't compare me to him...I just said you never know when one will blow.

At least we can all mostly be on the same page about Wakeman.

Actually, you do.

Stick the muzzle in the snow or mud then shoot it, it will blow.

Leave a cleaning patch in the bore, it will blow.

Shoot it with a wad in the bore, it will blow.

Mistake IMR 4227 for black and load by volume, it will blow.

Very few such incidents remain a mystery once the failure is examined.

Don't kid yourself they have blown for no apparent reason.

Anxious to see the images Gene.
Prior to any of us sharing our opinions (learned or otherwise ), it might be worth reviewing this protocol and an example of a blown barrel evaluation which was in The Double Gun & Single Shot Journal, Vol. 27, Issue 3, p. 17, 2016; to my knowledge the only published failure analysis

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZnptAPvQIlWG5n5UU2FmKcFpYtVmOSc4b7K7G9IBs4g/edit

The most telling statement in that report:

"...unusual report with every previous shot..."