Drew, the most common cause of detonation that I have documented is old cartridges that have had a lot of vibration during their life. Rifle cartridges that ride on the dash of a truck or in the glove box for many years, or shotgun shells that were in a case in a dog trailer for many years, the powder grinds itself down into a state that when you touch it off it detonates instead of burns.
Other than that, it’s usually reloader error. I don’t really feel like tearing into anybody today so I’ll just let it go with that.
I have only seen one steel load factory fresh that ever damaged a barrel. That was on a Bonelli nova when they first came out. The cartridge stripped a chunk out of the barrel, but the barrel did not split.
That was a manufacturing defect in the barrel forging.
Old men blowing up their shotguns at the trap line is such a comedy event. It’s really hardly worth commenting on.
Last edited by ClapperZapper; 03/25/26 08:37 AM.
