doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Anyone know of blown up barrels?

All of us on this forum seek to be knowledgeable and safe with our Doubleguns we ask questions, we get barrel walls measured, we adhere to advice of what you that have the knowledge recommend. Thank you all for that. For every one of us that follows this advice there must be dozens who are in total ignorance of any guidelines for shooting safe loads in old guns.
I seldom see displays or testimonies of blown apart barrels excepting an occasional one with what appear to have had obstructions. Perhaps I have just missed them in my short time being involved with them. How many of you can testify to an occurance of blown up barrels? I am not attempting to downplay being safe. It took me a long time to be convinced it was OK to shoot Damascus (had them inspected and wall thickness measured)and I adhere to all advice given here.
But again what about the many that don't know any better.
Just curious Thank you.

In 40 years involvement with shooting, I know of only two instances of a burst/bulged barrel directly to someone I know;

The first was my Father, who got a bulged barrel due to an obstruction (snow). The gun was a low grade s/s, probably Belgian.
The second was due to (almost certainly) wad left by a misfire obstructing the barrel, causing a burst. The gun was a good Birmingham gun.

I have heard (anecdotally) of a few other instances, but never with much detail.

I have seen several examples exhibited at shows etc., notably the result of 20 bore cartridges in 12 bore barrels.

I have also seen a friends (by a good well known maker) modern o/u sheared through the action. Manufacturer replaced without question.

Probably not what you were looking for but at the local gun club a friend was shooting an off-brand European semi-auto and had a barrel burst. Not but a couple of inches down from the chamber. He was injured and has not fully recovered full function. The burst was several years ago.

Joe Wood or SkeetTX Mike might fill in some details.

Two (in fifty years).

A Charles Lancaster damascus double that had both tubes blocked with snow/mud and bulged just aft of the muzzles; the barrels were cut back and the gun continued in use. During WWII when ammunition and meat were equally scarce it was employed for deer shooting with home bodged cartridges loaded with ball bearings; you can see the score marks to this day. Bubba is not just American and he is certainly very old.

A modern era AYA double which bulged on one side of the right barrel; cause unknown (or not admitted to!) but I suspect it was fed on steel shot and didn't like it. A gunsmith knocked it down and it's still in regular use.

Eug

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/17546456
You will note most of the barrels are fluid steel, and ruptured from an obstruction



I've posted on several forums the offer of $100 to anyone who will send me a pattern welded barrel that 'unwound like a spring'. Welds can fracture however.



There have been several threads on trapshooters.com about blown up K-guns. Every instance has been with handloads.

One. An friend was given a Charles Boswell damascus gun. He asked me about shooting it and I told him all the usual precautions and warned him to use low pressure only, and suggested powders and loads. He modified a MEC to 2 1/2" and prepared to reload shells for it. He said he was going to use Unique, which I strongly opposed. He said the reloading manuals had about a 20% fudge factor, and he wanted to use up the Unique.

The right chamber blew out after about 6-8 rounds. No one was injured, but the escaping gas hit another shooter standing beside the box pulling the targets. He said it felt like someone slapped him in the face.

He claims it was a stuck basewad, to this day.

SRH

never saw one happen - but have seen three just after the fact -

one an old low grade American double with fluid steel - the shooter admitted to snow in the barrel - had not checked it after going thru a snowy hedgerow

one at an early Vintagers - the small bore damascus was taken out for a test shoot and a barrel split- then someone measured it and it was paper thin

third was at a gunsmiths, twist barrel split on top 2/3rd down and again- paper thin after being reamed

these last two were thin enough they have been damaged by a strong grip or setting them in the rack too hard.

I have an H grade Lefever with a cracked barrel looking somewhat like Drew pictured. I bought it as a parts gun many years ago. The crack is 14 inches up from the breech. It is about a 7� lb gun with 30" barrels so walls are not extra thin, haven't actually measured them. The appearance when I got it was that it had been struck against a sharp object & dented in & possibly cracked from the impact. It appeared to then have been subsequently fired. One side of the crack was still inward into the bore but the other side had been lifted outward leaving a substantial gap between the two. I placed an expanding dent plug under it & raised the dented in portion & hammered down that which was sprung out. The two edges of the crack meshed back together to the extent it took very careful examination to even see the crack was there. In this condition I taped up the cracked stock & carried it out & placed it in the old Firestone proof chamber. With a string attached to the trigger & from behind a good sized tree I proceeded to fire off several regular factory 3�-1 1/8 oz loads. With no apparent change in it I then proceeded to fire several more factory 3 3/4-1� oz "High Brass" loads. Still nothing. I then fired a few handloads containing approximately a 3� DE charge of "Unique" powder under 1 3/8 oz shot. Through all of this the crack did not open back up at all nor was there even a smudge of powder visible on the outside. This all occurred more than 30 years ago. I still have the old Lefever, have never needed a part from it, & can presently only locate the crack because I know where to look, & really need the assistance of a magnifying glass to be certain of its location. The tree was cut & sold about 7 years ago & I have no idea what became of the old tire I used. I have never, incidentally fired this gun from my shoulder, just because I know that its pre-cracked.

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The right hand barrel of a Henry Clarke BLE blew just in front of my father's left hand. This happened in 1968 at the shoot both he and I still belong to. He was most fortunate not to have lost his hand. New barrels were fitted to the gun and I still use it myself. It had been bought new in 1928 by my great-grandfather.

The Birmingham proof house inspected the blown barrels and declared that there had probably been a fault in the steel during manufacture. The barrels were displayed in WAGBI's Chamber of Horrors at Game Fairs during the 1970s. They now hang in the shoot lunch hut. I give them a clean and grease every five years or so.

Tim

Ain't no thang dude.

Just give 'em barrels ta ed good.

They'll be good as nu in no time!