Darwin award at the range today

Gil Martin · Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2019 1:51 pm Post subject: Darwin award at the range today

I was working as a RSO this morning and checked on a few members who were using the ranges. One fellow was chatting with me about reloading and said his friend reloads handgun rounds on a progressive press for him, but there have been problems. Seems the friend reloaded some .38 Special rounds for him that ruined his S&W Model 60 revolver. The revolver blowup occurred a few months ago, he was not injured and some parts of the S&W have never been found.

The fellow said he was recently given a few hundred .45 ACP reloads by the same friend and was fearful of shooting them. I agreed that he should be cautious and that I probably would not shoot the reloads. The member then shot about 150 rounds on the pistol range using a Glock Model 21. The next round severely damaged the Glock, blew out the magazine, the magazine release, bulged the frame and jammed the slide. The shooter was not injured and no one else was on the pistol range at the time. The Glock was now a paperweight. He called his friend and reported the incident with the reloads and left the range.

I completed an incident report and would give the shooter the Darwin award. All the best...
Gil

Vince

He’s a goose for trusting his friend’s reloads again. It’s cost him two pistols...so far. His friend needs to do a very thorough check of the setup, settings and cleanliness of his progressive press...it’s rare for a progressive to double charge without one of these problems.

I don’t think I would be standing close to him when he’s shooting...he’s a major accident waiting to happen.

dhc4ever

He keeps that up he'll only be able to order 3 beers at a time...

SingleShotLover

Exactly why I never shoot anyone else's loads. I don't trust anyone else's quality control or attention to detail.

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

You think they were underfilled? Or a squib followed by a live round? Its hard to really overfill a 45ACP case... I can easily imagine an under filled case though.

And I never shoot anyone else's reloads... ever.

-DallanC

Pumpkinslinger

Dallan, where there's a will (or an idiot) there's a way... That case is around 40 years old. We picked some of the missing pieces out of a friend's arm, luckily they stuck mostly in his jacket. The guy that got me started in reloading did that, thinking he knew as much or more than the engineers who develop loads. I never took his advice on loads after that.

slimjim

I saw the topic title and didn't have to even look at the originator.

Gil to do have a bullet-proof vest?

Gil Martin

DallanC,
The shooter did not know how his friend loaded the rounds. He said they may have been loaded with Bullseye or Unique and that normally calls for small amounts of powder so a double charge or overload is quite possible. An under load or just a primer may not cycle the action. At this point we just do not know.

slimjim,
Somebody has to herd the cats and keep an eye on them. I have a vest, but prefer to keep a safe distance. Seems that no matter how we hope for the best, some folks manage to come along and mess things up.

All the best...
Gil

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Wow scary stuff. I'm lucky we have enough public land to shoot on I never go to public ranges... and now I never want to.

Reloading is pretty simple, and pretty safe if a person isn't a knucklehead.

The worst brass issues I've ever run across is cracked case mouths on work hardened 22-250 brass. That steep shoulder is merciless on brass and splits after only a few firings. That is the only caliber I've ever even split brass on... luckily in my youth I collected all of the 22-250 brass I ever ran across from family target shooting or pdog shoots... so I have many thousands of once fired brass. I reload'em a few times and toss'em in the trash.

-DallanC

Gil Martin

We are a member-only gun club and have Range Safety Officers on duty when we are open. All new members must go through an orientation and safety infractions are treated very severely. The local public shooting ranges have no RSOs on duty and rarely screen shooters. No sure what other public ranges do, but total safety like perfection can only be approached and rarely achieved. However, we keep trying. All the best...
Gil

PaulS

Well some folks really believe that the reloading books are written by lawyers but the aren't. They are written by ballisticians who use the latest and greatest instrumentation to make sure they are safe, effective and take full advantage of the cartridge and bullet combination.

If you think you know enough to exceed the limits then please shoot them when no one else is there to get hurt.

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

That is exactly why I use test barrels with the proper test equipment, when developing steel shot loads for duck and goose hunting.

I shot one company's load data, and they assured me it was completely safe! I loaded a round and fired it in my best Remington 870 and the SHOCK of it busted the forend and cracked the stock, plus the literal jolt to my face and body took over a week to get over! Thank God though, the barrel held fast and received no damage.

I called the company and told them what happened, and they said I had the recipe wrong. They faxed me a copy, which was EXACT with what I had loaded. So I load up 10 rounds to test and run them through my pressure trace test barrel and chronograph them at the same time. These 3 inch 12 ga. loads had a velocity or 2,200 to 2,500 fps. for a 7/8 oz. load and pressure readings from 18,000 to 21,000 psi.!

I called the company back and told them of my findings, and they said - "we just don't have the time to test every load that we publish".

That particular load was pulled from their website and no longer appears in any of their reloading manuals. I just wonder how many others have shot this load and experienced the same thing as I did?!?!

I also have to say that I DID use powder from 3 different lot numbers, just in case, and I also did the same with primers. Plus, I went as shallow as possible on the crimps, since the company said I was crimping too deep. Nothing made any difference!

So, needless to say, never again will I use anyone else's steel shot loads, regardless of the company that they come from.

Load safe and load smart!

PaulS

Dear Sniper,
Will you provide us the name of the company that didn't have time to check their published loads?

Deer Sniper · Super Member Joined: Apr 26, 2007 Posts: 539

Ballistic Products Inc. - BPI

PaulS

Thank you.
It might keep someone from getting hurt.