No matter what we choose to use, or shoot, regardless of caliber SAFETY is first and foremost above all else. I know we disagree some around here, but I think this is something that we all can agree on.

After you get over the pictures, PLEASE read the story.
http://iris.nyit.edu/~bithead/anaconda/

That's one expensive paperweight. Glad he's still in one piece.

This is a good example of why loading subsonic or "cats sneeze" type loads requires so much caution. Thanks for sharing this.

Wow! Very scary pictures. I mourn the loss of the fellows 44 for him. And celebrate his health. I bet he'll have a flinch to remember the incident.

I use Hodgdons group in my .357. Max load for this powder is 7.5 grains. A double charge would easily fit. Perhaps I'll find another powder. I load these shells one at a time, and put a bullet on them before loading the next shell. Still, very scary. Thanks for the reminder.

That guy was very fortunate to still be around to talk about the incident. I weigh all powder charges and seat the bullet in the case right away. All the best...
Gil

Always take my loading block(s) full of charged cases to a good light source and look down into the casemouths to check for double charges before seating bullets. Try not to reload when distractions are present and try to stay focused. Reloading is a great hobby but not to be taken lightly.

I allways try to use a load which
either fully fills up the casing
or makes it impossible to fill with a double charge!

There's however loads which I approach with great care
Those are my HBLWC bullets
(.38 spec .44 spec) with either VV N-310 or AccArms no2.
I triple check those!!

Usually, I use a load that takes up a good percentage of the shell, and visually inspect each case before seating the bullet. Its a darn shame to see a fine firearm like that laid to waste, but if in the same situation Id prefer the results at hand. You cant buy new fingers or eyes!

I just joined the forum tonight, this needed some comment. I always thought that I didn't use a progressive loader because I was cheap - now I know I'm careful. I've been loading for a Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt for 30 years now using 5.5 to 6.5 grs or Red dot and now 7 grs of Tite-group on 200 gr lead bullets. When I first started I was warned about double loads. I have always loaded one at a time - from primed empty case to loaded cartridge and then do another. Its slow and boring but I haven't blownup a gun. I also do some wicked high pressure loads with Lil Gun, but thats not what this thread is about.

Hi Guys
I load lots of different cowboy loads with Titegroup on a Dillon 550. 44WCF 38WCH 44Mag. & 45 Colt. All of these are easly subject to a double charge. What I did was to set a bright light (a drafting type light ) so I could see into the case at the powder station. After pulling the handel and before turning the shell plate I look into the case. To see if the powder level looks right. You get used to what to look for right away. Any suspect charges go rite to the scale.

MJack :)

Why I use a single stage press!

Quote" it's all too possible to double charge a round and have it go unnoticed in a progressive loader. That is not to say that I've been loading with a casual attitude. I cannot, for the life of me, recall a moment of distraction where I could have possibly doubled one "

Almost every blown up gun story I read starts with ammo off a 550. Great press, but if you lose your concentration and stroke the handle twice without flicking the advance...

The title and the story are truly misleading. While the damage to the gun is unfortunate, and lack of any serious injury to the shooter is a fortunate marvel, I would suggest that this has nothing to do with a problem of trying to save money, as was implied with the title of the post.
All we know is that he was using a light target load in this revolver, something that I am sure many of us have done, and I will certainly continue to do.
Was it the fault of his loading technique, possibly. But, it is hard to understand how a fuller volume of powder would have helped out. If he could have double charged using a progressive, then he could have filled up the case with another type of powder. I suppose if it was so full that it ran out it might have been noticed, but that is also speculation.
Attention to loading process is the lesson for me, not the type of powder used. If there is a concern, then a powder sensor would be the answer. Otherwise, as pointed out, use a single stage. (Certainly for low volumes there is nothing wrong with a single stage and batch loading.)

Thats perty amazing he walked away with out a scratch on him.

I am a big fan of TrailBoss because of this very fact. I can see w/o any doubt how much powder is in my case before I load my .454.

For 38 and 357, the cylinders on my Rugers are more than thick enough to handle a double load, but, I will feel it and most likely have to scrap the gun. (but, little chance of a kaboom)

This is where "speed kills" at the reloading bench.

For those using progressives, or even turret presses, there are a couple of manufacturers making “powder cop” dies. They are placed after the charging station. The powder in the case lifts an adjustable flag in the die. A glance at the die gives you a quick visual check if the powder level is where you expect it to be,

Darrel

The gun can be replaced, human parts can't and it's a good thing he's not missing pieces or carrying around extra ones he wasn't issued at birth too.

Two thing strike me as "odd" on this incident though. First is the chain fires of additional rounds. I've seen several guns that were blown up for vaious reasons where additional live rounds contained in it were severely mangled and none of them chain fired. Second thing that bothers me is the way that cylinder split, so cleanly.

Look at the break lines on the cylinder, very clean and neat, no graining and only small spot that looks to have been torn (fourth pic down on right column). If you look at the second pic down right column, you can clearly see the change in metal structure on the very top of the cylinder, thin sliver toward the front. Also, the very bottom edge has no grain structure at all to it toward the front of the cylinder.

Now, if you look closely at the center chamber, you will see two small cracks running perpendicular to the chamber walls with fouling traces around them, just about where the base of the bullet would be sitting in the case. Then look at the brass and you'll see the one on the right with a small fouling mark on it. This explains the chain fire, gas cut through the cylinder walls and into the adjacent cases igniting the powder. Gas cut fouling can also be seen in the pic of the cylinder clearly showing the gas flow into the adjacent chambers.

Also, if you look closely again at 4th pic down on right column, you can see the variations in grain structure and more so a slight feather edge right where the reaming was done but it does not extend into the rest of the metal, only in the zone adjacent to the reaming. The metal tore in this zone but shattered the rest of the way through...

One wheel gun I saw tore up was a Taurus .357 mag from what was known to be a triple charge of bullseye, definitely loader error, got charge weight from the wrong column in the manual & loaded three times what it should have been for Bullseye. The cylinder on this one was opened up but it was completely torn to razor sharp feather edges, not clean lines as is seen on this one.

Another was a Smith 29 that fired with the cylinder not fully timed with the bbl. Cylinder ripped open only in the center, rounds on either side were jammed but did not fire. Key point being the cylinder metal tore rather than broke.

Model 94 win .375 fired with an obstructed bore. Barrel opened up on the bottom side mashing the tube and the ammo in it nearly flat. None of the ammo fired and the split in the barrel was also torn, not cleanly broken.

In the last 21 years working in heavy industry and mining, I've seen a lot of things fail and I'm not liking what I see in these pictures. Clean breaks with small areas of tear around places where subsquent heat/stress was applied as in the reaming operation. The strait line cracking that allowed the gas cut and also obvious on the rear section of cylinder combined with the lack of graining and tearing that is so obvious on the front of the cylinder all combine to leave me very suspect of the tempering operations.

No, none of these things were the initial cause of the failure but all combined I'm sure everyone will agree this guy was extremely lucky!

As interesting as the story and the set of pictures, is what I read at the bottom of the page...

"This page has been viewed 77878 times"

markkw
After looking at the pictures very closely I agree with you, looks to me as if there was existing cracks-Dark area vs shiney fresh cracks. Also a very grainy metal which would suggest it wasn't that hard. Hard metals the grains are very close together?

Actualy hardness has little to do with grain size. It's more to do with the alloy and thermal cycling. Basicly if the steel is not cycled pretty close to criticle temp and is over heated you'll get large grain structure. Often times it takes multiple thermal cycles to reduce grain structure. Also one of the problems with stainless is the amount of chrome needed to make steel stainless also makes for large grains and slightly weaker, less shock resistant steel. From the pics I'd guess that the cylinder was on the hard side, not properly tempered back. Gun steel needs to be in the low 40's on the rockwell scale if I rember rite. As a comparison, most knife steels are between 58 to 61 rockwell depending on alloy.

One of the reasons I wiegh each charg. I use a Lee progressive, but manualy put bullet in the case and wieght and drop each charge by hand. A little slower, but a lot safer from my view point. Also realy starting to like trail boss powder for low power loads, man that stuff fills a case up!

A fool to himself. Not that we all have not done something foolish, but you HAVE to look for double charges, it's a cardinal rule.

Tit for tat, and not to be a hypocrit, I did not seat a primer deep enough once - boom when when I chambered it. I triple check my primers now... good thing no-one was one the wrong of that, praise the Lord. We all mess up.

A fool to himself. Not that we all have not done something foolish, but you HAVE to look for double charges, it's a cardinal rule.

Tit for tat, and not to be a hypocrit, I did not seat a primer deep enough once - boom when when I chambered it. I triple check my primers now... good thing no-one was one the wrong of that, praise the Lord. We all mess up.

Problem is with a progressive press you can't see if there is a double charge. One thing for sure that had to be a heck of a surprise when it went off.

I don't know if I'll order that progressive I was thinking about. With two presses sitting on the bench now I'll just keep doing the step at a time thing. I've got a nice two tube 48 inch flourecent hanging above the bench. It makes it easy to look into a tray of cases to see how much powder is in them. Only problem is I'm also using tightgroup and with only 3.5 grains in the bottom of a 38 special case I don't know if you could tell if there was a double charge. Guess I'll throw one just to see if you can.

Will52100,

What I was pointing out is the variation in the grain structure, heavy course grain in some spots and very fine in others. A consistent alloy will have the same grain structure throughout and it won't change much no matter how the break was created. The direction of the stress will be seen but the grain structure will remain the same independent of the thickness or shape of the metal.

Ah! I see what your saying, but the way the grain structure was fine in places and coarse in others is an indication of poor heat treating practices. If it'd been out of properly heat treated carbon 4140-4150 steel it'd probably still ruint it, but there probably would have been a lot less flying shrapnell. And with stainless you'll sometimes get that uneaveness of structure, it's one of the things that makes it weaker. But I still think it wasn't heat treated rite.

Total agreement with you. The low 300 series SS is more prone to grain structure inconsistencies than the 400 series used for guns. I wouldn't totally rule out alloy problems though, lot of junk coming out of the mills for many years and it's not getting any better.

agreed, the steel mills have opened up there tollarance greatly and won't tighten them up again till large buyers start complaining.

In any event it's pretty clear that the gun was double or tripple charged. I'm not that familure with the 550, but I believe with it and any that you automaticly drop powder go to a bulky can't double charge it or a check die for the powder level. I wieght and drop each charge by hand for this reason, that and I'm too cheap to buy a measure to fit the expander die!