Warning / Graphic / What went wrong? OU skeet gun blow out

[snert]

Damn

 

[Dgd6mm]

That is a shame. Prayers sent.

 

[whatsupdoc]

Terrible, now there is a good reason to put some Kevlar in the forearm
to deflect the blast.

 

[hoz53]

Title provides caution / NOT pleasant.
A friend sent this to me.. The OU shotgun blew out the side of bottom barrel and caused severe damage to shooters hand. No one can confirm exact cause but it was not a hand loaded shell. They think he chambered by mistake a 20 ga shell and then the correct gauge shell 12.. The 20 slid down the bbl until the rim interfaced with the beginning of the forcing cone and stopped. Thus blockage and result.

Wow thats awful-- Best Wishes to him

 

[JohnD]

“I sure feel sorry for the guy. We take a lot for granted while shooting”

Yes we do Dusty. That’s a very sobering picture indeed. Hoping the guy heals up and continues to shoot if that’s his choice.

John

 

[Adam in WI]

I wish him well. Hope he heals. This guy here still gets behind a .50 cal, so there's hope.

 

[AccelR8]

Wow. A guy that used to work for me had a very similar kaboom. His was handloads. Gun looked a lot worse than this one. An over-under 12 ga. It was in many pieces. His hand, bad but maybe not quite this bad. They put him back together pretty good although it took a long time healing.
Sadly he is no longer with us due to a different accident.

 

[Tommie]

It’s possible a 20 gauge shell ended up in a box of 12 gauge from the factory. I once found a .380 Auto round in a new box of 9mm ammunition.

 

[Fast14riot]

 

[1shot]

Prayers outbound. I had a similar although not nearly as bad accident years ago,and I hope this guy has a strong resolve, because he is going to need it.

Lloyd

* As an addendum to this, I will share a quote, author unknown that all of us should remember. "Familiarity breeds complacency"

 

[nakneker]

Damn, wishing him a good recovery and many blessings. Some times a picture is worth a thousand warnings!

I use to shoot skeet when I was young with my Uncle. He was well known locally for his ability with a shotgun. He read me the riot act when we first started shooting together, he always hand 12 and 20 gauge shotguns with him and took great pre cautions to only have one gauge laying on the back of his tailgate with the appropriate ammo. He explained a similar accident to me, I was 11 years old, he made his point well but that picture does an even better job.

 

[Walt Schmidlin]

Hope things work out for the guy, modern medical procedures produce amazing results hope his is one of them.
Even thought this accident apparently did not involve a reloaded cartridge VG reminder to never have more than one can of powder on the reloading bench or in close proximity to the actual reloading bench.

 

[KMart]

There are only a couple of things that can cause a blown up shotgun. The most likely is a barrel obstruction of some sort. The other is an excessive powder charge and you really have to work at it to get one of those. I saw the result of one of those.

 

[N133]

25-30 years ago a friend put on a firearm safety course. Group of guys at the range, talking about the dangers of barrel obstruction. Mentioned the 20ga in 12ga scenario. Another friend had an old beat up rusty Iver Johnson single shot there, said he would donate it to the cause. dropped a 20 ga shell down the barrel then a 12 ga in the chamber, tied a string to the trigger, stuck the barrel in the dirt behind a berm. Instructor had a VHS video camera on a tripod to film what happens. Pulled the string, gun flew about 30' in the air. Inspecting the gun showed no damage, hmmm. Loaded it the same way again adding in live 22 shells above the 20ga shell stuck in the barrel, seated a 12 ga in the chamber and pulled the string, gun cartwheeled in the air, went for a look no damage. Loaded it again same way with less 22 shells and a couple of 30-06 rounds. Pulled the string, same thing, instructor was getting annoyed that it wasn't failing. Loaded it again the same way then filled the end of the barrel full of rocks and and hammered the end of the barrel shut. Pulled the string, it made a more muffled sound, flew about 30 feet in the air, landed in the dirt. Upon inspection the end of the barrel was mostly opened back to normal after being hammered shut, barrel appeared undamaged, gun still opened and closed and locked up tight. Instructor said "I guess we won't be using that video. Not sure what ever happened to the video. All I can say is that was one stubborn tough old barrel.

 

[KMart]

Looks like that barrel metal is quite thin. Looks like it would not contain an over pressure load, whatever that load may be. My dumbass brother (50 years ago, he's smarter now! double charged a shell while reloading for ducks. He loaded 30-31 grains of red dot powder and 1 3/8 oz. shot on the old MEC.. (wrong bar) He was supposed to change the MEC bottle to Herco powder. Dad had bought a new Mossberg 500 pump shotgun, about 1968, and that was the shotgun he used about a year later....or rather destroyed. Right handed shooter and when he pulled the trigger it kicked hard and he said it looked like a flame thrower. Then he felt a "sting" in his left hand but no damage to him. (missed the pheasant too) The internals of the action/bolt everything fell out the bottom to the ground. Dad sent it to Mossberg with a note of what happened, and the amount of powder used, shot etc.. Ask them to repair it. They send a NEW shotgun back, no charge, with a note they felt their shotgun should have withstood the pressure. Evidently, some shotgun barrel steel is thick enough to withstand 2-3 times ordinary pressures. Lighter expensive trap guns, maybe not so much? I know my brother and I got an abrupt talking to (another ass chewing..Ha Ha) from my less than friendly German ancestry father. I got chewed out, and had nothing to do with my older brother's dumb mistake. Back then, and in those teenage years, when the sh!!t hit the fan, it was best to vanish for a few hours. Oh the fun....

Hope this guy finds a really good surgeon. Going to be life changing....Seems Lifes distribution of "short straws" is wildly capricious.

The SAAMI proof pressure for a shotgun is achieved with a load of 1-1/2-ounces of shot and measures between 19,000 psi and 20,500 psi, practically twice the service pressure