This is what happens when your reloads blow up a 50cal

[Balog]

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/11/25/photos-busmaster-ba-50-kaboom/

 

Glad the dude only had minor injuries, that's a scary round to have go wrong. I wonder what he did on the reload that caused it? Wrong powder?

[Firethorn]

Glad the dude only had minor injuries, that's a scary round to have go wrong. I wonder what he did on the reload that caused it? Wrong powder?

Not a short fire, barrel looks fine.  Full charge of too fast powder resulting in massive overpressure before the bullet even managed to significantly leave the chamber?  Even as the pressure bursts the bolt and metal in the area, the powder would finish burning early, and pressure would drop back down between the bullet leaving and the bolt letting loose.

I suppose a double charge is also possible, but is there normally room in a .50BMG case?

[230RN]

Apparently among the first shots fired.  It happened a few seconds after the range went hot. So it doesn't sound like it was one bad round in a batch, it's probably all of them.  Hope he's got a bullet puller for .50.

Known to be reloads.

Sounds like wrong powder or mis-measurement of charge.

Could be other things, though. 

[HankB]

Most guns have a "safety margin" built in . . . I've seen people working into this margin, and so far the worst I've personally witnessed is a stuck bolt and a little gas leakage around the primer. For a gun to BLOW UP that way without something like an oversize bullet strongly suggests catastrophic overpressure coming from use of the wrong powder.

A lesser possibility is use of too little powder, leading to a detonation; though hard to duplicate on demand, it's generally accepted that a sub-normal charge of a slow powder can cause a pressure excursion, especially in a bottleneck case.

[AJ Dual]

Huh...

Seems like the guy would be someone who'd know what he was doing. Someone willing to drop the coin on a .50-appropriate Nightforce scope is the kind of person who'd be more likely to "do it right".

Unless he's the type with more money than sense, but then I'd think he'd have a more expensive semi .50, and factory ammo too.

[makattak]

Seen on Arfcom, soon:

Nightforce Scope for sale.

Lightly used. Only blown up once!

[Balog]

I wonder if this is related to the powder shortage? Guy can't get his normal powders so he buys new brands, gets his 50 powder and his pistol powder mixed up because the jugs look similar and his normal system has been thrown off? As someone else said I don't know that there's room to double charge with the average load.

[Brad Johnson]

I've known a lot of reloaders who don't know squat about powder characteristics, nor do they care to learn, and will use whatever can is closest. Not a huge problem if all you keep is rifle powder. Rifle powder in a handgun cartridge burns too slow to cause much more than a huge fireball and a lot of unburnt powder. But pistol/shotgun powder in a rifle cartridge is a disaster waiting to happen. I can easily imagine a situation where some numbnuts reloader might use shotgun powder in a .50 "b'cuz they're both big bore so it oughta work good!".

There's also the distinct possibility of some dipswitch trying to make things more convenient by storing bulk/keg powder in a spare (and improperly labeled) pound canister.

Brad

[230RN]

1.

I wonder if this is related to the powder shortage? Guy can't get his normal powders so he buys new brands, gets his 50 powder and his pistol powder mixed up because the jugs look similar and his normal system has been thrown off? As someone else said I don't know that there's room to double charge with the average load.

2.

There's also the distinct possibility of some dipswitch trying to make things more convenient by storing bulk/keg powder in a spare (and improperly labeled) pound canister.

Hate to admit it, but early on in reloading I almost got 4895 and 3031 (I think those were the two) mixed up.  Just a weird set of circumstances due to inexperience.  Was using glass jars of powders to top off the powder measure.  

Yeah, I know.  Dumb.  

Caught the mistake in time and decided to fertilize the grass with both unknowns and quit using secondary containers.  I put a powder baffle in the powder measure to eliminate the (imagined) problem of higher versus lower powder height varying the charges thrown.

Terry
 

[AJ Dual]

I wonder if this is related to the powder shortage? Guy can't get his normal powders so he buys new brands, gets his 50 powder and his pistol powder mixed up because the jugs look similar and his normal system has been thrown off? As someone else said I don't know that there's room to double charge with the average load.

People are substituting like CRAZY. Technically most are still working within published loads, or known equivalency formulas, and the powder shortage is beginning to alleviate somewhat.

However, all the reloading groups I belong to on Facebook etc. looking for powder and projectile substitutions is like 1/3rd the traffic.

It could be as simple as someone not double-checking the powder name or number, or transposing digits when they buy something off their normal brand, or having two similar named powders next to each other after years of a pet load with some other powder.

[230RN]

"...gets his 50 powder and his pistol powder mixed up..."

I suspect there would have been a lot more damage if he had mixed up pistol (or shotgun) and rifle powders.

Terry

[AmbulanceDriver]

"...gets his 50 powder and his pistol powder mixed up..."

I suspect there would have been a lot more damage if he had mixed up pistol (or shotgun) and rifle powders.

Terry

I'd tend to agree - however I could see that level of damage using a fast rifle powder - say something meant for 5.56 or similar.

[brimic]

But pistol/shotgun powder in a rifle cartridge is a disaster waiting to happen. I can easily imagine a situation where some numbnuts reloader might use shotgun powder in a .50 "b'cuz they're both big bore so it oughta work good!".

I used to shot a LOT of pistol powders in rifle cartridges- for cast loads, but:
A). I'm very anal retentive or more likely obsessive-compulsive about checking my work.
B). Have a good understanding of powders, materials, physics, and DOE.
C). Not sure that is prudent or practical to shoot reduced loads that could use pistol powders in a .50.

[Brad Johnson]

Makes you wonder what a .45-70 stuffed to the gills with Blue Dot would do to a nice trapdoor Springfield.

Brad

[lee n. field]

I've known a lot of reloaders who don't know squat about powder characteristics, nor do they care to learn, and will use whatever can is closest. Not a huge problem if all you keep is rifle powder. Rifle powder in a handgun cartridge burns too slow to cause much more than a huge fireball and a lot of unburnt powder. But pistol/shotgun powder in a rifle cartridge is a disaster waiting to happen. I can easily imagine a situation where some numbnuts reloader might use shotgun powder in a .50 "b'cuz they're both big bore so it oughta work good!".

There's also the distinct possibility of some dipswitch trying to make things more convenient by storing bulk/keg powder in a spare (and improperly labeled) pound canister.

Brad

I don't know a huge amount about that, but I do know "rifle slow, pistol fast, do not mistake one for the other", and "stray from the manual at your peril".

[HankB]

Powder mistakes and substitutions . . .

Buddy of mine got himself a Remington M700 in .270 . . . mostly because I had a Winchester M70 in .30/06.

He was a relatively new but careful reloader, so he read that 4831 was a good powder for the .270. So he dutifully got some 4831, set his scale to appropriate charge weights, and reloaded a couple of boxes.

First shot - he couldn't work the bolt. It took BOTH of us working in unison to open his rifle - case wasn't blown, but primer was cratered.

It turned out his loading data for 4831 was printed when there was only one variety on the market - H4831. The thing is, DuPont had just released IMR4831, which was significantly faster.

Oops.

Fortunately, no damage to either him or the rifle. But he had a bunch of bullets to pull.

I wonder if the .50 was blown up for some similar reason, or if the guy was using some non-cannister powder from pulldowns that pops up on the market from time to time, with only Bubba's data to use as a guide . . .

[Firethorn]

Caught the mistake in time and decided to fertilize the grass with both unknowns and quit using secondary containers.  I put a powder baffle in the powder measure to eliminate the (imagined) problem of higher versus lower powder height varying the charges thrown.

...  Looked up both powders.  Lots of overlap with them, so I wondered 'couldn't you just load something compatible with both'?  Then I looked up the recommended 30.06 loadings - given that 3031 MAX loadings were about 1.5 grains below 4895 minimum loadings, I'm forced to agree.

I this might explain what we see.  IE handloads that were max for the equivalent of 4895, but loaded with the equivalent of 3031 instead. 

[230RN]

The grass is always greener on the careless reloader's lawn.

That's really reaching for a joke, ain't it?  But I was lucky in catching the error in time and dumped the powders in the secondary containers out on the grass.  Probably wouldn't have blown up the Garand .30-06 , but it sure would have blown the match because of different trajectories with the faster powder and maybe even cratered a couple of primers.

I've mentioned this before in various sites, but I used to make blanks by loading 1/2 (one-half) a caseful of Bullseye in .30-06 cases with zero confinement, not even a light cardboard wad.  I'd load 'em in my garage and step out onto the driveway, keeping the unwadded, unbulleted cartridge upright all the time, and set 'em off pointing straight up.

Pressure, as indicated by the primers, was very low, but the brilliant white flash from the nitro in the powder and the terrific BANG sure got the neighbors' attention.  I had to explain this operation to one of them, and assure him there were no bullets to come back down and do any damage.  This was in a pretty rural large-lot subdivision out in the county and most of them were "gun owners" in the sense that they at least had a .22 somewhere in the back of some closet somewhere.

Recoil was a slight push.

Can't recommend anybody do this "at home," or by "non-professionals," but just included as a point of interest.

Terry

[brimic]

1.
2.

Hate to admit it, but early on in reloading I almost got 4895 and 3031 (I think those were the two) mixed up.  Just a weird set of circumstances due to inexperience.  Was using glass jars of powders to top off the powder measure.  

Yeah, I know.  Dumb.  

Caught the mistake in time and decided to fertilize the grass with both unknowns and quit using secondary containers.  I put a powder baffle in the powder measure to eliminate the (imagined) problem of higher versus lower powder height varying the charges thrown.

Terry
 

I did the exact same thing with 3031, except I was using those small screw top Pee-test plastic jars. I knew that what I had left in the jar was IMR3031 with about 99% certainty, but 99%=/=100%. I left it on my bench as a reminder of screwups.
These days I just buy a dedicated LPPM or lee auto disc for each turret for the most common calibers I reload and write the load data on a piece of tape on the powder measure and the same data on a piece of tape on the powder jugs.

[brimic]

...  Looked up both powders.  Lots of overlap with them, so I wondered 'couldn't you just load something compatible with both'?  Then I looked up the recommended 30.06 loadings - given that 3031 MAX loadings were about 1.5 grains below 4895 minimum loadings, I'm forced to agree.

I this might explain what we see.  IE handloads that were max for the equivalent of 4895, but loaded with the equivalent of 3031 instead. 

3031 and 4895 aren't too different, with 3031 being the faster of the two... Use 3031 data for loading if not sure if the powder is 4895 or 3031 and you'll be in the safe zone- you'll either have a safe 3031 load or a milder 4895 load. Given the prices of projectiles (and time for that matter), Its not worth it though.

[Scout26]

I've reloaded for shotgun for many, many, man y years.  And I have more then my fair share of squibs.  And I can say with certainty that I would much rather watch the shot come out and land about ten feet in front of me, and have to get the rod from the trappers chair, then to have an overload and deal with consequences of that. 

[Firethorn]

Given the prices of projectiles (and time for that matter), Its not worth it though.

What about given the price of powder?  I suppose if you have access to a chrono you could load 1 round and determine that way.  Well, 3 to be more certain - one mystery round, one each of the candidate powders.

Otherwise you might be stuck guessing the difference between the reloading manual's setup and yours.