Ruger revolver kabooms?

Somewhere on the interwebs today, I saw a picture of a large caliber Smith & Wesson revolver that blew up. Not sure what happened there, or even if it was real. But, that's for another thread somewhere else.

My question is about Ruger revolvers, which are generally considered to be strong. Have you ever had a kaboom with one? Or, do you know anyone who has? Have you seen pictures of Ruger revolvers that went kaboom?

I scared myself almost to death about a year ago when I fired a .357 round in my Blackhawk that I must have double charged. Didn't hurt the gun, but it shook me up pretty good.

I used to work at a range, seen a guy buy a brand new Ruger Redhawk in .45 Colt, take it out to the range, and blew the thing to pieces with his first shot! I wouldn't have believed it, if I hadn't seen it. He swore up and down it "was not my reloads", but honestly, what else could it have been? The Redhawk is one of the strongest revolvers made, and Ruger fires proof loads through EACH chamber before it leaves the factory. I can't imagine what the dude had loaded up to cause the damage it did, but he's lucky to still have his hand!

And, Kudos to Ruger, they wouldn't replace the gun (which I don't blame them one bit!), but they offered to sell him another one at cost. I can't remember if the guy took them up on it or not.

Once upon a time, about 50 years ago, a guy asked me to reload some 30/40 Krag ammunition for him. I loaded a conservative load with IMR 4320 considering the action of the Krag rifle with it's single locking lug.

About 2 weeks later he called to inquire what kind of glue I used to keep the promers in the case after firing.

I was shocked and told him that the primers should not fall out and if they did, it was a sure sign of excessive pressure and told him to bring those reloads back to me so I could see what was wrong.

Well he said that the ammo that I loaded was fine and they shot it up and the trouble they were having was ammo that HE had loaded.

I asked him if he was sure that he used the same amount of IMR 4320 that I had used. There was a long silence. He then said that he had not used IMR 4320, but had usewd HI SCORE 700X !

So.....I said how much 700X? Well he says, I just pulled the bullet out of one or your reloads and stuck a pencil down to the powder and marked it, then filled the case to the same level with 700X.

This is a true story and illustrates pretty well how guns get blown up. 8)

I've never had a Ruger handgun blow up on me, but I have see several fragmented Blackhawks and Redhawks. There's no such thing as a handgun some fool can't blow up.

While the Redhawks barrel issue was an over torquing issue, they make for some interesting pictures.

Dang, guys. That's some impressive carnage going on there.

CAS, that answered most of my questions on where spare parts come from.

Wow

cas said:

Click to expand...

Seeing all those abused rugers almost brought a tear to my eye.

rob-c, it is a bit difficult to look at.

I would love to hear the story behind each of those pictures. Does anyone know or are these just pictures gathered from the internet???

Years ago I just started saving pictures of blown up guns when I saw them. More recently I tried saving a little info if there was any, but usually there isn't and even then it's just guesses at what happened.

I have been reloading for a long time and I looked at all thoes pictures of all thoes destroyed guns. And it makes me really sad. But I know that an accident can happen. But I still firmly believe that you would have to go out of your way and try real hard to blow up a ((( Ruger Handgun ))).
ken

Kabooms happen weekly, sometimes more at my range. Unfortunately it's A) usually a Glock (boring) and B) I don't always take pictures. I'll do a better job in the future. Also C) It's almost never a revolver (a guy stacked bullets in a vintage colt and the barrel finally blew out behind the bullets but in front of the forcing cone). A few rifles also explode each year as well as a few shotguns in the trap range.also over the last decade a few people have rented guns and poked their lights out on the firing line. I'm CRSO, never happened on !y watch or with my crew but yeah, it happens.

I'll get pictures when I can.

Freuderlocks

One amusing gun shop story I heard some years ago was of the incompetent handloader who - after destroying two S&W M-29s with his homebrew .44 Magnum hot loads - bought a Ruger Super Blackhawk because he figured it was stronger.

After destroying the Ruger on its inaugural trip to the range, he decided to give up handloading to the disappointment of his local gun dealer, and the relief of everybody else. :lol:

Nothing is idiot proof, alas.

cas said:

More recently I tried saving a little info if there was any, but usually there isn't and even then it's just guesses at what happened.

Click to expand...

And there would be a really good chance that the info you could get would be of little value.

"Yeah, them Rugers are just junk!"

"No, no . . . my handloads are strictly out of the load tables."

"Heck, everybody knows them Rugers can take the ++P++ loads . . . "

"What's a stuck bullet?"

:mrgreen: :shock: :mrgreen:

Freuderlocks said:

Kabooms happen weekly, sometimes more at my range. Unfortunately it's A) usually a Glock (boring) and B) I don't always take pictures. I'll do a better job in the future. Also C) It's almost never a revolver (a guy stacked bullets in a vintage colt and the barrel finally blew out behind the bullets but in front of the forcing cone). A few rifles also explode each year as well as a few shotguns in the trap range.also over the last decade a few people have rented guns and poked their lights out on the firing line. I'm CRSO, never happened on !y watch or with my crew but yeah, it happens.

I'll get pictures when I can.

Freuderlocks

Click to expand...

The Glockaphiles often say the reason so many Glocks are involved is because they sell so many. In reality, they are something like #5 on the list.

Top of the heap in handguns manufactured is......

Ruger.

Freuderlocks said:

Kabooms happen weekly, sometimes more at my range. Unfortunately it's A) usually a Glock (boring) and B) I don't always take pictures. I'll do a better job in the future. Also C) It's almost never a revolver (a guy stacked bullets in a vintage colt and the barrel finally blew out behind the bullets but in front of the forcing cone). A few rifles also explode each year as well as a few shotguns in the trap range.also over the last decade a few people have rented guns and poked their lights out on the firing line. I'm CRSO, never happened on !y watch or with my crew but yeah, it happens.

I'll get pictures when I can.

Freuderlocks

Click to expand...

Darn, you have an eventful range. Do all the shooters there think they are Elmer Keith? We've had a kaboom or two at the range where I shoot, but they seem to be rare occurrences.