Catastrophic failure Ruger GP-100 and S&B ammunition. He

i had a charter 357 explode a while back, the cylider cracked and part of the ejecter star hit me in the forhead the rest of the gun was ok. i sent off to charter and they sent me a new gun two weeks later and even called me. they said that from their testing that it looked like overloaded ammo because they use strong 357 ammo to test and i was using cci alluminum 357 which isn't supposed to be too hot. i have fired my new gun with several rounds of american eagle jsp without any trouble, i'm just afraid of the cci alluminum now.

Sugar River said:

Man, I hope that's your wife holding the GP!

If not, paint your nails a different color!

But seriously, I'll put money on an over pressure round. Hard tp prove though, it was likely the only one in the box.

Pete

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Pete, I was thinking something similar. Good thing it was a Ruger or you might have broken a nail.

Just glad no one was hurt and yep, pad and pen handy when you call to get names and dates and times and answers written down.

BlkHawk73 said:

My suggestion...call (don't e-mail) the ammo manufacturer and see what they say. Follow that up with a call to Ruger. Have pen/paper handy to get names and what they say.

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Definitely take names, have a pen and paper when you are on the phone and take the BEST NOTES YOU CAN and re-write them in complete sentences immediately after. If Sellier and Bellot start to drag their feet, or Ruger, who you talked to, what you said and what they said and when they said it is very important.

Keep both the contemporaneous record and the recalled notes, both.

Recording the phone conversation is usually not a good idea, tempting as it is, don't do it.. Sometimes illegal, inadmissable and often has a chilling effect on the conversation.

Recording only YOUR SIDE of the conversation is always OK, though. (My legal advice, however, is NOT always ok.)

Preserve the remaining rounds from the box containing the round that broke your revolver. Note the lot number.

If you feel like doing some investigating on your own, buy another box of S&B, same lot if you can find it. Weight a few of the loaded cartridges and see what the variation is. Compare their weights with the weights of the cartridges from your original (offending) box. If your original box has a few rounds that are heavier than the others, that might be normal variation in bullet weight, but it might indicate overcharged cartridges. Shake'em to see if you think they might be fuller than the others. Whether you open them up and weight the powder inside is up to you.

However, the new box of cartridges you bought are much more available for investigation. If you see a similar variation in cartridge weight, pull the bullets and weight the powder to see what kind of variation they have. If you find a double charge, you really have evidence of S&B responsibility for the damage.

Thanks for asking our advice. Sorry about your gun. Glad you are uninjured. Good luck.

Lost Sheep.

chris_ said:

I'm a little curious as to why you joined two forums, just in the last few days, just to post this, though.

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I'm glad he DID... It demonstrates responsible behaviour and safety-consciousness! (He should post it everywhere shooters congregate.)

resident said:

chris_ said:

I'm a little curious as to why you joined two forums, just in the last few days, just to post this, though.

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I'm glad he DID... It demonstrates responsible behaviour and safety-consciousness! (He should post it everywhere shooters congregate.)

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I am also welcome aboard!! Things could have been a lot worst glad your OK. As flategate mentioned I haven't shot any factory stuff in a long time. Benefits of reloading is not only saving money YOU are in control of the safety of your ammo, not that Czech Repudblic.!! ps

The general consensus seems to be bad ammo. Not necessarily so. I was cleaning my ACP cylinder from my Acusport convertable and noticed longitudinal "scratches" in a couple of cylinders and sent the gun to be checked. It was determined the cylinder was cracked. All I had fired was about a box of factory USA loaded 230grain ball. Anything made by human hands can be defective. Robert

Welcome to the forum!

Please, don't mind the message questioning your motivations. You have received good advice, and since many of us here own GP100 revolvers, it would be good if you kept the information coming. These failures are extremely rare, so each one should be looked at with a critical eye.

Yes, please keep us abreast of developments. I'm thinking defective case with a flaw in the web area... :?

Stuff happens to everything, eventually. Glad you're OK.

Please follow up as advised above, and let us know how it goes.

To me, it looks like an ammo problem that was contained pretty well by your strong Ruger GP. Hate to think what would have happened to a light-frame Rossi or similar gun.

:shock:

I'm no expert but the way that primer pocket and case head is BLOWN OUT it sure looks like an overcharge. I'm sure Ruger would love to get that gun back to check it out. Be sure to ask for a mailer sent to you so you don't have to pay shipping. I doubt the ammo maker will do much for you, but I could be wrong. In any event I would go with Ruger first as they will make it right. Might need a whole new gun I would imagine.

Now I'm a little worried as I have several boxes of that ammo. :? :?

...Jimbo

Jimbo357mag said:

I'm no expert but the way that primer pocket and case head is BLOWN OUT it sure looks like an overcharge. I'm sure Ruger would love to get that gun back to check it out. Be sure to ask for a mailer sent to you so you don't have to pay shipping. I doubt the ammo maker will do much for you, but I could be wrong. In any event I would go with Ruger first as they will make it right. Might need a whole new gun I would imagine.

Now I'm a little worried as I have several boxes of that ammo. :? :?

...Jimbo

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Why should Ruger "make it right" if it's an overcharged factory round?

For good customer relations, if nothing else. The cost of a single gun is essentially nothing to them when considered against consumer opinion.

Granted, I wouldn't go at it from the standpoint of "you owe me something" but I'd certainly give Ruger the opportunity to express their concern.

JMHO

The two primers shown here show that the firing pin strike appears to be somewhat off center.



All of the primers on cartridges shown in the box appear to be centered. Or, very close to being centered.



Could it be that something happened to the timing? Did the bullet exit the revolver, or was it wedged between the forcing cone and the mouth of the cartridge case?

I'm glad you're alright, let's hope it's once in a lifetime.

I also shoot S&B in my GP100 :-((

Richard

Perhaps a move to American made ammo is in order.

All my ammo is American made. I make it myself. :wink:

writwing said:

Perhaps a move to American made ammo is in order.

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Not to be contentious (really), but if you shoot long enough you will get bad US rounds, too. I've had bad ammo from US makers. Everyone goofs once in a while, even if it is a long while.

Nothing said about the flash hole size :roll:

My son had the same thing happen to him. He was shooting a .45 HK compact with CorBon ammo. Blew the mag out of the well, the slide came off the rails on one side so that it was cockeyed, but did not come off the frame. His hand was numb but otherwise unhurt. Not sure what he did first, but sent the gun to H&K and the ammo back to CorBon. Both claimed it wasn't their fault, but he got a new gun out of the deal.

Same thread is running on the "other" Ruger forum, and somebody there brought up something I had forgotten . . .

A couple of months ago, Ruger announced that they had shipped a certain number of GP-100's with improperly-heat-treated cylingers. We were advised to call them with serial numbers to discover if we had a "bad" one.

Looks like perhaps this could be one of them.

:shock: :roll: :shock: