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

That wouldnt explain the flash hole and primer pocket.

dmize said:

That wouldnt explain the flash hole and primer pocket.

Click to expand...

It might if the bullet was prevented from leaving the cartridge case. I'd be interested in seeing what the rest of that case looks like.

Hugh said:

dmize said:

That wouldnt explain the flash hole and primer pocket.

Click to expand...

It might if the bullet was prevented from leaving the cartridge case. I'd be interested in seeing what the rest of that case looks like.

Click to expand...

When I first saw the origional post I was inclined to say it was obviously related to the ammunition and it still may well be that it was an ammunition problem. I'm just not sure after thinking this issue over.

Here is something that could have happened. I'm not saying it's what happened, just COULD be what happened.

A hairline crack in the wall of one chamber of the cylinder could have caused enough misalignment so on the next firing of that chamber the bullet was stopped or greatly restricted by the forcing cone. The pressure has to go somewhere. In this case back through the pimer pocket and out the side of the cylinder. An expert on metalurgy could determine this easily.

In my working career I've seen lots of fractured metal and quite a few times it was obvious from looking at a metal fracture that part of the break was old and dirty and part of the break was new and shiny. A catastrophic failure often starts with an earlier small fracture.

I sure would like to know more about this issue and how it gets resolved. At this point I'm thinking it could go either way.It could be ammunition related or an issue with the gun.

Captainjack, it could be that we are now thinking somewhat along the same line. In my earlier post I put the photograph of the last two expended cartridge cases just above what is presumably a photo of a box containing the rest of the expended cartridges from the reported shooting session.

The photo of the two cartridge cases shows the firing pin strike to be somewhat off center on each of those two. The box that presumably holds the other cartridge cases expended shows 26 primers, and it appears the firing pin strike was at, or too close to tell otherwise, the center of the primers. The primer of the cartridge case next to the case that is only partially exposed, appears to be somewhat off-center.

Based on my unprofessional examination of photographs of the cartridge cases and primers, I'm inclined to believe there is an issue with the revolver. I could be wrong though.

I certainly no expert either, but maybe it was a combination of things.

My intial thought was an over pressure round. I mean, look at the case, the primer pocket; and the primer is completely gone. It looks an awful lot like an over pressure round I saw in a Remington rifle that blew the bolt. It was pistol powder instead of rifle powder in that instance.

You also see the other 2 cases shown above with the flattened primers, but more worrisome is the imprint of the rough casting marks from the revolver that are also clearly present on the base of the case and on the primers.

I still lean towards an over pressure round unless it can be shown the cylinder was off enough so that the bullet's flight from the case was impeded by the forcing cone/barrel alignment.

What do you do now? You thank God that you weren't hurt.

Cheap is as cheap does, and this is not the first reported incident from the s&b ammo. I stay away from foreign ammunition altogether.

Hugh said:

Captainjack, it could be that we are now thinking somewhat along the same line. In my earlier post I put the photograph of the last two expended cartridge cases just above what is presumably a photo of a box containing the rest of the expended cartridges from the reported shooting session.

Click to expand...

Hugh, those two photos were from two different posters... Different session and I assume different gun. But ya, if they were from the same session it would look like the gun went slightly outta time.

Ruber said:

Hugh said:

Captainjack, it could be that we are now thinking somewhat along the same line. In my earlier post I put the photograph of the last two expended cartridge cases just above what is presumably a photo of a box containing the rest of the expended cartridges from the reported shooting session.

Click to expand...

Hugh, those two photos were from two different posters... Different session and I assume different gun. But ya, if they were from the same session it would look like the gun went slightly outta time.

Click to expand...

Oops, you're right. Sorry; that was very careless of me. Even that said, those two cartridge cases were not struck where you would expect in a well timed cylinder. I sure would like to see the forcing cone area and the face of the cylinder. In addition, if the last bullet exited, where it hit.

Thanks very much for inviting my attention to my error. I do appreciate it.

Hugh said:

Even that said, those two cartridge cases were not struck where you would expect in a well timed cylinder.

Click to expand...

I totally agree. The two photos do show a nice contrast, at least to my eyes, of what the primers should look like and what they actually did look like. Boy, we can come up with all kinds of stories... :wink:

Where's Pfmann :?:

I consider this thread a "post and run"
Sorry, that's just my take...

Ya know what , the more I look at this post on both forums the more I think the S&B "factory" stuff is reloads !

All I see is the primer ends of cases but no bullet end ????

The S&B bullets are a destinctly different FMJ than anything here in USA .

Czech Republic CRAP! Sorry about your gun.....

My brother has an employee that was shooting a 9mm plastic pistol. I will not say brand as it does not really matter. He had a failure like this one. He called the ammo company and they did not accept blame and sent him a couple of thousand rounds. He called the firearm company and they did not take blame but sent him a new pistol.

My point is call them! These companies are so lawyer/media scared that they will make this go away faster than they pick up the phone to her of your concern. Not that you are looking to reap a reward for your failure but in the long run you will be happy you picked up the phone.

Rugers customer service is top notch. They won,t let you be upset with them.

Please re-read origional post for updates on whats happened since and answers to many of your questions. New images posted also.

Thanks for posting the update and new pics!!! Hope Ruger takes good care of you (and I didn't even notice your son's nails... :lol: ).

If Ruger offers to replace your GP, and I think they will, keep in mind the replacement will have the new Hogue grips. You might want to ask Ruger to return the grips that are currently on your GP. They are hard to find now and having both the origional and Hogue would be nice.

Your first post is a very interesting one. Thanks.

Is this one of the revolvers that was recalled, due to the cylinders that missed heat treating?

Thanks for the additional photographs. I was wondering if there was any indication of the bullet striking the forcing cone and leaving brass residue. I see no indication. Hope you were not injured.

I would think it would take more than even a double charge to crack a GP100 cylinder.......it had to be faulty heat treating on the cylinder. The odds of a triple charge are low but possible, but it would still take a heck of a charge to crack that cylinder.