Howdy
These are pretty typical photos of a blown up cylinder. And anybody who thinks only Smiths blow up, and not Rugers, is kidding himself. Put too much powder in any revolver and it will blow up.
I used to know a guy who was a line engineer with Ruger at their single action plant. He told me about some high speed video they took of an actual blow up, don't remember at this point whether or not it was a Blackhawk or a Vaquero, but it was definitely a large caliber Ruger single action. They kept feeding it hotter and hotter loads in a test stand until it finally blew up, and they caught the action on high speed video.
In this video, the fracture began at the cylinder locking notch, not at the thin point between chambers. He told me the crack propigated lengthwise from the cylinder notch in both directions. You could see it grow. Then, once the crack had reached the ends of the cylinder it was like it was a zipper. Those were his words. The thin points between the two adjacent chambers folded like hinges and the top chamber split wide open. Then the two adjacent chambers failed completely and both pieces lifted off, taking the top strap with them.
In this photo it is interesting to note the ruptured brass still in the two adjacent chambers. The round in in the center probably ruptured before the cylinder completely separated. Hot powder gas then cut into the two adjacent rounds, igniting the powder inside them. But the cylinder had already started separating, so those two rounds were unsupported. That is probably why one bullet is still present. The powder behind it vented enough pressure out of the ruptured case so that there was only enough pressure to push the bullet forward a bit, not completely out of the chamber.
It is also interesting to note that the rest of the revolver is completely undamaged. Only the cylinder blew up, taking the top strap with it. This is typical of a revolver blow up, the cylinder is the pressure vessel, the frame is just what holds it in place, and the barrel usually has a thicker cross section than the weak points of the cylinder. When a revolver blows up, it is usually just the cylinder that goes, taking the top strap with it.
