A friend sent me a picture of a Smith 626 44 magnum that blew up. The top strap/rear sight is gone and so is the upper half of the cylinder. It appears that the rounds on each side of the top round went off as well. Anyone seen this picture and have any information.

Like a dummy I deleted his email and he did the same. So, I have no picture to refer to.

"Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you; Jesus Christ and the American Soldier. One died for your sins, the other for your freedom...."


I understand and appreciate your sentiments, but it sure is bit of a slap in the face to a lot of LEOs, fire-fighters, search & rescue guys, civilian air-evac crews, life guards, and many others...

Improper burn rate powder &/or double charged case
will blow the top half of the cylinder & top strap off any revolver.

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyK-9:
Like a dummy I deleted his email and he did the same. So, I have no picture to refer to.

If he is using Windows his email should still be in his "sent" folder.

A guy on 24hourcampfire.com in the handguns forum posted the pictures and a link to the explanation for the failure. Smith and Wesson says the chamber was conical shaped and too narrow at the front end to allow for bullet movement into the forcing cone and barrel. As a result the pressure caused the rounds on each side of the bad chamber to let go also. Factory manufactured ammo was used.

For those who are curious here's the thread over on 24 hour campfire.

Ken....

Metal fatigue.

NO NO, Mental fatigue!

quote:

Originally posted by BuddyK-9:
...Smith and Wesson says the chamber was conical shaped and too narrow at the front end to allow for bullet movement into the forcing cone and barrel. ...

I wonder "How?" they could possibly determine that was the problem. Once the cartridges on either side fired, there was obviously enough pressure to Deform the cylinder between them. So, saying it was "conical" would be Full-of-Beans.

I've not used a lot of S&Ws over the years because when I first started buying revolvers many years ago they had a bit of a reputation for "shooting loose" over time. That impression was removed when the latest Owners acquired S&W from the British folks that darn near put S&W out of business.

The newer S&Ws seem to be stronger from what I've seen and based on new S&W revolvers my buddies have purchased.

Does the Teardrop shape Cylinder Latch indicate it was made by the newest Owners? I do not remember that shape on the older ones, but that could be Full-of-Beans too.

Since it was obviously a fresh cylinder full of "Factory" cartridges, I'd suspect that either:

1. The last fired cartridge had the Bullet hang in the barrel and then the following shot created the disaster.
2. Or the Factory ammo was using a Fast Powder and got an Overload dropped by mistake.

3. Or the factory was using some of seafire's Reduced Blue Dot Loads. (Whenever I hear or see about a Ka-Boom, it crosses my mind.)

Hot Core, the cheap shot was not necessary... You are now officially on my ignore list.

quote:

I wonder "How?" they could possibly determine that was the problem.

Ditto. There isn't enough of the chamber involved left to make such a determination.

Now, I don't remember where I saw that photo a week or so ago but it was posted by a "friend" and reported that the owner thought it was one of his own double charged reloads. That sounds much more plausable to me.

There are a lot of things I would call that but none of them would be a "629 detonation"!

quote:

Originally posted by Doubless:
Hot Core, the cheap shot was not necessary... You are now officially on my ignore list.

Having me "care less" is totally impossible.

quote:

Originally posted by DocEd:
NO NO, Mental fatigue!

I would almost guarantee that a double charge of fast burning powder, probably w/ heavy 300gr bullets. It looks just like a guy's I know that KB his RBH w/ a triple charge of RedDot. Sweared up & down it was BlueDot, but I found both cans on his bench the next day. Some reloaders learn the hard way. High pressure rounds & uberfast powders are an accident waiting to happen.

I'll bet his shorts took a hit too.
Longshot

quote:

Originally posted by Longshot:
I'll bet his shorts took a hit, too.
Longshot

I saw a model 29 that looked like that some years back. The 2 jomokes who were loading kept on increaseing the amount of ( I belive Clays was the powder) to get more and more Higher vel. Well it finally let loose. ( the book loads were just not good enough for them.)

More likely super hot hand loads then any thing else.