Forum | A Great Lesson in Reloading Safety!

Quite often nothing is taking up the space but air.  Yes, often gunpowder does rattle around in the case.  Other times, especially in "hot loads" the gunpowder can be compressed into the casing when the bullet is pressed in.

My theory is based on the fact that half of the six shot cylinder is missing.  Here's what I think happened.

The offending round was at the top of the cylinder, lined up with the forcing cone of the barrel.  The bullet was probably loaded with a gunpowder NOT designed to be used in a handgun case.  If memory serves me correct, shotgun powder burns very hot, very fast and generates high pressures when confined in a cartridge case.  A little goes a long way with shotgun shell gunpowder.  But I do know guys that will use it for that very reason.  A pound of gunpowder goes much further if you only have to load (for example) 6 grains of shotgun powder instead of 24 grains of pistol powder.  So it's much cheaper to load a large volume of cartridges, and to get a slightly "hotter" load, a simple 1/4 grain increase is often all that's needed.

So if someone were to have their powder measure set up to load 24 grains of pistol powder (using the above example) instead of the six grains of shotgun powder that produces sufficient results, they'd be looking at a round that would develop at least four times (if not more) pressure inside of the cartridge case.

Looking at the photo, I'd have to say that when the round that was lined up to fire did go off, it overpressured, rupturing not only the case, but blowing the cylinder apart.  As the cylinder came unglued, it also tore the adjacent cartridges apart, which is why that one bullet is still sitting in the cylinder.  I don't believe that the other two torn rounds seen actually discharged, but were simply ripped apart in the initial explosion. 

The revolver pictured appears to be a Smith & Wesson 629, a very nice double action revolver, but one that is not known for having an exceptionally strong frame.  Most knowledgable handgunners, if they're planning on running hotter than factory loads will usually go with either a Ruger Super Blackhawk (single action) or a Ruger Super Redhawk (double action) for a stronger framed handgun.

But what in the heck do I know??? 

I'm guessing that whomever loaded those rounds didn't use the proper gunpowder.  Most powders for pistol loading wouldn't generate enough pressure to do that even with a double charge.

Reloading of centerfire ammunition is a widely enjoyed hobby world-wide.

Done properly, it is a fun and safe hobby that often results in ammunition that is not only more accurate, but can also be less expensive per round than factory ammo.

However, if done IMPROPERLY, it can be a ticking time bomb resulting in firearm damage as well as serious injury to the shooter.

Here is the results of someone that decided they needed to load their .44 magnum ammo HOT, then shot it in a Smith & Wesson revolver.