Originally Posted By: Shotgunjones


We don't seem to have a big problem with US made firearms blowing up.


I recently saw the aftermath of a 20ga Fox ejector gun with the R chamber blown. Peeled away from the outside (where the pin on the ejector luggers runs through the frame) in towards the rib. That's the opposite of the way it happened with the first Parker Bell blew, which peeled out from the middle--starting from where the big pin on the extractor lugger runs underneath the rib. In both cases, the holes where those pins ride are obviously weak spots--although, as Bell's test showed, usually well capable of withstanding extreme overpressure loads.

A double charge may have been at fault in the case of the Fox. Reloads, and the shooter later found one or two with no powder.