doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Thanks for all those pics of blown barrels!

I was out in the damp on Sat. chasing pheasants with some of my club members. Members GSP that I was hunting with was reluctant to let go of my bird so I had to bend down to "coax" her along.

After I finished putting the bird away I noticed some mud on the muzzle of my Remington M17. I unloaded the gun and took a look and there was some mud inside the muzzle so I picked it out with a twig, turned her muzzle down and shook out some mud.

I was all loaded up and on my way to the next point (dog had a great nose, just didn't work too close ) ready for the next buzzard to take flight when I though about the proliferance of horrorshow pictures you guys have been posting here lately. Blown barrels abounding, visions of bloody digits danced in my head.

So I stopped, unloaded and pulled the barrel off. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't see daylight. I put my lips to the breech end (calm down boys, "doctor said you gonna die pardner") gave a big puff of air and out popped about an inch long plug of mud. Would have caused problems for sure.

Had I been using a break open it would have been easy to check the barrels but thanks for making me jumpy to check the pump. I'm trying to get in the habit of looking through the barrels of my doubles after every shot to make sure there are no stuck wads. The shooting has never been so hot that it's not practical.

Thanks men.

I shoot a lot of trap and look through my barrels after each shot. You should always listen for some unusual sound when you shoot, especially if you reload, which I do....... I was shooting at the club a few years ago with some friends and a buddy of mine had a blooper. I didn't remember seeing a wad come out of his gun. He was just shouldering his next shot and I couldn't remember seeing him clear his barrel during the round either. I hollered at him just before he pulled the trigger and when I had him look, sure enough he had a wad stuck in the barrel. You get preoccupied with yourself when you shoot, but you need to keep an eye on your buddies when you shoot with them. It could keep you from getting yourself hurt, too.

I always look down the barrels after each shot, since Grandpa's gun blew up with me standing about three feet apart, but once .. we were duck hunting, and a friend with an autoloader went "puff" instead of "ka-boom" and I heard him cuss because the gun didn't reload. I told him to check the barrel - there might be a wad stuck. He said what the hell, the ducks are flying like crazy. I insisted. He unloaded the gun, removed the barrel - not exactly an easy job, standing waist deep in the water - looked through it - and the barrel was clear, there wasn't anything inside that didn't belong. And all the time the ducks were coming in like mosquitoes!

It is worth a look up the barrel of a Model 17 Remington or a Model 37 Ithaca if you suspect mud or snow blockage. It is a bit more difficult than on other guns, but, if the sun is out, you can see light if you hold the gun up to the light. You can always drop a rock through from the muzzle, if it is a clean rock. Anything is preferable to a blown barrel.

Nice save!

I often carry a very small pocket knife that I can open the action and just drop down the barrel. I small twig will work as well.

One of the nice things about 17s and 37s is the barrel can be removed with no loose parts. I've done it a time or two with a 37R 20g that doesn't like those cheap spanish hulls that swell up in the chamber. Really kills a fast paced dove hunt though!

Got that right, no threaded caps to drop.

Not just shotguns.

Some years back I was standing back of a line of shooters at the clay pit,......lots of noise; lots of smoke. Everyone just banging away at the dirt having fun. One guy is firing his .44 mag revolver when he drops the hammer on a dud round. Even thru the muffs I could hear the 'piff' of the primer going off. He thumbs the hammer back ready to fire again and I holler for him to stop. He was kinda ticked that I bothered him until he rolled the cylinder out and found the 240gr slug jammed in the forcing cone. He was about a 3# pull from blowing that revolver up.

Just looked at me like "how did you know?", so I decided to blow his mind completely. "Reloads with 296 powder, right?" I says. You shoulda seen the look I received from that! Shooter,...."Uh, yeah,........who are you?". Me,......"Nobody special. You should use magnum primers in that load."

I'd heard 'piff' before.

AMHIK

Check out this Perazzi, hard to believe but no one hurt except the elderly gentleman shooting it had to be treated for shock. Rich [img][/img]