doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com BOOM...busted stock

Well, a bit of a disaster on the weekend. Shooting my 28, first station first shot...BIG bang as the gun doubled, but all the observed damage was to the stock! (Pix hopefully below)
Action and chambers/barrels seem to be fine. Recovered shells intact. No personal damage. I have sent my broken stock/receiver to my stock guru for examination. But I am still puzzled as to how this particular damage occurred.

I tried double loading powder in a blank 28 (Longshot 15.2gr). It takes up too much room to get the wad/shot in and still crimp close the shell, so I don't think that was the issue. But even if that happened somehow, surely all the additional pressure would be in the chamber and first part of the barrel? Why would it blow the side off the stock unless most of the force was directed backward? Also my trigger finger was sooty, maybe indicating gases blowing out of the action. I am wondering if the gun was not fully in battery and the top lever not closed properly so that most of the force was directed backwards. But the recovered shells looked fine. It is not an experiment I wish to repeat to see whether that would be the problem!

Has anyone any insight as to how this might have occurred?

https://www.jpgbox.com/page/75268/
https://www.jpgbox.com/page/75270/

I am sure you will care to show us the actual pictures of the two fired shotshells... side and bottom.

Appears to be incorrect grain orientation in the stock.

I should add that I have fired thousands of rounds at clays and birds through this gun over a period of 15 years.

I would presume that the extra recoil of firing both chambers at the same time is what split the stock along with, perhaps, the accumulated wear and tear of many years of use.

The bigger question is, why did it double? Operator error or mechanical error? I think that's what I'd be looking at first anyway.

This does not appear to be a gas issue. The gun doubled, and the recoil was too much for the wood.

The action acted like a wedge, and the wood failed along the grain line. Note the piece missing at the stock head on the left.

It was strong enough right up until it wasn't.

IMO, the gun's stock busted because it doubled, and the wood grain was not right when the stock was made, and/or the stock/action relationship had loosened. It doubled, most likely, because the second barrel sear engagement had worn over the years to the point that, when the first trigger was pulled and that barrel fired, the recoil from it dislodged the sear engagement on the second barrel and it fired, ALMOST simultaneously.

The stock can be repaired if you're willing to wait for the right person to do the job. If that right person does it you will not be able to see the repair.

And primer that vented

He said the recovered shells looked fine, Mike.