doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Barrel Burst

As I was around 800 yards from the "scene", cannot say what exactly happened. The guy was quite disturbed, so I avoided asking him too much details. Will meet him soon and get his version of happenings.

However, I was told that he was not aware of burst by sound or recoil. And he actually dropped a bird with the last shot, whether it was from right or left barrel is not clear. It was after the last shot he looked at barrel and saw the rupture. It may have happened at 2nd last shot!

I did not realized at the moment to look for empty shell, actually there were lot of these in the boat and it is possible that the said shell may had dropped in water.

That far down the barrel, it almost had to be an obstruction.

It would be interesting to know just what ammunition was being used. That shotgun was probably well out of proof. It's obviously been very heavily used judging by the wear on the breech and the firing pins and firing pin holes. The lumps look pretty battered as well.

It's very likely that it is some 75-80 years old, and should perhaps have been retired. Fluid Steel barrels may have been an improvement over Damascus but they're not all that much better.

If your friend was shooting from a boat it's unlikely that the barrel was blocked by mud and so a loose base wad may have been the cause. Were the shells reloaded? If so, what was the load?

In my experience a base wad on a new shell doesn't work loose. I've not seen it happen in nearly fifty years of shooting, although it's possible with reloaded ammo.

An object lesson to all shooters to check your barrels are clear before you insert a new cartridge.

Your friend was very lucky indeed not to lose a hand or fingers. Time for him to get a modern shotgun, and leave the old ones hanging on the wall. Next time he may not be so lucky.

Harry

Maybe it is the way the pictures are taken, but doesn't the barrel wall look thin compared to, lets say, the thickness of the wall at the choke?

The lower rib is bent and there is another tear in the barrel also. That is quite a blow. It has to be an obstruction if it bent the rib.

Your friend must have really been focused on his target to not notice all kinds of stuff coming out of the side of the barrel.

No offence, Saad, but if that brutally peened front lump in the last photo is as bad as it looks, it's a pretty clear indication that the gun has been 'restored' by an ignorant vandal of a gunsmith at some stage in the past. Who knows what else he did, including striking the barrels beyond proof, honing the bores without raising dents first, etc. What is the barrel wall thickness at the burst?

Having said that, it certainly looks like an obstruction to me. As pointed out by 2-piper, the characteristic bulging prior to fracture is certainly in evidence.

There is plenty of opportunity to measure wall thickness to determine if that is a possible factor in the burst.

Has the classic appearence of an obstructional burst to me. Would have been in the vicinity of the larger part of the burst & as that swelled up side wall split further in both directions, but more forward than to the rear. Also note the exact popint of the obstruction cannot necessarily be determined by point of burst. It quite possibly moved a bit forward under impact prior to the gas piling up enough to produce the burst. Best read I am aware of on this subject is to be found in Burrard. Proofs appear to be post 1925 Birmingham, but prior to 1954.

I must go along with the consensus.

I note a couple of things -

1) gun appears to have been heavily used, and possibly abused.
The surface rust evident on the breech face and the chamber ends suggest that operator maintenance may have been less than stellar.

2) The barrel walls at the rip seem very thin to my uncalibrated eyeball. I realize that as the barrels stretch to failure they will thin out, but this thinness appears greater than usual, compared to other burst barrels I have seen.

It might be interesting to do a barrel wall thickness measurement of both barrels, and compare them to the condition at proof.

One thing to be said for "meaty" American barrels, tube thinness is rarely a problem, although obviously a barrel burst like this, from an obstruction, would likely have occurred no matter what.

Regards

GKT

Don't see many British guns with a sling swivel and right at the burst.

That gun can easily be repaired in four words: MASTER GUNSMITH ED LANDERS