doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Tri Star Hunter Barell Failure

Agree with Joe. A barrel which bursts from use of too powerful a shell will burst in the chamber area. Once you get past the chamber area & it bursts the causes are the very rare structal flaw in the integrity of the steel & the much more common obstruction.

To borrow a phrase from old Ivory soap commercials, about 99 & 99 one hundreths percent of "barrel" bursts will be found to have had something in them. That .01% will have had some form of material flaw.

There are many 'experts' on the Internet but the only way to get an idea or in the case of paying money, a written analysis is to consult a degreed Metallurgical Engineer with experience in failure analysis. I used to do a few of them in Graduate School under the direction of my Professor after which he issued a signed document but of course the analysis and physical examination which often consisted of slicing of the material, polishing and examination under a high mag scope costs money, so if you contact a local University you just might find a bored Metallurgist that will give you an opinion for free but you must supply the part in question and be careful about bringing a firearm part on University property these days.-Dick
BTW I consider Hugh Lomas very knowledgeable from my limited conversations with him in the past and his initial Post offers good informtation.
Things do fail if not correctly manufactured and tested. that is why we have Proof Testing and other standards bodies such as ASME and the like but I am not certain under which standards Turkish manufactured firearms fall into, i would guess the Proof Laws of that country.
Low cost should not be a criteria for judgment or as a reason for failure or whether a firearm is safe or not.

Remember that a 3" shell has no higher pressure ceiling than a 2 3/4" shell. Of course it will recoil more, but that's because of the heavier shot charge, not higher pressure.

And if someone extended a forcing cone beyond the forend lug, that might be some sort of world record for longest cone. I suppose backboring is a possibility, but it would seem a bit odd to do that on an inexpensive Turk gun.

There are engineering firms that specialize in failure analysis, both small and large firms. I've been around a few. Argueably, the most famous in the country today is Exponent Engineering. They have been commentator/consultants on numerous TV shows where high profile engineering disasters were analyzed. Some of the disasters they actually were involved in the analysis.

Bottom line, the importer, Tri-Star, is a little outfit, but probably has a liability insurance policy. Showing them a picture will probably get some attention and an offer for replacement or just to examine the gun. If the injured shooter wants significant compensation, hiring an attorney is the only way I know of. If the attorney is any good, he'll hire the right level of engineering analysts for the case. There are a plethora of engineering retirees that do this stuff for their income. Some of them are pretty good.

I can't tell for sure but it looks like something caused a pressure peak at that point in the barrel (an obstruction)and therefore the burst. Perhaps a better gun would not have given way completely just bulged or if the barrels were nice and heavy perhaps shown little effect? Another common occurance is that the shooter has seldom checked before hand for a obstruction and after the incedent usually can't remember anything helpful either, for several reasons. It is highly unlikely anyone is going to say afterward " yeah I saw something in the barrel but thought I would shoot it out". Another problem with getting a quality reason for the failure through the legal system is that the both the plaintiff and the defense will have their experts and those experts with offer contradictory analysiss. So we get to choose! I do remember Remington was sued over defective barrels on the inexspensive shotguns and paid out millions in a class action suit to anyone owning one of their guns, even though those same Remingtons are being used by those who collected the money and are being used with the original barrels. Pat's friend may just want to know what happen so wants to send the gun for tests? The real cause is not likey going to be determined from the photo, legal action or by pricing the gun.

For some reason, I think this is the outfit I visited in Santa Ana, CA or somewhere like that, years ago. They were a small unit B type operation then. I can't be sure it was the same outfit, but it sure seems like these are the same guys.

finger tips don't get much money. I had a friend of mind go through a lost of a finger tip from a gun accident. The attorneys got the most money. The plaintif got $7000.


I doubt you will find an attorney who will take the case.

John Boyd

PS: I can tell you friend exactly where to send the gun for testing, but its very expensive.


John Boyd

There dose not seem to be any significant evidence of a ring bulge.Other possibile reasons for failure are; A flaw in the Barrel material, and/or a thin barrel wall coupled with an internal longtitudinal score mark caused by removal of a boring tool, which in turn would create a potential stress raiser.This possibility is supported by the longtitudinal line/run at the site of the failure.A failure of this type is pictured on Pages 205 & 228 of the "Modern Shotgun" Vol 3. by Major Sir Gerald Burrard.

I always say to my young shooters looking to buy a first gun, get a used Rem 1100, or a used Citori, not a glitzy Turk with usually a horrible trigger pull.
You get what you pay for in this world.
Mike