Amen brother
Burrards Precautions To Avoid Bursts
1. Always buy cartridges from a reliable firm.
Or pay the utmost attention, at every moment while reloading, using the best components in an established recipe. Close enough is never safe enough:
Julian S. Hatcher, Hatcher's Notebook, 1966
E.C. blank powder burns with extreme speedto give a sharp report when it is not heavily confined. An enthusiast once got hold of some of this powder, being familiar with E.C. shotgun powderand loaded a bunch of shells. To try out his new load he got out his fine Lefever gun, and put up a target in the shooting gallery to get the pattern. There was a terrific detonation, and a big piece was blown out the side of the barrel near the breech, flew across the room and buried itself in a wood bench.
2. Always adopt every possible precaution to prevent different sizes of cartridges being intermixed.
3. Always look through the barrels before starting out on a days shooting.
4. Always carry a pull-through when out shooting.
5. Always unload and look through the barrels on the faintest suspicion of the muzzle touching the ground or undergrowth.
6. Always look through the barrels after the trigger is pressed with no result.
7. Always look through the barrels on the slightest suspicion of anything peculiar happening in the sound of the report, or the fall of the hammer.
8. Always look through the barrels if an abnormal amount of smoke is seen to issue from the breech after unloading.
9. Always look through the barrels if the recoil seems abnormally weak.
10. Never continue to use any cartridges from any particular lot if one or two give an altogether excessive recoil.
11. Always have guns overhauled periodically by a competent gunmaker.
