Holy smokes. I've never seen anything like that. What would cause 3 rds to go off at the same time?? besides heat?

I just figured that one cartridge exploded, destroying the cylinder and taking out the cartridges on either side. With the top of the cylinder gone there may not have been enough force to push the bullet out of the adjacent chamber.

Pumpkinslinger wrote:

I just figured that one cartridge exploded, destroying the cylinder and taking out the cartridges on either side. With the top of the cylinder gone there may not have been enough force to push the bullet out of the adjacent chamber.

Maybe. Looking at the 2 rounds there, they look like they were "blown out" not in, so I assumed(we all know what assume means) they went off. I would like an autopsy done of the other rounds to find out if it was careless reloads. Like someone said before, S&W 629's are robust handguns. I dont believe a 10% overcharge would do this. Maybe someone used C4 instead of gunpowder.

I can't say I have ever seen anything like that!!!!!!

I would really like to understand just what happened.

looking at the stuck bullet and indentation on the case fragment in the chamber,
it could be that the projectile is larger than .429.

Well it is nice to see someone else's kB!!!

That is almost; EXACTLY what my RUGER .45Colt BLACKHAWK LOOKS LIKE!!!!! Except rotate the cylinder one chamber counter-clockwise.


And no it was not that loud when it it went off, nor was the felt recoil reported to be any more heavy. I was not the one who pulled the trigger, if you may remember. Ok here is what happend to mine through the knowledge of a previous user with a similarly kB'd Vaquero. The first cartridge in line with the bore fired, too much pressure which then "flame cut" the cylinder wall and there by cut into the nest case and ignited the powder, there was no where for the EXCESS pressure to go so it blew off the cylinder and the top strap and this was a logical progression as the walls were weakened due to the flame cutting.

So just because it is a RUGER or a FREEDOM ARMS does not mean it will NOT kB on you when you get silly. It almost cost my aunt's husband his right eye. And I lost my favortie handgun in the process!!! Which is NOTHING COMPARED TO HIM BEING ABLE TO SEE!!!! I still can see the top strap or the outside of the cylinder flying up through the air and him grabbing his face. I hope no one EVER finds themselves in a similar situation. It took me right about three months to be able to pull the lever on the press again.

Triple chain-fire...well, I would hazard a guess at saying bits and pieces of shrapnel have fractured/cut the two outside cases and the fireball resulting from the initial detonation was sufficient to ignite the powder in the other cases.

Note that the projectiles in the outside cases, well one of them amywayz, is still in position and the damage to the cases indicate an upward blast.

It would have taken only a slight fracture to allow the fire to reach the powder inside, but it would have caused the already weakened cases (from the cut/fracture) to fail in the direction of the least resistance...the fracture or cut.

Really though...it is anybody's guess exactly what happened...pressure can do strange things. The only way we could be certain of what happened would be to see a slow motion video of the detonation occurring.

As an example of something very strange indeed...I have seen a revolver "machine-gun"...well two rounds anyway. Best we can work out is that the action job on a S&W Model 29 left the sears a little too finely set, and on recoil ,the hammer came back far enough to allow the cylinder to rotate and then fall in the newly "chambered" round, setting it off. Needless to say it "surprised" the firer...but not enough to call an alibi in the Silhouette match we were shooting.

Like Bushy...I also hand weigh every round, and, I check them all visually prior to seating bullets.

Cheers, Vince

Vince wrote:

Triple chain-fire...well, I would hazard a guess at saying bits and pieces of shrapnel have fractured/cut the two outside cases and the fireball resulting from the initial detonation was sufficient to ignite the powder in the other cases. Cheers, Vince

Makes sense and I agree as that's kinda what I was thinking. The bullets had nowhere to go so the outboard cases ruptured.

Vince, there is an article in one of the shooting magazines ("Handloader"?) about a "full auto" single action revolver. If I remember correctly the firing pin hole in the frame was oversized, not supporting the primer. When the gun was fired the primer ruptured and escaping gas blew the hammer back, since the trigger was still held back it fired again, and again.

Blowback must have been a real problem controling. Especially in the face.

You couldn't, by chance, find that again? I'd like to see that piece of engineering...

gelandangan wrote:

looking at the stuck bullet and indentation on the case fragment in the chamber, it could be that the projectile is larger than .429.

I do not see it that way - The cylinder in not cut in a midline cross section so the bullet is the right size for the cylinder.

There is no soot on the side rounds - I don't think they went off.
I think the cases were crushed when the cylinder started to blow up, then got torn in half as the cylinder split.

Good point.

The whole gun is too clean. Almost like someone cleaned it. There's a bit of soot in the top most case. Not much though.

But them cases def. look exploded to me.

Maybe the guy "cleaned" things up for the pic...maybe had to clean the bloody mess off'n things.

Cheers, Vince

As I look at the pics-it looks like a combination of problems,either underloaded(flash over detonation)which might account for,lack of soot,or if overloaded he must have been using something very clean for a powder(kindof reminds me of bullseye,and a triple load),and also the metal looks like it was "crystallized" like maybe a manufacturing problem.I'm not going to try to figure out the metallurgy from S&W.Possible bore obstruction from a previous shooting/cleaning session?I have seen a few firearms that have been blownup-but none to that degree till now!Sounds like maybe the owner should go back to reloading 101!