Blew up my G20 today (Kaboom)

[equin68]

Seems like a case of natural consequences (I.e FAFO) …

… in the olden days, use of something like a contender on load experiments was helpful if you are going to play paddy cake with the Devil (… fire is the Devil's only friend )

 

[Xaevian]

if you are going to play paddy cake with the Devil (… fire is the Devil's only friend )

Mama said the pistol was the devil's right hand.

 

[osprey]

Glad you were not hurt and the gun may be repairable. I load 200gr hardcast bullets for my g20 with a stout charge of 800x and get an honest 1250 fps at the muzzle. I will revisit my load and make sure it is a safe and prudent one. I do have an aftermarket barrel with better chamber support and only use new brass for this load. Good reminder for all reloaders!

 

[Koda]

Im thankful for the OP to share this lesson learned. It shows the difference between a "full pressure" round and a "max pressure" round.... the latter is much less forgiving of human mistakes.


As a condolence to the fate of his pistol, the 10mm has a history of blowing up guns (including Glocks) with factory ammo thats largely swept under the rug by the boutique ammo manufacturers chasing the hottest production round. They of course blamed it on the chamber support, which was not true... they screwed up and went over saami pressure.
The problem with manufacturing ammo at the max upper limit is, tolerances are greatly reduced, and impractical to maintain. Certainly, a handloader can creep up to max more safely than a commercial manufacturer.... but the tolerances are still tighter.

A full pressure round should not be near max....

 

[osprey]

Mama said the pistol was the devil's right hand.

 

[Kruel J]

Loading to the max squeeks out a few more FPS but the wear and tear on the gun isn't worth it IMO. Really, what's the point? Full load (to spec) 10mm is more than enough for what the round was intended for. Need more? Try a shotgun or a rifle.

 

[TTSX]

If it keeps someone from blowing their hand apart then yeah. Damn useful.

You also got your percentages wrong, condescended to multiple members and weren't even the first person to state it was overpressure by a significant margin. In short, you added nothing to the discussion so no, not very useful. But hey, people seem to like your comment so somebody must have gotten something out of it.

 

[DirectDrive]

No you're the issue, or you comprehend well. I didn't say they were intercha. No, you be you, master. not worth anymore of my time.

Nor you mine, see ya in the funny pages.

KABOOM threads tend to get people edgy.
Probably because it's a reminder that it could happen to any one of us for any number of reasons.
This one has been a lesson learned and the damage was limited.

Although, we would never know about it if the OP didn't have the stones to post about it.
Good on the OP to give us all a wake up call.

DD
Who is uniquely qualified due to a near catastrophic KABOOM early in his reloading career.
It was half equipment and half method that caused a double charge in a shotshell reload.
I made changes so it would never happen again.

 

[Kruel J]

You also got your percentages wrong, condescended to multiple members and weren't even the first person to state it was overpressure by a significant margin. In short, you added nothing to the discussion so no, not very useful. But hey, people seem to like your comment so somebody must have gotten something out of it.

I thought his comment was appropriate and well within the topic at hand. I get it, people get sensitive when guns blow up but in this case the OP caused it.......

 

[Mikej]

Who is uniquely qualified due a near catastrophic KABOOM early in his reloading career.
It was half equipment and half method that caused a double charge in a shotshell reload.
I made changes so it would never happen again.

Dodged a bullet there didya'? I had one such instance early on myself. Surprisingly, some would believe I'm just as green these days. Still have 10 fully functional fingers though, and plan on keeping them. Well, other than some arthritis.

 

[NeoBlackdog]

You also got your percentages wrong, condescended to multiple members and weren't even the first person to state it was overpressure by a significant margin. In short, you added nothing to the discussion so no, not very useful. But hey, people seem to like your comment so somebody must have gotten something out of it.

Cool story bro.
How are my percentages wrong? Who did I condescend to? Who cares if I wasn't the first to state it was overpressure as that's kinda what the topic is about?
Is that a burr under yer saddle blanket or a twist in yer knickers?

 

[WAYNO]

 

[Kruel J]

 

[Mikej]

EEWW

 

[Kruel J]

EEWW

It was just a joke, Mike.

 

[Catfishmoon]

We would never know about it if the OP didn't have the stones to post about it.
Good on the OP to give us all a wake up call.

I agree with the above comment. Many people have too much of an ego to ever admit to making an error, and we all learn when a person does share their experience...
I have mentioned previously that I had a squib load due to a mistake I made during reloading, a 9mm bullet stuck in the barrel while I was shooting a 15 round magazine at a range, it could have resulted in a similar fashion. However, I was not shooting at an extremely fast pace and I could tell by the sound when that round ignited it was "under-powered" and I stopped immediately. I had the sense to check my gun barrel and the projectile was firmly lodged inside (it had to be beat out with a hammer, nylon punch and vise later at home)...
It was a sobering moment realizing how close I had come to having a similar result as the O.P. had I fired another round.

 

[P7M13]

Gents, no sense in squabbling over interpretations.
I phuk'd up, no way around it.
I looked at 10mmAuto.com load tables but didn't check back with my multiple manuals.
Was not loading for Max power, but looking for best accuracy. Background, I used to just load to published values, but found that doing load workups in my pistols produced much more accurate ammo as a result. Hence the running up the load values. Total F-up that I didn't cross check sources to verify if I was off the reservation.
I'm never going to shoot the gun enough to worry about wear and tear. I may put 2k rounds through it in its lifetime.
As far as blaming the unsupported chamber, you misinterpret -- I did not. I openly wondered whether it may have happened in a much tighter chamber like in my Ruger SR1911/10. It would have really sucked if I'd have blown the barrel link lug apart like @WAYNO pictured in one reply.
I am clearly effing lucky.
Like the times I've had to drop my motorcycles because of my stupidity, the machine and my ego were the only things hurt.

 

[kmk1012]

Geeze, must be close to the holidays. On the subject of reloading though, what data do you use when two books are vastly different max's for the same powder?

 

[P7M13]

Geeze, must be close to the holidays. On the subject of reloading though, what data do you use when two books are vastly different max's for the same powder?

My two-bits : Take the lowest value, drop by 5% and work up.

• Use a chrony to assess the true load power.
• Looking at the case for pressure is dubious - yesterday was an example of looking for flattened primers or Glock bulge, but I didn't see any.
• Because I put a 22lb recoil spring in the slide, it also affected my sense of how hard it was really recoiling.

 

[Dozer99]

I have a Ruger GP100 in 10mm we could try the rest of the loads in.

Seriously though, glad you are ok!