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For the purpose of this thread, I don't mean small parts breakage, something falling off, etc. But rather actually damage to a significant component of the firearm that necessitates a return to the factory, gunsmith work, or scrapping the destroyed piece altogether.

If so, care to share the story and/or pics? Lessons learned?
 
I had a "friend" buy a Jiminez 9mm from a gun show, against my advice. We took it out shooting, and on the second mag, the slide pin broke, and the slide hit him in the forehead. Took some stiches, and the lump he got made him look like a Unicorn for a week. o_O
 
We were doing some live-fire training, shooting from the kneeling behind cover. I was next up, standing behind my buddy who was actively engaging targets. To our surprise, his next and last shot was much louder than the previous ones, as the majority of his upper receiver went flying over both our heads and landed about 50 feet away. Squib stuck in the barrel. Aside from slight powder burns, he was fine, and the bewildered look on his face was priceless.
 
It was only a .22 magnum kaboom, but I did have to send my Heritage revolving rifle back to the factory after it went into Alec Balwin mode. My wife, a new shooter, had run only a few cylinders through the new carbine when the hammer dropped as soon as she cocked it. She remained cool and kept the muzzle pointed downrange, but it had to be unsettling for a newbie.
 
One of the best I was there to see was back before they allowed us common folk to order ammo. Buddy used another's FFL to order a couple cases of reload .45 off Shotgun News. Ammo was too cheap, they were warned it was too cheap. When they got it, crap. I said either toss it or tear it down and keep the slugs. The one guy was trying to use it up. one day he was firing it in his Detonics. KB, mag blew out the bottom, grips on both sides ruined, he had brass shrapnel in his hand he had to go to the Doc to have cleaned out. Pistol did survive but had to be pounded open. I just looked at him and he knew what I was thinking and said himself. I know, you told me :D
 
Thankfully, no.

Oddly enough, I always seem to be present when others have a kaboom.

Most recent was a guy I was shooting near at a pistol bay at TCGC. I thought he was shooting 22, or my ear pro was doing its job really well, but a cannon went off at one point. It was loud enough for me to clear my gun and poke my head out of the container to see what the hell that noise was. Turned out the guy in the bay next to me had a kaboom. He was shooting "ghost farts" aka really light loaded 38s in his revolver. Then switched over to hot 357s. Between the three or four of us that gathered to make sure the guy was ok, he was only minor scratches and burns, we determined he had a squib with the last "ghost fart" and the first "hot load" ended the revolvers life. Guy was very upset as it was a nicer SW revolver. I left before the RO showed up to let the guy go into the lane to pick up parts of the gun. It was beyond repair from what I could tell.
 
Had a case head separate on an AR at a 3 gun match. Big boom, gorked up the bolt, left a smooth tube of brass inside the chamber that the extraction tool couldn't grab and so it did not work. I had to take it home, remove upper and thread a bolt into the case and pop it out.

I blew up a 223 AR with a round of 300 BLK. Was left with upper in left hand and lower in right hand, not connected in the middle. I was unscathed. Multiple failures of procedure that day, all my fault.
 
Well it wasn't a firearm. But this one time in old Tijuana had an incident after loading up some questionable green chili soft tacos. No permanent damage done.
 
No, but I was at the risk of one and caught the issue before attempting to fire the gun. Was a milsurp bolt action (98-pattern Mauser) that appeared in relatively good condition, clean, well-oiled, all matching, free of rust, shiny bore... but upon taking it apart I discovered the barrel was loose in the action and could be spun out freely by hand. With the stock, barrel bands and handguard in place, it was nearly impossible to tell. Could've been ugly if fired.
 
Yep. Glock 21 with after market barrel. Was rather dramatic and had to do the ER thing. Some laceration and nerve damage to the support hand, not pleasant but a lesson learned (it was my reloads that I questioned along with the no-name barrel). Sorry that I turned the W231 into fertilizer. But I did rebuild the Dillon 550 and added LED lights to better check the powder level. Just glad it was 45ACP and not 10mm! Oh yeah the Glock receiver was trashed but the slide was good to go with an OEM barrel.
 

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