A fellow bought a used, but very clean, 6" SS GP-100 handgun last week.

The story told to me buy the shop was he went out and shot a couple of cylinders of 38 Spec. through it without issue. Then loaded up with some 357 Mag ammo and...





The shooter was not hurt - he was VERY lucky!

When asked if it was factory ammo, it turns out what he thought was factory ammo from a friend, was actually reloads the friend bought at a gun show.

Personally, I think the "friend" owes him at least 1/2 of a new gun...

Ruger GP-100's are very strong & sturdy revolvers, but you CAN blow them up. I never thought I'd see one, but there it is.
Hard to see in the picture, but the top strap is bent up where the rear sight sits - that takes a lot of energy!

Moral of story - don't use handloads you didn't load yourself!

L8r,
Bob S.

UPDATE:

The shop got the call back from Ruger Yesterday. (3/26)

1) Not covered by warranty (I'm not surprised by that - it wasn't their fault!)

2) They offered to replace it for the reduced price of $400.61

As I said, if it was me - I'd be hitting my buddy up for $200.00 of that!

Have a good weekend,
Bob S.

But, but, but Rugers are suppose to be able to take a steady diet of super hot loads...    My world is shattered...     I now must sell all my Rugers as the internet promises have all been lies...  



He should kick his friend ass for not telling him what the ammo was and then go find the guy that loaded that ammo and get his money out of him.  

ETA: Glad the owner was not hurt, I would be looking for the cost of a new GP100 and fresh underwear.

Damn.
That is why I won't buy reloads or even allow someone else to shoot my reloads.

Overbuilt cast frame held up very well. It's scrap now, but it didn't break.

My God.  I'm glad he wasn't hurt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's lucky he didn't get hurt!
Rule #1 don't shoot gun show reloads or anybodys reloads.
I'd be looking for the asshole that loaded that ammo
for the price of a new gun!

Damn!    It's also a reminder to always wear some sort of shooting glasses; it looks like there might be some metal missing from the cylinder.

We Pulled 4 bullets out of a barrel a few years back, and after miking the barrel we count not find any distortions. Sent it back to Ruger and they said it was ok to fire.

 

Squib?

He is very lucky that was a Ruger,  I can not imagine the out come if that had been a S&W 686.  

 

I figured this was a story about the infamous "2.7gr Bullseye Surprise", a phenomenon where the lightest Bullseye load blows up a gun.  Was rather notorious in the seventies with guys shooting light 38 Specials.  Theory was the primer flashed across the whole length of the powder igniting it all at once instead of back to front.  (case capacity too great for the non-smokeless powder being used)

As this was a 357, likely double charge.

Ray

Pull the bullets and weigh the charge.

I saw the same done to a BFR in 55-70 sammi specs are not just a good idea.

I know a dude who triple charged a .357 and blew one up.  He told ruger that he had triple charged the load, they sold him a replacement at a very reduced cost.  I was surprised at that.

You can blow anything up pushing it well beyond its reasonable design limit. Glad the guy was ok, shame about the GP but it did it's job to the best of it's abilities and protected the shooter.

Maybe change the title to "Can you blow-up a Ruger GP-100 (with a shitty random gunshow reload)? Yes - yes you can!".

They peel up or lose the top strap and usually lose a few chambers on the cylinder.

Blown is blown. It isn't any less scrapped. Kaboomability would not be the basis for my purchase.

Any gun can be blown up. I guess we will never find out exactly what was in there. You aren't double sharing some thing like like H110 so I'm guessing that had to be a double or even more charge or something fast.

I would think there would have to be some sort of obstruction to cause a failure like that.  That had to be one hell of a hot load to cause that if there was no obstruction.

S&W forged
Ruger cast

I have a buddy who did similar damage to a similar gun with what he thinks was a double charge of Bullseye . It was his own  hand load.

In his case a pretty good sized chunk of cylinder buried itself in a concrete wall of the indoor range . Took a hammer and cold chisel to dig it out.

He was at the time shooting the last six shots of the night with one hand which is what he thinks saved him from serious injury.
The cylinder split open and at least one other round cooked off

Got off lucky with some powder burns , bruised hand and beat up shooting glasses.

Owner of the range bought the parts and pieces from him and hung the mess up in a shadow box next to the "no reloads" sign .

Guy was loading on a progressive , had some kind of SNAFU and didn't clear everything out of the press . He took full responsibility for being a dumbass

His friend owes him a gun.  

I only shoot my reloads and Black Hills reloads. Any others are looked upon as sources of brass and bullets.

No way, no how, would I ever put a round like that through anything. Not the first time it has happened.



 

My personal experience is S&W's are pretty tough in their own right.  Everyone likes to talk-up how tough Rugers are and I don't doubt they are tough revolvers but am not buying that they are all that much tougher than a S&W.  If you stay with in SAAMI a S&W will last just as long as a Ruger and both will probably out last the original owner.

That said IMHO, and supported by a lot of other competitors, S&W are more shoot-able in a practical sense.  Just look at the equipment survey from the USPSA or IDPA Nationals.  S&W revolvers dominate the Revolver divisions of both sports.  Only one Ruger showed up in 2013 and none in 2014 to for the USPSA Revolver Nationals.  Over 100 of the best (and not so best, they let me come) revolver shooters in the practical shooting sports come together for a match and almost no Rugers show up.

My own experience with how tough a S&W can be:  Back in late 2006 when I was new to USPSA and just starting into high volume pistol reloading I accidentally double charged my S&W 610.  My load at the time was 4.5 grain of Titegroup pushing a 180 FMJ.  I must have double clutched my buddies Square Deal 'B' and double charge a round (actually three, two more discovered after I pulled bullets from 400+ rounds ).  9.0 grains of Titegroup under a 240gr 44 Mag is a nice load, under a 180gr 40S&W and it gets real exciting.

Immediately after I pulled the trigger on the shot I knew something was wrong.  The recoil was savage and it sound very loud and weird (no doubt the case blowing, and venting gases back my direction)  I stop myself (was in the middle of a stage) and check my underwear.  Surprisingly, still clean.  I tried to unload and show clear the the cylinder was intact but locked up solid.  We had to pound the cylinder open with the frame of the gun on a bench.  At home I had to drive the blown case out of the cylinder.  It came out in two (nearly three) pieces.


The cylinder with the blown case


The case

Now if you put that load, 9.0 gr of Titegroup under a 180gr 40S&W into QuickLoad it predicts nearly 150,000 psi.  The pressure never reached that high because brass starts to flow at about 90,000 psi depending on alloy and geometry.  So my S&W 610 probably contained a load that developed upwards of 90,000 psi without damage.  I was concerned there might have been damage I could not see.  I sent it back to S&W for a safety check.  They went over the revolver and found nothing wrong with the it.  Since then that revolver has over 10,000 rds of 40S&W through it in competition and a several boxes of reloaded 10mm Auto I use for deer hunting.

I am not worried about my S&W's from a strength point of view.  I am a much more careful and deliberate reloaded as a result of the experience.

That's incredible. Seems that tiny area of exposed case web saved its life.

CCI Blazer cracked the cylender in mine. Ruger replaced it for free.

AKA:  detonation.

Bought reloads?


WTF?  This is exactly why not.

Yowza. Glad you and the 610 came away unscathed.

This is the reason I do not buy reloaded ammo from the Gun Show - or anywhere else for that matter. Last thing I need is for any of my guns to turn to shrapnel on my hands.

Remanufactured ammo from a reputable company is fine. Range reloads or random gun show vendor loads are not going in any of my guns, nor are any reloads but my own.

it doesn't take much with a fast burning powders. I use tight group and its charge vs. pressure is on a 45° angle +. A double charge would ruin most anybodies day. A triple and I'd call it a hand grenade.

So was there any more information on what caused the original Ruger in the post to turn into scrap metal?

Was it a (just) overcharged round?

A squib round; then another round fired behind the "pop-and-no-kick"?

Or some other problem?

I know  it will probably be difficult to get the real deal info out of the shooter. But it would be nice to know.

Any jacket material still in barrel?

Anyone who buys reloads at a gun show has a screw loose and should have to wear a sign so I know not to shoot next to them.

The forged vs cast argument just doesn't stand up to real life.  A cast made gun is every bit as strong as forged as long as the casting process is done right.  Ruger doesn't just do it right, they have perfected it.  A completely moot argument.  No gun is indestructible, Ruger's are built stronger than S&W but under normal use it doesn't matter.

The Ruger GP100 is significantly stronger than it's S&W counterparts, that's a fact.  Does that make S&W weak? No, just means the Ruger is stronger.  Does it really matter in a .357 magnum? Nope, not unless you shoot a lot of really hot ammo, which few people do, in which case, the Ruger shines.  Move up into the .44 magnum/.45 Colt and beyond, it's still moot...until you want to shoot hot ammo, then, again, the Ruger shines.  You can't get upset when a 1 ton Chevy tows more than a Ford Ranger, they are two similar things designed to do the same task differently.  (Personally I prefer Dodge but that doesn't really fit into this).

The moral of this story isn't whether the damage would have been worse had the gun been a S&W or which brand is better.  The moral is: Anyone who buys gun show reloads secretly fantasizes about having a prosthetic hand.

Well another sad lesson by somebody that bought a nice gun and save pennies on reloaded or reman ammo

Glad the shooter wasn't hurt

Expensive lesson

I will only shoot reloads that I make , I don't trust anybody else

Wouldn't a squib load bulge the barrel?  I hope that poor guy was on his knees that night thanking our Creator.

To make things fair, weight wise an N frame is equivalent to a GP100 and an N frame 357 is just as overbuilt.




A 686 is svelte in comparison:


If money were not a consideration...


Folks need to stop saying squib. That's obviously an overcharge.

This. A company remanufacturing ammo is different from random reloads. Licenses and all that jazz. And on top of that, new ammo is not a 100% guarantee either....

This is so very true. I still have a 357 sig round here on my desk loaded to perfect specs EXCEPT for one little issue. The bullet is loaded backwards in the brass. I took this out of a brand new box of Speer Lawman, not reloads.

I'm glad the Owner wasn't Hurt! I quit buying reloads at Gun Shows or anywhere else 25 Years ago and started loading My Own Metalic Cartrige Loads. I have been Loading Shotgun Shells since I was 14 on a Mec 600 Jr. About a Year ago I bought a 4lb Jug of Bullseye for My 45acp Loads and got to talking to the Dealer at the Gun Show I bought it from who also Sold Reloads. He said He uses Bullseye in all of His Pistol Loads!

I personally wouldn't use it in all Pistol Loads, I did try it in 9mm at 4.0 Grains and it Shot pretty Good but a little Snappy. I prefer Titegroup in the 9mm for light Target Loads. And for 357 Magnum My Favorite for Target Use is Alliant Unique which Burns quite Slower than Bullseye or Titegruop. I have read where other People use Bullseye and Titegruop in the 357 Mag. It would be very easy to get a Over or Double Charge with either one of Bullseye or Titegruop in a 357 Case, Both of those Powders are in the top 10 on the Burn Rate Chart. All I can Say is You can't be to Careful when it comes to Reloads.

The best guess is a overcharged load of a fast burning powder.

There was no squib load before this round, and nothing left in the barrel. There was no visible damage to the barrel (no bulge or ring)

The fellow is paying to have it shipped back to Ruger to let them look at it - I think he is hoping the will do "something" - maybe not a new gun for free, but "something"...

Personally I don't think Ruger should do anything - it was a stupid mistake, and not Ruger's fault.

Happy Monday to all,
Bob S.

This. If I put nitroglycerine in my expedition's tank, I shouldn't expect Ford to 'do something'...

If ruger does anything at all, I hope they make a point to acquire the rest of the rounds involved; strictly for measurement & proof-barrel testing purposes if nothing else.

Love seeing old ads from yesteryear.
Thanks man.

There customer service is insanely good. I know a guy that tried to rebore the cylinder on his revolver and completely screwed it up. He shipped it to them with a hand written letter explaining what he did, and he wanted it fixed, "just send me the bill". He recieved the handgun back from Ruger fully repaired.. no charge.. and a note stating "from now on, just leave it to us to work on it".

I've bought used guns that came with reloads. The reloads always go in the trash. I reload, but I won't mess with someone else's.

Buh-buh-but Bill Ruger said some things 25 years ago and has been dead for 12.

Love my GP100, bought it about 20years ago.  Only gun over 5years old that I still have.

The shop got the call back from Ruger Yesterday.

1) Not covered by warranty (I'm not surprised by that - it wasn't their fault!)

2) They offered to replace it for the reduced price of $400.61

As I said, if it was me - I'd be hitting my buddy up for $200.00 of that!

Have a good weekend,
Bob S.

That would make a great display piece for hunter safety classes and/or reloading classes. When a person blows up a Ruger, they have really accomplished something...

I'm currently loading some 44 mag rounds and I can offer a plausible explanation for the problem.  For the 240 gr SWC bullets I'm using Speer lists the max load with Unique powder as 7 grains ... the case is practically empty.  With 2400 powder starting loads are in the range of 18.5 gr and some sources list up to 22 gr as max.  If you mix powders it would be easy to triple charge with Unique.  

You need to *know* what you're shooting if using reloads.

True...but thats a bunny fart load

The classic 240gr 44 mag UNIQUE load is 10grains

Yea but that bunny fart load keeps them subsonic and doesn't lead the barrel at all with soft lead SWC bullets. 7 grains with a 240 is my favorite plinking load, super gentle and really accurate.