Anyone catch one of these recent episodes? I click 'em up on TiVo, so I can't tell you when it aired... but it was likely within the last week. (I already deleted it)
Anyway, if you are familiar with the show, the last segment is always two guys in white coats that do different torture tests to modern, new firearms. Sometimes they put it through mud, drop it from a given height or drag it behind a truck... something different each time. They beat the hell or otherwise try to compromise firearms to see how well they hold up under pressure.
Well, in this episode, they did one just for us: They took a brand new Thompson/Center Encore rifle in .300 Win Mag (stainless steel) and built some bad handloads for it.
They basically filled the case with Bullseye powder. The guys doing the "test" said the case held around 76 grains of the original powder charge (they didn't say what powder that might be), but they had these rounds loaded with the same volume of Bullseye powder, resulting in a 51-grain charge of the "hot pistol powder."
Then they ran a string to the trigger after strapping the rifle in to a rest, and yanked it. It blew the barrel/chamber apart, sent it flying, released the case and sent it flying as well. Tore the side of the rifle half off, broke the rear of the forend off.
It was pretty scary. Quick flash, large chunks of flying metal and a torn up scrap of brass that really didn't even look like a cartridge case. And this was most likely a box-fresh, brand new rifle. It had no sights and no scope mounted on it.
Not a double-charge-- 51 grains of Bullseye in a rifle round that had a factory charge of 76 grains of powder.
They put a little cardboard cutout behind the rifle that's supposed to take damage as a "shooter", and they noted that because the parts went flying off the the side and up in the air, the cardboard rifleman was untouched.
Pretty graphic... offers a little more meat & potatoes beyond our typical "I heard of a guy at the range who..." Not that I don't appreciate these stories, but you could watch this one happen.
Anyway, if you are familiar with the show, the last segment is always two guys in white coats that do different torture tests to modern, new firearms. Sometimes they put it through mud, drop it from a given height or drag it behind a truck... something different each time. They beat the hell or otherwise try to compromise firearms to see how well they hold up under pressure.
Well, in this episode, they did one just for us: They took a brand new Thompson/Center Encore rifle in .300 Win Mag (stainless steel) and built some bad handloads for it.
They basically filled the case with Bullseye powder. The guys doing the "test" said the case held around 76 grains of the original powder charge (they didn't say what powder that might be), but they had these rounds loaded with the same volume of Bullseye powder, resulting in a 51-grain charge of the "hot pistol powder."
Then they ran a string to the trigger after strapping the rifle in to a rest, and yanked it. It blew the barrel/chamber apart, sent it flying, released the case and sent it flying as well. Tore the side of the rifle half off, broke the rear of the forend off.
It was pretty scary. Quick flash, large chunks of flying metal and a torn up scrap of brass that really didn't even look like a cartridge case. And this was most likely a box-fresh, brand new rifle. It had no sights and no scope mounted on it.
Not a double-charge-- 51 grains of Bullseye in a rifle round that had a factory charge of 76 grains of powder.
They put a little cardboard cutout behind the rifle that's supposed to take damage as a "shooter", and they noted that because the parts went flying off the the side and up in the air, the cardboard rifleman was untouched.
Pretty graphic... offers a little more meat & potatoes beyond our typical "I heard of a guy at the range who..." Not that I don't appreciate these stories, but you could watch this one happen.