s&w expoded

[winnre]

Screw reloads. I'll shoot factory ammo and buy one less gun to afford to do so. Thank you for the education!

[BigDogatPlay]

Pretty catastrophic failure and from the look an all stainless gun? It would be nice to know some additional details about this.

[KI6RYC]

Screw reloads. I'll shoot factory ammo and buy one less gun to afford to do so. Thank you for the education!

OP didn't mention reloads, but I share your sentiment. My money is on obstruction or cylinder out of alignment.

I saw something similar at the range the other weekend, some family had a revolver with one of the chambers in the cylinder obstructed. I guess they didn't load that one and still shot the other 5. Scary stuff...

[G38xOC]

Happened back in '04 and the pic of your finger is from a year before that?????

+1 lol

[santacruzmoto]

It did happen in 03 I guess I took the gun pics in 04. I was at a local shooting range (not saying any names) and bought some ammo in brand new box's before going into the range, I loaded up some 357's took 2 shots just fine then on the third shot the gun just exploded. I was left holding the frame while the rest of the gun was scattered around the range. I looked at my hands and my left index finger was facing the wrong way. after surgery the next day I was inspecting the rounds i still had in the box, there was three different makes of 357's in the box. Guess what all reloads put in new box's, I wasnt stoked. In case you are wondering if this range still does this, the answer is NO they changed ownership and got into some #*%# for this. All in all I think I was pretty lucky I went through 3 months of hand therapy and my finger bends most of the way just still cant make a fist. The hardest thing was not being timid to shoot again, but a trip to washington to shoot some full auto ak's took care of that.

[santacruzmoto]

I often wonder if it was the gun and not the reloads. the gun was brand new I bought for my girlfriend to shoot 38's out of. sure glad she wasnt shooting it!

[Lateralus]

Dude, this terrifies me. I'm a guitar player, and I would die if something like that prohibited me from playing again. I'm glad you turned out OK. Please tell me you AT LEAST shoot for free there now....

[winnre]

My new shooting gloves.

[plan-b]

My new shooting gloves.

I feel like such a jerk for laughing, but that's pretty freaking funny.

[586L-Frame]

Happened back in '04 and the pic of your finger is from a year before that?????

Good analysis of the op's statement, picture and event Inkman.
586L-Frame

[sniper5]

If you've ever seen what a compressed gas cylinder with a broken valve can do, think about this: An 02 cylinder "only" has about 2000 psi contained inside. Chamber pressures in a gun run from 20,000 to 60,000 psi plus or minus some. Get a visual on that. That and the fact that any machine can fail, and no QC is 100%. Something like this can happen in any gun, at any time, with any ammo, under any conditions. It's a risk people take when they shoot. If you can't take the risk, don't shoot. It's like being a diver and saying: "I want to be absolutely sure I won't drown" OK, well then, stay out of the water. It's good everyone occasionally sees this, it keeps people focused and serious about what they're doing. The situation described is also why most stores won't take back ammo for refund or credit after it's sold. Because there are some jackasses out there that will shoot the box up, fill it back with junk reloads, and then return it as the wrong stuff. There are scumbags everywhere.

[missiondude]

Are you left handed? Trying to figure out how your left index finger got bent backwards from this. If right handed, that left finger should be wraped over your middle finger on your right hand. The explosion went up and out, so wondering what happened. I am sure it happened so fast you have no idea, but as a revolver shooter, I would really like to know where that finger was when the gun exploded. Glad you did not lose it....

[trob]

In case you are wondering if this range still does this, the answer is NO they changed ownership and got into some #*%# for this.

Congratulations on your newly acquired range!

[Masterdebater]

dude the gloves are awesome i need a pair! maybe in black or blued so it matches my revolver!

on a serious note glad ur okay man did the range buy u a new gun? or did s&w still warranty it?

[hill billy]

Screw reloads. I'll shoot factory ammo and buy one less gun to afford to do so. Thank you for the education!

That's just silly in my opinion. This type of thing could have happened with factory ammo just as easily.If it was a timing issue it would have happened with ANY ammo.