Near Catastrophic Failure

[JDay]

I'm only buying stainless steel mags from now on. I don't think a blued steel mag would have been strong enough to contain this.

Stainless is weak, the more stainless (more chromium added) the softer it is.

[BroncoBob]

James, glad to hear you're OK. Pretty fricken scary thing to happen.

[tzahoy]

Stainless is weak, the more stainless (more chromium added) the softer it is.

You're painting with a broad brush J, nobody accuses 440C stainless of being weak, it's the tool steel of stainless and stronger than most carbon steels. There's a broad range of strength of both Carbon steels and stainless steels, and even more importantly, their heat treat determines a heck of a lot about their mechanical properties.

Most of the stainless steels used in firearms are quite strong, magazines included. You can usually get a decent idea of the strength of stainless by checking with a magnet. Most of the stronger stainless steels are magnetic.

Was a stainless magazine stronger than a blued one? Maybe.

[CSACANNONEER]

So, This has happened to you? More than once? LOL. Is enlarged primer pocket the problem here? If so, I'll start micin' them. I've reloaded at least 5000 rnds of 45. This is my first problem with one.

No, I've never seen anything like it but, scat happens.

[Rwnielsen]

230g Bear Creek Moly LRN in twice fired brass with 7.9g of Unique At 1230 OAL with a slight taper crimp and Winchester primers.

That's a pretty hot load, glad you're OK

[stormvet]

Wow, glad your not hurt!

If you had been shooting a Glock, all the Glock haters would blame the Glock and tell you that you should have bought a 1911 or a Sig.
So let me say it:
You should have bought a Glock.......

Negative, if he were shooting a Glock we would all be calling him "Lefty" now.

[xxdabroxx]

That's a pretty hot load, glad you're OK

that is what i was thinking...

from Alliants website:

For 230gr LRN
1.27 OAL
CCI 300 primer
Unique 5.8gr
849 FPS

What kind of velocities are you reaching?

[j1133s]

I was shooting my Kimber 1911 LARG today when my face got sprayed with gunpowder. Maybe a bit of brass. It seems the 4th shell down in the mag went off with the recoil from the fired round. It popped one round out with the expended case and turned the 2 rounds above it upright and sent it's bullet into the feed ramp. It was just sitting there. Like it wanted to complete it's journey through the barrel. Guess I got lucky. Scratch one 8rnd mag though. This ever happen to anyone else here? What could cause this?
Sorry for the cellphone pic, But you can see the flat, shattered case jamming the follower. It's actually wrapped around it.

I see this "face sprayed w/ gun powder and hand burned with it" a few times on the range. It's always been an out of battery firing. How does your slide look like? Ejector bent? I've never seen any rounds detonates inside the mag yet. Not saying yours didn't go the way you described, just to give you maybe another possibility.

[diginit]

Rounds were loaded on a progressive press. 7.9 in not the max according to my books. Although it is ony 0.3 under. The extractor and slide are fine. That's the first thing I checked. But it is a stainless steel 1911. Not a bb gun without the orange tip.
This definitely took place in the center of the mag. 4 rounds fired. Then 1 went with the case and 1 stood upright in the mag with one stovepiping. I cleared the stovepipe and the bullet was sitting loose in the chamber! The last round in the mag was the one that popped.
WTF! Was all I could say at the time.

One side with the top mag used as a straight edge.




And the other side.

[sammy]

Holey cow batman. That load is way too much for that bullet and powder. Here is what is listed on Alliant's website: 1.27 (OAL) 4.4 (barrel length) CCI 300 Unique 5.8 grains (max) 849 FPS

Edit:

Speer says 5.8 is max and my Lyman #48 says a 225g. LRN 7.3 is max. That sounds way too high. Have you chronoed this load and if so what were the results? Can you post a pict of what a fired primer looks like?

[K1LLROI]

Glad to hear you're OK...

[Super Spy]

Can you post a clean close up of the primer on the cartridge that went bang?

[diginit]

I goofed. It's 6.9 gr unique. I'll correct that in the above post. The Cast Bullet handbook states Min 5.5 Max 7.3.
My Lyman Manual also states 5.5 - 7.3

I have already fired about 600 out of the last 1000 I loaded with out a problem.
Here's 3 other loads I've worked up. 500 of each fired without a problem. But don't try them in your gun without working up! And adding an 18.5 Lb mainspring and heavier FP spring.
.452 200 gr Bear Creek LRN Hollow Base
7.2 gr Unique
Lee disk # .88
Federal LP Primers
OAL 1230 = 1/16th" to lands

.452 200g Bear Creek LSWC
6.6gr Unique
lee Disk #82
Federal Large Magnum Primers
OAL 1230

.452 PIR Tactical 220 LSWC
6.6 gr unique
Fed Large Magnum Primers
OAL 1.242

[diginit]

My cellphone takes lousy closeups.

[2Cute2Shoot]

I was shooting my Kimber 1911 LARG today when my face got sprayed with gunpowder. Maybe a bit of brass. It seems the 4th shell down in the mag went off with the recoil from the fired round. It popped one round out with the expended case and turned the 2 rounds above it upright and sent it's bullet into the feed ramp. It was just sitting there. Like it wanted to complete it's journey through the barrel. Guess I got lucky. Scratch one 8rnd mag though. This ever happen to anyone else here? What could cause this?
Sorry for the cellphone pic, But you can see the flat, shattered case jamming the follower. It's actually wrapped around it.

James, I don't believe this story for one second . I think you are just trying to scare me because I don't usually wear glasses when I shoot! Am I supposed to believe that you guys were yelling at me about it, then this happens, which is 1 in 1,000,000,000 chances? Anyway, if it's true, I am glad you are ok, but if it's fake, that is so mean!