The Good News (New Gun) The Bad News (Blown UP Kimber)

[seadawg221]

Well this morning started out nice, I got up and went to the Pasadena Gun show and finally purchased the Kimber Ultra Carry I have been wanting! I LOVE IT!

Marilyn and I went to the Texas City Range to try it out and discovered it shoots nice and VERY accurate!



Now for the BAD NEWS.... I blew up my Kimber TLE! I never felt anything or seen anything! I had shot 4 or 5 rounds from that particular magazine and when I got ready to fire the next round nothing happened but the gun appaered to be jammed in some manner. I removed the magazine and was still not able to rack the slide so I turned it upside down and seen this....







When I got home I held a light to the busted portion of the frame and while looking down the barrel of the gun I can see the light!

Since I was shooting my reloads I suspect a bad round. I really dislike days like this and to make it seem even more weird last night I somehow knew this was going to happen, I just felt it! Last night I also felt like I was going to win the lottery tonight...I guess I should go buy some lotto tickets!

[HighVelocity]

Ouch! Have you been able to get it apart? Since you can see light in the barrel does that mean the barrel split?

[da.suxor]

reloads....

As for the Kimber 1911 carry....hot!

[seadawg221]

I can not get it apart. And yes it does appear that the barrel is split in at least three places.

I will gladly bring it to someone if they think they can get it apart.

[seadawg221]

Here is a couple of pictures of the inside of the barrel

[flintknapper]

Is the barrel clear (no bullet lodged in it)?

Almost looks like you fired a round with no powder (primer only)/squib load, which will generally leave a bullet lodged in the barrel an inch or two, and then you sent a "live one" behind it.

That kind of damage can also occur if your link or link pin gave way.

Can you give us more details?

[seadawg221]

Is the barrel clear (no bullet lodged in it)?

Almost looks like you fired a round with no powder (primer only)/squib load, which will generally leave a bullet lodged in the barrel an inch or two, and then you sent a "live one" behind it.

That kind of damage can also occur if your link or link pin gave way.

Can you give us more details?

The barrel is clear, no obstructions.

I agree with your conclusion except that nothing felt out of the ordinary and the report was normal as well. That is about the best I am able to describe everything

[flintknapper]

A "squib" will often times leave a very dark deposit (almost soot like) in the chamber and around the barrel hood, because the case doesn't fully expand. But, it also won't cycle the action/slide most of the time, so it seems unlikely that you could have run another behind it. Additionally, you say you heard no difference in the report.

If you can get the thing apart, check your link. Other than that....I don't have anything else to offer.

Whatever it was, the only casualty was the gun, glad you weren't injured.

[RPBrown]

What a bummer. Does look like a possible squib. Glad no one was hurt

[jbirds1210]

I agree...it looks like a squib. That pistola is alot easier to replace than yours or Marilyn's hand.....I am reallly glad you guys escaped without injury. I know losing a gun is bad news....but there are plenty of them out there and now you have a story up your sleeve

[jimlongley]

Looks like a squib followed by a regular round to me. There are some strange looking marks in the barrel that may indicate that a squib got blown out. Unless those marks might be from your efforts at disassembly.

[dws1117]

I'll add an OUCH! glad you weren't hurt.

[seadawg221]

What really stinks is that this WAS my favorite gun!

[stevie_d_64]

What really stinks is that this WAS my favorite gun!

Glad you were not injured...Hav a friend off mine who had an M1 Garand literally explode in his face and did some damage to his right hand and upper arm a while back...

Pictures are here: http://www.tomeaker.com/Pages/Range.htm

Additionally I hope this incident is not the main reason your putting your reloading equipment up for sale...

Its discouraging...But I'd hate to see you give up that aspect of shooting because of this...

[tomc]

Now for the BAD NEWS.... I blew up my Kimber TLE! I never felt anything or seen anything! I had shot 4 or 5 rounds from that particular magazine and when I got ready to fire the next round nothing happened but the gun appaered to be jammed in some manner. I removed the magazine and was still not able to rack the slide so I turned it upside down and seen this....

Although I have never had a squib load or a double-charge load personally, I have seen the results of both. I don't see how a squib load would have had enough energy to cycle the slide and every overload I've heard of has induced some physical damage to the shooter. Maybe your Kimber had some defect in the barrel since you didn't report any noticeable difference in the previous rounds fired.

Also, don't give up reloading based just on this because I believe that the worst damage to a Glock from an overload I heard of was from a factory load!