M&P Boom!

[SteveU]

Well I guess it's easy if you try.

Hard for me to imagine putting a bullet on top of that but I guess if you don't look it doesn't matter how full it is.

[XRe]

Wow Dave, that is cool. Do you think the barrel is okay? If it isn't cracked and mics out to factory specs, it could probably be used again don't you think?

In theory, if you mic'ed it out all the way down the barrel and in all dimensions, it would probably be OK. However, I'm going to guess that his barrel is damage, too - the chamber is probably stretched, at the least... The safest thing would be new barrel. Basically, he's looking at a new gun, either way - the frame and slide are both toast, and the barrel is probably not safe to use, so....

[midvalleyshooter]

My bad on writing the sentence with a political comment, I meant it in jest and have edited it.

I don't think anyone is blaming S&W here or expecting anything free. I'm all for self-reliance and taking responsibility for ones actions and apply this to my life. One area I don't apply it to is Business and specifically Customer Service. In my experience is if you give a customer a discount on something they have broken they are very likely to respond with repeat business.

A phone call to S&W explaining what happened is what I suggest. I know if I was the S&W Customer Service rep I would do what I could to get a S&W product in that young mans hands ASAP.

Best regards,

Keith

[BMartens]

S&W will want to see the gun. They always want to look at their products that fail for any reason. Be honest and they will do what ever they think is right. They have good customer service and have been in business for a very long time.

[High Lord Gomer]

Does it look like it could have fired out of battery?

No... Look carefully at that picture of the brass, and it tells the tale (if the cracked slide wasn't also a clue). A normal round fired out of battery will act much like any other case failure - it'll tend to blow out the mag, and blow out the case. It might cause some minor damage to things and might sting your hand a little, but that's about it. What you have here is obvious over pressure damage. The case head is fully seated below the hood (which suggests the gun was in battery, BTW), and the lower half of the case head is highly deformed (usually, this kind of case damage wouldn't happen if the gun was out of battery, either - the pressure wouldn't be contained enough to let it build like that). Heck, the case head has been blown out so hard, it conforms to the breechface! (look at the squared off left side of the case head...).

Unfortunately, this is what a double charge of fast powder does, not a gun firing out of battery

If you were so inclined, and had a vise and a rubber mallet, you could probably get the gun apart....

Dave...Thank you! That is EXACTLY the kind of information I was looking for!

[DWFAN]

I would call S&W also.. I wouldnt expect them to replace or repair it for free or a discount, but if they want to, that's their business decision.

I have a buddy who doubled a charge and they replaced the gun for him. We just talked about it last night.

[racine]

Just food for thought but a buddy of mine had a WWB squib load last year and couldn't load the next round. That factory ammo can be faulty is sobering. If a squib round had moved a little further down the barrel then one could have had a KB even with regular major PF.

[Sarge]

Could a 147 have slipped by during reloading?

[Sarge]

I guess if you don't look it doesn't matter how full it is.

I must admit this is true.

[Hairtrigger]

There is a lot to be said about a press that auto indexes!

[High Lord Gomer]

Thanks, guys.

No chance for a 147...I've never loaded those.

Also no chance for a squib. It was his 5th shot and thre previous 2 targets each had two holes and the third target had just one hole.

100% sure it was an over/double charge and 99% sure it was mine.

[lcs]

Well I guess it's easy if you try.

Hard for me to imagine putting a bullet on top of that but I guess if you don't look it doesn't matter how full it is.

I've never blown up a gun, but I have double charged a case. Fairly easy to do on a manual press. Get distracted, forget to rotate the base plate, and be using a fast powder like TG. Set the bullet without looking and you have a recipe for a catastrophic event.

I look in every case before I set the bullet now. It is religious to me. I try never to be in a hurry reloading.

[lcs]

There is a lot to be said about a press that auto indexes!

Yep, but not foolproof either.

[feederic]

As a person that had a LEAD RELOAD GLOCK KB, GLOCK replaced the out of warranty FRAME and PARTS (read as almost a WHOLE BOTTOM END) for something like $60. I even told them on the phone it was my fault.

Glock has deals worked out where ammo companies pay for repair, even if its a partial payment in exchange for the boxed up ammo and I am sure they are not the only ones.

So call S&W up, tell them what happened and see what they can do.

Or you can do what many others tell you to do and not take a chance and buy a whole new gun. Its your money up for grabs.

[LikesToShoot]

If I were you I'd contact S&W and let them know everything that happened.

I ruined a Model 66 once. I called S&W, told them I was shooting my reloads and ruined the gun trying to get a couple squibs out.

They sent me a service form to fill out. I sent it back and they offered me a FREE Model 620.

YES! Thank you VERY much!

I'm sold on S&W and have bought 4 M&P's since then and will buy more S&W products when funds become available.

YMMV.

[bry@n]

I would send it back and explain exactly what you think happened. Being honest is the best policy. You Worst case they send it back and say thanks for coming.

[SixShooterPerry]

I had the same thing happen last summer. I'm thinking the gun went off out of battery because I was shooting Winchester White Box ammo. Cracked the frame and blew the extractor out! Also left powder burns on my hand. I sent it to Smith and they sent me a new gun. Mine was an M&P 9 Pro.

[al503]

I think I remember reading about some bbls letting go between the chamber and the rifling. Might be worth looking at the m-p forum.

[Sin-ster]

There is a lot to be said about a press that auto indexes!

Yep, but not foolproof either.

It's a lot closer to it, especially with a powder check die and a powder that will overflow with a double charge. (7.2-ish grains of N320 spills out of a 9mm case, if anyone cares. Tested it out just so I'd know.)

Glad no one was seriously hurt, and props to your son for jumping back on the horse right away.

I'd definitely send it in to Smith with full disclosure and the willingness to pay for repairs/replacement. Those telling you to scrap the gun must not have tried to locate a 9 Pro or L in the past few months...

Keep us updated, I'd be interested to hear what S&W says. In my experience, they have wonderful CS-- unless they're shut down for a few weeks, moving to a new facility.

[ajg308]

I don't want to sound like a prick but how would this failure be in any way shape or form S&W's responsibility to "Take Care Of"? That amount of damage can only be caused by a compressed double charge. If I had to bet on who would be more probable in producing a compressed double charged round it wouldn't be Winchester. This is an expensive, and thankfully not an injuring, lesson to pay close attention when reloading your ammunition. Far too many people slip into a distracted vegetative mental state when reloading because its monotonous and boring then end up paying the price with these kind of dangerous failures. Keep alert and pay attention to what you are doing while reloading or suffer the consequences.

Be thankful that nobody was seriously injured during this accident. Guns can easily be replaced. Fingers, hands, eyes, and other body parts are not easily replaced once damaged.

It's not their responsibility, but they may help the OP out in the interest of customer service. I wouldn't try to pull one over on them, but it can't hurt to be honest and ask what they'll do for you. They may offer to fix it at their parts cost, which will be much less than paying retail for a new gun.

Plus 1. Be honest and I think they will try to help you in some fashion.

[Chucker]

I work in a highly regulated industry. Engineering analysis of product failure, regardless of who is at fault is MANDATORY. This isn't just about root cause but what failed and where. The company would want to know and examine even if root cause seems/is self evident.

Please send it back (and no, I don't work for S&W).

[jeep45238]

Glad to hear that everybody is safe. Contact S&W - you never know what may happen.

On the local forum, one fellow's M&P blew up using factory Wolf ammo - all he ever shoots. Wolf and Smith worked together from what I gathered, and he got a new pistol out of it, and Wolf wanted to send him ammo to try and make up for it.

The way I look at it, you have nothing to loose by calling and asking.

[vossman]

Scary. Pics are sobering for sure, that was a lot of kb to do that much damage.

Glad all are ok too.

[dauntedfuture]

Is it possible that you were shooting lead followed by jacketed bullets. I suppose if there was some heavy lead in the barrel and you pushed a jacketed bullet down the bore it would raise pressures. What load were you shooting?

[cas]

Not hard to double charge. That load will compress with a seated bullet and with TG--Well, we see the damage. TG is a nasty powder when overcharged. TG has nitro in it.

Just glad no one was seriously hurt.

No… it's impossible to double charge that. Even if you could compress it enough, you'd need a compression die and a half dozen attempts at it adding powder between each compression. It's kind of hard to compress to a double charge when 80% of the second charge is spilled all over the press.

Doesn't matter who's fault it is, S&W may want that gun for a number of reasons. (testing, liability etc. etc.) Working with them may be beneficial, perhaps a replacement at dealer cost.