Reading everything I could find about 45-70 (not an error) for loads which might be used in the larger. So I went searching for less powerful loads that I could enjoy plinking with. 475 I remarked on its being just plain brutal to shoot. Yesterday, detonation, secondary explosions, or just plain stupid reloading, signaled the breakup of my once beautiful SSK 475 JD Jones. Websters defines debacle as a breakup, or a sudden great disaster. There has been an article published in Trails End Magazine on this same subject (see Volume 1, No.

The NEXT shot can have disasterous consequences, also leading to the cautions against very light loads of any type, but especially of fast burning powders at the other end of the case from the primer. With very light loads and powder against the bullet, a very mild shot can stick a bullet in the barrel. Therefore, no one should recommend very light loads, especially of fast burning powders to anyone. The use of low density charges with one of the top 10 fastest powders in the world at half the recommended factory charge weight may work in your gun, but it’s risky. Ruptured cylinders and dissappearing backstraps can be sypmptomatic of a light-load rupture. Ruptured barrels can be symptomatic of too much powder (double charge loads, etc.). There is some agreement on the following: Very low density loads (meaning the ratio of powder volume to cartridge case volume) of very fast powders under varying environmental conditions can create up to 4X normal chamber pressures and may cause the light load rupture to occur. It lends some to believe it was from a double-charge accidently put into the case, but it does have references going back to the 1881 period of time. People seem to be familiar with light load ruptures, but they are very difficult to reproduce.

The last opinion discusses SEE (Secondary Explosion Effect). Next is an opinion from the “Cowboy Action Shooting” e-mail pages. Sharps Ph.D., whose Thompson Contender with a 45-70 barrel blew up.

The first is from an internet mail message I read, and have paraphrased because the author did not want his name used on the comments. See “When Bad Things Happen To Good Guns” in the November 1996 edition of “GUNS” Magazine by Charles E. An excellent article discusses this as the most probable cause of many blow-ups. On the other hand, a much more common reason for an explosion is a double charge that can happen VERY easily with small charges in large cases. There has been much said about a chance of a gun blowing up with very light loads (usually of fast burning powders) in big cases.

Rifle barrel explode