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At a recent shoot a shooter on my squad experienced a major malfunction.
The barrel link in his Kahr separated from the barrel. Another shooter offered to loan this individual a gun. On the next stage the borrowed gun blew up. The shooter suffered minor but bloody injuries to his weak hand. Fortunately all the shooters were well back and the SO was safely situated behind the shooter. I heard the shooter tell his friend that he was shooting "extra hot" handloads. As a reloader it is a good reminder stay well within maximums and work all new loads up starting with minimum charges.

I would not want to be on the sane range as that idiot.

Rifleman55 wrote:I would not want to be on the sane range as that idiot.

Some people don't seem to have any sense.

I wonder if he had the decency to warn the gun loaner before borrowing his gun.

MasterOfNone wrote:I wonder if he had the decency to warn the gun loaner before borrowing his gun.

I'd be livid if I was the owner of the loaner gun!

Stories like this is what I think of whenever I hear people complaining a range bans the use of reloads. How are they supposed to know who is competent and who isn't? I had a friend who reloaded a lot. He was very good at it but he would not allow anyone to shoot his reloads but himself and he would not put his reloads into anyone else's firearm.

Many years ago, a friend gave me some .357 reloads to try. He failed to let me no they were "extra hot". Needless to say, he paid to have my revolver repaired. It's been factory loads since!

jbmac wrote:At a recent shoot a shooter on my squad experienced a major malfunction.
The barrel link in his Kahr separated from the barrel. Another shooter offered to loan this individual a gun. On the next stage the borrowed gun blew up. The shooter suffered minor but bloody injuries to his weak hand. Fortunately all the shooters were well back and the SO was safely situated behind the shooter. I heard the shooter tell his friend that he was shooting "extra hot" handloads. As a reloader it is a good reminder stay well within maximums and work all new loads up starting with minimum charges.

The Kahr barrel is CNC machined from a solid billet of high tensile strength steel. Breaking the barrel link is an indicator that something is seriously wrong, I would expect any number of failures before the barrel link separated from the barrel. It that is the beefiest part of the barrel assembly, which makes it the strongest part of the barrel, crazy it would break there.

I had a barrel lug separate from the barrel on a Mossberg shotgun, but that isn't machined from the same hunk of steel the barrel is, it is brazed on during manufacturing. Mossberg sent me a new barrel free of charge for an older, second hand shotgun.

TexasGal wrote:Stories like this is what I think of whenever I hear people complaining a range bans the use of reloads. How are they supposed to know who is competent and who isn't? I had a friend who reloaded a lot. He was very good at it but he would not allow anyone to shoot his reloads but himself and he would not put his reloads into anyone else's firearm.

I'm the same way. I know that I am competent and loading only low to middle of the suggested charge, but even then, I am the only one who shoots my reloads. Friends, family, etc. all shoot factory, store-bought ammo when I take them out....

I am sure it is perfectly safe for them to shoot my reloads, but......

When conducting CHL quals, the majority of those shooting their own reloads experience non firing rounds, squids, etc., for me.

I stay away from reloads myself. Some people are extremely safe reloading because their normal people with rationale thinking. Some people like the guy above is not.

If one needs to tie his gun to a fencepost and use a long string to test fire his reloads, maybe he should get out of the reload business...

My own reloads are about all I shoot. Some of them are pretty hot, although not over published loads. Most are mild practice loads. Never had a squib load, or a kaboom. (knock on wood). I only provide reloads to my kids, to be fired in weapons that were used in the workup of the load. NEVER let others use my reloads. I figure my kids are eventually going to get everything I own anyways.

jbarn wrote:When conducting CHL quals, the majority of those shooting their own reloads experience non firing rounds, squids, etc., for me.

UMMMMM JB, that's squiBs for future reference sir

Squids are US Navy personnel