Another rifle bits the dust using smokeless

[Kurt]

You guys shooting smokeless powder in these rifles build for black powder, for Gods sake be careful and think twice doing it.

I got this E-Mail from a friend today.

My shooting was going well this morning when a fellow shooter on the line blew up his Ped Sharps! I have lots of pics and even have the rifle and all the parts now. He gave it to me for future instruction of BPCR shooters. He was using smokeless with a 500gr Goverment Bullet. Because he started out with the SASS shooters a year or so back, he got some bad info and was putting a wad on top of his 50gr charge of 5744. Had fired several hundred rounds with these loads over the last two years...but his luck ran out. I was not aware he was shooting smokeless, all the other times we had talked he was shooting BP. If you can believe it, he did not get a single scratch out of the event...not even a sore finger!. He is a south paw shooter and that is what saved his butt...the rifle exploded on the left side. Note the side of the receiver is GONE and I had no luck finding it. The rest of the rifle ended up within a 50ft circle of the event with most pieces going to the left...had he of been a right handed shooter he would be recovering in the hospital right now instead of cleaning his shorts at home! You can clearly see in the exploded shell where the wad was located on top of the powder charge...it absolutely tore the gun apart! He should be buying lottery tickets! I only sent one picture and did not reduce the size so you could zoom in on the various parts.


You guys be careful!!

[Dave Roelle]

Kurt ----- thats simply incredible !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad the shooter is ok but i can't understand how he escaped injury !!!!!!

looks like a stick of dynamite went off

Dave

[Kurt]

Dave he had a Angel on his shoulder.

[march41]

He got some very bad info! 50gr of 5744!!!! He should not reload at all,Black or smokeless.JMHO,Bob. (Looks like a Highwall,not a Sharps)

[H-Marlin]

If that load of 50 gr is what he has been shooting it is amazing he has not blown himself before. I got to agree with march41 that he should not be reloading. According to the Western Load Guide 50 gr is double the max load for standard pressure rounds. It is about 20% higher than the max load for a .458 Win Mag with a lighter bullet!

[Dave Roelle]

An Angel for sure Kurt !!!!!

Stay safe

Dave

[Caprock]

Highwall isn't it?

[Mike]

You mean, "Wasn't it?"

[Kurt]

I don't know any of the details other then what is written above. With the S lever and what is left of the frame it looks like a low wall the way the action curves down ahead of the tang sight to me.
But what ever he is one fortunate feller to have made it with out a scratch.
I'm not familiar with 5744 in a .45-70 so I looked it up and like March said 50 gr is about 20 gr over the top. If it was a 74 Sharps I think the action would have made it. I have looked at a Shiloh that was blown by a guy that thought that a full case of Bulls eye was black powder because the color of bulls eye was black. The action held but the barrel split front to back.

[Mike]

The way the "wall" climbs makes it a highwall to my eye. Shoot sharp, Mike