On 1/10/2011 6:13 PM, rangerssuck wrote:

But wasn't that exactly what Gunner just described - five bullets
stuck in the barrel? Does that ALWAYS lead to disaster?

Ah, maybe I missed that... But a revolver has a better chance of getting
away with this as the cylinder gap will allow the pressure to bleed off.
But certainly not always. I've seen dozens of pictures of firearms with
blown up barrels. Sometimes it's just a bulge and a short split, other
times the barrel is really peeled open. This is really dangerous with a
rifle or some shotguns where the stocks can be blown to splinters.

30+ years ago I was working at a welding shop in the Bay Area. Some
company that did testing of some sort was moving out of the bay next
door. There was a number of cylinders of steel, best I can recall,
approx 12-14" dia and maybe a bit longer. Each end was machined very
much like a cannon breech (I'd guess, haven't seen many cannon breeches
up close...) and had an approx 1.5-2" dia hole thru the center. Anyway,
every one of these was split down the side. The split wasn't very wide,
but considering the thickness of these things.... I didn't know jack
squat about firearms at the time, but had been around enough heavy
fabrication to have at least have a sense of awe over what forces were
at play.

Google search on 'blown up barrel', images:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=blown up
barrel&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi


BTW, this conversation is conjuring up images of Bugs Bunny sticking
his finger in the muzzle and Elmer Fudd getting a face full.

Myth Busters tried test this. Conclusion was it's a really really bad
idea to stick your finger in the end of the barrel...


Jon