Gun blows up / detonates National Sporting Clays Championship San Antonio - major injury!

A competitor's gun blew up at the National Sporting Clays Championship. Reports are one of the hands of the competitor was badly injured.

Supposedly the 12 gauge shotgun also had a 20 gauge shell lodged in the barrel.

Please post if you have more information.

I report. You decide.
merlo out.

 

I was refereeing the FITASC main on peg one Parcour number 2, the incident happened right next to me on peg number 2.. Yes the shooter dropped a 20ga loaded shell in his 12ga gun, the shooter had just finished shooting a 20ga event. Without going into great details. The shooter loaded his gun and called for the target, the gun went click, the referee requested the shooter open his gun, the referee saw an empty chamber ( shooter malfunction) and told the shooter to reload, the shooter claimed that he had loaded his gun but he didn't check the barrel. It was the bottom barrel that ruptured and did cause a serious hand injury.

Joe Winnicki

 

Thanks for the update.

 

So much for the theory that placin̈g a 20 gauge shell in a 12 gauge gun won't blow the gun up.

 

Hunter safety 101 when I was young. Also no 16 in a 10 ga was taught back then.

 

Was it a loud bang or a kaboom? Target scored loss?

 

It was a muffled kaboom. I was about 40 yards away. A lost target could have been called depending on whether it was a pair or a single, under the circumstances the score wasn't a primary concern.

Joe

 

Although never a good idea and should never be attempted, whether the gun blows up or not probably varies from gun to gun. I saw a video where they torture tested a Benelli (don't remember which model - a semi auto) and they did just what was done here. Dropped a 20 gauge shell down a 12 gauge barrel and then loaded a 12 gauge shell behind it. They of course remotely triggered the gun with a string while behind cover and the camera was setup on a tripod near the gun. It was rather uneventful as all that occurred was a slight bulge in the barrel but everything exited and it did not blow anything up. Maybe the semi auto action opening let some of the pressure off or Benelli just uses high quality steel - I don't know but that gun didn't explode like the double gun did at the National Sporting Clays Championship. So the answer to whether a gun will blow up if you load a 20 gauge shell into a 12 gauge gun is maybe, sometimes, gun make and type dependent, luck, etc. etc. I myself won't be trying it anytime soon nor do I recommend anyone try it either but the result apparently isn't always the exact same.

 

Once saw a demonstration on a gun show, there were these two characters dressed in white butchers smocks going on and on about the disastrous results of putting a loaded 20 gauge down a 12 gauge barrel and backing it up with a live 12 gauge round. I think the gun was a Brazilian SxS Rossi hammer gun, it had a weather type nickel coating on it. The two gun experts were standing behind a piece of thick plexiglass with a hole drilled in it to allow a fishing line to be attached to one of the triggers, so with a drum roll and some hoopla they pulled the trigger gun went boom. They when over to check the damage only there wasn't so much as a small ripple in the barrel. The 12 gauge round blew that 20 gauge round clear through the barrel, the two gun experts didn't know what to say, they were the ones blown away ! The walls of that gun must have been a 1/4 " thick.

Joescout