Detonation in Henry magazines

[PJ Hardtack]

I've been present twice when shooters experienced detonation of rounds in the magazine - three rounds both times. In both cases, the rifle was badly damaged and the shooter injured in one.

The cause - letting the mag follower slam down on top of loaded rounds. One on top of 10 rds, the other on top of 5. The first case was at the loading table, the other loading on the clock.

These were smokeless loads and the destruction was impressive. I can only imagine what it would be like with BP loads ......

Anyone know of incidents with BP loads?

[kurt250]

pt, yes i did it once years ago. was shooting black powder 45 colt. damage was slight but scared the hell out of me. was shooting out in the desert with two doctor friends of mine. was down to last 4 rounds . let go the follower and bang, got a small pice of brass in my chest. bleed a lot but was not serious. my friends being doctors were there so i had help. bent the follower and put a small bulge on the slot were the follower goes up and down. was a pretty simple repair but sure don't want to go threw that again. after repair rifle shot fine and later sold it to a fellow shooter who says it shoots great. my wound stop bleeding after a few minuets and has not bothered me since. always hold on to the follower when letting it down. the original henrys were rim fire so it didn't matter but center fire it does. got another henry in 44 spl and had it modified to 44 russian. its gets shot all the time and has never given me any trouble.was all my fault i didn't read the operator manual until after the accident. won't do that again. i read the manual then try out the weapon.i guess my using black powder was lucky for me.kurt250 

[Coffinmaker]

Yep.  That can get exciting   It's one of the reasons I developed "Stick, Mark 1, A1."  Goes on top of the cartridge stack so the follower only moves about 1/4 inch.  It also gives me a lot of room to support the barrel.

Coffinmaker

[PJ Hardtack]

Kurt - I would have thought that you would have gotten a more serious reaction from BP than I saw with smokeless. In both cases, the mag tubes were badly splayed, but repairable with judicious heating and pounding on a mandrel.
One of the shooters shot his wrist full of fragments, but there was a nurse in the waiting Possee and she went to his aid ASAP.

Coffinmaker - ingenious solution to a real problem! Eliminates the Henry 'hand shuffle' in the bargain. I may come up with "Stick, MKI, A1*", the next generation.

[Henry4440]

http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,19980.0.html
and
http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,24171.0.html