Don't trust Savage marketing: GRAPHIC WARNING!

[USMCJG]

The thing with black powder versus smokeless, and I am sure many of you on here are reloaders, is that you can't always use a smokless equivalent in these rifles, you can use a certain grain weight of one smokless powder and it be a greater charge than another. It all has to do with volume. So yes, with these rifles you really have to know what you are doing and I would say that these rifles are more dangerous than typical muzzleloaders for that very reason. However, there is just no way Savage is putting out mettalurgically inferior gun barrels. Why aren't their 110 barrels exploding? I have shot one of these and I would not hesitate to do so again. And above said this has happened 6 times out of how many thousands of these rifles are out there. Def sounds like people just do not know how to handle these. Maybe Savage should create a a chart w/pop smokeless powders and approved charges.

Savage already has a chart of recommended smokeless powder loads for these muzzleloaders and the person who was injured swears he was using a Savage recommended load. Was he? I really don't know. But by following the links you can clearly see what appears to be evidence of gas cutting on the breech plugs of some of these rifles. If the gases can get past the breech plug and into the area of the barrel behind the breech plug where it is threaded for the barrel nut and is thinner, then it would probably be possible for the barrel to fail even without a double charge. Check out this link(of a different Savage muzzleloader that failed in the same way as the one in the OP) to see why this would be possible- Muzzleloader Alert . You can see in the pictures that the barrel is significantly thinner where it surrounds the breech plug. It appears that the failure pictured occurred at the barrel nut and not in front of the breech plug where ignition should have been contained. It could be an overcharge or it could be that it was a failure of the firearm.

[gregintenn]

DO you suppose that flame cutting around the breech plug area would allow for a linear split of the barrel as shown in the picture? I'd imagine a radial crack limited to the area where the flame cutting occurred. I am NOT a metalurgist. I'm just looking for other opinions.

[USMCJG]

DO you suppose that flame cutting around the breech plug area would allow for a linear split of the barrel as shown in the picture? I'd imagine a radial crack limited to the area where the flame cutting occurred. I am NOT a metalurgist. I'm just looking for other opinions.

I'm not a metallurgist either. But it seems to me that the gas would continue to expand as long as it could until the barrel failed at it's weakest point that was exposed to the pressure. Path of least resistance and all that.

[Guest 1817ak47]

one thing that might make a slight difference and i am not saying anything anyone else says is wrong, but there are some stregth differences when you deal what what is stainless steel.

[Guest 10mm4me]

Well, I guess this is the risk each and every one of us takes every time we pull the trigger on anything.

[Mad_Squirrell]

It can be a real ez mistake to make he said he had not checked the sighting on his rifle at all that year its highly possible it was already loaded he then may have double loaded it by mistake . Maybe he was in a hurry to get out and hunt and didn't pay attention to how far his ram rod was going down the barrel My brother has left his muzzle loader loaded once or twice but at least he was smart enough to gauge the depth of the rod before adding more powder and a bullet .

[Guest jackdm3]

My FIL keeps his modern BP loaded minus the cap. He's 74 and I'm waiting for similar results due to his forgetfulness.

[Garufa]

That reminds me of a catcher's mitt.

[Guest BEARMAN]

My FIL keeps his modern BP loaded minus the cap. He's 74 and I'm waiting for similar results due to his forgetfulness.

Jack, you need to try and discourage your FIL from that practice, if possible.

It probably wouldn't be good on the ol' guy if it did go KA-BOOM...KA-SPLIT!!!

He may concede, if you showed him the pic's of this fellows hand. FWIW.

Bearman

[Guest manofsteel]

oh snap! that sux

[Guest jackdm3]

Jack, you need to try and discourage your FIL from that practice, if possible.

It probably wouldn't be good on the ol' guy if it did go KA-BOOM...KA-SPLIT!!!

He may concede, if you showed him the pic's of this fellows hand. FWIW.

Bearman

Tried that on his satellite internet and somehow he achieved the near impossible of creating such tight security, TGO wouldn't load. At first I thought it was simple censorship, but there are lots of sites you can't get to on his deal. May have to rectify that. Delicately. I'm going to have to color-pic print it.

[kb4ns]

HOLY ****!

+1!!

[RedSuinit]

DO you suppose that flame cutting around the breech plug area would allow for a linear split of the barrel as shown in the picture? I'd imagine a radial crack limited to the area where the flame cutting occurred. I am NOT a metalurgist. I'm just looking for other opinions.

I am studying to be a mechanical engineer, and have taken classes on the behaviors of materials when they reach failure, and whilst I am not a metallurgist, I can tell you that the liner fracture you see is definitely possible. As soon as failure occurs, all that energy transferred into the barrel follows the path of least resistance. This path of least resistance is naturally going to run down the barrel due to the man-made weakness that is created by the rifling, which of course, runs down the length of the barrel.