Mossy 500 pipe bomb?

Im sorry if this isnt the most detailed description of what happened, I dont want to type too much cuz it hurts.

I have been bustin my sister's balls about shooting my shotgun for a while now, well today I convinced her to try it, I showed her how to rack the slide and told her the gun was hot. She aimed in the general dirrection of the tree line and pulled the trigger.

With a loud bang the gun fired... very loud honestly, too loud for a normal slug and behind us the grill made a loud PING! My arm jerked back and I looked down to see it pouring blood. My sister was fine and confronted me with a through "WTF just happened" look, I told her to throw the gun down and go check her baby (she about 3 months old now) she grabbed me the phone and some napkins when she came back outside.

Got ahold of my mom and headed up to the ER they Xrayed my arm and found no large chunks of the barrel but rather small pieces that they couldnt pick out... flushed it and told me they would have stiched it up but couldnt because they didnt want to sew the pieces in and it would be best for them to bleed themselves out... ugh so now I sit here with a huge gash in my arm and no more shot gun.



ps any one have any idea what couldve caused this... its killing me to know what done it

WOW thats astounding are you ok? the only thing that comes to mind is if the barrel was full of mud/snow/something or had a HUGE manufacturer's defect that should have been visibly obvious, i know some kinds if wasps build mud-brick type nests maybe something like that? If the barrel was clear i would prolly be on the phone with mossy, my lawyer, and some sort of specialized technician to make sure this isn't more wide spread, i'm sorry to hear about your arm man please take care (it was reloaded ammo was it?) mossy should at the very least replace the weapon

usually it happens when someone loads 31\2 inch mugnum shell into a gun can only handle 3 inch max, it shouldn't fit, but some old worn out barrels will take take them, also reloading it dangerous when done wrong. that is just my guess thou, there could be many reasons why barrels blow up, but mostly from wrong ammo.

What is your history with firearms, and shotguns in particular? You of course do what is normally done by people who shoot their shotguns, particularly, if the gun has not been shot for awhile. Check the barrel for obstructions. Make sure that the shells are the proper gauge, and length. Make sure that the action closes and locks up. I take my Rem 870 down, removing the barrel from the action and do a good check for obstructions, and the like, install the barrel, and screw the lock nut down firmly, then check the action for lock up. I also check the screw in choke for tightness.
Bill

By a wide margin the most likely thing to have happened is an obstructed barrel.

What size choke does it have in it?

Bill & LukeA are right on the money, I have nothing further to add in that respect. A pic could be of some help perhaps?

I have a Mossberg 500 and at the time I purchased it, that model wasn't available in 3.5", only 3", but I don't know if it would feed a 3.5" shell.

More info along the lines of what Bill asked would be very helpful.

There are only 3 things I can think of:

1. Obstructed barrel
2. Wrong size shell
3. Wrong load type

The only case of this I've heard of that wasn't due to an obstructed barrel was due to the wrong powder used in a reloaded shell.

Bet yer' Sister is NEVER gonna' shoot a gun again.


Glad to hear that nobody was fatally injured.


Please keep us informed.

geeez man... than really sucks!

Like others have mentioned, and it's a fairly common mistake...using magnum loads in a gun that's not chambered for them. That extra bit of gunpowder can make a difference...

Hey guys, thanks for all the support, I was shooting factory (winchester) loaded 2 3/4 slugs with no choke (open choke... not sure of the term here) but I had fired it earlier in the day with no problems. As for bullzeyebill's question Im good with a gun, been shooting for... geez 6-7 years now and put around 500 rounds through the gun... I baby the thing and clean it religiously... Im just wondering how it happened


EDIT it is chambered for up to 3in shells so no problem there

hmmm maybe the slug had a defect and fractured? seems unlikely, maybe it wasn't fully chambered? usually the firing pin won't go then though....sounds like someone has a case of the mondays

Glad yer (kinda) OK, nemo. look at the shells and see if they're defective??? Hope ya heal up. Now you have an excuse to get an 870 Marine "Magnum"...

I would inspect the shell before the kB one and see if it's unusually distorted or missing part of it's plastic jacket.

Could be that the shell before the last was the defective one and pieces of it was still in there leading to the over-pressure.

Did that next to last round hit the target? Did it sound weak at all?

Hey sgt, I only gave my sister 1 round (the slug that went kaboom) to fire, and the round before it had been fired by me a couple miniutes before hand... all the thinking I can do and I still cant figure why it would go so violently... I didnt do any searching but a friend, my sister, and my step dad searched for parts of the barrel (and found only 1 piece) so tomarrow im going to head out in the field with a magnet and try to find the last 5 or so inch portion of the barrel.... the slug ought still be in there... I think anyways hopefully that will help me get some kind of closure on this.... i just dont understand it

Give more info. Did you check the hull of the fired slug. Same kind of slug that was fired before it? Read writing on the hull? Check primer indent on fired rounds, both? Swelling of case of hull of both shells. Same box of shells? ect.

Bill

After reading all the different posts here, the only practical and sensible answer is indeed an obstruction. There's really no way to create that type of a catastrophic failure, no matter the load selected. That wouldn't even happen to a modern shotgun shooting hundreds of 3" mags with a 4.5 dram (123 grains of black powder) equivalent loads. Modern shotguns like this are designed to last for 50K-200K and will eventually show signs of stress and fatigue near the end of their life. Your gun was essentially new. If you ejected an empty hull in good, fired condition, and the barrel burst near the last several inches, there's virtually no other explanation besides an obstruction. Regarding finding the slug in the remaining portion of barrel, don't hold your breath on that one. Depending on what the obstruction was the projectile is likely completely fragmented and it would be a miracle to find any substantial pieces of it.


EDIT: Sure am glad you're ok. If you caught that flying chunk near the eye socket it could have been drastically worse.

Holy hell, glad you and your sister are okay.

I'll be keeping a close watch on this thread, please keep us informed about what you find and any responses you get from Winchester and Mossberg.

Any chance the last round fired was a squib load, and didn't push everything out of the barrel?

A 3.5" shell WILL seat in a 3" chamber. Shotgun shells measure ~1/2" shorter than spec'd when unfired, because there has to be room in the chamber for the crimping to expand into. I have 2.75" shells in front of me, and they actually measure 2.25" unfired. A 3.5" shell will take up every bit of a 3" chamber when unfired, and when fired will expand into the necked-down part of the barrel, necking it down farther. With a slug this could cause a serious problem.

Did you have any smaller shotgun rounds on the bench? I'm not sure which and I'm not going to go open the safe to find out, but I think a 20 gauge round will fit down the barrel of a 12 gauge. If there's a 20 gauge shell in the barrel when you pull the trigger on a 12 gauge round in the chamber, then not only do you already have an obstruction, but when the primer on that 20 gauge gets hit......

Really glad everyone's okay. Please keep us updated. :buddies:

maybe the old 20 gauge cartridge in a 12 gauge barrel

as the barrel is tapered it slides in about 2 or 3 inches appearing empty then when you load with a 12 gauge cartridge you have a bomb!

jamie