Thread: What happens when a 50 cal rifle blows up.

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Wow
The fail safe was only to close the breech correctly and not an over pressure fail safe

I guess they assumed that in over pressure the barrel stub would expend and the threads would not let go
The back thrust must have been colossal to overcome the shank expansion and strip those threads
I wonder what if any destruction testing was done by the manufacturer ?
I also wonder if there was significant throat erosion starting in the barrel and it was riveting the projectiles
There is never just one thing that goes wrong
It's a cluster F of things that contribute to total failure
I know this from experience

I reckon the round was oiled inadvertently or charged with the wrong powder.

There are thousands of screw breach artillery peices out there that worked just fine.