[Border Bandit]

The other day I posted a thread about reduced performance in cold weather (bloopers) being caused by using American Select with Remington Primers. In this instance the wad had not cleared the barrel, and I got out one of Terry Jordan's Wad Poppers; which is simply a saved hull from a cut-down, with just the primer remaining. As I said, the wad had not cleared the barrel and after shooting the wad popper, the stuck wad had migrated back UP the barrel and was stuck in the cut off hull as you see in the photo, and removed from the chamber just as you see it....HONEST! I have retrieved many of these Spolar Gold wads after shooting them and never seen one this scorched.

A possible explanation is that there was unburned powder behind the wad and when the primer ignited it, the flash blew past the obstruction causing a vacuum behind the wad, causing it to come back up the barrel and stick in the hull???? I might add that the Gun is a Kolar with lengthened forcing cone, not ported, as it came from the factory. Again: this photo shows the exact way it came out of the chamber after the Wad Popper was fired.

best.... mike

 

[smoke-um]

.750 bore or .740 ?? A buddy of mine has done extensive research with the .750 his conclusion is with the larger bore he gets better performance with slower burning powders .

 

[miketmx]

I haven't had any cold weather bloopers since I had some of those bad batch Blue Dusters with Remington primers. The newer Blue Dusters work just fine and I can't afford Remington primers which I think are Not hot enough anyhow. BTW I'm using Green Dot but I doubt there would be any trouble with American Select and a hotter primer.

 

[snowbird]

I don't make anything like a wad popper? I make snap caps from cut down shells but they do not have a primer in them.

Terry Jordan.

 

[Chugiakshooter]

Try getting a bore snake out of a barrel after the string breaks.

 

[Border Bandit]

Doggone Terry, I've been giving you credit for that idea for years. I'm gonna go back & look at the pack of stuff you sent with my wall chart, they really work though. Um if you want to, you can call 'em Mike Poore's wad poppers... (grin)

 

[flashmax]

In a Mining Engineering 610 class many years ago an MSHA instructor gave a very interesting demonstration using clear 'plastic' tubing, ping pong and golf balls, rubber film, and propane to simulate a Methane/Coal dust buildup and explosion in an underground Coal mine. One seemingly anomalous result was that a golf ball halfway down the tube from the ignition source and the opening to atmosphere rolled toward the opening a short distance during the active flame propagation phase but as soon as the flame front passed the ball it immediately -shot- back toward the ignition point violently enough to crack a bulkhead in the array. The ping pong ball placed at the portal/opening to free atmosphere was expelled a short distance but also was drawn back into the tube. The demonstration showed what real life explosions often did. Mine equipment was drawn back, sometimes many yards, toward the ignition point and even underground shelters were sometimes ripped free and shot backward toward the face. Your result isn't strange under those circumstances but to see the same thing in a shotgun barrel without having seen the demonstration in a classroom setting would leave anyone wondering at the mechanism. Your conjecture is close. The rapid coolng of the fireball causes a low pressure region behind the wad and external air pressure in front of the wad is high enough to force the wad back toward where that low pressure exists.

Don T.

 

[Border Bandit]

Smoke, the barrel set has .750's. This was the unsingle.

 

[snowbird]

I just cut the shells off short and put some Permatex Silicone in them where the primer was for a snap cap. I cut the extra Silicone off leaving it sticking up a bit like a primer not seated deep enough they work great.

If you guys are putting real primers in cut off shells to remove stuck wads that something I have never seen or done. I am sure it would work fine.

Terry.

 

[Barry C. Roach]

Typical of a poorly seated wad. No mystery here. Has nothing to do with the brands of any component. My opinion, of course.

 

[Border Bandit]

Thanks for the explanation, Don. I wonder if the dynamics you describe can explain catastrophic failures in shotguns? Terry, you're famous at Elysburg for the wad poppers I've been handing out for years. They sure save time on the line. I like to use Federal primers in 'em. I use your snap caps too. You sure are smart.. ;-)

 

[Bvr Tail]

Bandit

By the ATA rules, would that be considered a "test fire' on the line, and result in a lost target or worse?

 

[Border Bandit]

There's a can of worms that's best left unopened. ;-)

 

[hmb]

Common sense has been lost for ever. HMB

 

[Shooter R]

As soon as I read the part about using a primed shell to blow out a wad, I said to myself "there's a bad idea just waiting to show why it's a bad idea".

I can't think of a particular ATA rule that would not allow such a practice. But any competitor could say: "yea, we all saw something fly out of the barrel, but SHOW ME THE WAD, or take a loss".

 

[Bigcat]

Hummm put a charge behind an obstruction...I think I will pass on that.

 

[birdogs]

A week ago, I was hunting with a friend. He was standing behind me when I flushed a pheasant and shot at it. The round was a blooper. We could see the shot fly out of the barrel heading straight for the bird. In a second, the shot simply lost momentum and arched to the ground. It actually looked like the bird outflew the shot string. All this was perfectly visible. We both laughed about it for the rest of the day.

 

[Border Bandit]

Vern, ever since Remington priced themselves out of the market they're history on my bench. These were some HCP loads that were loaded more than a year ago and I had forgotten about the Am Select/Rem issue.The temp was about 45 and "cold" never occured to me. I'm loading with Winchester, now & back to Green Dot. So far as you guys who think you can blow up a gun with a primer, there's usually a stick at the scorer's chair ....we'll wait. ;-)

 

[tom berry]

if I had to load up special shells for clearing my and my squad mate's bloopers I think I'd be looking at my loading process and finding new squad mates.

Seriously, I can count on one hand the number of bloopers I've had in the past 20 years of shooting and reloading. In all my years it just hasn't been a frequent thing on the squads I've been on and a walk back to the scorers chair doesn't take that long.

 

[himark]

As for the neh sayers on using a "wad popper" it works and works dang well. When you get a blooper and stuck wad you can quickly pull the wad popper out use it then re-shoot your shot. This is done much more quickly and keeps more "harmony" then the guy fiddle farting around looking for the stick. You guys are just jealous of all the COOL guys!