Burst musket

[mundaire]

This topic has been under discussion for sometime now at -

http://frontierfolk.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=12935

No clear idea as to who is the manufacturer in India is, OR it seems the exact cause of the failure...

Posting it here as we currently don't have a black powder section...

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Grumpy]

I can`t see any rifling so this might not be an entirely appropriate location.........not that it matters anyway.
Very interesting.
I was confused by two things : The fact that there was enough pressure that breech plug was blown out and that there is no bulging. The first I believe I`ve figured out - the breech plug was probably just hammered in and came loose due to the `split`travelling clear to the end of the breech. It was however propelled with enough force to apparently push the barrel forward.
The split does look like a welded seam failure ..... except that it appears to be a remarkably `clean` weld. The only evidence of `tearing` is at the extreme forward end of the split. It should be pointed out that when barrels burst the fractures tend to be in extremely straight lines.
I`m still not happy at the lack of any bulge - this is, after all, a thin wall shotgun type barrel but without any thickening of the walls towards the breech end - which one would expect to see if an obstruction had been present. This suggests that the pressure build up was not particularly localised. That 110 grs of black powder could produce such a result is not disputable.......but there would have to have been some form of obstruction however slight.
Abhijeet, if you are a member of the forum concerned I`d suggest that you recommend that the pictures and full - apparent - circumstances be forwarded to the Proofmaster at the Birmingham Proof House for an opinion. If it would help to facilitate matters, I can approach a Guardian of the Proof House ( two of whom I know ) who might be able to expedite matters more easily by speaking to the Proofmaster directly.

[Grumpy]

One other point that I`d like to make is that this incident proves that if a gun is out of proof, or has never been subjected to official proof, it isn`t a gun, it`s a wallhanger.

[andy_65_in]

i remember a muzzleloader accident in the garwhal himalyas where one enthusuiastic hunter pumped up his muzzle loader double barrel with extra lead and then sealed the muzzles with lac(sealant).when he fired at a lucky junglefowl the gases forced out the hammers from behing gouging one side of his (obviously )right side . sadly this chap xpired in a hospital bcause of this foolishness.andy

[penpusher]

Abhijeet ,

If you are a member on this forum ,I think that you should point out that Indian law requires all 'firearms' sold to be prooved.This is done at Cossipore,if I am not mistaken.The 'English' looking proof marks are probably those of the Kolkatta factory.

Also,if the musket is of recent manufacture,then it would not have rifled but a smooth bore barrel.So Grumpy's point is valid that this should be in the Shotgun forum rather than in the Rifle forum.

How about taking the view of the propietor of Curious House who is a member here?

[Grumpy]

I was actually being a little facetious as, by definition, a `musket` is a smooth bore gun firing a ball. As such there is no appropriate forum for this topic.
By the way, as India is not a CIP signatory, Indian proof ( and proof marks ) is not recognised by any CIP member country so all Indian guns would have to be submitted for proof in the UK before being offered for sale. The USA is not a CIP member either which is why any old junk may be legally sold there...........and why American made guns have to be proved in the UK before sale here which is part of the reason for the excessive price differential between guns sold in the US and their cost here.