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I have been fooling around trying to write a novel. One of the characters is a bad guy and I thought that it would be apropos to blow him and his 16 gauge shotgun to smithereens during a driven shoot. My question to you is what load in terms of powder and shot would you recommend to accomplish the deed?

A stick of dynamite?

Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 596 Location: 17603

Hmmm, dropping Bullseye instead of Blue Dot in a 1 1/4oz load might do the trick.

The goal is to have the chosen explosive and process to be accurate. I know very little about explosives and would appreciate the technical data and know how to accomplish the deed. To set the scene, the shooter's are all in Butts separated from each other and the bad guy's explosive shell is somewhere in the box that his loader is using to load the guns. Yep, a matched pair of (insert your least favorite shotgun action) O/U's. Heavy explosives would also get the innocent loader unless the bad guy had an equally bad loader.

Joined: 06 Aug 2009 Posts: 960

Unless it is a damascus barrel or a barrel with an obstruction, you would be hard pressed to blow up a gun with any kind of overload in a normal shotshell, with any shotshell powder.

You need a demolitions expert with some true explosives not sissy smokeless powder Laughing

Find a retired military gent with explovisives experience, they know how to do it right!! Laughing

. I used to work with Marine(15 years my senior), he was a demolitions expert, sorta had that twinkle in his eyes, you never knew what devious idea he would come up with next. BUT, it was fun and I was never bored. One of the best men I have ever worked with.

Hello
Here is what folks are talking about

Smokeless gun powder is a propellant and not an explosive.

But when in special conditions smokeless gun powder can detonate.

That is what you are looking for, for you novel.

If you take the normal powder loading and replace it with Bullseye, nearly the fastest and best known and load extra shot you might achieve a detonation.

http://www.varmintal.com/pburn.htm

Hope this assists

Mike

Joined: 06 Aug 2009 Posts: 960

Don't know a thing about RDX.

I just know that truly blowing up a shotgun isn't as easy as you might think. How about wedging a solid metal plug about 6" downstream of the chamber? Maybe fill the rest with a real explosive that would work for sure.

Hello
RDX is ok but hard to ignite, RDX was initially made in England.
Better would be PETN
PETN is normally used as an igniter explosive because of it ease to ignite and power,

Lead Azide is the cat's meow.

Let me know what you think.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDX

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PETN

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_azide

Mike

The following was sent to me on another forum:

Jim,

This is a true story.

I have an old timer(who works for me) named Julius who has been shooting and hunting and around his dad's gun shop for 60+ years.

He had a very good friend that reloaded with him....and when this friend became aware that his days were limited(cancer), he decided to use up all the powder and shot and primers etc. he had and give them to Julius as a parting gift.

He was pretty heavily medicated(Pain killers) at the time.

Well, a few weeks after his passing, Julius went to shoot sporting clays and decided to use his best friends shells he had made for him. He loaded up his beautiful Charles Daly SxS...called for the bird and pulled the trigger.....KABOOOOOOOM!!!!!

Both barrels were toast.....the splinter fore-end did just that...splinter. And his fore arm looked like Swiss Cheese.....holes the diameter of pencils throughout. A cut on his cheek and a black and blue shoulder.

The stock also cracked. Gun was a complete loss.

After his week stay in the hospital.....he went home and opened up another of those shells..and guess what? The friend had mistakenly used rifle powder in the re-loads.

Julius made a full recovery but, has a bit of a flinch now.

Maybe you can work that into your story.

Joined: 06 Aug 2009 Posts: 960

Jshultz,

It ain't true, rifle powders burn slower than shotshell powders.

Sorry Brother, no disrespect intended.

Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 596 Location: 17603

DC,
My first thought too, but a LOT denser,,,,, what happens if you drop a bushing full of Reloader #7? How mainy grains is that???
R*2

Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 596 Location: 17603

jshultz,
Ahhh, that makes a little more sense, 296 and H110 are the same, fine ball powder. And H110 is notorious for being a powder capable of "detonation", reloading manuals almost universally recommend NOT reducing the powder charge. It's actually listed as slower than Blue Dot and 2400, so it's not a fast powder, but as noted, it can be idiosyncratic when improperly loaded.
Cheers,
R*2