As I mentioned in Part I, my friend picked up all the pieces of the gun off the ground for me, and man, he did a great job. I think it was next day I put this jigsaw puzzle together & it was pretty complete.
I look at this photo & I can't help but be so grateful how my 5.11 gloves protected me. It was the older Tac A gloves of the one I linked, and I was so impressed, I replaced that pair with another 5.11: Station Grip Glove. I've read stories online from the people who went similar accidents without gloves. Burns & serious cuts from the shrapnel. Scary.
Anyway, the above shots are kinda neat & impressive, but two pieces of evidence that got my initial attention were these:
I figured right away that the shell with bullet pushed in didn't really suggest what caused the accident, but it was the next shell to be chambered when the gun failed. I first begun my research online, read couple of posts on forums about similar accidents, and I also ran into this video.
This gentleman had a USP that exploded in similar way to mine. He was very generous with his time offering me inputs & advice. I also chatted with my pals on online community GTPlanet. By this time, I suspected excessive charge in the ammo. The case is visibly blown out at the back. Chamber has expanded to the point that chamber/barrel is jammed stuck inside the slide.
I work for large company, and while we are in automotive, I know many people who have vast experiences with firearms there. One of the coworkers there referred me to a gunsmith at a local shop called Buster Beaver(Wilsonville, Oregon). Shop also happened to be owned by the former V.P. of the company I worked for, and they offered to look at the gun for me, so I headed out there.
I get there, and the shop was very impressive(they also cerakote), but people were really friendly, which made me less nervous. lol I think we first examined the barrel? No bulging, no evidence of a squib load.
One thing they really looked at was the unsupported chamber. They asked if the gun had any work done. I had purchased the pistol used, but everything looked stock, so I told them I had no reason to suspect that it had any work done. In fact, I have the brand new USP now, and one that blew up was in identical condition as this new, unfired USP.
They could not find one, but they were really hoping to find another USP for side-by-side comparison to see had anyone tampered with the chamber & ramp. The concern was the gap left by chamber, which visibly exposed the brass case stuck inside the chamber. After receiving the new USP, I took some photos, so we do have the luxury of inspecting this gap side-by-side:
As you can see, there was nothing wrong with the gun. Amount of gap that existed in my old & new USP are same size. At this point, I was convinced that the excessive charge blew up this gun. Perhaps the case just cracked, failed & that blew up the lower half of the gun? I did consider that possibility, but since the explosion either expanded, or welded the chamber jammed stuck inside the slide in firing position, I was certain that charge must have been excessive. Of course, I'm not a engineer, gunsmith, so in the end, it is just my unqualified opinion. ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment