WOW, I don't think that even a forged frame would have taken that failure. The Shilo site said it was the first shot out of the ammo box and the ammo was sealed after the blow up, I assume that means they are going to check what the actual load was in the cases. Hopefully that info will be released.

Frank

Am with Joe on this one. 

No reason to use old actions for modern loads.   I used to use a fair amount of fast pistol powder loads in Trapdoors. They work well but the fear of double charge with disastrous results keeps me away from it now.   

Bet anything it was double charged.

Boats

Any action cast or forged could be a time bomb. Many of these have been built up over the years into varmint guns, target rifles and other forms of our esteemed shooting sports. At times some of these actions may have been compromised by overly hot hand loads or just poor maintenance or sub standard gunsmithing. MY contact said he was sure it was a liner failure which in turn caused the original barrel to fail which in turn caused the action failure. Makes perfect sense to me. If you have an old rifle and really want to be safe examine it really close and have it magnafluxed. It is cheap insurance. X-ray is a good idea too. I have a cousin who is an x-ray tech who did my Ballard and it is OK. Gary Quinlan here about a year ago told me a story of a friend of his who decided to shoot a very high end collectors pistol who now has about 1.25 worth of scrap iron. It blew up. Old guns as JoeB said do that occasionally just like old cars, motorcycles or whatever. These steel actions forged or cast take a beating and most survive as we do, then there are these others that just happen to fail. I always try to shoot a new to me old rifle tied down to a tire with a large string. I have been burnt before even after due diligence of checking it out really good. There is never  a fail proof gun. Hell modern production guns fail. But with the help of a good smith and leg work on our part we can narrow the odds down that are rifles will not end up maiming us or others. I' restoring a Winchester Model 93 shotgun for a friend and had to really hunt for a new bolt, his was cracked. He had been shooting high base 12 ga. smokeless in it for years. I think he had some one watching over his dumb ass and that is what I told him. Too many of this model blew up, that is why it was discontinued and they made the Model 1897, more for smokeless powder and a better grade of steel. He promised to only shoot black hand loads in it from now on if he ever shoots it again.
Mike

I'll state the obvious, It is good to know, when you pull the trigger, if it is a rifle or if it is a bomb.

Good advice here, thanks all for posting it.

If you look at the lower left of whats left of the action there is a square section of metal.  In both pictures there is a Grey area behind the bright shinny cracked area.  I cant be sure with out looking at the action but that looks suspiciously like and old crack, they will fill with dirt and oil over time thats why the dull color.   The bright shinny is all new metal thus new crack.

The weak link here is people!!  Many moons ago while I was working for a gunsmith here in town a fellow brought in a very nice Stevens 44 that was chambered in 32-40.  He wanted it checked out before he shot it.  The first thing that Jerry (the smith I was working for) had me do was to run it over to the Welding Shop and have it Magna-Fluxed.  The powder showed a sub-surface crack about 2/3's the way along the receiver ring.  When I brought it back Jerry, to my surprise had me bob the firing pin so that it could not be fired.  We also filled out a form that stated the gun was unsafe to fire and had the guy sign it.  To make a long story short the fellow brought it back a few weeks later mad as hell that his gun wouldn't go off.  He had found a box of John Wayne commemorative ammo and tried to shoot it, told us if we wouldn't fix it then he would find someone that would.  Jerry very nicely invited him to get the &%%$ out of his shop.  I wonder if he still has all his fingers? 

Bob

With both a frame and breech block failure, it would seem like it is highly probable that this was an overload or a barrel obstruction issue.  Also, it is worth noting that the block failed in the area of the upper breach block screw..

  As a matter of fact, my #2 Ballard came from the factory chambered for a centerfire round. But I think mafnafluxing ANY old action is a good idea.