Well, you might expect that on an old Winchester but not so much on the Ballard;-) You don't suppose they were using that old Lyman manual that had a load of something like 43 grains of Bullseye? Anyone else remember that?

I remember that bad Lyman book load being published. But fortunately most already knew it wasn't even close to being safe at the time.
Joe in regards to the Winchester was it not obvious something was wrong with the first double charge.

Yes John, in hindsight, it was, but I think sometimes in the moment, we may tend to disregard or ignore some of the obvious signs.

Regards,
Joe

Gentlemen,
I was made aware of the renewal of this discussion and wanted to set the record straight.

I was misquoted as having said that "we tried to blow up one of our Ballards and couldn't" or words to that effect.

Any gun can be blown up, with any powder, black or smokeless.

When we (Ballard Rifle Co.) proof tested one of our Ballards at White Laboratories, the technician proofed up to low end .458 Winchester loads. At that point the action lost .010 headspace, the tail of the breechblock was bent and the lever screw was distorted enough that it couldn't be removed. He called me, described what happened and asked if I wanted it catastrophically failed (blown up). I told him not to bother, it was not necessary.

Our Ballards were machined from solid 8620 stock, properly bone charcoal casehardened and correctly fit. In my experience I have seen more "gunsmithing" done to Ballards than any other single shot. Replacement of the lever screw with one made from leaded screw stock is the most common. These sorts of "repairs" can seriously affect the strength of the Ballard action.

If you are going to shoot a Ballard, and don't understand the idiosyncrasies of the Ballard patent, please find a competent gunsmith who does and have him check the action out for safety.

Steve Garbe