Secondary Explosion Effect

[Lane]

Last night in the chat box, Dave Waits was once again trying to help me keep all my body parts intact and functioning as normal. Need another holster yet, Dave?

Anyway, we were discussing loads and what works - and Dave tossed out the term "detonation." That got me thinking (which is usually a scary thing) and I started looking for more info. Many people refer to it as Secondary Explosion Effect (SEE) - but I tend to think this is inaccurate.

The theory is that if a load is "too" light, you can create a situation where the power detonates instead of burning, resulting in an exploded barrel, missing body parts, etc.

The problem, from what I've been able to find so far, is that no one is certain what causes this. It can't be reproduced in a lab. In fact there are some that believe it's not a chemical problem, but a problem that with a small load, it's easier to double charge a case.

I've seen "definitive" statements that it's only light charges with fast burning powder, and other that it's only slow burning powder. There's also a pretty good contingent that believe more in the user error side of things vs actual chemical problems (probably due to the fact that it can't be duplicated in the lab.)

It was even bandied about as a topic for Myth Busters.

I sent an email to Alliant customer support to see if they had any addition information or recommendations. I'll pass along anything they send.

Without a doubt, it is an interesting topic.

Lane