charvey9
WKR
Not really hunting related, but thought some might find this interesting. As a hobby I have an FFL and do some firearm repair/refinishing on the side, and just last night got my hands on this 1911 that was recovered from a car fire.
My brother-in-law was recently in an accident where he fell asleep at the wheel, went through a gaurd rail, and crashed into a tree in his late model Ford F-150. Lucky to be alive, he escaped with some pretty significant burns on his hands, back, and chest. After a few weeks in the hospital, he is now at home and doing better than expected. Although they expect some scarring on his hands and back, he is expected to make a full recovery.
The fire was hot enough that it burned all the plastic/rubber on the truck, and they even found some puddles of molten aluminum at the crash site that had melted off the vehicle. They also pulled his 1911 from the rubble, which he had under the seat. With the grip still intact on one side of the frame, my thought was most of the exterior damage was cosmetic and/or debris from other things that melted in the vehicle.
He could not recall if the pistol was loaded (mind you he has been a little loopy with the pain meds), but I found evidence that at least one round went off in the firearm. I pulled it from the top of the magazine, which was still in the mag well.
I'm guessing it was a full mag with one in the pipe, and at least one more round went off in the chamber. The chamber of the barrel was plugged with slag, with some bits of brass and copper showing. I also pulled another big piece of slag from the top of the magazine, it had melted in the shape of the mag well. It just doesn't feel heavy enough to be lead, so I'm not sure what ammo he was using.
My theory is he had a full mag, but I believe the base plate on this particular magazine was plastic so it would have melted off first and the majority of the rounds rolled out the bottom before discharging. The magazine spring was not recovered. Or possibly the first round that discharged in mag blew out the bottom of the magazine following the path of least resistence.
The only visible internal damage I found anywhere on the firearm was a hole in the back of the magazine itself.
Originally I had planned to restore this for him, but with the potential damage caused by the internal discharge I don't want to risk putting it back in service. Its going to get cleaned up a bit and serve as a wall hanger.
My brother-in-law was recently in an accident where he fell asleep at the wheel, went through a gaurd rail, and crashed into a tree in his late model Ford F-150. Lucky to be alive, he escaped with some pretty significant burns on his hands, back, and chest. After a few weeks in the hospital, he is now at home and doing better than expected. Although they expect some scarring on his hands and back, he is expected to make a full recovery.
The fire was hot enough that it burned all the plastic/rubber on the truck, and they even found some puddles of molten aluminum at the crash site that had melted off the vehicle. They also pulled his 1911 from the rubble, which he had under the seat. With the grip still intact on one side of the frame, my thought was most of the exterior damage was cosmetic and/or debris from other things that melted in the vehicle.
He could not recall if the pistol was loaded (mind you he has been a little loopy with the pain meds), but I found evidence that at least one round went off in the firearm. I pulled it from the top of the magazine, which was still in the mag well.
I'm guessing it was a full mag with one in the pipe, and at least one more round went off in the chamber. The chamber of the barrel was plugged with slag, with some bits of brass and copper showing. I also pulled another big piece of slag from the top of the magazine, it had melted in the shape of the mag well. It just doesn't feel heavy enough to be lead, so I'm not sure what ammo he was using.
My theory is he had a full mag, but I believe the base plate on this particular magazine was plastic so it would have melted off first and the majority of the rounds rolled out the bottom before discharging. The magazine spring was not recovered. Or possibly the first round that discharged in mag blew out the bottom of the magazine following the path of least resistence.
The only visible internal damage I found anywhere on the firearm was a hole in the back of the magazine itself.
Originally I had planned to restore this for him, but with the potential damage caused by the internal discharge I don't want to risk putting it back in service. Its going to get cleaned up a bit and serve as a wall hanger.
