S&W AirLite exploded!

[MAC702]

This WAS a daily carry gun for me, not counting a usual full-size sidearm.

Has had less than 100 rounds of Federal 158-grain Hydra-Shok, but has seen a regular diet of .38 Special, mostly non+P loads in practice. I've had students shoot this gun.

This is one of my few guns I don't reload for because it is shot so infrequently.

A friend and I were out shooting, taking his wife for her first time. She loved my big heavy Ruger .22 pistol of course, and was VERY good with the Kimber .45.

After shooting an AR and a Winchester 94, we let her shoot the AirLite at the end of the afternoon. I loaded one round of Hornady 125-grain XTP, standard .38 Special.

I was looking at the side of the gun when she fired. The sound seemed normal, but the cylinder disappeared in a flash. She dropped the gun, clenching her hand. She's fine with just bruises, swelling, and some lacerations. I can only assume that half of a cylinder bounced off her thumb, as it had to break in at least two pieces to disappear and leave the ejector rod in tact. Top strap and several fingers of the extractor star are also missing.

We were shooting in heavy brush in the AZ desert near Wickenburg yesterday. While the friend and his wife went back to care for her injuries, another one I spent 30 minutes looking for the pieces. We never found one.

I E-mailed S&W this morning. I will keep you posted. Honestly, I expect a new gun out of this. I hope not finding the cylinder isn't too big of a deal.

I usually put a lot of faith in engineers. But I'm just not sure I can ever trust this design again. I think I may go with the AirWeight version from now on, with its steel cylinder.