I got her apart a few hrs ago. I sat down and stared at it, all the while thinking there has to be a "back door' of sorts to get the slide off without destroying the firearm. (thinking like an engineer, DP )
so i got some black elect tape and covered the slide and main frame at the slide dis assembly release lever and ever so gently wedged a tiny flat tip screwdriver under the forward edge enough for the lever to rotate into the slide release position, pulled the trigger and the grip safety and gently slid the slide off, no pieces fell out, which made me fell better.
but baby the barrel did its job of protecting me. its bulged real nice about 3/4" from the end.
I will say i have replayed the events leading up to this mishap over and over in my mind
I was not shooting at a target, just merely shooting about 25 yards into a dirt burm. the shot before the failure was SOFT compared to the others, I should STOPPED then and checked it out. But NO i didn't pay attention the alarm bells in my head, and squeezed off another round. one of two things happened, either the bullet from the previous shot was still in the end of the barrel or it came apart and wedged itself in the barrel , then i fired a good round and it finished off the remaining bullet and subsequently over pressurized the barrel
so now i need to order a new barrel and pay attention to warning bells
moral of the story, don't get distracted at the range, i was nervous about the guy two spots over and his HAND howitzer, and my wife was in the truck sort of sick and i got hurried
