Cracked a load bearing wall stud with a nailgun, fix took all weekend
So I'm redoing the hallway in my 1978 house off Central and I'm framing a new closet. I fired a 3 inch nail into a stud and heard that sickening crack, split the whole thing top to bottom. Turned out the wood was dryer than a popcorn fart and there was a knot right where I hit. I had to sister on a new 2x4 alongside it, which meant cutting out drywall on both sides and running to HD twice for longer bolts. Took me about 6 hours each day and I still have to mud the patches this week. Anyone else had a stud split on them and just swore under their breath for an hour?
My buddy hit the same thing last fall when he was finishing his basement. He was nailing up furring strips and one stud just blew apart right down the middle, about a foot of split. He cussed for ten minutes straight and his wife came down to check on him. He ended up doing the same thing you did, sistered a new board on and patched the drywall after. The kicker was he found two more studs with knots in that same wall so he went slow the rest of the day. Sounds like your house is from the same era as his, so dry old lumber with hidden knots is just par for the course. Six hours a day two days in a row is rough but at least you caught it before the closet went in.