KABOOM! It happened to me.

S

Spinnerblade

Joined
Apr 11, 2002
Messages
178
Sunday I went shooting with my AR-15 and my recent purchase of a 720 round ammo box of Radway Green (surplus British ammo).

After fireing about fourty rounds, checking point of impact and a little plinking I loaded up a couple twenty round mags and went looking for some jackrabbits. After shooting three, and thinking I had found my new favorite plinking ammo, I winged a fourth one and after running down a large hill to where I had last seen him he took off running down the wash.

I put the reticle on him and pressed the trigger. Blam! I got an exra loud report, and I noticed an orange flash, and it felt like someone had given me a quick slap in the mouth. I dropped my rifle and turned away and realized what had happened. I checked to make sure I had all my appendages and I wasn't going to die.

Feeling a little relieved and glad I was wearing my eyeglasses and ear plugs, I went back to my rifle that was laying in the dirt and gravel.
The bolt was stuck closed, the ejection port cover was bent, and it looked like there was a crack at the front of the ejection port. The forward half of the upper reciever had bulged out so that it did not fit flush with the lower reciever.
The magazine had been ejected from the rifle and was scattered in five separate pieces along with the remaining rounds in the magazine. The mag body was swelled up at the bottom where the floorplate had been.

I picked everything up and had a long walk back to the truck.

I called the rifle manufacturer earlier today and they told me to send it back with the magazine and I also sent some brass cases from my earlier target shooting.
Anybody else have this happen to them or someone they know?
I had checked around on some different forums before buying the RG ammo and didn't find anything bad about it.
Thanks for listening.Patrick

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Sounds like a classic overpressure failure. I would retain all the unfired ammo, reciepts, etc. You might consider trying to find out what powder was being used in these rounds, and what the charge weight is supposed to be. (the manufacturer might well not want to divulge this information.
 
With old ammunition that has had a lot of rough storage, it is possible for the grains of powder to break up. Instead of getting a nice even burn, you get more of a detonation. I'm always leary of shooting real old military surplus ammunition in semi-auto rifles. The good news is that you didn't end up picking pieces of metal out of your face. Things like this are why it is recommended that you wear SHOOTING glasses all the time. Your average sunglasses are better then nothing but, they lack the structural integrity you really want in situations like this. Gas Buster charging handles (AR-15) help too.
 
Ouch man ! I'm glad your okay...... I had the same thing happen to me last summer with Wolf ammo 7.62 . kaboom ! but I was okay (thank God) , my cheapazz AK47 however was in several pieces...
Lesson learned.
Once again , glad your okay :thumbup:
 
I used to reload .45ACP for my Glock. Having witnessed a detonation that split the barrel by the ramp requiring a new barrel I had high impact prescription lenses made in a Poly carbon.

Lead splatter and rock splinters are also a serious threat.

Dillion (Dillion reloading equipment) used to provide special glasses that the other shooters used.
 
Sheeeeesh! I am glad that you are alright!! Thank God you are here to tell the tale!!
 
Could the barrel have been obstructed? I saw a forum topic on AR15.com a long time ago where a guy fired a round and the previous one was (unknowingly) stuck in the barrel. He had pics and and the damage looked very similar to what you described. Whole magazine well blown out, but he wasnt hurt. Good you're okay.
 
Possibly the shot you fired at the rabbit that got away was a squib - you had the bullet lodge somewhere in the barrel. When you went to shoot the next shot... You blew up... I watched a friend almost do that - if I hadn't heard the wierd first report, I wouldn't have stopped him. Another shooter turned and said that if he'd shot again, he'd of had a blow up... just my experiences...
 
A squib load sounds different, feels different (little noise and no recoil) and often makes odd-looking red smoke come out of the action. In rapid fire you might not be able to react in time to stop the next shot, but you'll notice something was odd about the shot before the one that blew up the gun.
 
I narrowly excaped a blow-up years ago shooting a S&W 1917 revolver in .45 ACP. I'd bought some Spanish military-surplus stuff because it was cheap.

I'd fired about 20 rounds, and noticed that the recoil seemed inconsistant. Young and inexperienced, I continued, and fired off several rounds rapid-fire. First one was fine. The second had a light, mild recoil, and the third (yes, I pulled the trigger again!) misfired.
The bullet from the second round was stuck firmly in the tube, along with a bunch of unburned powder. Sheer luck that the next one up didn't go off!

Not only that, the Spanish junk was corrosive-primed, and the bore had surface rust by the time I got home. Had to knock the slug out with a dowel and a mallet.
 
Spinnerblade said:
...after running down a large hill...
Click to expand...

Patrick,

Sorry to hear about your experience (especially as it was with a British product!)

Is it possible that - in running over broken ground - you inadvertently let the muzzle of your rifle touch the ground, thereby obstructing the bore with soil?

maximus otter
 
i had a similar experience a few years back
back at the BIC (battle innoculation course) we had 2 safety officers fresh passed out and green as hell
their MGs were supposed to fire 4 boxes of 250 each, but they jammed on the 2nd box, and newbie as they were, they couldn't clear the IA
so the boxes all went to the lone MG that could still fire, and the damm barrels were smoking hot even after swapping barrels and letting the gun cool
but as they say, the show must go on, and when i was clearing the jammed belt, i saw the round in chamber, and slapped the feed cover down
right in time too
the feed cover blew off, the barrel deformed and i was left with over 50 little pellets of gun powder in my left palm
wasn't any fun to dig them out with a iv needle
 
A squib load sounds different, feels different (little noise and no recoil) and often makes odd-looking red smoke come out of the action. In rapid fire you might not be able to react in time to stop the next shot, but you'll notice something was odd about the shot before the one that blew up the gun.
Click to expand...

Usually in an autoloader, the squib will not have sufficient gas volume or recoil to cycle the bolt or slide. I fired a powderless reload in my .45ACP and the bullet stuck in the bore, but without the recoil, the slide didn't cycle and disaster was averted. Also, the powder charge in a .223 is usually 90% full or full in the case and is often compressed, so overloads are rare, as long as the proper powder is used. My guess is an old/degraded round, or an underfilled case that caused the detonation. I think you got really unlucky and then really lucky in the span of about half a second. Just my .02.

Very scary experience to be sure...:eek:
 
I'm a joke computer-wise. I've never posted pics or sent them e-mail.
When I first got the computer I'm using right now my e-mail wouldn't work because of the anti-virus software, or so I was told by the cable company.
Maybe I'll try my Daughter's computer Monday.

As far as my rifle getting dirt in the barrel, it was just a long bare sloping hill, and my rifle was basically port arms.

Thanks for everyones concern.Patrick
 
locomike said:
Usually in an autoloader, the squib will not have sufficient gas volume or recoil to cycle the bolt or slide.
Click to expand...

True, but it can happen. A fellow at my local gun club got hold of a batch of weak lead bullet .45ACP handloads. The bullet lodged in the barrel and with the barrel blocked there was enough gas pressure to cycle the action. He should have realized something was wrong, but he was a beginner and thought he had missed the target. He shot up the whole magazine without making a hole in the target.... The barrel was plugged with a rod of lead, all the bullets fused together into a solid rod. They had to drive that out of the barrel by hammering on a steel rod, and it's still on display at the club.

That is a freakish thing to happen -- the bad loads just happened to have just the right pressure with the barrel blocked to cycle the action yet not enough to blow up the gun. If you tried to make up a load like that deliberately....

He was lucky the loads were all bad; if there had been one good load after the barrel was obstructed it would have blown up his gun.

More commonly, you either put no powder in the cartridge or a double charge. If there's no powder in the cartridge the primer alone will get the bullet moving and it'll get stuck in the barrel. If you then cycle the action manually and fire a normal load next you'll blow up your gun. It's also possible to fit a double charge of some loads in some cartridges, and that will blow up a gun too. Those mistakes happen when you get interrupted and don't make sure where you were when you get back to reloading.
 
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