My Blown Up Rifle

[Sin-ster]

Here's whats left of my buddy's S&W M&P carbine after kaboom, the upper looks identical to the post. As you can see, the gases went rearward through the bolt/carrier.

If there is no damage to chamber and bulge in the barrel (as it does not look like it), there is no way it was a squib.

If you can see the barrel and chamber that well from the picks, you've got better eyes than I do! Stay away from my girlfriend with that x-ray vision!

He mentions basically everything around the barrel (but the gas tube), but doesn't say anything about the barrel itself as far as damage is concerned. Could be a hammer forged barrel as well-- although it is Stainless, and I gather from some of the other posts that it's a 3-gun rifle, so probably not.

I've never blown up a rifle, so I'll yield to your experience in this regard. I'd love to see the two involved cases, for academic purposes.

 

[tactical723]

failure

TEST

 

[tactical723]

failure

"If you can see the barrel and chamber that well from the picks, you've got better " Sinister

Sinister, it is apparent there was no bulge or total failure of the chamber/barrel because the barrel nut is still in its circular state and not cracked, also the last section of the barrel extension also appears to be intact in its circular shape, thats put all the damage behind the barrel nut, and the barrel extension wher e it seats into the upper opening




.[/QUOTE]

 

[Sin-ster]

"If you can see the barrel and chamber that well from the picks, you've got better " Sinister

Sinister, it is apparent there was no bulge or total failure of the chamber/barrel because the barrel nut is still in its circular state and not cracked, also the last section of the barrel extension also appears to be intact in its circular shape, thats put all the damage behind the barrel nut, and the barrel extension wher e it seats into the upper opening

I learn something every day! I could tell what I was looking at, but not what I should be looking for, as it were.

He did say he'd need a new barrel extension, though. So there's damage to it somehow, just not any that would indicate over pressure in the chamber/bore?

 

[Jesse Tischauser]

It is various brands. What it your favorite manufacturer?

 

[tactical723]

THere is damage to the barrel extension as probably a 1/3 of it is gone. Remember the bolt and carrier is locked into barrel extension when in battery. Most squib loads kabooms/failures split the barrel nut and then bulge / split the barrel through the handguard. As I stated in my first post, the only true way to autopsy is to have both cases just as you stated, I would love to see the case stuck in the carrier if anything, I PM'd him with a few questions and the dispo on the cases. This is very important as if there is any way to finally determined what happened, we can all learn from it. Maybe keep someone from getting hurt.

 

[Jesse Tischauser]

The ammo was preprimed and trimmed Scharch/Top Brass with a 55gr Montana Gold Bullet w/25 grains of accurate arms 2460. The brass was loaded with CCI primers. The barrel nut and barrel is cracked the best we can see. It shouldn't have been a squib. Due to my relative inexperience with reloading I weighed and case gauged all 800 rounds. I did have 2 previous rounds fail to fire when I dropped the hammer on them. When it incurred I figured it was another tough primer. The manufacturer requested that we not tear the rifle down ourselves so they could have a look first. I'm anxious to see that casing as well.

 

[Golden Dragon]

Look a lot a like this same thing with his rifle.

http://www.bayoushooter.com/forums/...quot-1-amp-2-(A-VERY-surprising-Colt-failure)

 

[parallel]

Look a lot a like this same thing with his rifle.

http://www.bayoushooter.com/forums/...quot-1-amp-2-(A-VERY-surprising-Colt-failure)

Yeah, except I didn't rack a new round. Mine was on the second round of a double tap and was ostensibly overpressure FACTORY ammo.

 

[Jesse Tischauser]

We didn't find the round that I ejected. At the time I would have sworn that the round had a bullet on it still but I could not find a live round nearby. In hind sight I should have scraped up all of the brass in a 15' radius.

 

[Sin-ster]

The ammo was preprimed and trimmed Scharch/Top Brass with a 55gr Montana Gold Bullet w/25 grains of accurate arms 2460. The brass was loaded with CCI primers. The barrel nut and barrel is cracked the best we can see. It shouldn't have been a squib. Due to my relative inexperience with reloading I weighed and case gauged all 800 rounds. I did have 2 previous rounds fail to fire when I dropped the hammer on them. When it incurred I figured it was another tough primer. The manufacturer requested that we not tear the rifle down ourselves so they could have a look first. I'm anxious to see that casing as well.

I still don't like the manufacturer's current theory. If it does prove to be correct, though-- you're the luckiest unlucky guy in history! That's a lot of things going wrong at once to cause the kaboom. I imagine you might have noticed a damaged case neck while weighing and gauging all of the rounds-- but maybe not? I've heard of set back before, of course-- but never a bad primer turning into a mini-squib as the bullet sticks in the chamber. Although I could be totally wrong, it's my understanding that the projectile itself doesn't contact anything until it leaves the case and "jumps" the lans? Especially in a short (55 grain) projectile and an AR (not match grade bolt gun) chamber, it seems like a rather strange conclusion to me, the semi-educated.

Are you using a Factory Crimp?

EDIT to add: Do you reload pistol on the same press? Or anything else for that matter?

 

[Hitman]

Ok I guess I have to ask more in detail. You obviously know the manufacture since you called them.

Who made the Bolt Carrier? Barrel? Upper Receiver?

Although being as reluctant as you seem to not want to say I'm not sure how honest your answer will be so whatever.

 

[Sin-ster]

Ok I guess I have to ask more in detail. You obviously know the manufacture since you called them.

Who made the Bolt Carrier? Barrel? Upper Receiver?

Although being as reluctant as you seem to not want to say I'm not sure how honest your answer will be so whatever.

I would imagine the manufacturer he's talking about is the pre-primed brass, although I could be mistaken. As he is a 3-gun competitor, the parts you're asking about are almost certainly all from different manufacturers. At a glance, the BCG looks like one of the lightweight competition offerings on the market-- chromed, along with the bolt.

I very highly doubt it was a fault of the hardware, as catastrophic failures of that magnitude are not typically the result. Cracks and individual component damage would make more sense in this regard, while this damage is obviously the result of overpressure and gas release into the upper receiver.

My money is on the ammo, one way or another. Set back due to improper crimp, mixed propellants, squib (as we now know the barrel and extension are indeed cracked), shiesty brass, the primer issue tactical723 mentioned, etc. Once they pull the case out of there, it'll be easier to figure out.

 

[tactical723]

With Jesse stating that the barrel nut is cracked and the chamber / barrel with more damage than first seen in the photos, who knows, without finding both cases, the rifle manufacturer is going to blame the brass supplier, the brass supplier will blame the manufacturer for a bad bolt/carrier or chamber, coin flip at this point, and with it being reloads, all bets off, at least his expensive new Swavosrki is OK and he can salvage some of the rifle, he will be ok

 

[paco]

wow, that's some major damage.

 

[bsdubois00]

Without answering any specifics for Jesse - I can say that he does not skimp when it comes to buying high quality parts - hence the Swaroski scope on his 3-gun rifle. These were all TOP quality parts that any of us would be happy to put in a build. If you ever borrow any of JT's equip you would know it is all top quality. I'm just glad he is ok - this could have gone very wrong.

That being said - I'm ordering a pair of Rudy Project glasses tomorrow!!!!

 

[FishingFool]

Glad you are safe and no one was really hurt.


How's the swaro? You should slap it on another rifle, sight it in, and then box test it to make sure everything is alright. That'll be interesting to see how tough a well made 1-4x can be.