Posted on 07/01/2013 12:54:33 PM PDT by servo1969
Images like those below are chilling to those of us in the shooting community, as they should be. Sometimes we forget just how dangerous our hobby can be and we become lax. When we become lax we accidentally double charge a round while reloading, or we hear a pop vs. a bang and fail to check the bore of our firearm before firing the next round. We sweep others with the muzzle. We put our finger on the trigger when we shouldn’t. And sometimes we forget to wear eye protection.
The AR15 pictured here exploded unexpectedly on its owner this week. The source of the failure isn’t known for sure, but I’m fairly sure the cause of this catastrophic failure was an over pressure round based upon my inspection of the rifle. We don’t have all of the details of what happened, so I’m not going to name brands in this article. My goal isn’t to unnecessarily defame the manufactures of the rifle or the ammo, it’s to drive home the importance of making sure we always remember the basic rules of safety while engaged in our sport/hobby. Pay attention. Practice good muzzle discipline. Keep that finger off the trigger until you’re ready to shoot. Wear hearing protection. Pay attention while reloading and double check your work. Always wear eye protection.
Yes, I’m guilty of taking my eye protection off at times while shooting and you’ve seen me do it in videos. On hot humid days my eye wear will often times fog up making the use of magnified optics difficult, if not impossible. When I see grenaded firearms such as this one, it reminds me how foolish I am for taking my glasses off regardless of my reason.
If the owner of this firearm had not been wearing eye protection he likely would be blind in one or both eyes right now. If that doesn’t send a chill down your spine there’s something wrong with you.
Please folks, be safe out there.
that’ll buff right out.
Sabotaged ammunition? The US did this in past and current wars abroad...is our government putting explosive ammunition on store shelves to discourage people from using firearms?
My daughter wanted me to take her to the range to shoot an old family rifle. She was visiting and I only had one set of earmuffs so I gave them to her and I used foam plugs.
How I wish I'd picked up another set of earmuffs! I'm now functionally deaf and my hearing can't be restored. It's a huge price to pay for one stupid misjudgment.
Interesting. I rarely use anything other than foam earplugs, and my hearing is normal for my age (as measured by an audiologist, for my FAA airman certificate). That said, the earplugs I get are rated at 32db noise reduction.
Do you know if that was factory new ammo, “remanufactured” or home built reloads?
Yup on both.
I now have tinnitus from probably shooting hand cannons when I was younger without ear protection.
5.56 mm military/NATO round in a 223 Rem chambered rifle.
That would be my guess.
When describing errors made the author said “we” when he should have been clear that he makes these mistakes not we.
I can’t think of a powder you can double load in 223 or 5.56 and not overflow the case. Something else is going on here.
Agreed. I use 23.5 grains of Reloader15 in .223 cases and it fills them up to the top without making it a compressed load. My guess would be squib obstruction followed by a full power load. I don’t even want to think about a deliberate explosive off the shelf round.
***I can’t think of a powder you can double load in 223 or 5.56 and not overflow the case.***
How true! Someone probably grabbed the BULLSEYE instead of the IMR 4895 or IMR 4350.
300 BO round fired in a 5.56 barrel.
It feeds, chambers and fires, but blows the gun up.
Very bad to have both 556 and 300BO in the same house.
Agreed.
For the same reason I do not own a 20 gauge so I’m less likely to blow up one of my 12 gauges.
Dude where I used to work brought in a 243 with a stuck bolt, the last shot cleanly killing a deer. After finally getting it open, a 7.62x39 round was found, most of the bullet was still in it! The steel core killed the deer.
Pulled the barrel, set it back, rechambered and good as new. Lucky shooter and a tough old pre 64 Winchester.
But they are not normal rifle powders.
A case full of any of the pistol/shotgun powders out there would take most rifles apart.
I learned my eye protection lesson when I was a kid. Somebody gave me an ancient Flobert rifle, the kind that takes BB caps. I had no idea what it was, just that it seemed like a .22. A friend of mine gave me some .22 shorts to try in it. I plunked one in the chamber, zeroed in on a tin can and dropped the hammer. POW! The can did not move but my hand and forehead hurt like crazy and blood was flying. The .22 short case had flown back out of the chamber, pinching the hammer across the web of my right hand in the process and had embedded itself in my forehead right between my eyes. Fortunately it didn't leave much of a scar.
In retrospect it is funny, but had that case hit an inch or so to either side it would probabaly have blinded me.
A friend of mine blew up a nice Inland M1 Carbine because he tumbled some dirty old ammo before firing it. He left it in the vibe tumbler for days and the powder in the cases was ground down almost as fine as talc. Those cases sure came up pretty, though. ;-)
I know he's the gun salesman of the century, but naming a cartridge after him is too much IMHO.
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