Posted on 05/03/2021 3:07:42 PM PDT by blueyon
Popular YouTuber Kentucky Ballistics nearly lost his life after his Serbu .50-cal rifle explodes due to a 'hot round' during a recent test. YouTuber Scott Allen DeShields Jr., better known as Kentucky Ballistics, is all about going big. With more than 1.5 million subscribers, he frequently shoots .500 S&W Magnums, .50 cals, and even elephant guns. However, during a recent test, he nearly died when his Serbu .50-cal rifle exploded due to a “hot round.” .50-Cal Rifle Explodes During Test
(Excerpt) Read more at ballisticmag.com ...
Made me laugh...thank u
Armour round made for use on M2 machine gun....my bad
Rex of Tiborsaurus Rex, a very knowledgeable shooter with a Youtube channel, theorized that it could have been caused by the muzzle brake.
It's cautioned not to shoot SLAP rounds in a rifle with a muzzle brake or at least a specially designed brake.
Some of the people who regularly post of Class III firearms forums have been commenting about this, mostly leaning in the direction of bad/degraded powder charge. Those sort of exotic .50BMG rounds cost $$$, so there's a strong possibility that someone in the decades-long chain of ownership of that cartridge stored it in a very hot environment - or worse, they may have dropped the round into a tumbler to polish away tarnish on the brass case. That does ugly things to the gunpowder inside the case, breaking it down into finer granules nd increasing its burn rate beyond anyone's ability to estimate.
The smart thing with those rounds is to safely remove the projectile and dump the old powder, reloading it with a known charge of fresh gunpowder.
One other guess that I saw mentioned: early failure of the sabot, while still in the bore. A sabot strike on a muzzle brake would be very dangerous, but it would happen at the muzzle end of the gun, just as the projectile clears the muzzle crown - no breech overpressure. However, if the sabot crumpled instantly and allowed the sub-caliber penetrator to yaw in the bore, rather than traveling straight ahead... yeah, that could act like a bore obstruction long enough for the breech to blow apart.
It'll be interesting to see what condition the barrel is in.
thanks for the reminder.
That's why he's in the hospital with injuries that nearly killed him because he used a hot load ("extra, extra hot," according to the quote in the story) with an exotic type of ammo that was also "very old." I suppose you're right. He's "a professional with a law enforcement background," so I guess I — what, exactly? — shouldn't say he was "playing with guns?" Why not? If a "professional with a law enforcement background" does something risky, without full knowledge of what he's doing, with a very high power weapon, he's not "playing with guns" ?
What's the point of your comment? LEOs can't "play with guns" ? Who do you think you're kidding?
ELDEST SON. VIET NAM
ok gotcha
Wow, didn't know they were so explosive.
Lol. How pathetic is that?
I've done that with WWII 30-06.
Pulled the bullets and replaced the corrosive primers and new powder.
You just never know.
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