Rifle destroyed, Shooter safe.

[oldmanFCSA]

While shooting my 1982 version of Remington 700 BDL Varmint Special in 25-06Rem with loads exceeding 3800 fps accompanied with a close friend, and finishing up shooting 50 special loadings in my RPR 338LM recording all data of 250 grain loads exceeding 3000 fps, we heard a loud Kaboom.

The shooter several benches over was shooting his Dad's beautiful Ruger M77 Mark II in 25-06 using Remington Core-Lock 100 grain cartridges. Factory loadings !!!!!! The 9th shot out of a box of 20 blew up hard. Bolt was locked, spring on extractor was broken, magazine well was expanded breaking beautiful walnut stock with full lengthwise split, magazine follower and spring were blown out of rifle, lower steel floorplate was severely bent. Bolt was locked solid.

Rifle destroyed but the shooter was safe with minor wood chips peppering his face. His shooting glasses, ear protection, and shooting glove saved him from any serious injury other than a possible change of underwear.

This occurred at GopherRifle&RevolverClub 1 hour north of Minneapolis on the MP range at about 4:00 PM this afternoon. Luckily just for of us shooting with wide spread of benches.

After leaving the range and over halfway home, I realized I had my borescope on dash of my truck. It would have been interesting to look down barrel into cartridge body itself, But alas too late.

Be safe out there everyone.

[Pathfinder45]

If that had happened to me, it probably would cause a severe case of the flinches for a while! There might be other circumstances to prove otherwise, but from this perspective, it looks like the ammo manufacturer might owe him a new rifle....
And to think that a lot of guys put so much more faith in factory ammo than handloads...
Glad he wasn't seriously injured.

[Ignition Override]

oldmanFCSA:

Did you ask him which brand of ammo he used?
If so, are you willing to tell us?

[MC 1911]

Originally Posted by Ignition Override

oldmanFCSA:

Did you ask him which brand of ammo he used?
If so, are you willing to tell us?

He did say in the 2nd paragraph.

[TX Nimrod]

Not sure how this thread will help others to “be safe”, but stories like this are popular, like watching a car wreck. While it is certainly possible for a factory load to exhibit excessive pressure, a “one off” cartridge in a box of good cartridges would be difficult to explain, given the way ammunition is manufactured. I’m not saying it didn’t happen the way the victim said it did, but I know that some shooters will “bend the truth” a bit to avoid public embarrassment. Unfortunately in cases like this it is impossible to ever know the real facts.




.

[mikejonestkd]

Just wondering if the unfortunate shooter has told the complete story. In a crisis most people bend the truth to something that they can accept. Having a rifle blow up in your face qualifies as a ' come to Jesus" moment for people and having bystanders nearby makes a person very self conscious.
Also, wondering if the 8th shot was a squib, and they did not check the barrel afterward for an obstruction.

[BJung]

Well, save the remaining ammo and have the powder tested..

I've only heard of one accident like this except it was a Reloader who accidentally put pistol powder in his rifle cartridge. A piece of the receiver hit the girlfriends leg. I think everyone was okay.

[Bart B.]

In the late 1980's, a gunsmith blew apart his Winchester 70 match rifle accidentally using a slow pistol powder in 308 Winchester cases.

The rifle was the one he used to win the nationals in 1964. He also was a field representative for Remington back then.

[BJung]

I don't know what he did wrong but I make a point of storing all my powder in a cool dry place and take out and use one canister at a time.

[shurshot]

I fired a hot factory round once, so unlike some of you, I don't doubt the above story. It happens.

A few years ago, I had a similar "over pressure event" with my Rem 700 .270, and early 90's vintage Remington factory ammo, 130 Bronze point. I believe I posted it on here too in a thread (?). Rifle didn't blow up Thanks to Remington's "3 rings of steel", but the round was noticeably louder, recoiling harder, whacked the Hell out of me and the bolt froze up, blew the primer out of the brass. Took an act of Congress to open it. Remington was contacted and they sent a label & bought the remaining rounds from me. Possibly the powder they used at that time became unstable over the years, or the measurements were off in a batch? Remington advised the ammo has a shelf life of 10 years. My ammo was 20 years old.

My Rifle was fine though, accuracy and function are still perfect. Just used it this opening day to take a nice 7 point buck, 182 lbs.

*Yes, I found my post, it was in 2013... I had posted pics as well; https://thefiringline.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=527519

Guess I was lucky my rifle didn't blow up too. Glad no one was hurt in the OP incident. I wonder how old the ammo was and how it was stored???

[Oaktree45]

I hope he contacted Remington about this incident with their ammo.

[stagpanther]

I've seen plenty of messed up remmie corelokts in my time.

I've only heard of one accident like this except it was a Reloader who accidentally put pistol powder in his rifle cartridge.

I've done that very thing--and yes the rifle blew up. That's how I learned to be extra careful with powders with single digit numbers like "7."

[Nathan]

In the late 1980's, a gunsmith blew apart his Winchester 70 match rifle accidentally using a slow pistol powder in 308 Winchester cases.

The rifle was the one he used to win the nationals in 1964. He also was a field representative for Remington back then.

Did he turn and tell everybody that the “three rings of steel” in the Remington would have prevented this? That would have been classic!

[littlebikerider]

Given the high speed and volume of ammunition production, I am absolutely fascinated that millions of rounds can be produced and an event like this is nearly unheard of!

[hdbiker]

I bought two boxes of Federal Power Shok .243 100 grain ammo at a large sport shop and proceeded to the range to check my scope zero. On the first shot I knew something wasn't right, the report was too loud and recoil was too great. The bolt opened normally and the primer looked normal. My curiosity got the best of me so I set up my Chroney and fired again, sure enough the velocity was 200 fps faster than printed on the box. I called Federals CS and they agreed to have UPS pick up the unused ammo for testing. In about three weeks UPS dropped off 5 boxes of same ammo, no explanation. Rifle wasn't damaged. hdbiker

[Geezerbiker]

I was with a friend that had a box of Hornady Superformance ammo he wanted to try in his .270 commercial Mauser. The first 3 rounds blew out the primer and the bolt was stiff to open. We both agreed that shooting a 4th round wasn't a good idea.

He took the ammo back to the gun shop where he bought them and they were sent back to Hornady. They word from Hornady is there must be a problem with the gun but they replaced the box of ammo anyway. My friend declined to take it and swapped it for the Remington ammo he usually shot and had no further problems.

Tony

[oldmanFCSA]

FINAL ANSWER:

Somehow the shooter chambered a Remington 7mm-08 round in the 25-06Rem chamber.

All other cartridges on the table were Remington 25-06, no idea where the 7mm-08 cartridge came from.
Beating the action open revealed the 7mm-08 case headstamp. Now it make sense why it blew up.

[Jim Watson]

One cause is shoppers fingering the ammo in the store and not putting it back in the right box.

[MC 1911]

Originally Posted by Jim Watson

One cause is shoppers fingering the ammo in the store and not putting it back in the right box.

I have seen this first hand. Guy rented our AR & bought a box of ammo. Someone had switched a 300 bo for a 5.56 and the guy forced it into the rifle. Blew the whole thing up.

Luckly no one was hurt & by some chance the 300bo box with the 5.56 round was found on the shelf.

[Hawg]

I ruined the insides of a Marlin model 60 with Federal ammo. I always meant to contact Federal and send them the blown cartridge but I misplaced the pieces before I got around to it. I eventually replaced the firing pin and everything between the rails and and got it shooting again. I can just assume the round was double charged. I wouldn't buy Federal ammo for years after that but finally realized it was probably a once in a lifetime thing.

[bbqncigars]

In over forty years of reloading and shooting, the only "bad" loads (mischarged rounds) that have turned up when shooting have been factory pistol ammo. My own screwups have not made it to the range (so far). 300BO has a track record of kabooms in AR15s chambered for .223/5.56, as it will readily chamber without forcing it. The infamous loading rifle charges of pistol powder is fortunately more rare.

[Erno86]

"SCLID": Sudden catastrophic load induced disassembly

It happened (case head separation) to a fellow shooter yesterday, at our outdoor range. Happily...no one was hurt, save for the shooter who had some wood chips blast his safety eyeglass face.

Rifle: M1917 Enfield rifle, chambered in 30-06

Ammo: His own 30-06 reloads.

I was shooting my Martini Henry Model12/15 rimfire rifle in the standing position, when I heard a loud Kaboom to the left of me, about 20 feet away.

He was shooting off the wooden benchrest. The right side of the wooden rifle stock was blasted out under the bolt. Magazine floor plate and spring was blasted out and laying on the concrete firing pad. Furthermore...another metal piece from the kaboom, traveled back to the right side of the shooter and impacted the aluminum handle of a broom, that was hanging from a overhead canopy pole --- About eight feet from him.

I don't know how to post pictures...but I did take a picture of the destroyed broom. It had an inch long by 1/2 inch wide entrance and exit holes in the lower part of the broom handle. The broom broke off the handle. The only thing blocking the possible pathway of the shrapnel...with my 2020 Toyota TRD PRO 4Runner (parked about 30 feet away) was the brass collection broom; that was in line with my truck.

Anybody would have been seriously hurt...if hit by that flying piece of metal shrapnel from the Kaboom...that I still haven't found yet.

So then I searched "case head separation" on the web...and I read that M1917's, 1903 Springfields and pre 64 Winchester M70's have a "cone breech", that makes for some "spectacular events"...involving case head separation incidents.

I don't reload brass yet...but I'm never gonna shoot reloads in both my own Winchester M1917 and my 1903 O3A3 Springfield --- That's for sure.

The involved shooter...does have another M1917 at his home. And they are very pleasant and accurate too shoot.

[rickyrick]

I bought a whole box of ammunition that had apparently been cycled through a rifle. They all had feeding marks on the cartridges and light marks on the primers where the firing pin had tapped them. Was supposed to be new factory ammunition.
I own 300aac and 5.56/223 guns. I’m a bit Squeamish about having both. I have the magazines clearly marked. But I still check them visually before firing.

[Prof Young]

I was shooting Hornady 22 mag out of my NAA Black Widow. Had a round go BOOM instead of bang and the gun quit working. Main spring had broken. Everyone has told me that a hot load would not break the main spring. Don't know what to say. NAA fixed the gun free. Sent the ammo to Hornady. They reported back that they found no problems and send me 100 rounds free. I recall reporting all this in a previous post some time ago. Hmmmmmmmm . . . ..

Life is good.
Prof Young

[stagpanther]

Not saying this is the case--and I suspect it's probably illegal, but I have bought boxed ammo from a LGS that I am certain was "recirculated as new" and the cartridges inside clearly where not matched of the same production. I suspect there's stuff out there that is purchased from estate sales, going out of business sales etc. and then pressed into service as "new." Pretty easy to spot with multiple price tag layers, badly tarnished/weathered brass etc.