Mossberg 702 barrel failure

T

tkoett

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Well this is kind off an odd situation for me. I went to the range tonight with a few rifles I was going to trade toward a "new to me" toy. Me and another member here on this site met up at the local range to check over and fire off a few rounds of the firearms we were going to trade. All was going well but something happened I never seen before. I let him test a few rounds through my mossberg 702 and the first few mags went reasonably well but toward the end one round sounded much louder then the rest. We came to realize the front sight blew right off the barrel and was blasted in half. (really strange and quite embarrassing considering my intent was to add this rifle as part of the trade) As we inspected we realized the 2 sight mount holes that were drilled and tapped went right through the barrel into the bore (maybe 1.5 inches away from the muzzle). Essentially this would allow the pressure in the barrel to put force on the 2 screws that hold the front sight. Anyway I guess one of those screws let go and blew the sight off my rifle. After that we stopped shooting that gun. When I got home and was able to do a more thorough inspection and realized the last inch of my barrel is also swollen or expanded slightly. I've never seen this with a .22 considering its a relatively mild cartridge. Anyone have an experience like this? Being such a cheap gun I dont want to invest in a new barrel, I guess I'll have to cut off 2 inches and re crown. :mad:
 
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“prohibited firearm” means


  • (b) a firearm that is adapted from a rifle or shotgun, whether by sawing, cutting or any other alteration, and that, as so adapted,
    • (i) is less than 660 mm in length, or
    • (ii) is 660 mm or greater in length and has a barrel less than 457 mm in length,
 
legi0n said:
“prohibited firearm” means


  • (b) a firearm that is adapted from a rifle or shotgun, whether by sawing, cutting or any other alteration, and that, as so adapted,
    • (i) is less than 660 mm in length, or
    • (ii) is 660 mm or greater in length and has a barrel less than 457 mm in length,
Click to expand...

Ah crap, your right, The 702 has an 18" barrel so couldn't be shortened anyway... ####ty. Mossberg' getting a letter..lol
 
Sounds like you had a barrel obstruction, quite possibly from an underpowered fired cartridge, and firing another cleared the obstruction but also swelled the barrel. Firing again produced the crack and the loss of the sight.
 
Not sure what you consider mild, but the .22LR can operate at pressures equal to some centerfire cartridges. 24,000PSI even a .22 short can be up to 21,000PSI SAAMI max pressure. Failures can and do happen as you experienced due to the pressures.

A squib stuck in the bore and not caught by the shooter could very well cause the damage you describe. Doubt there was anything wrong with the barrel.
 
yeah i would look into creating a muzzle break on it drill a few more holes or just get another rifle thats the great thing about affordable models use replace repeat
 
I'm wondering if it's legal for the gunsmith to chop the barrel, crown it and weld a muzzlebrake on it to reach the original 18"?
 
I had a similar experience with a su16, I had a flash hider pinned on. There was 3 small indents drilled into the barrel where the set screws could go through the flash hider and grab on the barrel. One of these indents was drilled completely through the barrel. My obstruction was a laser bore sighter. It didn't make any extra sound but the flash hider and barrel split ,where the whole was. No bulges though and no more laser bore sighter :)
 
legi0n said:
I'm wondering if it's legal for the gunsmith to chop the barrel, crown it and weld a muzzlebrake on it to reach the original 18"?
Click to expand...

No go. The barrel is the chambered/rifled part. Can't add any non rifled parts to get extra length. Could reline but any other option is probably more than a new gun
 
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