M14 out of battery experience

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Rdrash

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Hello I was at the range last week, when a friend of mine that was shooting his m305 experienced an out of the battery detonation. This got all of our attention. The bolt disassembled it self and the case neck is stuck in the chamber. Is there any really good m14 gunsmiths around that people have used ? The question to be answered Is why it happened?
Trevor
 
Well, the obvious guesses are stuck firing pin or soft primers, but more details and an examination of the rifle would be needed to make a firm determination.
 
Every time you disassemble then reassemble a m305 make sure to test the trigger. Pull the trigger and keep it depressed then cycle the action if there is a click when you let off the trigger and the hammer is back your gtg if the hammer follows the bolt home then you have a problem with the fitment of your triger group in your stock and it must be addressed. There is a lot of information in the sticky posts at the top of this section. I have witnessed guns going 2and3 round burst but I have never seen one let rip out of battery.
 
Glad it was not worse!

Always keep the firing pin channel clean and dry so that the firing pin rattles when you shake the bolt. This will reduce chances of a protruding firing pin causing a slamfire or OOB detonation. Also as mentioned, if they are reloads that were being used, avoid soft primers like federal. I have used lots of winchester and cci primers without issue so far.

Hopefully your friend can get his gun up and running with just a new bolt and a new fresh pair of underwear!
 
Thanks everyone. As far as a slam fire goes the primer was hit hard and I thought if it was a slam fire it would show a lighter firing pin strike? And the rifle did pass the firing pin test.
 
aric84 said:
Glad it was not worse!

Always keep the firing pin channel clean and dry so that the firing pin rattles when you shake the bolt. This will reduce chances of a protruding firing pin causing a slamfire or OOB detonation.
Click to expand...

For those of us shooting in cold weather, any oil or grease in the firing pin channel will act as an adhesive and hold the firing pin forward in the channel, instead of allowing the pin to float. I am not sure what speed the breech block is doing when it is being forced home under spring pressure but if the firing pin is held in the extreme forward position by thick oil or grease, it will meet the primer well before the bolt locks up.
 
ipscgraz said:
For those of us shooting in cold weather, any oil or grease in the firing pin channel will act as an adhesive and hold the firing pin forward in the channel, instead of allowing the pin to float. I am not sure what speed the breech block is doing when it is being forced home under spring pressure but if the firing pin is held in the extreme forward position by thick oil or grease, it will meet the primer well before the bolt locks up.
Click to expand...

Well...by design the firing pin should not be able to reach the primer until the round is chambered and bolt locked.
The receiver bridge retracts and blocks the firing pin until the bolt rotates into battery, the extractor slips over the rim at a point where the firing pin is blocked/retracted.
Now that's on a proper built to spec gun...we know tolerances are a little sloppy on Chinese rifles so IMHO that is where many of these Kabooms are coming from.
I said the same thing 10+ years ago but nobody seemed to care. I think the receiver bridge is the most important safety feature in the M1/M14 designs and should be one of the first things checked and corrected.
 
WHAT AMMO WAS USED??

I have seen these problems with MFS and american eagle.

I question an out of battery experience if the case is actually stuck in the chamber. I would bet it was a case failure with the bolt either in battery or "just about there" , but i did not come here to speculate.

I've seen many instances where portions if a case where stuck in the chamber and after full inpections 9 times out of 10 I ruled it the fault of the ammo. Another thing that leads me to a case failure is the bolt disassembling itself but not "breaking" and no obvious damage or peening of bolt contact points on the reciever.
An out of battery detonation in an M14 type rifle will in most cases blow the magazine out the bottom of the rifle as designed so while I'm speculating again..... I doubt this was what occured in this rifle.

so again.... what ammo?
 
I have to agree with 45acp here....

I recently recieved back one of my custom builds from the fella who bought it. It experienced an OOB, and other than a new Magazine, extractor and spring there was no damage to the rifle. The rifle specs out perfectly, here was no way the firing pin touched off the round. After a full inspection, the only remaining culprit was ammunition. I’m currently in communication with the distributor and manufacturer of the ammunition to see what they are willing to do.

I cannot stress this enough fellas, but always use ammo designed for the platform, and always inspect it before loading it into magazines to ensure the primers are seated properly.

John
 
I appreciate the input as I am no expert. The ammo was federal 150 grain cheapo stuff: I guessed it was oob because we found the case head 10 feet away (give or take). More of the case was caught in the closed action and the case neck appears to have expanded and is in the chamber. Sorry if I’m not explaining this very well.
 
CanAm said:
was it single loaded, or from the mag?
what ammo?
Click to expand...

That's what I'm wondering. Was a single round placed in the chamber & the bolt let fly onto it? (IE, the round(s) were not loaded into a mag, mag inserted into the firearm & bolt released...)

Cheers
Jay
 
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