Exploding .22 cartridge

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SPACEFORCE

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Ok so long story short fired about 40 rounds of ELEY .22lr semi-auto benchrest outlaw through a basically brand new KIDD barrel and on the 42nd or so shot had a round stuck in the barrel which I tried to eject wouldn't so fired and the round went off then the casing ejected.
Second round in same thing happened so dropped the magazine tried to eject the round but again stuck left the rifle pointing down range in case of a hangfire but nothing so fired again and the round exploded in the breech causing some shrapnel and smoke but the casing then stuck in the barrel.
Dislodged the casing no bullet stuck in the barrel so not a squib more an over pressure.

I posted on another forum and this described exactly what occurred to me...

"The case rupture as described, cutting the head clean off
and leaving the rest of the brass in the chamber
is caused by two possibilities. Weak or split brass,
due to the cupping and heading process, or,
too much primer/powder which causes a chamber pressure
much higher than is intended for a rimfire cartridge.
I've had it happen with 22lr, 22wmr, 17hmr and hm2."

So I got hold of a bore camera to check for damage and all I can see is the one hole in the throat of the barrel but all the rifling looks good.
Is a hole going to cause issues with the barrel?
I've contacted ELEY to explain what happened and have some ammo leftover so would they be responsible for any damage or is just a SOL scenario?
I'll try to attach the photo here and see if I can find the casing to post a photo.WIN_20240915_13_58_17_Pro.jpgWIN_20240915_13_59_13_Pro.jpg
 
Wowza :eek: Now, it's hard to tell if that's actually a hole, without being personally able to manipulate the borescope back and forth, rotate it and see how the light catches the feature... it might even be a little buildup of lead and/or carbon. Either way, it has nothing to do with a case blowing out. Knock on wood I've never had a case blowout, though I have had bulging at the base due to excessive headspace. There's something to be said about bolt actions and always knowing the bolt is fully closed, though ;) As far as Eley goes... They're probably going to say it's your responsibility to ensure your firearm functions properly... for one how you prove their product was defective and two, they're a company out of our jurisdiction, how do you hold them accountable if actually at fault?
 
SPACE- Since you have a borescope have you made sure the chamber is clean ? 'Really' clean ? It's most likely that the 'snug' chamber of the Kidd barrel allowed a bit of carbon build up and kept the kept the round from seating completely. I had that occur with a Marlin 60 a few years ago, luckily I'm right-handed and the blow-out from the ejection port goes away from my face. It didn't quit 'cut of' the rim so an even more impressive pic. This was from shooting Fed Auto-match which is very dirty, maybe 60-100 rounds (I forget the actual count). I now clean after each range trip, even at 50 rounds sometimes.
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DSCN7097.jpg
 
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Years ago I had a Ruger Mk 1 do a similar thing, it fired "out of battery" and split the side of the 22 casing. I kept that casing around for years as a reminder that it is always a good thing to make sure guns are kept clean.
 
old303 said:
Was the rifle built with proper headspacing between chamber and bolt?
Click to expand...
Well he said that he tried to eject it but wouldn't, so he fired it. So probably pulled it out enough to cause headspace issue. As you can fire the 10/22 with the bolt open partially.

Match chambers are picky with ammo.

Bore scopes in my opinion are not the greatest representation..Metal is porous, and not entirely smooth, you'll get inperfections in every blank, if you examine it under a microscope. Don't ever look at a engines cylinder wall. It will look like a scratchy mess.
 
Buck1950 said:
SPACE- Since you have a borescope have you made sure the chamber is clean ? 'Really' clean ? It's most likely that the 'snug' chamber of the Kidd barrel allowed a bit of carbon build up and kept the kept the round from seating completely. I had that occur with a Marlin 60 a few years ago, luckily I'm right-handed and the blow-out from the ejection port goes away from my face. It didn't quit 'cut of' the rim so an even more impressive pic. This was from shooting Fed Auto-match which is very dirty, maybe 60-100 rounds (I forget the actual count). I now clean after each range trip, even at 50 rounds sometimes.
View attachment 820099
View attachment 820100
Click to expand...
Good point I mean I cleaned the bore and barrel but might be worth going over it again.
Yours looks exactly like mine except I don't have the end.
 
old303 said:
Was the rifle built with proper headspacing between chamber and bolt?
Click to expand...
I had the barrel and receiver put together by a local gunsmith and I've already fired around 300 rounds without an issue over three range visits.
Cleaned in between too.
That day I'd fired about 40 rounds of the same ammo no issue.
I'm thinking now it was the bolt not being closed properly as mentioned by others.
 
Just did a test with my 1022.. I used feeler gauges to space out the bolt. I could get the hammer to drop past 0.115" of gap. But .022" to .0224" I had ignition.

Every firing pin can be different and I was getting light strikes up to .045 of gap. So out of battery can happen with a 1022.
 
OkayShooter said:
Just did a test with my 1022.. I used feeler gauges to space out the bolt. I could get the hammer to drop past 0.115" of gap. But .022" to .0224" I had ignition.

Every firing pin can be different and I was getting light strikes up to .045 of gap. So out of battery can happen with a 1022.
Click to expand...
That's very interesting, so I'm thinking my current receiver is a C71 SBI and the Bolt is from SBI too and they both have a black material which unless well oiled feels much dryer than the stock 10-22 set which seems to be a bit more forgiving on cleaning in between range time.
The SBI definitely needs a bit more oil and now I'd say a definite clean after each range session to stop the bolt being "sticky" which I think now is what caused the issue, that and the ammo I was using from ELEY has a lot of wax on the bullet which added to the guminess and prbably an out of battery malfunction.
 
That Eley ammo is designed for use in semi auto platform rifles. Targeted fo CRPS,NRL and outlaw competition plus all the USA style precision matches . If your bolt is not smooth that’s a problem and as stated by others they will fire with the bolt not fully closed. As far as trying to remove unfired rounds from the chamber and not ejecting. That’s common with Kidd barrels and some ammo engages the rifling on chambering making extraction of unfired rounds sometimes difficult. Firing the round is sometimes the only solution just make sure the bolts fully closed.
 
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