My JW-15 backpacker went boom
- Thread starter Miles Teg
- Start date
That is the question, I have to say that the chamber looks very thin where it broke off. I bought the gun used so it probably has no warranty.
problem
With a semi-automatic rifle, it is possible that the rifle could be fired out of battery, that is, when the bolt is not fully closed and locked. With this rifle, a bolt action, this is an unlikely situation.
I would tend to suspect the ammunition first, because the rifle being used is a bolt action rifle. It looks like a ruptured case, where the rim has blown out, and the usual cause of this is an overcharge of primer, powder, or weak brass at that point.
Did the rupture occur at the point where the firing pin hit? Approximately how many rounds have been fired in the rifle normally?
From the picture, it looks like the rest of the rim on the case is more or less normal in size and not bulged out a lot, especially in thickness. If this is the case, then the cartridge was probably chambered and the bolt closed, so the ammunition is more suspect.
A firing pin that is too long, or too sharp and not properly rounded on the end can cause case failures in the .22 rimfire. Do you have any older cartridge cases you have fired in this rifle to compare with this ruptured one?
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With a semi-automatic rifle, it is possible that the rifle could be fired out of battery, that is, when the bolt is not fully closed and locked. With this rifle, a bolt action, this is an unlikely situation.
I would tend to suspect the ammunition first, because the rifle being used is a bolt action rifle. It looks like a ruptured case, where the rim has blown out, and the usual cause of this is an overcharge of primer, powder, or weak brass at that point.
Did the rupture occur at the point where the firing pin hit? Approximately how many rounds have been fired in the rifle normally?
From the picture, it looks like the rest of the rim on the case is more or less normal in size and not bulged out a lot, especially in thickness. If this is the case, then the cartridge was probably chambered and the bolt closed, so the ammunition is more suspect.
A firing pin that is too long, or too sharp and not properly rounded on the end can cause case failures in the .22 rimfire. Do you have any older cartridge cases you have fired in this rifle to compare with this ruptured one?
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That is a very typical arrangement on a rimfire chamber/barrel, it comes to nearly a knife edge where the extractors have to bite on the rim.
Mark
Had some bad A-1 ammo(yugoslavian) in 22 short blow the extractor out of my High Standard Olympic Rapid Fire gun, with blinding powder burn to my eyes, even with my saftey glases, had a complete case seperation!
I would contact a Winchester Rep, and inquire about if anything they can do for you, also since it is a new gun, talk to your dealer about return or replacement. Clearly this looks to be no fault of yours. Good luck and may this never happen to you again!
Dale Z!
I would contact a Winchester Rep, and inquire about if anything they can do for you, also since it is a new gun, talk to your dealer about return or replacement. Clearly this looks to be no fault of yours. Good luck and may this never happen to you again!
Dale Z!
Looking at the photo of the barrel breech, it is pretty hard to see where any steel is missing from the barrel. Looks as if there is a tiny chip at the center of the very edge of the right hand extractor cut, but I doubt it is the cause. Is there a chip at the extractor cut/chamber mouth area on the left side? Hard to see. If there is, this might be the culprit. If you study the barrel breechfaces and bolt faces of various .22s, it is not unusual for there to be areas of the rim that are not supported. Inspect enough cases fried in enough different rifles, and you will see cases that have bulged into unsuported areas. Burst .22 cases are not unheard of. Maybe it was a bad round. Maybe there is a problem with the rifle. I just can't tell from the photo. Maybe a bad round caused damage to the rifle, maybe the rifle contributed to the blown case. Are the other cases normal in the area where that one failed?
The chip is very slight and its on the left side of the chamber, unfortunately my camera won't capture it. No one at Winchester seems interested so I guess I have a Norinco paper weight. I can't even throw it in the garbage because of the registry.
Registry or not, you would still need to notify the CFC or a peace officer if you're disposing of a firearm (and have to dispose of it properly, of course). Dumping it in the garbage is not a good idea to begin with, whether it would be legal or not.
That said, this is the first time I actually see a kaboom caused by a .22LR round. What's even more amazing is that this is a bolt gun... I mean, with the low velocity and relatively low weight of a .22LR round, who would've thought that those suckers actually have the capacity of turning a bolt rifle into a mini pipe bomb, even with an accidental double charge at the factory? Wow... That, plus most .22LR chambers/barrels I've seen are also the same grade as those used on .22WMR versions of the same gun, and that's a round which has way more pressure and velocity than .22LR.
I guess no caliber is to be underestimated and deserves proper respect. I usually don't even bother with safety glasses when shooting .22LR, as I've always considered them as simply bigger/faster pellet guns only a squirrel might fear (if it's staring directly onto the gun's business end). I still can't wrap my head around how that round created enough pressure to blow out the back of the rifle, instead of having all the pressure/gasses escape through the bore.
Live 'n' learn, huh?
x2. Not getting this. I own one of these, and let my kids shoot it...so I sort of hope you find and answer (somehow) and post it here. We all wear safety glasses, and I only shoot subsonic or CB longs anyway but still...something seems strange about this one.
OK, there is a little chip gone where the left extractor cut and the chamber meet.
But the case blew on the right side, dislodging the right hand extractor? And the rupture wasn't in front of the rim, it included the rim.
In a lot of .22 designs, there are areas of the case which are not supported. Usually this does not result in problems.
Occasionally a .22 case does fail, and the results are what you observed. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I very much doubt that it was an over load, double charge, etc.
If the rifle were mine, I would take it out and run a number of rounds through it, with my face turned away from the action. I would carefully inspect the fired cases, looking for bulges, etc. I would be very curious about the cause, and would try to determine the cause.
.22 ammunition is made by the billion, sometimes there is the odd bad case.
But the case blew on the right side, dislodging the right hand extractor? And the rupture wasn't in front of the rim, it included the rim.
In a lot of .22 designs, there are areas of the case which are not supported. Usually this does not result in problems.
Occasionally a .22 case does fail, and the results are what you observed. Doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I very much doubt that it was an over load, double charge, etc.
If the rifle were mine, I would take it out and run a number of rounds through it, with my face turned away from the action. I would carefully inspect the fired cases, looking for bulges, etc. I would be very curious about the cause, and would try to determine the cause.
.22 ammunition is made by the billion, sometimes there is the odd bad case.
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
I had a problem sort of like that with a Soviet Toz-17 rifle and just normal .22 ammo. Thinking about that incident, there was no damage to the Toz-17 but the rim where the firing pin hit the case blew out sort of like your casing, and blew a lot of gas back in my face, however iirc the bullet left the barrel. I think that particular incident with the Toz might have been enhanced by a very sharp firing pin face, but now, 30 yrs after it happened, I don't know for sure.
In another incident, a family relative was out with his woman shooting a Winchester 490, he was using the surplus .22 rimfire DND ammo and the rim blew out quite like your incident, the (detonation)
for lack of a better word of the round when the firing pin hit had enough force to blow the casing into brass shrapnel and put a little 'wave' for lack of a better word, into the receiver. Otherwise the rifle was okay, and his woman was okay, but pretty distracted by the brass shrapnel coming out of the chamber area and the ejection port.
In another incident, a family relative was out with his woman shooting a Winchester 490, he was using the surplus .22 rimfire DND ammo and the rim blew out quite like your incident, the (detonation)
for lack of a better word of the round when the firing pin hit had enough force to blow the casing into brass shrapnel and put a little 'wave' for lack of a better word, into the receiver. Otherwise the rifle was okay, and his woman was okay, but pretty distracted by the brass shrapnel coming out of the chamber area and the ejection port.
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Actually the left extractor blew out and the case blew out on the left side as well.
I have read a few threads on mis-loaded Winchester ammo...One Cooey (split barrel) and, one pistol.
...I made a stupid post in the pistol one...looked through my "subscribed threads" and, didn't see 'em.
I've also experienced the CRAZY LOUD bell-bottomed blow-out in a semi (thunderbolt ammo, left itself in barrel).
...I made a stupid post in the pistol one...looked through my "subscribed threads" and, didn't see 'em.
I've also experienced the CRAZY LOUD bell-bottomed blow-out in a semi (thunderbolt ammo, left itself in barrel).
echo
I'm a touch surprised too...the other threads [I've alluded to but, can't find] mentioned a Winnie recall of .22lr (once I find those threads!!!)
I'm a touch surprised too...the other threads [I've alluded to but, can't find] mentioned a Winnie recall of .22lr (once I find those threads!!!)
