Jwirecom109
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Rural Alberta
x2
Laugh if you want to, but I'm going to start wearing gloves again.
I never stopped, just smart to wear gloves for not just the oh #### moments, abut also picking up hot brass etc etc
KABOOOOOM!! FN Five-Seven exploded!
- Thread starter bellero
- Start date
I never stopped, just smart to wear gloves for not just the oh #### moments, abut also picking up hot brass etc etc
Armored Metal
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- The People's Republik of Kébekistan
I saw a G17 blow-up once (handloads). It was nothing compared to that guy's FN...scary.
- Location
- Southern Ontario
Looking at the pix and without the benefit of a VERY close forensic look-see, my initial reaction is that (a) the pistol did indeed fire out of battery; and (b) the cartridge being loaded suffered a misfeed as can be seen from all of the brass floating around outside of the chamber. There is also the very real possibility that the cartridge was over-pressure for the gun and that the back simply blew off/open on ignition. The fact that there does not, at first glance, appear to be anything resembling a bullet (neither from the round fired nor from a prior round) in view would lead one to believe that the round DID fire and expell the bullet but that the bullet may have been out of tolerance (i.e. out of round, etc.). So many possibilities... it is possible as well that the cartridge was simply out of round, did not feed completely but just enough to provide battery for the firing pin to do its job, etc.
This is going to be a puzzle for a forensic firearms expert it seems to me. The fact that there is brass exposed in the breach can mean many different things, not the least of which is that the gun fired out of battery. It can also mean that the overpressure pushed the brass backwards and outwards as well. In many cases it will be impossible to determine the exact cause of the mishap and a list of possibilities will be presented. At first blush this looks like a case of firing out of battery (very rare with all of the safeguards built in... just the inertial firing pin would prevent this mishap). Taking a closer look, it appears to be a misfeed, where the chamber actually closed flat against the cartridge and the firing pin made contact with the primer, excessive pressure causing the brass to be forced backwards and rupture. A picture of the pistol just after the mishap would have been of use in obtaining more information on the reasons why this occured but the bottom line is that it is very rare on modern firearms with inertial firing pins and firing pin blocks; leading one to look more towards excessive pressure forcing the chamber open, the cartridge out of its seat and rupturing the REAR of the cartridge casing to the extent it appears to be ruptured.
I wouldn't mess with any of it and I would not let it out of my hands to the manufacturer or its representatives but rather to an independant forensic firearms laboratory... you are going to need an impartial evaluation in order to enter same in evidence should you need to go to court to resolve this issue; your own insurance may pay up front and may want the same.
I would get the hand fixed first and foremost; hire the best attorney you can find with expertise in these matters specifically and give notice that a Claim is forthcoming and the reasons for same in general terms.
I send best wishes for a speedy recovery from this mishap and more importantly a full recovery. I have a cousin that took a .45ACP hollowpoint round in the hand and it amazes me what they are able to do these days.
Best of luck to you and yours.
This is going to be a puzzle for a forensic firearms expert it seems to me. The fact that there is brass exposed in the breach can mean many different things, not the least of which is that the gun fired out of battery. It can also mean that the overpressure pushed the brass backwards and outwards as well. In many cases it will be impossible to determine the exact cause of the mishap and a list of possibilities will be presented. At first blush this looks like a case of firing out of battery (very rare with all of the safeguards built in... just the inertial firing pin would prevent this mishap). Taking a closer look, it appears to be a misfeed, where the chamber actually closed flat against the cartridge and the firing pin made contact with the primer, excessive pressure causing the brass to be forced backwards and rupture. A picture of the pistol just after the mishap would have been of use in obtaining more information on the reasons why this occured but the bottom line is that it is very rare on modern firearms with inertial firing pins and firing pin blocks; leading one to look more towards excessive pressure forcing the chamber open, the cartridge out of its seat and rupturing the REAR of the cartridge casing to the extent it appears to be ruptured.
I wouldn't mess with any of it and I would not let it out of my hands to the manufacturer or its representatives but rather to an independant forensic firearms laboratory... you are going to need an impartial evaluation in order to enter same in evidence should you need to go to court to resolve this issue; your own insurance may pay up front and may want the same.
I would get the hand fixed first and foremost; hire the best attorney you can find with expertise in these matters specifically and give notice that a Claim is forthcoming and the reasons for same in general terms.
I send best wishes for a speedy recovery from this mishap and more importantly a full recovery. I have a cousin that took a .45ACP hollowpoint round in the hand and it amazes me what they are able to do these days.
Best of luck to you and yours.
It happened to me about 20 years ago with a FEG P9R. The brass from my gun looked just like the brass in this gun. You can clearly see the bolt imprint in the top left part of the pic.
My gun didn't turn to shrapnel like your friend's but the slide did get bent and the extractor embedded itself in the wall of the shooting stall. The chamber lost a triangular shaped piece of metal. The only ill effect I had was a numb hand for several days.
In my case the firing pin didn't retract and it fired off the next round being fed before getting it into the chamber. Grime and crud were the culprits (my fault for not doing a better cleaning job). I have kept this case in my cleaning kit all these years to remind me to clean the firing pin housing so that this doesn't happen again.
Pass on my best to your buddy and wish him a speedy recovery for me.
My gun didn't turn to shrapnel like your friend's but the slide did get bent and the extractor embedded itself in the wall of the shooting stall. The chamber lost a triangular shaped piece of metal. The only ill effect I had was a numb hand for several days.
In my case the firing pin didn't retract and it fired off the next round being fed before getting it into the chamber. Grime and crud were the culprits (my fault for not doing a better cleaning job). I have kept this case in my cleaning kit all these years to remind me to clean the firing pin housing so that this doesn't happen again.
Pass on my best to your buddy and wish him a speedy recovery for me.
Wow! That is a bad kaboom! 
Best wishes for the fellow.
I'm not a polymer fan myself, but I keep hearing talk that the polymer they use in guns is stronger than steel.
Since the guy admitted to FN that he used reloads I think his chances are slim.
Best wishes for the fellow.I'm not a polymer fan myself, but I keep hearing talk that the polymer they use in guns is stronger than steel.
Since the guy admitted to FN that he used reloads I think his chances are slim.
Wow! That is a bad kaboom!
I'm not a polymer fan myself, but I keep hearing talk that the polymer they use in guns is stronger than steel.
Since the guy admitted to FN that he used reloads I think his chances are slim.
Per weight polymer can be stronger, but not nessisarily per thickness.
Hmm... something always told me to stick with metal guns. Maybe what you said about thickness is the reason.
Actually the guy said the kaboom happened with factory ammo. But FN will still likely say no warranty once one round of reloads has gone through it.
Others mentioned it looks like an out of battery detonation, as the barrel looks OK.
Proof...% of it happening with the total number of FN Five seveN's out there? I have seen EVERY type/make of gun have issues and blow. Every.
Lots of individual guns have issues, I agree. Most guns will not however, fire out of battery, assuming that there are no broken parts or other issues. This particular gun will fire out of battery, it's not a good design.
If you like the gun, great, I'm glad. Go right ahead and enjoy it. I believe there are circumstances that can occur with that design that can cause an out of battery ignition, therefore I will not own one, nor will I shoot one - even for free. One of the joys of what little freedom we still have.
Fair enough.
The Ruger 10/22 has the same problem, just to put the other side of the coin out there, that there are some very popular firearms that can fire OOB.
That said, you made me a touch curious about just how far out of battery the gun could actually fire, so I pulled out my FN and some fired brass and decided to do a little unscientific test.
I am not trying to argue any points here, just showing my observations.
I used a green marker to cover the firing pin mark to tell if the primer is getting any kind of a strike from the firing pin, and tried holding back the slide in a clamp with a set of calipers to measure the increments it was held back.
To get a proper test I would really need unfired primers, but I don't have any hot cases handy at the moment, so the once fired will have to do for now.
At 0.10" out of battery, the firing pin did strike the primer and wore off some of the marker.
At 0.15" however, with a new piece of brass, there was no marking whatsoever on the marker, indicating that while the firing pin may still have dropped, and possibly still set off a match grade primer in a reload, but less likely with the hard primer in the factory loads, and it will certainly not strike the primer hard.
My personal opinion is that user error in some form, be it reloading errors or severe lack of maintenance, have caused the OOB detonations.
Fair enough.
The Ruger 10/22 has the same problem, just to put the other side of the coin out there, that there are some very popular firearms that can fire OOB.
That said, you made me a touch curious about just how far out of battery the gun could actually fire, so I pulled out my FN and some fired brass and decided to do a little unscientific test.
I am not trying to argue any points here, just showing my observations.
I used a green marker to cover the firing pin mark to tell if the primer is getting any kind of a strike from the firing pin, and tried holding back the slide in a clamp with a set of calipers to measure the increments it was held back.
To get a proper test I would really need unfired primers, but I don't have any hot cases handy at the moment, so the once fired will have to do for now.
At 0.10" out of battery, the firing pin did strike the primer and wore off some of the marker.
At 0.15" however, with a new piece of brass, there was no marking whatsoever on the marker, indicating that while the firing pin may still have dropped, and possibly still set off a match grade primer in a reload, but less likely with the hard primer in the factory loads, and it will certainly not strike the primer hard.
My personal opinion is that user error in some form, be it reloading errors or severe lack of maintenance, have caused the OOB detonations.
Wow Kevin, you're making us all look bad by delivering real information. Could you just spout off about "poly crap" and leave it at that?
So, one kaboom, out of how many guns, how many rounds, how many shooters? Sounds like it's not a gun design problem, it's a broken gun, or a bad round, either of which is not unheard of.
