Aguila catastrophic failure

Hildy99

Hildy99

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Shooting some aguila rifle match though my Tikka T1X this afternoon and had a major failure. 99% sure this is an ammo issue as I have about 500 rounds of at least 10 different types (including aguila) through this rifle without an issue. Magazine still looks good but I couldn't find the spring. The magazine well is cracked and not usable. Anyone ever had this happen? What you think happened here? The round did make it out of the barrel. I've fired a whole lot of 22lr in my life and never seen this happen. I single loaded 5 rounds of SK Rifle Match after this it still seemed to shoot good.











 
Holeee smokes!

Any chance that a round got stuck in the bore when you ejected a prior live round?

That can happen with some tight chambers.
 
This was the 5th round out of the mag. They all went off so didnt eject a live round. This the the rifle match standard velocity or subsonic.
 
How do the other spent casings that didn't explode look? Is the rim excessively bulged out? If you have excessive headspace, the rim can expand beyond it's limits and blow. Crappy ammo is also a possibility, I think there was a recall for Winchester .17 ammo the other year for a similar reason.
 
Will bet on a bullet stuck un the barrel and when you fired the other this one blew.
Get a borescope..you have 98% chance to have a bulge in your barrel.
Using a cleaning rod with a jag..will also give you an indication..you will feel the bulge ..pressure on the rod to push it trough will be a bit less..
If you have a bulge..accuracy will probably be affected..but only way to know is shoot it to find out.
 
At first ,I thought it fired before seating in chamber, but than when I blow up the next picture , the wall look straight, so maybe a round with a primer over pressured or something? could be a overcharged case I suppose, That was the last round in the mag?
Save the rest of the ammo in the box and the case and mag , maybe drop a line to the company , for the hell of it.
A scub? Maybe , usually you end up with plugged barrel.
Had a fellow plug the barrel on a 6 in Python with lead/ light loads, Hammered the Cylinder open with a hammer.
He thought I should give him warranty on the gun, because the crane was bent.
 
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I was standing beside a fellow using my rifle CZ 452 using his ammunition, wildcat 22 lr. The mag blew out and popped the bottom off. 4 rounds hit the black with the fifth hitting the dirt at about 20 yards. No harm done to rifle or mag. The case head had ruptured at the bottom blowing gas into the mag. I refuse to use any Winchester wildcat ammo before this due to poor performance. We finished the match with my ammo,CCI blazer. Never had a problem with that rifle since. Weak case head was the issue.
 
This was 5th round out of the magazine and there are 4 rounds in the group I was shooting. So all rounds previous to this round exited the barrel. I did email aguila, we'll see what they say. I've shot all kinds of ammo through this thing from really cheap bulk winchester to eley tenex and not one issue.
 
Had a similar result using cci mini mag in my sako quad
For some obscure reason I had taken the magazine out for my last shot out of five
Pulled the trigger and smoke and crap poured out of the magazine slot - the brass was missing pieces and everything was black but the barrel etc was fine - thankful as it was a Lilja barrel with tight chamber - a bit hard to find
Contacted cci - they were real good and actually admitted it might be a cracked rim that then blew the gases past the outside of the case
Even gave me a few bucks to replace the box of ammo I was using but now did not trust
I still don’t recall why I pulled out the magazine but sure am grateful I did
 
TungstenJohn said:
Had a similar result using cci mini mag in my sako quad
For some obscure reason I had taken the magazine out for my last shot out of five
Pulled the trigger and smoke and crap poured out of the magazine slot - the brass was missing pieces and everything was black but the barrel etc was fine - thankful as it was a Lilja barrel with tight chamber - a bit hard to find
Contacted cci - they were real good and actually admitted it might be a cracked rim that then blew the gases past the outside of the case
Even gave me a few bucks to replace the box of ammo I was using but now did not trust
I still don’t recall why I pulled out the magazine but sure am grateful I did
Click to expand...

Do you remember if it was any louder than normal? This one that exploded in mine was VERY loud. Which leads me to believe it was a double charge or something wrong with the primer.
 
I have seen a similar failure in a 22WM in a Ruger bolt action. The case ruptured in the area of the primer strike , and the exiting gases destroyed the magazine, splitting the stock. The shooter was not injured. The ammunition manufacturer was contacted by a GS in Dawson Creek , who negotiated a settlement with the Ammo manufacturer, who replaced the firearm .
The failure was attributed to a manufacturing defect in the case head area.
 
Glad the rifle survived but its a bit unsettling even if it is 22. If this was a powder issue I don't think it would be fun in a semi auto. I catch enough burned powder and oil on my hands already.
 
The process of forming rimfire cases relies a lot on consistency of the material being fed in to the punch presses.

I'd lay my nickel down on betting that you just got bit on the arse by a whole lot of things all coming together, leaving the case head around the rim just 'that much' too thin.

I've only ever had one case blow out on me that I didn't expect (I had a Stevens Favorite that would blow cases pretty consistently) and that was a .22 Short round that split about half way around, along the seam where the rim edge was folded.
 
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