Anyone had 22lr ammo blow up?

The picture shows a brass casing with a burst head. According to George E. Frost in the book Ammunition Making, which includes a great deal of information about .22LR, there are several causes of burst heads. His introduction to the subject, he refers to the problem pointed to above by Hitzy (highlighted below in bold)

Burst Heads in Rimfire

The worst of all rimfire casualties is a burst case head. High pressure gas, escaping through the burst section, comes back through the firing pin hole and around the bolt, carrying with it small fragments of brass and burning powder. The magazine and stock may be damaged, the extractor blown out, and, worst of all, the shooter may be struck in the eye or on the face with brass fragments. The burst makes a loud bang close to the ears which is most unpleasant. Frequently, though not always, the bullet is left part way along the barrel by the sudden drop in pressure. With the bullet left in the barrel, a following shot will surely ring the barrel, producing a visible bulge. All of these things are bad. What causes a burst head? Some of the causes are:

High pressure
Heading defect
Thin, soft brass
Headspace
Sharp chamber mouth
Lack of head support
Revolver design, as regards the cylinder
Failure to fully close

From George E. Frost, Ammunition Making, pages 112-113.

It may not be possible to confirm in this forum which cause of a burst head occured in the OP's case.
 
Thank you for taking the time to type that out, very I interesting information.

grauhanen said:
The picture shows a brass casing with a burst head. According to George E. Frost in the book Ammunition Making, which includes a great deal of information about .22LR, there are several causes of burst heads. His introduction to the subject, he refers to the problem pointed to above by Hitzy (highlighted below in bold)

Burst Heads in Rimfire

The worst of all rimfire casualties is a burst case head. High pressure gas, escaping through the burst section, comes back through the firing pin hole and around the bolt, carrying with it small fragments of brass and burning powder. The magazine and stock may be damaged, the extractor blown out, and, worst of all, the shooter may be struck in the eye or on the face with brass fragments. The burst makes a loud bang close to the ears which is most unpleasant. Frequently, though not always, the bullet is left part way along the barrel by the sudden drop in pressure. With the bullet left in the barrel, a following shot will surely ring the barrel, producing a visible bulge. All of these things are bad. What causes a burst head? Some of the causes are:

High pressure
Heading defect
Thin, soft brass
Headspace
Sharp chamber mouth
Lack of head support
Revolver design, as regards the cylinder
Failure to fully close

From George E. Frost, Ammunition Making, pages 112-113.

It may not be possible to confirm in this forum which cause of a burst head occured in the OP's case.
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a9713439 said:
I had a Remington Thunderbolt do the same a few months ago. The rifle was a Toz which has the gas escape holes, so no harm done. I attributed it to just a fluke where maybe the brass was a little thinner for some reason.
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Curious you mention this.

I've ran thunderbolts through my TOZ-8M and have had this very issue pretty consistently with that ammo in particular. None of the other stuff i've tried has done this.
 
I had the same thing happen with S&B 22 mag a few years ago, it wasn't fun with the bigger cartridge nor the poor gas mitigation of a Savage 93. Luckily the gas missed my eyes and the rifle was no worse for it and wouldn't repeat the problem. Probably a poorly formed case head in my instance.
 
Have some old Dominion that did that with a couple rounds in a Nork Scorpio bolt action. No damage, face full of smoke and hot gas, always wearing shooting glasses. Rounds got buried, not worth the hassle.
 
thegazelle said:
I could be wrong but I always thought Armscor was from the Phillippines. Think some lady owns the company. I remember my sister in law, who is Filipino, mentioning something about that...it's like one of the only, if not only gun and ammo manufacturer there. But I could be mistaken...
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You might be right...it's been 40 years and my memory is fuzzy. The three booms were memorable.
 
I have a few boxes of Winchester m22 that blows of the rim once in a 80 rounds or so in multiple guns that me and a friend of mine tried it so it could easily be ammo issue.
 
I have had winchester bulk crack on the rim and blow back. Had a winchester 22 short blow in a 1902 winchester. Was not a pleasant experience!!
 
Of all the .22 I have fired in my life, only one went badly for me. It was DND issue white box .22LR in Cadets. I was shooting a No.7 and the rim blew out the extractor slot. No damage to me or the rifle, but I lost a shot on score and it didn't help my tournament score.
 
So what we've learned here is that it could be the ammo, or not the ammo. Could be the gun, or not the gun. The round could have been in battery, or not. Excellent work, CGN detectives. Lol
 
I don't believe you stated which type of gun it was. This is generally pretty rare in a bolt action, unless there's excessive headspace. As one other poster mentioned, if it was in a semi-auto blowback, it's entirely possible the bolt was not 100% in battery, insofar the case head could have been slightly unsupported. If the barrel has a match chamber, it could also be buildup in the commencement of rifling, where the action on the forward stroke was unable to fully chamber the round. There's obviously a variety of possible reasons this could have occurred, but without any details its near impossible to say one way or another.
 
Experienced it 3 or 4 times with an old cooey repeater and cheap Winchester bulk ammo. The 333 or 555 packs, can't remember which now. I emailed Winchester and told them about it and provided the lot number. They wanted me to send the remainder back to them but I wasn't going to try to send ammo south across the border. In the end I can't remember what I did with what was left but I probably just chucked it out. This was about 10 or 12 years ago.
 
I've had something like that happen with Browning BPR in a Savage Mark II. I had a bit of smoke coming out of the vent holes and the magazine well. Brass had a small puncture at the base after firing.

It might well have been a manufacturing defect with the brass. BPR is quite hot for .22 lr (1435 fps/40gr bullet). Years later, someone suggested that I might have had some kind of bore obstruction from a previous squib round, leading to the overpressure.
 
OP I had that happen just like your photo shows shooting a fellows single shot many, many years ago. The bolt flew open and a piece of brass lodged in my eye without my knowing it. Got home and felt like I had an eyelash irritating my eye. Ended up going to emergency that evening as it worsened and found out a piece of the brass casing was lodged in my eye. Lesson learned that day? Always wear shooting glasses. I don't know if it was the fellows old gun or the ammo? There was 5 rounds in that box of 100 that were ftf's afterward in my new at the time Model 9422XTR and the one with the exploded rim shot in the fellows old Eatonia single shot. I sent a letter off to Remington at the time and they sent me 5 bricks of 100.
 
Yep, the Winchester 555 packs. I had several blow out the action of a mosburg plinkster decades ago. 7 rounds where rim completely separated leaving the brass in the chamber and unburnt powder across my hand and arm.
 
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