Blew up my AR today. KABOOM!

This has indeed been a CGN thread. A mixture of hating, fanboyishness, fear mongering, wild uninformed speculation and extremely informative post from folks who know their stuff. (Thanks C77 and Sup!)
Well done CGN!

Glad you're okay Rust. Sucks about the gun but you've got a great story.
 
Wouldn't want 'em any other way
themarauder said:
This has indeed been a CGN thread. A mixture of hating, fanboyishness, fear mongering, wild uninformed speculation and extremely informative post from folks who know their stuff. (Thanks C77 and Sup!)
Well done CGN!

Glad you're okay Rust. Sucks about the gun but you've got a great story.
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Odd Shot said:
so in a case like this where the ammo caused the catastrophic failure, I assume the rifle manufacturer, distributor or retailer would be free of any liability or customer service obligation, and the owner of the rifle would have to eat the cost?
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Anything imported from China, the importer essentially becomes the manufacturer in the eyes of the courts.
 
Rust glad you are OK, thanks for sharing this with us. I hope someone in the supply side helps you out getting an upper squared away again. The rifle itself performed as it should have containing the separation, my Nork M-4 was 100% reliable as well. As a matter of fact, if no one in the supply chain help's you out, pm me, I'll see what I can do to help you put an upper back together.

As to the ammo itself I think C-77 and Hiltzy have covered that quite well. Again a thread that should open up everyone's eyes to the need of wearing good quality shooting glasses by everyone around firearms. They won't work well on the muzzle end of a rifle, but most kaboom's in rifles and handguns are survivable with minimum injury i.e. cut's, bruise's etc. A lost eye however is a bad day in any activity.
 
I would like to post an update to resolve this thing. Definitely owe it to all of you for following and your advice.

I got a full replacement Norinco AR from the distributor via the retailer last month. This thread I believe greatly helped the process. A member here PM'ed me with direct contact info for the distributor. That really got things rolling.

My replacement AR took a bit of a break in period to function well but is now fine. Wanted to make sure I was happy with it before posting. No word from higher up the chain on their opinion of what went wrong.
They may feel it is ammo related as well. Hence the "this is a one time replacement in the interest of research and development" line on the paper work. Something close to that.

I am very thankful for your opinions, expertise and your offers to help a total stranger rebuild a rifle. I will pay it forward for sure. The people of the internet are real and there is an actual firearms community! Surprise surprise!

But, did this once, never want to do it again. Thanks guys.
 
thump_rrr said:
Congrats.

Did they also replace the ammo?
Are you still shooting it?
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Ammo was not reimbursed. I have about 500 rounds of left. I am sure it would shoot fine but I am better off moving to another brand for now, at least until a different batch shows up. People seemed real happy with the yellow box stuff.
I may trade my supply for 9mm or 7.62 x 51. In the other persons favor of course.
Any takers?
Trick ammo, great conversation starters, impress your best gal, amuse your friends! A real wonder! Be the life of the party! For novelty purposes only.

For now I have been shooting Tulammo. I know it can be problematic as well but it hasn't misbehaved yet.
I was fortunate enough to have the rifle replaced. Was not going to push my luck by going after the ammo too.
 
rick'o'shea said:
Great... I've got practically a full case of the same ammo...
Same head stamp, same dec 1995, lot 27 tho
Are there any visual clues to a bad round?
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I've shot a lot of the Norinco, and I've found the lot numbers above 20 are all showing signs of failures... I've fired about 500Rnds of lot 21 with only one noticeably "bad" round. It fired but the casing ruptured. Bottom line: avoid shooting it out of anything to really cherish, and wear your freaking safety gear!

To answer your question: No, there aren't any visual cues to a bad round.
 
Rust said:
Ammo was not reimbursed. I have about 500 rounds of left. I am sure it would shoot fine but I am better off moving to another brand for now, at least until a different batch shows up. People seemed real happy with the yellow box stuff.
I may trade my supply for 9mm or 7.62 x 51. In the other persons favor of course.
Any takers?
Trick ammo, great conversation starters, impress your best gal, amuse your friends! A real wonder! Be the life of the party! For novelty purposes only.

For now I have been shooting Tulammo. I know it can be problematic as well but it hasn't misbehaved yet.
I was fortunate enough to have the rifle replaced. Was not going to push my luck by going after the ammo too.
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I would say that if they replaced the AR and you are OK then this was a win for you. Small price for a few hundred rounds of ammo. I am glad to hear that the distributor stood behind their product and looked after you.
 
shredder said:
I'm willing to bet this is an ammo problem.

Option 1: a squib load on round #3 left a bullet in the barrel, then when round 4 goes off, there's the kaboom.

Option 2: a severely overcharged (with powder) round on #4, or pistol powder got into that case

Option 3: a set back into casing bullet created insanely high pressure that the bolt lugs couldn't handle

Can't say for sure what may have happened until we see pics of the case(s) in question.
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Option 3 is what I was wondering. Gas guns are hard on ammo.
 
Gas Can said:
My guess is "out of battery discharge".

The base looks like it was expanded circumferentially due to lack of support from the chamber, then the pressure blew out the side.

GC
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Every rifle I own, bolt or gas, has a space between the bolt head and the chamber. The rounds don't go completely inside the barrel other wise you wouldn't get the spent shell casings out. There is enough room there for the round to expand.
 
Brappp306 said:
Why do people even run this Norc Garbage ammo haha, I'll pay the $ and run something fo decent quality... PMC, Federal, or American Eagle
Glad to hear your alright. Thanks rank!
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I normally don't buy surplus ammo but if you remember back to last year around this time there was virtually no ammo available for under $0.75 a round.

I bought 2 crates from Canada Ammo CJ 95 November Lot #19.
To be honest with you the 1/2 crate I have shot out of my 3 rifles has shot very well without the pierced primers or any other problems experienced by others.

Its accuracy is even acceptable.
I typically roll my own and now have a 6,000 round box of Hornady 55gr FMJ/with cannelure for my bulk needs.
 
This kind of failure happened on my XCR, exactly the same.

It was a reloaded case that failed, (failed in the same spot) it was a soft load so the only damage was the bolt got slapped back and stuck into place, mag blew out the bottom.
 
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