Blew up my Mini Master

vagrantviking

vagrantviking

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Just picked this up on the EE a few weeks back and had it to the range 3 or 4 times.

Last night I put 5 rounds of .22 Mag through it and probably 40-50 rounds of .22LR Winchester Xpert when it suddenly started to sound louder and throw more sparks than normal. I was concentrating on sight picture so probably fired 2 more than I should have before it sunk in that something really wasn't right and stopped for a closer look. You get the odd round that sounds funny with bulk ammo so I didn't twig to an issue as fast as usual.

Anyone heard of any similar issues with Mini Master? Any experience with taking issues to NAA?
Kodiak Outpost is still listed as the Canadian dealer on the NAA site but anyone know of any other Canadian outfits that might be able to handle warranty issues?

An email to NAA will be the next thing on my list.
 
That looks exactly like a 22LR auto rifle I did in one time. 22LR has a more energy than one gives it credit for.

M
 
From all I've read about NAA they'll be more than happy to replace the gun. The trick will be in working with NAA and one of our importers working to do the paper work needed to get the replacement into Canada.

You'll also likely need to be a little patient since this is one of the special longer barrels made for Canada. They may not just have one sitting on the shelf.
 
Can-down said:
Any idea on what caused it?
Is the bore obstructed?
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Unagi604 said:
i wonder if the cylinder was out of alignment or something
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I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out just what happened...

Don't think that it could have been out of alignment as its a very positive action and there is no sign at all of lead or fouling around the outside of the forcing cone anyplace.

That leaves the obstruction idea. I had already fired 8-10 cylinders through it so it wasn't anything like a patch or foreign object. That leaves a bullet in the bore as the only possibiliy I can imagine. I've never had a .22 leave a bullet in the bore of any gun before though. Every dud has always left the bullet in the case. Even most centerfire duds haven't pushed the bullet far enough that another round would chamber.
Maybe , MAYBE the last shot in the previous cylinder had been a squib that left the bullet in the barrel when I just thought I had lost count and tried to get 6 shots out of a 5 shot revolver. Can't feel any bulge or ring in the barrel but the first 1.75 inches is definitely very loose compared to the rest of it now...
 
I fired a few cylinders of .22lr in the mag cylinder when I got them mixed up the cases didn't split but I noticed the different point of impact and that clued me in but maybe if a case had split a piece of brass could get lodged in the barrel?
Hopefully NAA will take care of it quickly for you!
 
Doesn't look like an obstruction to me - looks more like a casting flaw...which would definitely be better if it comes to warranty repair/replacement (it's obviously not "user error" that way).

Just glad you weren't hurt. Man, that really came apart!
 
Thanks to all for the concern. No parts seperated and you have to keep all your fleshy bits behind the cylinder gap anyway so there wasn't much potential for real harm which I'm thankful for.

Master-G said:
.22LR should not be fired in a cylinder meant for .22 Magnum since the latter has a larger case diameter and, as Can-down mentioned upthread you'll get split cases. I'm also guessing that may contributed to the problem.
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Made that mistake years ago in a cheaper single shot .22 mag. Quickly got tired of the itchy spray on my face and decided not to do it anymore. ;)
In this case I was using the correct cylinders for each cartridge and none of the cases looked any different than normal so that couldn't have contributed to what happened. I'm tending toward there being an existing flaw in the metal. Looked flawless a moment before though.
 
Ganderite said:
At least we can't blame bad handloads.
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I'm pretty glad for that actually. If it had happened with reloads in a centerfire:
A) The results probably would have been a lot worse and
B) I would be blaming myself and it would be something of a blow to my confidence as a reloader whether that was the cause or not.

I feel better knowing it wasn't directly due to an error that I made.
 
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