Documented Cases of Gun "Blow-ups"

Lol... gues either I'm unlucky or have just been exposed to ALOT of shooting. I've never had a KB myself, just seen alot of them...???
 
I've KB'd an M1 Carbine and an M42B. The carbine was due to an ignorant young handloader (me) that felt there was to much empty space in the case going unused, cracked the stock, broke off part of the bolt and split the trigger group body at the mag well. Definitely not the carbines fault. The M42B was another story, the KB was severe, blowing the cartridges, follower, spring and btm plate against my leg, just below the family jewels, causeing a massive bruise from my hip to my knee. The rifle was totally ruined, other than for spare parts as the receiver was bent and stretched beyond repair. Now the chamber area was fine, but receiver rails weren't. As was stated before, I found the back end of a case with the primer still in though slightly off seating bottom. The primer was indented, but not as much as when fired from the bolt in full battery position. The rest of the case was disintegrated. Upon inspection of the rifle (I had learned from a previous experience not to overload and inspect all the reloads for discrepincies) the fireing pin was found to be excessive in length, slightly over diameter and would stick in the bolt in the forward position. This is something that I should have picked up on, as there had been rumors of it happening at Lever Arms. But being young and cocky, wrote it down to uninitiated individuals not properly degreaseing the rifle, or not doing it at all. There was another incedent that happened to a fellow right beside me at the range, with an M38 swede, the receiver ring top was blown off the rifle. Upon checking things out, we found an extremely rusty bore, that he had been shooting cast bullets through a couple of months before. Back in those days, brass was hard come by and so was the knowledge and data to help. He like the rest of us had ordered a couple of thousand wooden bullet loaded cartridges from International Firearms that had corrosive primers and a flake powder, that worked fine in handgun cartridges. Along with these cartridges came enough #44 extruded powder, similar to IMR3031 and enough pulled 160grn fmj bullets to reload it all into shootable ammo. He didn't even think about the primers being corrosive, and somewhere found some cast 6.5 bullets, that were great for light loads with the flake powder and for shooting hogs and steers. After several months of cast bullet/corrosive primer shooting and no maintenance to the rifle and with hunting season comeing up he decided to hand load some of the fmj bullets to practice with, rather than useing the sole box of CIL he had to hunt with. There really isn't any need to expound on what the result was. Yes, there are KBs that happen, but to my knowledge, usually due to operator error and I include the M42B in that. After haveing duplicated PO Ackleys' experiment with the M38 Arisaka, in a questionable rifle, I have a lot of faith in milsurps and their relative strengths. To my knowledge the only thing that can overcome their strengths is operator error. bearhunter
 
Lee Enfield #4, action re-barreled with a 7.62mm Match barrel.

Ammunition failure.

Bolt head destroyed, chunk of brass from casehead lodged in RSO's shoulder.

Destruction to bolt-head was mostly in the extractor area, resulting in the extractor being missing.

Somewhere I had a scan of the X-ray around....I drove the RSO to the hospital, and we were in, saw two docs, had X-rays done, and out the door within 1 hour and 6 minutes.

RSO was NavalSniper on the board.

NS
 
A couple of well respected Ottawa area (and former Ottawa area) CGNers we all know witnessed an AG-42B blow to pieces at Stittsville Range a few years back. Really shook up the shooter (who was more or less OK) - I believe the culprit was a paritially shredded stuck case (milsurp ammo) and another fired behind it...KB...pieces of the receiver were tested at a lab for hardness post mortem and were found to be very hard (ie, almost brittle they were so hard)...

again I didn't witness this - but the sources are knowledgeable, honest and have no reason to BS on this...
 
This is a board members M1. He was loading at the range for pistols and rifles and put 50g of pistol powder in the '06 case by mistake.
garandkboom.jpg
 
blow up

Saw the aftermath of a blown up Lungman over 20 years ago at Stittsville Range west of Ottawa. Myself and Beaver455 approached the line and noticed springs, metal bits,chunks of stock etc. Followed blood trail to clubhouse (seriously). Range owner said victim had just left for hospital. Apparently bolt blew back and glanced off his head. Dont know if ammo related or what as victim was never seen again. Think Beaver455 still has parts of the gun. Never wanted a Lungman after that although do have a weakness for Ross's.
Geoff in Victoria
 
Proutfoo said:
is this really true? How come no dealers have come forth to say they are foreseeing this situation?

The only dealer I spoke to about this asked me how many cases I wanted :confused:
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Only a matter of time with the way the UN is yapping.

On the subject... I have heard a few stories about the Lungman, but when you get to the bottom of them it always seems to be some bubba with a few pages on safety missing in their reloading book.
 
The Ljungman is BARELY a milsurp anyhow. Never tested in battle. Finding them unsatisfacotyr, the Swedes themselves mothballed them and went back to using the M96 mauser action for a while before they got switched to the AK5b SLR.

It couldn't be a good as half the owners claim if the country that built them reverted to bolt action b/c they found the Ljungman to be an unsuitable service rifle ;)
 
I've obviously led a sheltered life. Never seen a KB'd rifle in person, let alone been around when it happened.

Wait a sec, would the bolt shearing in half on my AR be considered a KB? Didn't damage anything, but it was a real PITA getting the bits out.
 
Not really a milsurp, but I was talking to a gunsmith last night about this and he told me he's seen about a half dozen Parker Hale Safaris in .375 H&H grenaded after the lower receiver recoil lug gave way. Bear in mind these are standard length 98 actions with much of the feed ramp shortened and a weakened lower locking surface to begin with. Aparently, most times it was factory ammo used in well worn rifles that finally gave up the ghost.

In any even, his advice is that if you want a H&H chambered Mauser 98, use a magnum receiver with a full lower lug.

If you ever go to Gunco, ask Jason to see the magnum receiver he has there. Pretty cool. He cut two Brazilian 08's in half to make one magnum mauser and one mini-mauser. Then TIG'd them back together, including bottom metal, re machined, polished, etc. You honestly can't tell they weren't made that way ;)
 
Claven2 said:
The Ljungman is BARELY a milsurp anyhow. Never tested in battle.
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A great idea for another provocative thread. What milsurps do you collect and why?

Some only want to collect milsurps that:

- secured a place of honour in battle, avoiding those supposedly without "blood on their hands", such as for example: anything Swiss, Swedish or South American, Breda Garands, No4 MkII's, etc.
- others look down upon firearms from "the losers", and France, Italy and Japan come quickly to mind, but Germany always gets left out;
- firearms meeting the above criteria, but crude in some way (e.g. Turk and Chinese Mausers) get avoided by others;
- others collect specific types or from specific countries; and
- there are those who collection is viewed primarily as an investment

Perhaps a poll is in order?
 
I doubt yoyu can lump "Sout American" guns into countries that never saw war. Lots of small wars have been fought in South America between the countries down there. Just not well known up here ;) Also, most of them are German made stuff so they fall into the "mystique" of German Arms collecting... ;)
 
Claven2 said:
I doubt yoyu can lump "Sout American" guns into countries that never saw war. Lots of small wars have been fought in South America between the countries down there. Just not well known up here ;) Also, most of them are German made stuff so they fall into the "mystique" of German Arms collecting... ;)
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Hi

Krause publishing put out a book on mausers. Lots of history of every country that bought mauser rifles. South americans went to war lots of times.

Don't remember for sure, but I think it was Uruguay that took on three of it neighbors. When it was over they had lost 70% of the male population and 50% of the total population. ouch!
 
Not a mil surp gun but had a Stevens 311 12ga blow on me when I was a youngster..shredded left index finger. cause was obstructed barrel.

Shoot a lot of Enfields that founde to be marginal with head space.



Anyone shoot 308 Win. in the 308 NATO Ishapore Enfield?
Local gunsmith says it will blow the rifle no matter how strong the Ishapore is made.
 
I had an AG-42B that was a blowup. I got got the rifle for its stock, which was okay. The bolt sheared the receiver rails and dust cover and the underside of the bolt. I did not buy it from the shooter, but was told it had to do with the ammunition.
 
gunpaq said:
Not a mil surp gun but had a Stevens 311 12ga blow on me when I was a youngster..shredded left index finger. cause was obstructed barrel.

Shoot a lot of Enfields that founde to be marginal with head space.



Anyone shoot 308 Win. in the 308 NATO Ishapore Enfield?
Local gunsmith says it will blow the rifle no matter how strong the Ishapore is made.
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Call BS on that one. I've put hundreds of rounds through a 2A1 - no problems, no signs of excess headspace, etc. Worked great.
 
I was about 10 ft from an AG42B blew. Rifle was in near new condition.Stock was broken ,mag and triggerguard wrecked and piece cracked off of bolt carrier. Shooter was unharmed. Ammo was handload of Dminion brass and bt prpared by a responsible handloader. Incident happened on 5th shot when trigger was pulled. Beleive cause was action fireing when not fully locked.
Had another case of an AG42B leving the case stuck in the chamber and primer blown out. but action cycling. Extractor was fine. Caused by action opening when pressure still in the bore. Ammo was Swedish surplus 1970s date.
How strong is a Swedish Mauser? I am familiar with a case where a handloader substituted 700X for 4320 in the same volume for use with cast bullets. Said it kicked bad and was inaccurate. Testament to Carl Gustav Gevarfabrik and Dominion brass.
 
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