Documented Cases of Gun "Blow-ups"

I had a Krag rifle that I had fired with moderate handloads for several years and discovered that the single locking lug was cracked at the rear where it is milled out of the bolt body. How long that crack had been there I do not know but high power magnification revealed that it had been there for a long time as the visible interior was rusty, not bright. I was pretty careless for not noticing that fault. Of course most of us have heard all the stories about the Ross rifles having problems. Based on what literature I have read over the years it seems that most true " blow ups " are the result of a bore obstruction or wrong powder. so much of the real information does get garbled in the retelling and some folks seem to take delight in extending the blow up syndrome to almost any series of rifles ( carcanos, Arisakas ) with no substantiation. It would be a real service to our chooting community if a book was written on documented cases of " blow up " of different makes and action types with a thorough forensic evaluation but it would be an arduous task. Joe
 
I do know of a Hakim that blew up. The mag blew out of the rifle and I think the shooter had some fragments of brass cut his hand. I knew the guy and also the the people who witnessed it, but I was not at the firing line when it happened so I didn't witness it myself. He was using some milsup 1945 portugese 8mm I had given him and is similar to the situations others have metioned about the AG42. From what I was told, it appears to have been a case where the guy had a failure to feed, and he then placed the round with the mangled casing into the chamber and attempted to slam the action shut on it.
 
Never had a milsurp fail, but I had my Ruger Mk11 blow up! Seems that Federal filled that little .22 with all primer mixture. Bent the frame to ####. The grips shattered in 20 peices. Had to use vise grips to get the mag out and every round was bent on a 45 degree angle. The barrel and receiver stayed together and the bolt was badly damaged. Every hit a concrete poll with a base ball bat as hard as you could when you were a kids. That's what it felt like. Two of my fingers got pretty burned, but they healed up ok.

Federal rebuilt the whole gun and replaced two mags. Paid for all of the shipping charges to/from Ruger and gave me $75US for my trouble.
 
I've never had a gun explode on me:) a few misfire's, nothing big. Although ive only been shooting guns for a year now:redface:
Oh wait now I remember, (still nothing big but, anyway) my buddy's and I were shooting some assorted firearms, 22.'s, 12 gauge, 303, and an m1, while my bro was shooting somehow the oprod managed to jump off of it's track when it cycled, nothing big.
 
Last edited:
happiness is a warm gun said:
Never had a milsurp fail, but I had my Ruger Mk11 blow up! Seems that Federal filled that little .22 with all primer mixture. Bent the frame to s**t. The grips shattered in 20 peices. Had to use vise grips to get the mag out and every round was bent on a 45 degree angle. The barrel and receiver stayed together and the bolt was badly damaged. Every hit a concrete poll with a base ball bat as hard as you could when you were a kids. That's what it felt like. Two of my fingers got pretty burned, but they healed up ok.

Federal rebuilt the whole gun and replaced two mags. Paid for all of the shipping charges to/from Ruger and gave me $75US for my trouble.
Click to expand...


!!!:eek: !!! Makes you kinda respect that priming mixture don't it! Never heard of that one before, hope I never see one either, glad your alright.
 
Not quite a rifel, but going through the weapons locker at my unit I found a barrel of a Inglis BHP that had bulged, from a round being fired through the barrel after a likely Squib load, the barrel had bulged by a few Millimetres all around, somebody was very lucky.
 
gunpaq said:
Yes, absolute BS, as I have two. Was told to leave the range by the range officer who is a gunsmith for firing non-compatable and unsafe ammo inn my 2A1. Then at another range I belong to I was told the same thing by the RO.

Just was wondering if there was something I was missing or if these know-it-alls with their $1,000.00 custom rifles were Enfield experts.
Click to expand...

Don't feel bad. There are range nazi's who think a .303 Martini is a Black powder rifle and unsafe to use with modern ammo. Had to xerox several pages from the Martini book for a friend so he could PROVE the rifle was safe.

Expert: Xis an unknown quantity and a spurt is a drip under pressure.;)
 
I was shooting a Toz 17 once and had a pierced casing, gas blew back into my face. I think the firing pin might have been too long, or the business end of it was too sharp; but who knows for sure? It didn't hurt the gun any. It was a long time ago, and I don't quite remember, but I may have been using Remington Yellowjackets at the time.
 
Last edited:
Claven2 said:
I've seen a Colt New Service that blew up completely in .455 cal. Suspected cause was a double-charge. Ammo was OOOOLD factory Dominion that was somewhat corroded up. I wasn't there when it happened but saw the gun and ammo the day after.

I saw a Ruger MkII target blow up with Winchester wildcat factory ammo. No bore obstruction - went K-B on the first shot the guy took that day. Not second hand either - happened right next to me at EOHC 5 years ago.

I saw an Iver Johnson M1 carbine blow up, bulged the side of the receiver, dumped the mag onto the ground and the crappy stamped slide arm flew past the shooter's head and off into a field. I don't blame the milsurp ammo - just the IJ made gun which I DO consider an unsafe POS. Only thing milsurp on this one might have been the sights though - reast was cheaply cast or stamped.

I saw a DPMS AR15 bolt shear off half the locking lugs once too. No idea what caused it - maybe improper heat treating? Ammo was hirtenberger milsurp. The rest of if shot fine, so I doubt it was an ammo issue. Luckily half the lugs held an no-one was hurt.

I have seen a MATCHING Ishapore made SMLE with headspace so bad that every shot completely ruptured the head with every shot and would likely blind the shooter if not for safety glasses. I suppose someone could have swapped the bolt head, but it too was Ishy proofed so who knows? Ishies are hardly indicative of overall Enfield quality though.

Saw a Savage 110 .300 RUM that after the first shot of factory ammo, the bolt could no longer be opened. Suspect bolt setback, but I never saw the guy after it happened to ask him what it ended up being that caused it to lock up like that.

That's it for stuff I've seen first hand though.

Oops! Almost forgot! Saw a Glock .40 blow up, cracked the frame and slide. We think it was b/c the dumbass was shooting cast lead in it which you aren;t supposed to do in polygonal rifled guns.
Click to expand...


Jesus, am I glad you don't shoot at the same club as me! I think you're jinxed or cursed :D ;)
 
My only experience was personal.

I had the bolt out of my M1 Carbine break apart.

One of the lugs hit my ear protectors...

New bolt and I was good to go :)
 
It did'nt blow up, but obviously last time I cleaned my M1 Garand, I wasn't paying attention. Took it out to the bush, fired 3 shots and it stopped. Huh...okay, maybe I loaded the clip wrong. Pull back the op rod, eject the round, note that it is intact and there is obviously nothing blocking anything. Let the op rod fly and fire two more rounds. Stops again. Hmmm....I take my hand away from the trigger and pull the rifle up so I can eject the round and get a good look. And then I notice the whole trigger mech laying there.

Whoops! I guess I hadn't seated it properly and the force just knocked it loose. Reseated it and it fired fine after that.
 
Andy said:
Here's a challenge. In years of perusing various gun forums I have seen dozens (perhaps 100's) of posts referring to milsurp guns from "the dangerous list" (e.g. anything Italian, Spanish, etc.) blowing up, and being UNSAFE TO SHOOT. Unless a bore obstruction, every case I've heard was from a friend of a retired gunsmith who years ago... You know the routine.

Can anyone present a single documented case of a milsurp gun "blowing up" (feel free to use your own definition of blown up)? By documented I mean first-hand viewing of the pieces, and first-hand proof that it wasn't due to a bore obstruction, which would damage any gun. Pics and information on the suspected cause is of course of interest.
Click to expand...


I like this thread:)

A lot of people have had the unfortunate experience of a catastropic failure on a firearm. However, I am still waiting for pic's / proof / first hand accounts of those "dangerous spanish muzzleloaders". I bet it can't be done without resorting to a hotlink to the old and tired Chuck Hawks article.

Hakx
 
I have never experienced a failure with milsurp, even the ones that SHOULD have killed me (I find out after the fact).

In my 22 years of shooting, I have only ever personally seen one kaboom... and it was one of those little plastic pea-shooters, made by that Austrian shovel guy. Strangely enough, t'was 9mm, and factory ammo, and the glockophiles all say that the 9mm ones NEVER blow up. I guess maybe I imagined it? I mean, I do show up on the range pretty wigged out on peyote some days....

:)

Neal
 
12/20 slam - I have seen a barrel shot to ribbons from that (not in person). Does anyone watch Guns & Ammo TV on WildTV? They do a segment where they do nasty things to guns.

12/20 slam in the Benelli they tested = no damage. (slugs or buckshot)

But they blew the hell out of a T/C single shot with some hot loads!
 
KB'd guns...

I've seen a few KB'd guns. At least with C7s (and a few others I've seen), it's almost always an obstruction in the barrel. They do suffer it well, venting the gas down through the magazine housing. Thats why the magazines are made to blow out the bottoms and away from the shooter. With some keen observations we could tell (deduce) how completely the barrel was obstructed, and how far from the chamber it was.
Some others (not full KBs mostly) were metal fatigue. You should have seen some of the old FNC1s and C2s. Gas plugs and pistons going down range when the gas block split. One top-half of a gas regulator just missed my dome when it blew off while I was teching on a range. Most times they were minor.

My weapons faux pas was with my Sig Sauer P226. I learned three things that day.
1. Concentrate on your shooting and not on talking to your buddy.
2. When my Sig fails to cycle, stop and find out why (it was a squib reload)
3. My Sig is a tough pistol.
This lesson cost me a bulged barrel (and $200 for new one).
 
we had a C6 glowing white one night....actually it was more like 10 but the gun next to mine started to have stoppage after stoppage then it started running, the shooter was slow to stop it and befor he could the barrel burst just infront of the carry handle, made one hell of a noise. as for milsurp no idea.
 
Just to add to the fog...

My 12" long, 2 inch diameter brass cannon (thats a 1 inch bore and 1/2 inch walls) + not watching drunk morons load it up (with smokeless) + wad + 1000 grain slug = KABOOOOM!

We were all standing in a circle not 30 feet away when it went off. Huge white flash, massive concussion blast and pieces of the carriage and the shredded barrel zipping through the trees all around us. The picture shows all that we could find in the smoking hole in the ground. The muzzle landed six inches in front of my friends two day old truck. We were lucky that the only casualty was the cannon.

This was a lesson learned. I will never let anyone load a round, a gun, a cannon or even a water pistol I am going to fire without direct supervision. I turned my back for a moment and let normally competent people who had way too much to drink load the cannon. They said they had no idea that they had used that much powder and that they did not think about the difference between black powder and smokeless. They took the smokeless powder out of the cabinet when I was not looking and loaded the tube with about three inches of fast pistol powder.

Brasscannonpieces2.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom