LE No 1 blowup or how not to dissemble a Lee Enfield (Update post #97)

bdft

bdft

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Went shooting yesterday morning and took a new to me No1 Mk 1 to try out. It had been sporterized and put in a one piece stock, someone had spend a lot of time and was a really nice little rifle. I was shooting 38 grns of 4895 behind a 150 grain flatbased bullet, the same load I shoot in my other No 1 Mk 1 and my no 4 with no problems. Sandbagged the rifle on the bench and pulled the trigger. Instead of the reassuring flat crack of a 303 I was rewarded with a very unsettling BOOM.

I found myself holding part of the stock in my left hand and the remains of a rifle in my right with the barrel on the ground a few feet in front of the bench. I then noticed copious amounts of blood running down my face. I ended up with a number of small cuts in my forehead and two in my eyelid, a really impressive black eye and a piece of steel imbedded in my glasses. Wear your safety glasses, kids. The rifle, as you can see, completely dissasembled itself.The mag stayed in and appears to be undamaged, thankfully, those mags are hard to find.

On the way to emerg I was kicking myself thinking I double charged the case but after a brief experiment yesterday afternoon I discovered that 76 grns won't fit in a 303 case. Maybe my fancy hightech electronic powder measure was throwing charges all over the place but the two loads I did check and weighed in a manual scale had 38 grns in them. When I get back from camp I will pull all the bullets i loaded that day and check. The barrel was unobstructed and probably could be screwed into another action, not that I would. The action failed right where you see it in the pictures. I guess it did its job as I'm able to type this today but it sure wrecked a nice rifle.

If you can't stand looking at a destroyed 117 year old rifle then close this page now. You have been warned.












 
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Perhaps the receiver had a micro crack that finally gave out ? It looks like the failure is concentrated in one area of the receiver too.

I'm glad your okay, that must have been an unsettling experience.
 
Massive excess headspace would cause that? I thought the action was designed to vent pressures caused by ruptured cartridges...

Op: Thank goodness you are well enough to post, that looks positively catastrophic! Lucky man! Go buy a lotto ticket.



Looking at that again, that sh1t is absof#2kinlutely terrifying. This from a guy that rarely swears.
 
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SORRY to see you lose a nice old LE!

This is the first that I've seen another one piece stock on a LE. I had one a no.4 2nd WW2 that a friend cut the ring off into which the but stock fits. He did a nice job of stocking, not as fancy as yours, but was my go-to light rifle for B.C. deer, must have killed 6 or 7 and a big boarblack bear. Years ago I sold it.
 
Damn, mate - I'm very sorry to hear about this. The good news is that you're alive to type, you can see out both eyes, and you have a hell of a cautionary tale to tell.

Glad you came out of it OK. Good luck on mending up.
 
Massive excessive headspace would blow the case out between the bolthead and the chamber. This had to be contained inside the chamber to blow the receiver ring apart like that. That's my take on it anyway.
Anyone who says Zenni glasses are chinese junk can come take a look at the pair I was wearing. They worked just fine.
 
That was the first round you ever put through that rifle? Hmmm.

Could have been overpressure due to an excessively charged case, or a bore obstruction, or squeezed case neck. Or it could have been a compromised receiver, e.g. cracked or otherwise buggered up during the sporterizing, but that doesn't explain the bottom blown off the case. Any pics of the bottom part?

NOT simply excessive headspace.
 
The damage to the bolthead is remarkable. Also note the erosion in the extractor cut in the barrel.
A lot of high pressure gas got vented.
 
A highly modified receiver plus handloads is a recipe for a lightning fast disassembly but of course this could not be the case, it can only be the design or just a headspace issue.

As none of us was present when the rifle was modified & have no idea of the work done or even how it was done combined with the fact we will never know the exact (just the recipe) contents of the handloaded round used everything is just pure speculation, i am just glad you have come though this relatively unharmed.
 
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