Norinco M14 Blew Up
- Thread starter Dogleg
- Start date
Just because he was under max load doesn't mean he couldn't have overcharged. Thereis a reason you work up. Just because a load is in a manual doesn't mean it is safe. Most manuals say so themselves. Forgot to say it before but I hope you are OK!
Lets get the pics so we can see what happened. This may be apublic safety issue or just a oops but we need to know so someone else doesn't get hurt or killed. I am glad you are alright.
Yes, quite sure.
You couldn't get 90 grains in there with a jackhammer. The maximum load in the Hodgdons/IMR site is 47.5 of IMR 4985 and my 45 grain load is within the limits for H4895 as well. When I fill a sized case right to the top I can get 49 grains total in there. A 1 1/2 grain overload doesn't take guns apart, even if it happened, which it never. 45 grains fills the case to the bottom of the neck, which all 50 in the block were at before I seated the bullets on a single stage press last night. There is no way that I picked up an over-flowing case and seated a bullet into it without noticing. The load should be fool-proof, and there are no pressure signs on the 38 spent primers.I can't rule out a case failure because I can only account for 49 of the rounds. I never found the extractor either. There is a chunk taken out of the right side lug recess, otherwise all the damage is from escapeing gas. I'll get some pictures up, when I get a chance.
this only the second one i've ever heard of- the first was quite some time ago, and there was speculation about an out of battery fire then as well=
i've got one of the very first ones which are SUPPOSED to have the soft bolts, run thousands of rounds through it( some 180's until i knew better) serial is an al000###- out of thousands sold, 2 bad weeds?- btw, i've got one of the ones with the ground off scope mounting lug- and it's blued, not parked- hardly crap- same deal as geologist and one other guy on the m93s- they got crap, but the one i got is ok
I will admit that my initial reaction almost echo'd that however I'm not willing to go that far. I'm relatively new to the firearms world & have allot to learn.
Upon reflection, I shoot black powder flintlocks and I'm sure they have just as much risk involved if not more than a Norinco M14.
One thing that p*sses me off is how quickly people get defensive about their beloved norincos. Particularly irritable is the CGN cross-cultural phenomenon as follows: on one side of the coin we have people chatting up a storm about all the home gunsmithing/tweeking/spreading-the-love. We change out bolts. We rebarrel guns. We change out trigger assemblies. We reload up a storm. Then on the other side at the first hint of trouble we quickly jump on folks who have trouble and blow up their guns. Given how people respond to those who have the guts to report that their gun blew up I suspect there are lots more who it happens to and we never hear about it. I have personally rebuilt more than 2 dozen of these things and there are many things to watch out for, some of which can result in seriously unsafe guns (ie: replacing the factory stock with a USGI one that results in hammer-follow, or reloading with slightly high primers)
The fact is this guy's gun blew up in his face; he's lucky he's not seriously hurt. As this type of gun is my favorite on the planet and one that I shoot regularly, personally I'd like to know more about what happened and would hope that others might also benefit, particularly those who are inclined to tinker. I am certainly one of these tinkerers and frankly on a couple of occasions have been lucky. I would suggest we show these folks some support and try and learn from their misfortune such that it does not happen to us.
Sorry for the rant...the design of these guns though is such that tinkering/reloading can be more dangerous than it usually is if you are tinkering or loading for your bolt gun. Maybe we should put together a sticky on safety issues with the M14/M1A/M305 design....if I get some time over the next week I'll maybe start such a thread.
Brobee
The fact is this guy's gun blew up in his face; he's lucky he's not seriously hurt. As this type of gun is my favorite on the planet and one that I shoot regularly, personally I'd like to know more about what happened and would hope that others might also benefit, particularly those who are inclined to tinker. I am certainly one of these tinkerers and frankly on a couple of occasions have been lucky. I would suggest we show these folks some support and try and learn from their misfortune such that it does not happen to us.
Sorry for the rant...the design of these guns though is such that tinkering/reloading can be more dangerous than it usually is if you are tinkering or loading for your bolt gun. Maybe we should put together a sticky on safety issues with the M14/M1A/M305 design....if I get some time over the next week I'll maybe start such a thread.
Brobee
Pics please. If you don't own a digi camera, I am sure a friend does. You need to substantiate your claim. Of course, things like this happen but it is easy to make an outrageous claim and cannot produce evidence to show us. All these speculations are just that: speculations. Pics please.....
Is the front part of a separated case in the chamber? Obviously the case failed, you aren't going to get that sort of damage if the case stays intact and is ejected whole. If the rifle had fired out of battery - unlocked - there would have been pieces of brass everywhere.
How many times had the brass been reloaded? What sizing routine did you use relative to the chamber of your rifle? .308 brass or 7.62mm? Source of the brass? Had it been fired in this or another rifle previously? Have you carefully checked all the brass that you picked up for signs of incipient separations?
How many times had the brass been reloaded? What sizing routine did you use relative to the chamber of your rifle? .308 brass or 7.62mm? Source of the brass? Had it been fired in this or another rifle previously? Have you carefully checked all the brass that you picked up for signs of incipient separations?
Had on blow up on me in 2001-2002'ish, one of the first of the $700 batch that came into Canada. I was at a friends place who let shoot a couple mags through his gun, trouble was my former buddy liked to drink and drink heavily while he reloaded. So after the smoke cleared, literally, and I stopped swearing and got the bleeding stopped (never seen a barrel fly that far) I took some rounds home to pull apart. Hmmm, all three were loaded with 45 grs of what appeared to be Unique! Yup a quick trip to my friends loading bench showed the powder dump to be half full of Unique, he had been drinking and loading for his .38 special, and forgot to dump the Unique out before topping up with the IMR-4895!
My left hand still hurts in cold weather
My left hand still hurts in cold weather
When you hold the trigger back and cycle the action, if the hammer doesn't stay back, but follows the bolt in.
#1bcshooter
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Looks like 2 Norinco M14's had a bad day at the range
I'm not knocking them I have one too
www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=326225
I'm not knocking them I have one too
www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=326225
If you hold the trigger back, cycle the action, and the hammer follows the bolt closed, you have a big problem. The disconnector function is not working. The secondary sear is not catching the rear hammer hook. The rifle could jam, could fire out of battery, or could fire full auto.
The M14 is very sensitive to the distance between the trigger assembly and the receiver, or the pressure applied to the trigger assembly when the guard is in place.
Thinner or thicker stock can cause issues, fairly common problem.
