Oops...@&$k...thankful I'm ok

Had a R700 come into the shop, having had a similar mishap. .22-.250 Varmint. Bullet stopped in the barrel. Shooter had a scare, no physical harm.
 
Good thing to learn, jammed up case, i remove the bolt before the rod goes in to get the case or bullet, easy to do, but just rushing to forget never take the cleaning rod outta your hands unless its on the table.
 
An instant wave of #### hits me in the face from my bottom lip up to my forehead, and a lot concentrated around my eye and nose, and the gun made a different noise.. So I am shocked and startled from being peppered on the face.. I touch my face and can feel blood running down my face... I now (withing 5-7 second) realize what has happened.. I had gotta so excited and in a rush to shoot this rifle that I had forgotten to remove the cleanjbg rod from the barrel that I had used to remove the other rounds that had jammed..

. Needless to say I am extremely lucky that the barrel didn't explode .. I checked the gun over and could not see anything fractured or burst from the outside, I did have to pry the bolt handle open and pry the bolt out of the receiver, I found that it was tight because the bolt head was bent over from the rapid expansion of the casing and the pressure trying to force it out of the chamber, the pressure opened the flash hole right up and anihalated the end of the casing but I noticed there is two holes in the action (factory) that had acted as a pressure relief, enough pressure must have escaped through the primer hole and around the bolt face and out those holes...


So as I said before, I am ashamed and embarrassed to have made such a stupid mistake, but I feel that regardless of how I feel it is more important to to put this up as a reminder of how easy it can happen, I have always drilled "safety first" into all my friends heads and my wife.. Never thought this would ever happen to me bit it just goes to show it can happen to anyone... Everybody is perfect until their first "accident"...

Almost the exact same thing happened at a Bench Rest clinic in Holton Michigan some years back. A cleaning rod was left in a rifle and it was fired. Unfortunately in this case the shooter suffered a fatal head injury.

NormB
 
Happy you're okay.

No shame in telling the story - it's a good reminder to everyone, especially newbies like me, that safety is paramount. Anyone who doesn't take your experience seriously should not be allowed near a gun.

I wonder how many people can still recite the ACTS & PROVE methods or how many people even follow them?
 
I hope you looked up and said thanks.
Someone up there was watching out for your safety.
Could very well be a mantle piece.

Thanks for the thread and photos.
 
Thank you for the story. Once again we are reminded to PROVE our firearms safe. I'm glad no major injury occurred and the OP had the courage to post at the risk of bring criticized.
 
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