Any of you guys ever had a catastrophic failure of any kind, specifically AR 15? Catastrophic is a pretty dramatic description and have never thought to much about them, that 50 caliber blowing up with the YouTuber Kentucky Ballistics got my attention for sure, he's really lucky to be alive, still it's something you just don't think about when you go to the range or to a match, at least I don't. Well I will certainly be thinking about them from here on out!
Catastrophic Failure
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rmc51
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Ok,
Who, what, where, why, when?
Reloads, factory?
I have not seen that kind of a thing since we had the 300 blackout in a 556 chamber problem.
Is everyone alright?
Who, what, where, why, when?
Reloads, factory?
I have not seen that kind of a thing since we had the 300 blackout in a 556 chamber problem.
Is everyone alright?
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Yes I occasionally wonder about this happening. I have a S&W K frame 32/20 made in 1915 therefore it was made before the heat treated cylinders. I haven't shot it yet because only ammo I can find appears to be rifle ammo. It sucks I should have bought ammo when it was plentiful. I also have a K frame from the same era in 38 special. I have shot this with standard semi wadcutters without any apparent ill affects, but that is pretty mild ammo.
I was at a 2 gun match this past Sunday, ammo was reloads from a professional licensed reloader, have shot thousands of his reloads, all I've been using for last 2-3 years, that AR pistol is PSA 10.5 inch. Don't have lots of rounds though that firearm, maybe 500, shot couple matches plus sighting in scope, first shot on second stage, I'm fine, lot of little wounds on left arm from little pieces flying, one piece still in there but ringing in my left ear certainly annoying, very loud, the concussion was insane, it split the Pmag which really shocked me, I'll try to get a better picture of that.
I'm taking it to my gunsmith buddy today, we will contact PSA and send to them, document everything, lower was Anderson, can't remember parts kit manufacturer, messed it up pretty good also, broke the hammer and not sure what else. haven't gotten in to that yet but I'm good and thx for asking, was just curious if others have had or seen something like this other than a video but hope we can figure out the problem so if me I don't do it again, if ammo figure out what went wrong on his end and if the manufacturer they figure out what went wrong.
And especially now if I was shooting a real old pistol like you have with modern ammo the thought would be there but thankfully 39 special not a crazy high pressure round
I'm taking it to my gunsmith buddy today, we will contact PSA and send to them, document everything, lower was Anderson, can't remember parts kit manufacturer, messed it up pretty good also, broke the hammer and not sure what else. haven't gotten in to that yet but I'm good and thx for asking, was just curious if others have had or seen something like this other than a video but hope we can figure out the problem so if me I don't do it again, if ammo figure out what went wrong on his end and if the manufacturer they figure out what went wrong.
And especially now if I was shooting a real old pistol like you have with modern ammo the thought would be there but thankfully 39 special not a crazy high pressure round
I'm very happy to hear that overall you are ok. That had to be awful! Hope that your hearing damage is just temporary. I am very careful with the old 38. It's in beautiful shape with the most beautiful walnut grips I've ever seen. I think I bought it just because of the grips.
rmc51
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What is the fired cartridge like? You know that the most likely is the ammo. I'm not saying anything derogative about the reloader, mistakes do happen. I would send the pmag back to Magpul I will bet they will replace, I will bet that everyone will replace. PSA, Magpul, Anderson, etc.
Glad to hear you are not hurt badly.
Thx very much and I hope they do but we shall see, just got back from my gunsmith buddies and lookin over it good, if I was a betting man I would probably go with ammo, looks like one side is thinner than the other, I've been gathering brass for him last 2 year or so, he's a pretty frail man and he had a horrible foot brake be 2 years this thanksgiving and really messed with his mobility, I try to get once fired brass but I'm sure I pick up brass that's been reloaded several times. The damage upon closer inspection was really something, swelled the lower out 20 thousands, we measured at top of magwell, bowed the dust cover, if they do replace the upper will probably sell it, don't think I want my face that close anymore!im not taking great pictures but I measured my BCM lower for comparison
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rmc51
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I'm sure you checked. nothing stuck in the barrel? No squib??? Did he scope the barrel? This looks a lot like both of the two 556's that I saw that got a 300BO fired into that 22 caliber barrel.
Glad your not hurt real bad.
Babboonbobo
Well-Known Fanatic
Just happy your all in one piece and not really hurt and with no extra big holes
Firearm can be replaced! You can't!!!!
Firearm can be replaced! You can't!!!!
Yessir nothing in the barrel and wasn't a 300 blackout, that's actually why I don't have one, one guy in our squad was shooting one suppressed, what a pleasant rifle to be around vs what mine used to sound like with a muzzle brake, so loud!
I had two Glocks out on the range few years back when LE trade in Glock 22's dirt cheap, had one with 9mm conversion barrel and one still with the 40 barrel, accidentally loaded a 9 in the 40, makes a poof sound then you have to knock the brass out, I had been thinking about a 300 BO but after I did that knowing uses same mag as 556 I decided a disaster waiting to happen
Again thank you all for well wishesa ringing ear and a small sliver of aluminum I gotta dig out not to bad considering
I had two Glocks out on the range few years back when LE trade in Glock 22's dirt cheap, had one with 9mm conversion barrel and one still with the 40 barrel, accidentally loaded a 9 in the 40, makes a poof sound then you have to knock the brass out, I had been thinking about a 300 BO but after I did that knowing uses same mag as 556 I decided a disaster waiting to happen
Again thank you all for well wishesa ringing ear and a small sliver of aluminum I gotta dig out not to bad considering
switchback
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Glad you are not hurt too badly and your hearing improves. Your statement " my face that close to high pressure round" got my attention.
TXPlt
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Glad you're OK. Had a G23 Kaboom several years ago with factory remanufactured ammo (the manufacturer was good about taking the ammo back and giving me a voucher for the extractor which had been blown off and a partially stripped magazine catch area on the mag). No damage to gun or shooter other than an extractor getting blown to kingdom come. It felt like I was slapped by an angry woman and hit a ball the wrong way with a baseball bat (as well as getting the attention of others on the range).
Mine was caused by a fatigue failure presumably by the 'once fired' brass used by the ammo company. The unsupported case head had failed at a weak point and petaled back letting the pressure out downward from the unsupported case head (this is what makes Glocks reliable but also is a weak point--the .40 is particularly susceptible due to it's combination of higher pressures and diameter of the casings). Luckily the mag blew clear and the grips stayed intact. Net result was I don't shoot remans in .40 anymore.
ALWAYS wear eye pro and hearing pro as well as decent shooting clothes. This is also what saved me from any injury.
Mine was caused by a fatigue failure presumably by the 'once fired' brass used by the ammo company. The unsupported case head had failed at a weak point and petaled back letting the pressure out downward from the unsupported case head (this is what makes Glocks reliable but also is a weak point--the .40 is particularly susceptible due to it's combination of higher pressures and diameter of the casings). Luckily the mag blew clear and the grips stayed intact. Net result was I don't shoot remans in .40 anymore.
ALWAYS wear eye pro and hearing pro as well as decent shooting clothes. This is also what saved me from any injury.
joepistol
Well-Known Fanatic
Glad to read that mm1911 was not injured more severely .. guns are replaceable, don't have to heal.
From the looks of the bolt & lower, you were lucky not being injured more severely.
I've seen a pistol blow up ( with a friend @ the indoor range ) a .38 Special load that he probably double charged..
It was a S&W model 10 (I think) bent the top strap, over the cylinder, blew the top of the cylinder off, fortunately,
he was unharmed. Pistol was scrap metal. Only other similar incident I witnessed was a guy that dry fired a compound bow....
it broke one of the bow limbs, & he got one heck of a bruise on his forearm.
The only reloads I will shoot are those I load myself.
From the looks of the bolt & lower, you were lucky not being injured more severely.
I've seen a pistol blow up ( with a friend @ the indoor range ) a .38 Special load that he probably double charged..
It was a S&W model 10 (I think) bent the top strap, over the cylinder, blew the top of the cylinder off, fortunately,
he was unharmed. Pistol was scrap metal. Only other similar incident I witnessed was a guy that dry fired a compound bow....
it broke one of the bow limbs, & he got one heck of a bruise on his forearm.
The only reloads I will shoot are those I load myself.
Absolutely! Great advice.
Those compound bows sound like a gun going off when you dry fire them! That guy was lucky it wasn't way worse.
Compound bows are pretty scary, you ever got smacked by a bungee cord when it got loose for whatever reason, hook breaks etc, I imagine a compound bow ten times that, when that kind of tension or pressure of a round gets released incorrectly bad things happen
We had someone dry fire one in the store I worked in. Scared the s*it outa everyone back by the gun counter! Fortunately no one was hurt.
Oh wow! I remember as a kid just shooting a regular cheap bow and not knowing how to correctly fire one getting that forearm skin scrap that wasn't very pleasant, nothing like above mentioned incident, that must have been very painful, my boys hunted with compound bows, when I would check out their bows and I would pull it back they both told me not to let string go without an arrow, didn't think much about it but had no idea something like that could happen
joepistol
Well-Known Fanatic
back when I used to shoot a Glock (well, I had to try them) I loaded cast bullets almost exclusively. Imagine my surprise when I
started reading about cast bullets being a no-no in Glocks, due to the rifling they used. Issue was apparently /mostly with the 40's..
This led me to purchase Lone Wolf brand barrels for my Mod. 22 & mod. 21. They used conventional rifling (safe for lead bullets)
as well as having more chamber support. I'd shot lead pills thru the factory barrels in both pistols w/o incident, but might not have
been a concern as I cleaned the barrels after every shooting session.
My sessions were limited to maybe a hundred or so rds.., rarely if ever, more than that, before they'd be thoroughly cleaned.
I thought it was pretty cool that LW makes a conversion barrel for Glock 40's, so you can shoot 9mm in them.
.Just add the conversion barrel & a 9mm mag.
started reading about cast bullets being a no-no in Glocks, due to the rifling they used. Issue was apparently /mostly with the 40's..
This led me to purchase Lone Wolf brand barrels for my Mod. 22 & mod. 21. They used conventional rifling (safe for lead bullets)
as well as having more chamber support. I'd shot lead pills thru the factory barrels in both pistols w/o incident, but might not have
been a concern as I cleaned the barrels after every shooting session.
My sessions were limited to maybe a hundred or so rds.., rarely if ever, more than that, before they'd be thoroughly cleaned.
I thought it was pretty cool that LW makes a conversion barrel for Glock 40's, so you can shoot 9mm in them.
.Just add the conversion barrel & a 9mm mag.
