Everyone needs to see this

We had an incident with one of these a few years back at our club. The shooter, right handed was shooting a large caliber, not positive of exactly what one. A left handed shooter was at a station to the shooters right. Being left handed he was facing the shooter. To the shooters left, was a right handed shooter. The shooter fired the gun and it exploded, sending shrapnel to the shooters right, taking out the person to the shooters right front teeth. Shrapnel also flew to the shooters left and embedded itself ll over the person that was positioned there right arm. The shooter was taken out by helicopter to a trauma center, where he survived. He was a hand loaded and loaded way too hot. I was told the barrel went about 20 feet down range.
 
Interesting food for thought. Considering what he went through he seems to be recovering well.

As others have said, the design of the rifle is sketchy in my view. It certainly isn't designed to "fail safe". I'll take large lugs over threads every day of the week. There's nothing to contain gas from a pierced primer and any failure of the breech is sending it straight back into your face. Add in non-standard ammo of unknown origin, a round designed to take out materiel, and you're several steps into danger territory. Problem is, we never really know when we lucked out and got away with one. Do not ignore pressure signs, a round that acts different than the last one, or take shortcuts in reloading. Past luck is no guarantee of future immunity. I've gotten away with stupid a time or two....

One correction from the video..... the jugular vein carries low-pressure venous blood away from the brain back to the heart. The carotid is the high-pressure arterial supply to the brain. Cut that one and you don't need to worry about making an aftermath video. As for bleeding..... In the operating room, when something starts bleeding, the quick and easy solution is to hold pressure until you can deal with it. Even arteries respond to surprisingly little direct pressure. His instinct to put pressure on it and not let go was perfect.
 
Years ago while conducting a rifle qualification for my agency shooting DOD issued M14s, we had a rifle explode due to a massive case failure (per the manufacturer (no longer in business) who took full responsibility.) of a "factory refurbished" round. The shooter was shooting from the prone position and luckily the only real injuries were powder tattooing of his arm and face. The rifle ended up in 12 separate pieces. The magazine blew straight down and the bullets pulled from remaining rounds upon impact with the shooters mat.

I might add that the shooter upon release from the emergency room returned to the range and qualified at 100 percent. 😲 Not sure I could have pulled that off.

I was told by a different manufacturer that the reason they didn't offer "remanufactured" .308 rounds was that brass fired in machine gun class weapons such as the M14's overwork the brass due to loose chamber dimensions. Something to keep in mind while picking up range brass.

I have photos of the rifle on a thumb drive somewhere, if I can locate it I'll post them..
 
He was very lucky, but sometimes it better to be lucky and than good or both.
Couple of Points: From what was said the Jugular vein was hit, which is the return supply to the the heart from the head. The carotid artery is the supply side to the brain. Direct pressure will stop a lot of bleeding and especially on veins. Artery are somewhat harder to control.
You have two of each. Being one set on each side of you neck and head. He was very lucky to be alive, and needs to thank God, and his present of mind. Most people would have come apart and do the wrong thing. Need to change his name to "Cool Hand Luke".
Combat Medic Vietnam 1969
 
That was the reason I shared the video
As always.....well done Bean....I have some 50BMG APIT's from FEDARMS.....seating depths are all over the place....they call it Match Grade Ammo..I contacted them over 8 times to get it replaced... Last time....they finally said to send the 100 rounds back at my expense and they would refund my money when they received the box. I told them to pick-up the junk they sent and take my box back at that time...they refused...and stated that they use re-loaders all over the U.S. to re-condition the ammo they supply to them. Great heads up Brother...thank you!





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Years ago while conducting a rifle qualification for my agency shooting DOD issued M14s, we had a rifle explode due to a massive case failure (per the manufacturer (no longer in business) who took full responsibility.) of a "factory refurbished" round. The shooter was shooting from the prone position and luckily the only real injuries were powder tattooing of his arm and face. The rifle ended up in 12 separate pieces. The magazine blew straight down and the bullets pulled from remaining rounds upon impact with the shooters mat.

I might add that the shooter upon release from the emergency room returned to the range and qualified at 100 percent. 😲 Not sure I could have pulled that off.

I was told by a different manufacturer that the reason they didn't offer "remanufactured" .308 rounds was that brass fired in machine gun class weapons such as the M14's overwork the brass due to loose chamber dimensions. Something to keep in mind while picking up range brass.

I have photos of the rifle on a thumb drive somewhere, if I can locate it I'll post them..
I had a friend that lost his eye during training in 1968 at Ft Lewis WA. from a M-14. There had been problems with the M-14. They would come apart, for what reason I don't know. I just know there has been a problem with the M-14. Maybe somebody else can fill in the gap there.
 
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