Anybody have a rifle malfunction that made them say what!

[memtb]

That is funny (since no one got hurt!) I can only imagine how loud a .338 WM is within the enclosed confines of a truck cab. Your friend must say "What?" a lot now

How do you gut and clean a Chevy? Where do you attach the tag for the game warden to see? Probably tough eating, too.

It was his friends truck, he and his friend's wife had taken the truck to a open park at the top of the draw...while the friend and a couple of others "pushed" the draw. One of the 210 Noslers, went through the frame and cut a brake line. The other, penetrated the bell housing and "wiped-out" the clutch plate and the pressure plate. The wife was deafened and not impressed, the friend was upset about his wife and the truck......the friendship was "strained" for a while! memtb

 

[xsn10s]

MudRunner2005 I saw some of the arguments and sorry I didn't get involved. Pretty much tired of all the drama. I trained civilians and police in another life. And I feel bad for the people in the law suit with Remington. But the cold hard facts are this. A safety rule was broken, even if it was by accident. Muzzle discipline was broken, never ever point your weapon at something you're not willing to destroy. It's a very hard rule.

 

[Frog4aday]

It was his friends truck, he and his friend's wife had taken the truck to a open park at the top of the draw...while the friend and a couple of others "pushed" the draw. One of the 210 Noslers, went through the frame and cut a brake line. The other, penetrated the bell housing and "wiped-out" the clutch plate and the pressure plate. The wife was deafened and not impressed, the friend was upset about his wife and the truck......the friendship was "strained" for a while! memtb

Wow...just WOW. Shot a truck up and it wasn't even his? Deafened his friend's wife in the process? Amazing that friendship was only 'strained' for a while. Crazy stuff happens, doesn't it? Thanks for giving the Paul Harvey on this (...the 'rest of the story')

 

[MudRunner2005]

MudRunner2005 I saw some of the arguments and sorry I didn't get involved. Pretty much tired of all the drama. I trained civilians and police in another life. And I feel bad for the people in the law suit with Remington. But the cold hard facts are this. A safety rule was broken, even if it was by accident. Muzzle discipline was broken, never ever point your weapon at something you're not willing to destroy. It's a very hard rule.

Exactly. Sometimes some of the way I say things comes out a bit raw and unfiltered, and some might take it as uncaring or unfeeling, but some things just need to be said. There is no place in logic and reasoning for feelings and emotions. You trained cops, you know what I'm talking about. Just like in your training, you have to rely on muscle memory, instincts, and logic, not emotions and feelings...And if it's a real situation and you hesitate, that's how you end up getting hurt or getting someone else hurt.

 

[MagnumManiac]

One of the failure modes of the Remington 700 and clones that can be a brain teaser is the failure of the pin that connects the firing pin(#16) to the cocking piece(#18). Note: this is the most likely failure mode caused by excessive dry firing. Under typical circumstances the failure of this part is obvious and easily determined. I have had a couple of instances where the pin is broken, but in such a way that the rifle cocks and fires "intermittently", with partial pinning due to angular breaks in the retaining pin which hold but cause only partial retention and supported by the sleeve(#1). This may not be evident by viewing since the pin appears to be in place unless thoroughly checked. Also, this failure mode has caused damage to a Jewel trigger, bending the cocking bar on the Jewel. Interestingly, the initial reaction to this failure mode is to wrongly blame the trigger. I make it a point to check this pin regularly for condition and wear. A picture is worth a thousand words(diagram, and new/broken pin)
View attachment 128068 View attachment 128069

Interesting, I had a Rem 700 VSF that would get difficult to cock after dry firing a couple dozen times, then go back to normal sometimes after shooting one round, or other times 2 or 3 rounds.
In the end it was an annoyance I was fed up with. So I disassembled the bolt and found the pin was hanging out and was bent, when it got to the point the bent end was pointing up, it would bind as the cocking piece was rotating, causing the stiff lift.
Replaced the pin and the issue never returned.
Now have a Rem 700 VSSF II in it's place, much nicer rifle in every aspect.

Cheers.

 

[MagnumManiac]

MagnumManiac, Perhaps I've misunderstood the event! But, is it possible ( assuming this is a New Haven rifle) that the - trigger adjustment lock nut backed-off, causing incorrect sear ingagement? This happened to a friend of mine. While sitting in a late 60's Model (All Metal cab), was chambering a round in his .338 WM, anticipating elk to come across the park he was watching. When closing the bolt, the rifle fired....in uncontrolled panic, he quickly ejected the spent case, and promptly closed the bolt, firing another round! It only required two shots to kill the old Chevy truck! memtb

No, trigger was fine, it was the sear, it dropped down into it's recess where under spring pressure it should have risen when the bolt was pulled back.
I don't know why it did it, I had done exactly the same thing on my 338WM the same day, trigger assembly put back and never a problem.
With the 375, just putting sideways pressure on the sear was all that was needed to get it to pop up again.

Cheers.

 

[xsn10s]

I would say training help to operate weapons proficiently. In those situations help you prevail. but when it comes to safety if you adhere to the rules no one should get hurt. At least it cuts down the chances significantly. Like treat all weapons as if they are loaded. And never point your weapon at anything you not willing to destroy. know you back stop and beyond. And safeties are mechanical devices, which can, and will probably fail. That lawsuit involved a poor Father, but the hard fact is that muzzle discipline wasn't followed that day.

 

[xsn10s]

I don't know why it did it, I had done exactly the same thing on my 338WM the same day, trigger assembly put back and never a problem.

It had to be Murphy or gremlins.

 

[crkckr]

Nothing to do with rifles but I once had a Star FM, a little .22 autoloader. Put thousands of rounds thru it and never had trouble with it unless it got too dirty, then it would start to jam. I took a buddy with me out in the desert to shoot and he somehow made it go full auto! It had to have been something in his grip (or just karma!) because try as I might, I could never get it to repeat. He, on the other hand, could do it pretty much`on demand. Drove me crazy and to the day I sold it, he was the only one that could do it!
Cheers,

 

[Akhunting]

I have a Ruger MKll in 300 WM (boat paddle stock) that I got as a graduation present. I have probably 2000 rounds through it and it still shoots very well for what it is. A number of years ago (have not shot it much since) it started randomly fire scribing necks, it looked like a micro plasma cutter had cut a slit in necks, not through to the mouth, just mid neck. I figured it was a bad batch of factory (was not reloading much for awhile) ammo, no go, another batch n weight of factory did the same thing. I thought somehow it was a cracked chamber, but the cut occurred on the neck in random orientation. I cast the chamber n there was no clue... I sent it back to Ruger after I had a split back into the shoulder that sprayed me with powder, they gave it a clean bill of health. I did not shoot it for quite some time because I lost confidence in it. After a number of years I put a number of reloads through it with no issue and MOA accuracy. I don't have any factory ammo for it anymore so can't test that without buying a box, all reloads have been fine though... Gremlins...

 

[memtb]

Sorta along the "What" issue! THIS WAS OPERATOR ERROR!! When doing some load development for my wife's . 338 WM and my .375 AI, I learned a valuable lesson. "Do Not Have Multiple Boxes of Different Calibers Open on the Bench at the Same Time"!!

I was testing for groups across the chronograph. I loaded a round into my AI, and slowly pulled the trigger! Recoil was almost non-existent, the chronograph pretty much exploded, and the ejected brass was a short, straight-walled case. I was a bit confused for a bit, not yet figuring out what had happened! My first thought was, that I was seeing a case separation. In a panic, I pulled the bolt and attempted to see the remaining brass stuck in the chamber. Finally....I thought to look at the cartridge headstamp! No longer in a panic about my rifle, I could sit down feeling really stupid....and "morn" the loss of my chronograph! memtb

 

[xsn10s]

Sorta along the "What" issue! THIS WAS OPERATOR ERROR!! When doing some load development for my wife's . 338 WM and my .375 AI, I learned a valuable lesson. "Do Not Have Multiple Boxes of Different Calibers Open on the Bench at the Same Time"!!

I was testing for groups across the chronograph. I loaded a round into my AI, and slowly pulled the trigger! Recoil was almost non-existent, the chronograph pretty much exploded, and the ejected brass was a short, straight-walled case. I was a bit confused for a bit, not yet figuring out what had happened! My first thought was, that I was seeing a case separation. In a panic, I pulled the bolt and attempted to see the remaining brass stuck in the chamber. Finally....I thought to look at the cartridge headstamp! No longer in a panic about my rifle, I could sit down feeling really stupid....and "morn" the loss of my chronograph! memtb

I've had customers come in and say the samething. "I feel like such an,....". I say it can happen to anyone. Which is why we all need to be careful. No one was hurt, so we can all live and learn. Lucky is a was a smaller than bore diameter bullets than the other way around. Glad everyone is okay.

 

[deerhunter64]

Might have you all beat. Purchased a Savage 112 V many years ago. I hated the weight of the trigger pull so I had a gunsmith work on it. He was the worst ever !!! Can't even remember his name. Basically he screwed up the safety. The rifle which has a blind box magazine will shoot on its own if I close the action quickly. Yes....with no one toughing the trigger , the gun will shoot whenever I don't close the action very slowly. Brought it back to him and told him that if I had not remembered to point the rifle in a safe direction , I would have killed my brother when I cycled the action. He said I must have done something to the trigger. I told him he was right. I brought my rifle to a totally incompetent gunsmith.

 

[crkckr]

Ok, I'll tell on myself, as long as we're all confessing our sins. I got a nice little Ruger 77V (my very first 1/2 rifle) but the trigger was about maxed out for pull. My mentor uncle told me how to adjust and then safety check the rifle after I adjusted the trigger. When I got home, I adjusted the trigger down to a much more reasonable pull and remembered 3 of four things he had told me. But since it worked four the three, I didn't bother calling about that last one. So out in the desert we're harassing the local bunny population. Back at the truck, it's time to rearm & tank up. With a round in the chamber and the safety on, I lay the rifle down, pick up some ammo, then pick the rifle back up (ha, you thought I was going to shoot my truck, didn't you!). With the rifle pointing straight up and resting on the tailgate, I took the safety off. BOOM. Oh, and a shattering of glass as the back window of my camper shell died a horrible death. I blew the rest of it out on the second shot as I tried to figure out what the bloody 'ell I'd done! Let's see... with the bolt cocked, engage the safety and make sure it actually works. Slam the bolt home a few times and see if it fires. Bump it on the ground with it cocked & safety off, see if it fires. And the kicker I forgot, engage the safety, pull the trigger, then take the safety off - and see if it fires! Opps, it did. So you were right, I did shoot my truck! Fortunately, it wasn't fatal... for me or anyone else. But I never forgot the four steps, either!
Cheers,
crkckr