Anyone ever have this happen??

[Nighthawk]

I went shooting two days ago, I brought a Colt AR-15 H-Bar and a Wby Vanguard .300 WM. I was shooting the AR at 100 yards, I loaded 5 rounds in the 30 round mag (can't shoot more than 5 at a time at this range) I shot the first round with no problems, the second round I just heard a click. I thought great, I have a misfire. I pulled the bolt back to cock it again, then I pulled the trigger and heard another click. I was getting frusterated at this time so i popped the mag out and didn't really find andthing wrong.

Again I pulled the trigger and had the same problem. I pulled the mag out for the second time and pulled the bolt back to find a .223 case severed in half like a wine bottle, (around the circumfrence not from neck to flachhole)the case had a clean cut about 3/4 the way down. I pulled that out and put the mag back in and pulled the bolt back and heard another click. Getting aggavated I again pulle the mag out and opened the bolt, the round that flew out was about 3" long. The front half of the case that broke in two was stuck over another new round and was being jammed in the chamber. I thought what the hell is going on. I took that other part of the case off and finally fired the remaining rounds. I guess the first round I shot blew up inside the chamber and cut the brass almost perfectly in half. The ammo I was using was Black Hills 68 grain heavy match. The last time I heard of something like that happening the rest of the rounds blew up in the mag and sent pieces of the action into the shooters face. Is this bad ammo because some other rounds look like the brass has a discoloration in the same spot as the one that blew??? Can someone shed some light?

 

[Brent]

That's a case head seperation, usually caused from excessive headspace.

I'm not too familiar with the AR's but I don't think the they will fire out of battery like that. Are you sure it dropped the hammer on the next round you chambered, because it surely would never have been in battery with the other case in the chamber ahead of it like that.

The series of events you describe seem to me impossible to have occured in that order.

1) It didn't eject the blown case head, yet it picked up another round which was jammed inside the previous case body?

2) The AR fired out of battery?

3) The bolt closed all the way so it would fire?

4) Case head seperation with a factory load? (something's wrong here)

[ 05-25-2004: Message edited by: Brent Moffitt ]

 

[jb1000br]

Brent--It sound like: It did eject the blown head but the front half stayed in the chamber--then the next round got jammed into the front half of the other--maybe the click was just the trigger itself?

JB

 

[gonehuntingagain]

The hammer may have fallen, but since the bolt did not close far enough, the firing pin did not reach the primer. When I was in the Marines, we had an incident similar to this. The rifle got just enough sand in it to prevent the bolt from closing all the way, but alloweed it to close enough to allow it to be fired. The left side of the upper receiver blew off in a large chunk. The guy that was shooting was wearing his gas mask at the time, so he came out of it ok - extremely lucky.

Anyway, I think I would have a gunsmith remove the stuck case head so the chamber doesn't get hosed, then have him check it out thouroughly.

 

[Brent]

JB,

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Again I pulled the trigger and had the same problem. I pulled the mag out for the second time and pulled the bolt back to find a .223 case severed in half like a wine bottle, (around the circumfrence not from neck to flachhole)the case had a clean cut about 3/4 the way down. I pulled that out and put the mag back There was the un-ejected blown off case head. in and pulled the bolt back and heard another click. Getting aggavated I again pulle the mag out and opened the bolt, the round that flew out was about 3" long. The front half of the case that broke in two was stuck over another new round and was being jammed in the chamber. Now this was the round it picked up and the body of the seperated one <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would certainly hope the click was just the trigger, because what GHA describes...

My Dad has had this happen before, not on a gas gun, one of his WSM's, but the bolt came no where near close to closing with the seperated case body still in there, it did however eject the casehead and chamber the next round into the remaining case...

[ 05-25-2004: Message edited by: Brent Moffitt ]

 

[Brent]

JB,

I read it 3-4 times and was still scratchin my head, but sometimes my reading comprehension is like my transmission rebuilding skills... just enough to get me into trouble.

 

[Nighthawk]

Brent, that was the way the story went.
It did pick up another round even though the other half of the one that blew in half was still stuck in the chamber. The back part of the case blew off the rest. Only about a half an inch blew off the back and the ejector blew that out, but was still stuck in with the other rounds because it fell out when I opened the bolt. The first round fired, my guess is thats the one that blew because all others after that failed until I discovered the problem. The bolt did close all the way, but none of the rest fired, the click was the trigger.

Gonehuntingagain, the rest of the case did finally come out when I pulled out one of the rounds that didn't fire. It was stuck over the the round that didn't go off.

Brent, we need to learn ya on your reading skills.

Everything I described in my first post happened. Not everything can be explained. And yes this was a factory load. Some of the rest of the cases look like they have discoloration exactly where the first one blew.

 

[jb1000br]

Brent--ooops , guess it was YOUR turn to show ME something i missed

now im just confused

JB