Everyone needs to see this

I know Wikipedia is liberal oriented but:


This gives some insight into this event with the .50 BMG round. Then there is the larger diameter threaded cap , "Also keep in mind pound per square inch." My thinking is that a huge volume of high pressure gas (expanding in all directions) combined with the .50 BMG bolt thrust (12,117 kiloponds), pushed on the threaded cap and as the area of the cap was greater increased force was exerted (psi) on it and the shallow V threads failed. Would the brake contribute to internal pressure elevation if partially obstructed by sabot debris? - like check the bore for obstructions, patches, mud or whatever.

Rifle remnants looked sort of cleaned up for a claim then there is the sabot ammo used of doubtful quality.

The man sure looked beat up on the hospital bed. As I remember from first aid training - stop the bleeding, pressure on wound or sticking an object into hole whether it be a thumb or ammo round.

I never saw a hydrant used as a target - during night darkness would various forest canines line up to mark the hydrant?
 
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I think I watched that video but saw nothing of the shop, he was just standing in front of a blow-up drawing of the rifle. Maybe there is a different video than the one I saw?
That's the one that I saw also. @Coldfinger Is there a different video? If so could you give us some advice on how to find it please.
 
Remember the sabot round causes pressure problems if it blocks the barrel since it gets caught in the facing of the muzzle brake there's an escape port on both sides for a high pressure gas so no it does not cause issues with that. Only causes issues with repeating shots afterwards by hitting the remnants of the sanot itself
 
I think I watched that video but saw nothing of the shop, he was just standing in front of a blow-up drawing of the rifle. Maybe there is a different video than the one I saw?
Same here, didn't see shop.
 
The injured shooter said in a conversation with the Rifle manufacture , that he was told it would take 85,000 pounds to cause this catastrophic failure to occur. I would have thought the company would have proofed this rifle to that level of pressure. There should always be "Destructive testing to Failure " for any production rifle, just as we did with our medical Trauma Implants. We knew How much load, and how many cycles before the Intramedullary Femoral Nail , or other device ,would deform or break. On another LR thread , they are talking about the new 277 Fury ( if I read it correctly ) approaching 80, 000 pound of chamber pressure . I think at that very high level of pressure , testing results should indicate that the rifle can withstand 80,000/85,000 pounds of chamber pressure , repeated X number of times before some internal dimensional changes or even failure occurs . All Tolerances need to be checked through out this testing process. That number needs to be known. Based on the material(s) used in the bolt and receiver , the rifle maker, or load manual may wish to say Ex: " All Loads do not /should not exceed 60, 000 pounds of chamber pressure " , or some number they know to be reasonable. Every rifle builder should provide the Max limits , and those Max Limits should be well under the failure threshold. Every rifle owner deserves that piece of mind . Kind of Like your tires!! Max Load Range and Max PSI etc.
 
BHA proofs their lever action rifles on double charges...

In a 60k psi .500 S&W
 
I've been loosely associated with 4 bolt action rifles that "locked up" from overloads, in actions I considered unsuitable for the cartridge. A couple I refused to shoot when offered the chance. One I warned a friend not to shoot passed on my comment to the owner, who was forever angry at me. First because I was unimpressed, it was a gunsmith school project, and they built several of them. Second when it locked up a few rounds later proving the point. Others also seemed to drift away after the lightning in the bottle they chose because of $$$$$$, ended up on a scrap heap.

The Serbu is basically an attempt to keep the cost of a .50 down. Read their description, 'inspired by social media" "an incredible price". Their model with actual locking lugs is like 6x more expensive.

This is loosely what is best defined as a better quality pipe gun.

The bolt action lock ups I've seen indicate a level of "over engineering" what is sometimes derogatorily referred to as "lawyer designed".

If I recall correctly Defensive Edge tested their action to 200,000 psi. Other commercial action info likely available online.

Metal fatigue plays a factor, the thing may hold but for how long. Shoot a few rounds put it in the safe may leave one with one impression, serious use another thing.

At a $100 a round there won't be a lot of testing to validate either the ammo, or the platform.

Be careful out there, be concerned about the guy at the bench next to you. One of the lessons I've taught kids is if the folks on the range make you uncomfortable. Leave!
 
I was elk hunting with an old friend that showed up with a rifle he bought from one of his friends. It was a Savage build .338 Win, he was having trouble chambering a round so I suggested he stop. Headspace way off. This stuff happens all the time out there I bet but just under radar. Good advice, stay alert at range.
 
Bolt action lock-ups:

Saw one M70 Win in 6.5-06 that was loaded with a 140 grain bullet, instead of the usual load of just under 50gr of H4831 the same amount of H4895 was used. The rifle was "locked-up" & the barrel needed to be un-screwed from the action so the blasted out base of the cartridge could be picked out of the extractor cut and area all around bolt head. Primer pocket appeared to be .30 caliber or so and was completely blasted out next to extractor cut (coned breach, controlled feed). After that, everything worked real good.

The other event occurred when 2400 pistol powder was used in a re-barreled Mexican S/A Mauser to .308 Win in an attempt to get a reduced load. Locked the action up real good and blasted off the cartridge guide on the left side of the bolt (controlled feed) a replacement bolt & extractor was needed, then head-space adjust. ($$$), (controlled feed)

Another event occurred when a Rem 700 in .243 was over-loaded with some unknown combo. The bolt handle was pounded on with a boot heel until freed up. Brass was jammed into ejector requiring new ejector & spring, new finger nail extractor. Worked just fine after that (push feed)

Another event occurred when a M70 Win in .243 was loaded with an unknown combo using necked down .308 W brass. Total wreck - barrel was blasted 5-8 feet down range. Pressures must have been huge or defective action. I did not see that event. Why bother to pound on bolt handle.

In all of the above there was no blood on the bench. Each rifle was chambered for a moderate bolt thrust cartridge and was designed to prevent gas from blasting into shooters face by allowing gas to escape thru bottom of bolt into magazine, thru hole in receiver ring, and blocked by flange on bolt shroud.

I seem to remember stuff about plastic deformation where the elastic limits of metal are exceeded and then no recovery. In 2 of these cases the rifles were returned to action with minimal cost.

In the subject situation, a .50 BMG round of doubtful quality was fired having a huge amount of bolt thrust (vectored force straight back from chamber) in addition to that, huge amounts of high pressure gas flooded into this threaded bolt cap having more area than chamber & barrel face. As the area increased the force applied to the cap increased as more area was exposed to the increasing pressures. Apparently the floating, spring loaded firing ring pin was driven by a hammer and this and possibly other items were blown loose tearing the shooter ball cap, right side.

Sounds like a disaster ready to happen.

I now have a carboard target that closely resembles our neighborhood fire hydrant(s) - I hope to hang it up at 1,000 yards but will settle for 500. Don't plan to leave it for over-night marking - day light use only.
 
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