How to blowup your rifle

[bigngreen]

Ya, it was settled till the latest entrants in the post before you read contest we apparently have going!!

 

[charlie 7]

Horwath

Surprised no gas escaped the primer, based on bng's description.

At least the firing pin / striker assembly is salvageable for re-use... maybe the bolt handle.

Did the chamber swell? bigngreen in his post #300 stated "the barrel shank is swelled."



The bolt handle would be perfect, broken by an "unarmed" hand, spring maybe if it wasn't hammered or butchered by a channel-lock like the firing pin shaft forward of the spring housing.

The firing pin looks bent.

The pressure must have been tremendous as it not only moulded the case head but also flared the bolt lip/nose ring.

One can see same hammering marks there, I've asked Winkfish a direct question about it in post 322, no answer, maybe now.

All the above can be seen on photo in the original post #1 ( increase the size of photo to see it even better).

Winkfish stated previously that the cases were NOT annealed (correctly or incorrectly), I have a further question: what is the head clearance of your loaded ammo, and not relevant in this predicament, another one, do you grease the bolt lugs?

 

[WildRose]

374 posts about how some guy overloaded a round and locked up the bolt on his rifle. Then comes the drama about some wanna be gunsmith totally screwed up the rifle because he did't have any common sense. Total waste of time reading such garbage, but wait, I did learn that the rifle owner has a lot of company when it comes to no knowledge of firearms.

Nobody has determined it was an overload that caused the problem and from the investigation so far the indications are that it was not the problem at all.

Perhaps you would benefit from actually reading before ranting.

 

[WildRose]

0 Likes... Hmmmm...

Well earned too.

 

[Pdvdh]

I blew a primer today, but at much less pressure than the OP's cartridge. Still a surprise to me. It's been a decade or longer since I've ejected a casing with no primer.

RL26 in my 30/375 SI. It was the lowest powder charge of the 4 loads I intended to shoot. It was the only load I fired after the wisp of smoke and blown primer.
Haven't investigated causes yet, but will pull bullets and reweigh charges on the 3 remaining, unfired cartridges. A mystery. Primer pocket swelled about 0.004". Hope I can sort it out...

 

[jimbires]

I blew a primer today, but at much less pressure than the OPs cartridge. Still a surprise to me. It's been a decade or longer since I've ejected a casing with no primer.

RL26 in my 30/375 SI. It was the lowest powder charge of the 4 loads I intended to shoot. It was the only load I fired after the wisp of smoke and blown primer.
Haven't investigated causes yet, but will pull bullets and reweigh charges on the 3 remaining, unfired cartridges. A mystery. Primer pocket swelled about 0.004". Hope I can sort it out...

are you new to RL26 ? are you using quickload ? if you are I found quickload to be off on the burn speed . the lot of powder I'm using , I have the BA set to 0.371 in quickload . it matches up pretty good . it's about a 4.2 grain difference in my 7mm rem mag .

 

[Scooterbum]

pH,

How do u know ur psi was lower than the op's? Nobody proved it was o/p yet. And if they had, no psi was measured.

Was ur psi measured?

U guys r a riot. Too funny. Well, not really.

Hey, has any of the wild theories bore any fruit yet?

 

[Bowfishn]

Yes lot numbers can be quite different on the ba, my old lot was 0.3569 my new lot is 0.3450 default in QL is 0.3397

 

[GelatinousPig]

To the OP, were the cartridges stored bullet face down, up, or on their sides during transport and cold exposure?

 

[Pdvdh]

pH,
How do u know ur psi was lower than the op's? Because the OP's pressure was high enough it created a belt on a beltless casing. My case looks normal, minus the primer.

Was ur psi measured? No, other than it was high enough for the primer pocket to expand sufficient for the primer to fall out when the case was removed from the bolt face.

U guys r a riot. Too funny. Well, not really.

Hey, has any of the wild theories bore any fruit yet?

See answers in bold font above.

My pressure was elevated enough to raise my eyebrows, but not enough to remove them. Nothing exciting, compared to the OP's.

 

[Pdvdh]

are you new to RL26 ? are you using quickload ? if you are I found quickload to be off on the burn speed. the lot of powder I'm using, I have the BA set to 0.371 in quickload. it matches up pretty good . it's about a 4.2 grain difference in my 7mm rem mag.

Yes, brand new to RL26, but I wasn't using Quickload. I managed this all by myself.

It was a Hornady case. If it had been Lapua toughness (Lapua doesn't make 375 Ruger cases), I don't think I'd of lost the primer and experienced the wisp of smoke at the bolt head.

 

[WildRose]

I blew a primer today, but at much less pressure than the OPs cartridge. Still a surprise to me. It's been a decade or longer since I've ejected a casing with no primer.

RL26 in my 30/375 SI. It was the lowest powder charge of the 4 loads I intended to shoot. It was the only load I fired after the wisp of smoke and blown primer.
Haven't investigated causes yet, but will pull bullets and reweigh charges on the 3 remaining, unfired cartridges. A mystery. Primer pocket swelled about 0.004". Hope I can sort it out...

Sometimes you just get a bad primer.

Sometimes you just have a loose primer pocket.

Sometimes there just isn't enough information available to come up with a definitive answer.

Several years back CCI had a bad run of primers from which DT loaded up a ton of ammo with them. I had a couple of boxes of 7mm STW and they were so thin that it blew holes through about 1/3 of the primers.

To their credit when I called and talked to the boss about it, he had me send him all of the brass and unfired rounds and replaced them no questions asked.

 

[Creedmoor shooter]

Sometimes you just get a bad primer.

Sometimes you just have a loose primer pocket.

Sometimes there just isn't enough information available to come up with a definitive answer.

Several years back CCI had a bad run of primers from which DT loaded up a ton of ammo with them. I had a couple of boxes of 7mm STW and they were so thin that it blew holes through about 1/3 of the primers.

To their credit when I called and talked to the boss about it, he had me send him all of the brass and unfired rounds and replaced them no questions asked.

I had a bad pocket once. I knew once I seated the primer that something didn't feel right. I marked that brass so i knew which one it was. It was within books specs and when i shot it i had that puff of smoke and I ejected the brass to find no primer.

 

[shortgrass]

OK