What blew up my gun?

[Deezel]

First thing, you're safe and only lost a rifle.
Second, we're all human and mistakes will happen.
Third, thanks for letting us all know. Whatever doesn't kill you will only make you stronger. In this case, make you wiser.
Fourth - Go buy yourself a lotto ticket!

 

[ndking1126]

I think I assumed my powder throw was accurate & didn't weight every throw
I think I'll make sure I do smaller reload batches
Keep me from getting too complacent hence sloppy while reloading
Just want to thank you all for trying to help. Great to be part of this community.

I was really leaning to the case was too long or if the stars really aligned bullet weld and too long of a case. I'm wondering if that much powder over is enough to do that much damage? It seems like you would need more powder for something so catastrophic.

 

[MNbogboy]

I think I assumed my powder throw was accurate & didn't weight every throw
I think I'll make sure I do smaller reload batches
Keep me from getting too complacent hence sloppy while reloading
Just want to thank you all for trying to help. Great to be part of this community.

Admiring your honesty, as we all make mistakes and learn by them. In this case maybe we all learned a little.
The case I mentioned earlier working up a load in the 221 fireball with .5 grain increments (too large for small case to start with) went from flattened primers to wyd happened in one step up. Yours being possibly 3-5 grains over book max in say a "tight" rifle probably led to the case failure.
Thanks should be to the good advice and experience found in all these posts, hope we all learned from it.
Happy shooting (try not to flinch)!

 

[skipglo]

Went shooting yesterday, shot about 5 shots and on 6th shot this happened.
Reloads from a couple years ago , store in ammo box in a shooting bag.
Rifle is a 22-250 Savage Model 10
Bullets are 55Gn Hornady V-Max
35GN of Varget Powder
Been doing this recipe for approx. 4 years, have never had problem.
No signs of over pressure until this incident, happily no injuries/casualties (except gun,LOL)
Any Ideas out there

View attachment 148591 View attachment 148592

So glad you weren't hurt!

 

[Bob Wright]

Ok here's what i found out this afternoon, I'm an idiot but a live one

I pulled all remaining reloads from this batch (approx. 20)
Powder looked like powder in 1lb bottle (not powdered or anything)
Case length were all between 1.88" & 1.91" ( in spec.)
All cases had 34.6gn of Varget except 5had 35gn, 3 had 36gn & 1 had 37gn
I went back to Hornady Load Book and 34.6gn is absolute Max for 55Gn V-Max bullet
The loads I've been making are for 50Gn V-Max bullet. (which I used previously)
Max amount of Varget I could get in a 22-250 case is 39gn
Looks like I've been living on the edge for quite a while.

 

[hangfire]

I'm not an engineer but a friend of mine that is said there is a theory of failure they use to calculate when something will fail. He said if you subject a rifle action to it's designed loads it is almost impossible to calculate when it will fail, but if you subject to higher loads even a few times the calculation becomes quite easy

 

[Bob Wright]

I think you might have found it. My scale drifted a lot (.8 gr) without my knowing it. I sent it back for recalibration, but I check and verify with a beam scale and trickle if too light, nowadays.
My 22-250 is running just below max for my manual, at 35.6 gr. of Varget and running 3600 fps on a 55 gr. Sierra bullet.
Impossible to double load these cartridges but 2-3 grains more than max is too hot, certainly.
All in all, I changed 5 things in my reloading, as I was taught poorly by another reloader and a lot of bad advice online from other articles, forums....not this forum!
I never go over book max now as I just look for another primer or powder. Call me "chicken.."
I might be leaving an accuracy node on the table, but it's not worth the risk to me. Breeching two primers on a 7 mag taught me a valuable lesson, even though I didn't have heavy bolt lifts at .5 gr over, it eventually got me. Was on the ragged edge and never, ever knew it until that one crappy day. Never again.

 

[longrangebob]

Did I miss the picture of the barrel?. As if there is an obstruction it will be bulged there —
I noted one other mention of under charge causing "Detonation"
Could those slightly over charged cases acquired their extra powder by others being depleted - such that you had a round that was drastically under filled ( let's say 1/2-2/3rds.)???

 

[bigpapa]

Not sure from where all are from, but i live in north florida and have talked with several shooters that havent looked close at temp leaving the house at the time may be very warm or very cool and introduceing the weapon to the opposite conditions most especially a 22 250 has and can put alot of moisture in the barrel. I have in years in younger life did not pay attention to it but light bullets moving fast can be a problem.

 

[kiwikid]

Ok here's what i found out this afternoon, I'm an idiot but a live one

I pulled all remaining reloads from this batch (approx. 20)
Powder looked like powder in 1lb bottle (not powdered or anything)
Case length were all between 1.88" & 1.91" ( in spec.)
All cases had 34.6gn of Varget except 5had 35gn, 3 had 36gn & 1 had 37gn
I went back to Hornady Load Book and 34.6gn is absolute Max for 55Gn V-Max bullet
The loads I've been making are for 50Gn V-Max bullet. (which I used previously)
Max amount of Varget I could get in a 22-250 case is 39gn
Looks like I've been living on the edge for quite a while.

Firstly I would like to say that I really admire your honesty and I am glad that you weren't injured.
However I feel that we haven't got to the bottom of this issue and I say that because Hodgdon list the max load of Varget for a 55 grain bullet at 36.5 grains. Richard Lee in Modern Reloading 2 also list 36.5gr max. Sierra list 36.1gr for their various 55 grain bullets. Yes different primers, cases and bullets can and do make a difference but we are talking a catastrophic difference in this case.
It would be interesting for a Gunsmith or an engineer to look at your action to see what they think of the steel structure.

 

[K1W1Spada]

So glad you were not seriously hurt.
From you last photos I think I can see evidence of stress fractures over time.
The split faces of the action should all be a single bright steel color if the failure occurred in one horrendous pressure event.
The pics seem to me to show very dark patches with brighter steel edges a sure sign of pre-existing stress fractures.
This adds up with your findings of higher than intended loads over time.
A lesson for all here especially if we are chasing MV with hotter loads.

 

[OzRanger]

Was it a remington? ******** quality control and crap products... what else is new. Yesterday they had no primer pocket formed on their brass and broke my 6-06 die. Bastardasses... Anyway glad you are ok

 

[corsair4360]

Was it a remington? *Rule 4 Violation* quality control and crap products... what else is new. Yesterday they had no primer pocket formed on their brass and broke my 6-06 die. Bastardasses... Anyway glad you are ok

The pictures show a Savage, not a remington or clone

 

[2ndtimer]

Ok here's what i found out this afternoon, I'm an idiot but a live one

I pulled all remaining reloads from this batch (approx. 20)
Powder looked like powder in 1lb bottle (not powdered or anything)
Case length were all between 1.88" & 1.91" ( in spec.)
All cases had 34.6gn of Varget except 5had 35gn, 3 had 36gn & 1 had 37gn
I went

Ok here's what i found out this afternoon, I'm an idiot but a live one

I pulled all remaining reloads from this batch (approx. 20)
Powder looked like powder in 1lb bottle (not powdered or anything)
Case length were all between 1.88" & 1.91" ( in spec.)
All cases had 34.6gn of Varget except 5had 35gn, 3 had 36gn & 1 had 37gn
I went back to Hornady Load Book and 34.6gn is absolute Max for 55Gn V-Max bullet
The loads I've been making are for 50Gn V-Max bullet. (which I used previously)
Max amount of Varget I could get in a 22-250 case is 39gn
Looks like I've been living on the edge for quite a while.

When loading with extruded powders, I weigh EVERY charge from the powder measure. When I use ball powder, I do throw charges, weighing every 5th or so. If you have been throwing extruded charges over the years for that rifle, it could have been subjected to numerous over pressure loads, weakening the action and contributing to the catastrophic failure. Glad you weren't injured, and hopefully we can all be reminded to be super focused when handloading. I have blown a primer or two myself over the years, (once with Varget in a .243 Win. at a below max load, weighed charge. It is not my favorite powder) and even lost the extractor once on a Savage .223 bolt action. My best guess on that one was a slightly oversized Remington bulk bullet, hot load in a hot rifle on a hot day.