This may be a dumb question, but is there any chance that the barrel is still usable?
Could weak/overworked brass have been a factor?
Arrgh.
I would assume that is one possibility, although I can’t say how likely vs. other possibilities e.g. bore obstruction, or powder overcharge. Either way, the pressure was too much for that casing. Either from a spike above normal safe pressure limits, or the case was weak for one reason or another and could not handle normal pressure levels any more.
Did he remember clearing a malf before this?
Could he have had a bullet stuck in the leade of the rifling and then loaded a round behind it?
That wasn’t it. The round just before the incident went off without a hitch, striking the steel target.
Ka-Booms resulting from bore obstructions usually split or bulge the barrel.
Ka-Booms from over pressured ammo usually blow apart the action in a much more spectacular fashion than this.
A blown case head should not have caused that much damage. That much damage should only have happened if the Ka-Boom were the result of an out of battery event. Yet, there are failsafes in place to prevent them.
We are looking at the bolt and are assuming it was broken during the Ka-Boom. However, the only way to have an out of battery event is if the bolt were broken before hand. I think we should consider the possibility the bolt broke before the Ka-Boom and is the cause
Hmmm…gun games jp low mass bolt carrier group instead of mil spec plus BCM, Daniel Defense, Centurian Arms, etc, bolt carrier group.
Over the years, I’ve had 3 different KaBooms of M16s that were in my inventory.
The last was quite similar to this one. And the base of the case looks exactly the same - Blown out at the extractor, primer blown out from it’s pocket and significant brass extrusion around the ejector. These are classic signs of excessive pressure.
‘My’ rifle was more damaged as the end of the BCG looked like a peeled banana, but since I’m not familiar with the strength of this gun’s components, I can’t comment on whether the damage appears more or less severe than it should be.
My particular KB resulted in a recall of that specific lot of M855 ammo. I never heard back if any testing had been done or the results of those tests, if any had been performed.
This gun’s ammo was handloaded. There is no way to determine exactly how that round was loaded in comparison to any other round loaded at that time. The shooter had confidence that he loaded it correctly (or he wouldn’t have been shooting it), but it’s impossible to verify and there is no quality control standard procedure that must be followed other than what the handloader decides to do. And as the OP posted, the shooter could’ve used a range pick-up!
However, a handloader has advantages. He can inspect each component before it’s loaded, not just a QC sample, and depending on what machinery he’s using, inspect every round at each point in the loading sequence. But even a small lapse in concentration can have ‘interesting’ results.
All this is, is my opinion.
I’d be tempted to suspect an incomplete powder dump, leaving enough powder in the case to detonate rather than a progressive burn.
Saw the pics in my flickr feed. Was hoping to find a thread.
Bummer on the gun, glad your friend is okay.
Wow, that’s a hell of a kaboom. Wouldn’t want to have my face near that
Wicked looking stuff, I am glad no one was seriously injured.
I agree. This is a strong possibility IMO.
Justin - that gun looks awful familiar, who was it?
Is this a real thing? Why do loading manuals have reduced loads for .30-06, .308 and some magnums? Some pistol cartridges (in particular .45 Colt (not ACP), .44 Mag, 38 Special, and .357 Mag) are routinely loaded at small fractions of the total case capacity, without incident. I’ve never seen anything authoritative stating that reduced loads can cause “detonations.” In all the warnings and cautions in loading manuals I haven’t, for most powder, seen one warning against loads that are too light (I believe there is one magnum pistol powder that does caution against this). But I’m interested to learn if I am missing something.
Look at reloading with h110.
+1
Yeap. Everything with the gun is fly by night parts.
Also it took until page 3 for someone to point this out.
H110 is what I was thinking of, but when I looked up the Hodgdon data for 300BLK I didn’t see any caution. Hodgdon’s own reloading data shows a max of 20.0 grains H110 for supersonic light bullets, but also shows a 9.9gr charge for 220gr subsonics. If a half charge behind a heavy bullet was dangerous, they wouldn’t list that. And I’m not a physicist or ballistics engineer but I can’t see how smaller than intended charges can cause “detonation.” If this is a real thing I’m all ears.
OP: “Seekins billet receiver set with a JP low-mass BCG. The barrel was a Nordic 18’ SS .223 Wylde chamber”
No, this is not “fly by night parts.” JP Enterprises is well known and respected for quality in the 3-gun and precision rifle world. It’s not milspec, certainly, but it’s not a $39 unknown-garage-sourcer special either. Receivers wouldn’t cause this, but if they could, Seekins is also very well known for high quality, precisely made components (including some of the best scope rings). Nordic is well known in 3-gun circles as well - I’m not sure if I would rate it as top end, but it’s not unknown or poorly regarded.
Any brand or component can have a quality defect. These could - but based on reputation that wouldn’t be my first guess.
They haven’t been able to prove low charge detonations actually occur. Damage from detonations attributed to low charges do a lot more damage than what we’re seeing here.
Look carefully at the exploded case. The head is expanded in a way that can only happen if the case is not entirely supported by the chamber, like what happens when the action is not fully in battery