MB1 Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 Just after some opinions on what might of cause this, After buying a box of ppu .243, I went up to the farm to shoot some target why my mate zero his rifle in, I shot 12 rounds, shot the 13 almighty bang and my face covered in blood, after a few second look down at the rifle and found the floor plate blow out and the bolt deformed, couldn't open the bolt at the farm stuck hard, when I got home had to hammer the bolt free and the picture is what left of the case, the target had 13 holes in it so the bullet left the chamber, I've email ppu to explain what happen. The gun was a bsa and just been at the gunsmith and was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 Firstly, hope any injuries are superficial, and heal up quickly ! Did the bullet impact in the same place as the rest of the rounds ? That'd go some way to telling you if it was overcharged or not. If I shoot factory ammo, it's nearly always PPU (which I then reload, as I think their brass is of very high quality) Down at the range a few weeks ago, and I was brass bin raiding, and a considerable amount of what I knew was factory PPU 223 seemed to have primer cratering. Do you have the rest of the brass to have a look at the primers ? Or you could just have had a catastrophic metal failure on the bolt. It does happen, though very rarely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbrowning2 Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 Ouch you were very lucky a serious failure. The over pressure must have been very significant to do the damage you describe. For rifle cartridges the powder is normally chosen to virtually fill the case ( or it does for my home loads) so a large over charge of powder is then difficult to achieve. Wrong powder? Will be very interesting to see what ppu have to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB1 Posted April 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 (edited) I'll have the rest of the brass, I'll have a look when am in the house, it manage to blow the ejector and extractor out of the bolt, I'll post a picture of the bolt when I get in, Edited April 20, 2015 by MB1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bala Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 Get yourself a lottery ticket this week. Hope your face better. Did you remember to photograph your face after the event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewsher500 Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 and the bolt deformed, ... The gun was a bsa and just been at the gunsmith and was fine. lucky boy bit confused when you say "deformed" and then "fine" can you weigh all the other cases accurately? post lots of pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stevo Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 lucky boy bit confused when you say "deformed" and then "fine" can you weigh all the other cases accurately? post lots of pics I think he is saying that the gun had just come back from gunsmith and was fine and all in order before the incident , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB1 Posted April 20, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 With it being a 25+ year old gun, I'll like getting the barrel check every so often too make sure it's in good condition, since it was check I'll put thro about 17 rounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underdog Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 Those BSA rifles are plenty strong. I had a cf2 in 222 and a single S&B factory round tried to blow its primer out! I fear you also had a rogue round. Look how part of the brass head is missing! It would not look like that with a bolt failure I am sure. U. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry931 Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 I wonder if it is possible that round 12 didn't actually leave the barrel (maybe no / very little powder just pushed bullet into rifling) ... and round 13 pushed 2 bullets out the barrel onto the target, with a corresponding massive increase in pressure. Hope you are alright H Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bewsher500 Posted April 20, 2015 Report Share Posted April 20, 2015 unlikely squibs usually result in massive bulges and blown actions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iain Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Firstly, hope any injuries are superficial, and heal up quickly ! Did the bullet impact in the same place as the rest of the rounds ? That'd go some way to telling you if it was overcharged or not. If I shoot factory ammo, it's nearly always PPU (which I then reload, as I think their brass is of very high quality) Down at the range a few weeks ago, and I was brass bin raiding, and a considerable amount of what I knew was factory PPU 223 seemed to have primer cratering. Do you have the rest of the brass to have a look at the primers ? That happened to me too. Stuff went back very quickly. Gone off ppu since. I think with ppu the powder is very fast burning and a one type doesn't quite fit all. ( ex military ak powder ) Or you could just have had a catastrophic metal failure on the bolt. It does happen, though very rarely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB1 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 The bolt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Did you have a look at the other fired brass, to see what the primers look like ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MB1 Posted April 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Just had a look, 11 are alright but one of them the fire pin impression has been push back out so there is a lump on top of the primer, not the best picture. Still no response from ppu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 That certainly looks wrong. I'll go and have a look in my spent primer tube, see if I can find the ones I noticed the other week (and if they'll photograph well enough) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 Right, found some, and got decent picture quality All of these are from PPU, 55gr 223 ammunition, all were virgin brass out of new boxes on the day. We've got a range day this coming Saturday, will have a very good look at brass as it is fired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underdog Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 That's over pressuring of the primer cup and on two rifles! Dodgy batch's. U. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 (edited) That's over pressuring of the primer cup and on two rifles! Dodgy batch's. U. Agreed. I'll just add that the primers I've pictured were not from rounds that I had fired myself (I'm much more shooting homeloads these days unless I need brass, and I use Federal Champion primers, which are silver in colour), but were from club members, generally shooting club guns, with club supplied ammunition that was coming from new boxes. Certainly something that I'll be looking for on Saturday, anyway ... Edited April 21, 2015 by robbiep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livefast123 Posted April 21, 2015 Report Share Posted April 21, 2015 In that first pic the primer has been pushed back and the strike hole is cratered, a very good sign of an overpressure round. I used to 55gr PPU in .223 and had a few rounds that sounded more 'grunty' than the rest and were hard to get the bolt open with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underdog Posted April 22, 2015 Report Share Posted April 22, 2015 This could be an ignition problem over an excessive charge! If PPU are using a spherical powder and got the wrong primers fitted this can happen! It happened to one of my Winchester 94 in 30wcf once using some bl-c2 up on standard primers. One round tried to open the bolt and with an almighty bang! Not having any magnum primers I scrapped that load! Just a thought. U. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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