
Scratch wrote:I'm not very familiar with what I think is an MG42?
What happened? Hang fire?
This an ISAF soldier on Camp Leatherneck Afghanistan, who upon clearing his MG3 machine gun, didn't do so in textbook fashion. Now obviously there isn't any time to waste while under fire, but this is a prime example of why the 5 point safety check is often taught with open bolt weapon systems. Fortunately the soldier wasn't badly injured and only had his cheek ripped open instead of the back of the 7.62 round impacting his face head on, literally.
The MG 3 has an open bolt mechanism. Here was a malfunction, and the cartridge was not fired. But now the bolt was in forward and locked position and the cartridge was in the hot barrel. The hot barrel ignited the cartridge after a while, unfortunately in the same moment when the instructor pulled back the bolt and looked in the system. Cartridges often get not ejected in this case, because they are stuck in the hot chamber.
This also happened during my time in the German army. Usually the bullet travels half the way in the barrel and get stuck then. And the case fragments and hits the face of the guy who looks into the barrel
Because of this the safety instructions recommend a barrel change after 150 rounds.
And if there is a malfunction because of a hot barrel you have to wait 5 minutes before opening the bolt or change the barrel to prevent that this happens.
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