AR-15 Ka-BOOM

[minnesotatv]

3-Gun AR-15 Competition Rifle Ammo Malfunction Detonation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1801xEOyRT4#t=85

[20mm]

That's what you get when you use crap components.
















aka: ammo

[FJ540]

Look at the lower - now you know why I don't think 6061 is adequate for it.

[MaryB]

He didn't name the ammo maker... overcharged case I bet as stated in the video.

[MaryB]

getting gateway timeouts and double posts from it...

[Dave Timm]

Overcharged or reused brass, ie more than "once fired." This can happen with range pick up brass as it is unknown if it truly is once fired, previously reloaded etc. Very cool of him to share the video and photos.

[Dave Timm]

Look at the lower - now you know why I don't think 6061 is adequate for it.

Oh c'mon I'm sure a poly lower would have held up just fine

[FJ540]

I'm personally thankful for that guy not shooting a poly when this happened. I can only imagine the shards of plastic slicing him up as it let go.

[JTapper]

Now I'm rethinking my poly lower.

I originally bought it to build a cheap/light .22 for my daughter and ended up tossing a 5.56 upper on it.

[Seismic Sam]

First of all, we have this:

Ammunition was produced from an ammunition manufacturer on a single stage press.

A commercial ammunition manufacturer (not to be confused with Joe Blow the handloader) making and selling ammo off a SINGLE STATION PRESS??? How could you ever show a profit commercially loading ammo on a single stage press, unless your time was worth only $1 an hour?? No EFFEN way was it a "commercial manufacturer". The use of picked up range brass also proves it was a Joe Blow handloader, as no commercial outfit would mix new and used cases. I actually knew a guy who was making ammo up for JP, and he was using a Dillon 1050, and he knew if his ammo wasn't perfect JP would kick him to the curb in a second.

From the case it looks like an out of battery KABOOM, despite the informed opinion of the people at JP about the fact that there should have been flame and shrapnel if it had been that. If you look closely at the reload on the video, the mag insertion isn't super clean, and then the shooter is clearly PULLING BACK on something. What else could it be except the charging handle? If the bolt was still open, the shooter would have done a quick slap to the bolt release, which would have been an entirely different movement. The way the case blew is consistent with an unsupported case head that blew out, leaving the rest of the case in the chamber. Also, while the primer is flat and cratered, it isn't THAT flat around the edge, and I have seen a lot worse in stuff I have picked up and was still intact. So it WAS a Joe Blow handloader despite his exalted title, and it could have been a used case, an over-charge of powder, or an out of battery shot, or some combination.

Had one of these at OGC, a member shows up on a Sunday with a brand new 3 gun deluxe AR, and promptly gets a bullet jammed in the throat from one of his HANDLOADS and has to knock it out with one of our brass rods. Next day, I'm Lead RSO, and I hear about a KABOOM over at the comp range. One other shooter saw it, and it was a brand new AR had the right side of the receiver blown out, and it shook up the guy who was a member pretty good. I did a thorough sweep of the whole bench area where he was, and there was NOTHING left. No pieces, no brass fragments, the place was spotless. Obviously the shooter didn't want to leave any evidence behind of how he had screwed up, which is telling in and of itself. Considering his rounds had been WAAY too long the day before, maybe they were still a bit long. If he had been magazine feeding them a long round wouldn't fit, but who knows what he was doing? He obviously couldn't handload worth a damn.