For the back story- I shot a deer along a power line stand on our lease. The deer went down immediately, as I was walking up to the deer, it raised its head and started to try to get up. I reached in my pocket put a round in and pulled the trigger. One heck if an explosion took place and I was standing there holding the buttstock of the rifle, and the barrel and forearm were sticking in the dirt in front of me. I was totally confused/shocked I didnt have any idea of what had happened. The scope was blown off and hit me in the across the bridge of my nose. I had two black eyes,a little bit of bleeding from some shrapnel hitting my face, four pieces of metal removed from my right eye and busted my left ear drum. My youngest son shoots a 308 , My oldest son had given me a .308 bullet he had found in our driveway about a week earlier. I put it in my hunting jacket not thinking anything of it. You can guess what happened from there.
The bolt stayed locked after the explosion, the round made its way down half of the barrel. The explosion was so strong that what looked like liquid brass blew past the bolt shroud into my eye. I am very lucky I wasnt killed, or permanently disfigured. As you can see from the picture the action peeled back like a banana. I consider myself a safe hunter - never climb into or out of the stand with a loaded gun, wear a safety harness, etc. Scary how things can happen so innocently.
