Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire another Mark V catastrophe

I already have a lot more, very reliable, very scary information that I can not divulge without betraying sworn confidences. I'll tell whatever I can � later � if I can do so without betraying confidences. That's why I have more reason than anybody else for wanting more input.

The unavoidable, undeniable general indications are two � some results of industry tests that I'm not supposed to know about �

� That some Mk V actions fail unpredictably (faulty manufacturing, not detectable before-hand).

� That some W'by factory ammo is 'way hotter than SAAMI specs.

(The key word is SOME, not ALL.)

Some of my information came from an anonymous source who wanted me to recommend a test lab for forensic examination of the failed rifle that horribly maimed and almost killed the shooter. I remember the details vividly but can not document 'em.

Some of my information came from the "shop" people who were loading W'by factory ammo on contract. They didn't appreciate the fact that their highly respected company's business people had signed a contract for loading drastically overly hot ammo.

Some of my information came from a good friend, ballistics tech at one of the SAAMI companies, whose job it was at the time to pressure-test (with modern test equipment) every brand and caliber and loading of ammo then being sold at retail in the U S. More than once, he mentioned the W'by ammo as being "worrisome," and finally gave me some hair-raising figures.

Some of my information came from a retired pilot, working as a range officer, who saw an apparently safe Mk V send zilch out the muzzle but nasty "shrapnel" into the shooter's eye.

It's damned uncomfortable to know what I know and to not be able to blaze it across the sky for all to see. (Even though I know that dyed-in-the-wool W'by-lovers could see it happen and still insist to themselves "That won't ever happen to me.")

Bottom line, FWIW � I'll never fire a Mk V with factory ammo and won't stand near anyone who's about to. One in a million � one in a billion � statistics don't mean much whnn that one is just a few inches from your face.

No, I've never seen one fail. Haven't seen all that many fired, for that matter, But when several people whom I know to be both knowledgeable and reliable relate essentially identical occurrences, I tend to accept what they're telling me as fact.

I've driven the major highways all over this continent for well over half a century without ever having a car catch fire. Does that fact guarantee that I never will have one catch fire?