You are right Sitka, there were two Browning blow ups last year. They were both stainless stalkers and the barrels looked like banana peels. Another one was a Sako 75 in stainless, now this Tikka.
Having seen some REALLY bizzare stuff happen at the local range, I have a hard time believing a gun just blows up like in the pictures. Even if the barrel steel is bad, the action will stay together. There was MUCH more to these stories than is being let on. The most recent picture of the Tikka is very suspect to me. You simply DO NOT get brass in the chamber like that under normal cirumstances...and their wouldn't be anything left to the casing either. The chamber would be black from the powder residue and the case would be vaporized unders such pressure. For the action to split like it did in the Sako and Tikka pictures, there was SUBSTANTIAL pressure, ie; a blockage or serious overcharge in the factory ammo. It takes a ton of pressure to blow up a barrel and an action at the same time. These blow ups are not due to bad barrel steel. I would blame the ammo long before the rifle. Something just isn't right here. I think Barretta recalled the rifles to cover themselves, but they know it is an ammo problem.
Browning hasn't done anything about their blow up problems. Heck, I will give you $75 for that POS Tikka <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Just my 3 cents worth. Flinch
