Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Rifle action exploded, looking for reason why????

My friend had an accident this morning while hunting. He was using a Smith and Wesson model 1500 in .270 Win. He has used this rifle for many, many years with no issues. He had 4 rounds in the rifle and was shooting at 4 hogs. He killed the first 3 hogs and the rifle exploded on the 4th shot. He may loose his rt. eye. He is having surgery in Tyler in about 30 min. His son has the rifle and in an attempt to figure out what happened has tried to open the bolt with a small sledge. He hit it hard 20 or so times and it will not budge. He said the rifle had exploded in the magazine area and the wood surrounding the action. We are all very curious what happened.

1) He does not reload and shoots only factory ammo.
2) A couple of years ago he purchased a .308 and shot it for a while but sold it. Other than that, this is the only caliber he owns.


The barrel was unaffected. He plans to take it to a gunsmith and have him try to determine the cause of the malfunction. What do you think???

Does it seem plausible that the 4th round was actually a .308 and that the 30 cal bullet could not make it down the .27 cal barrel and therefore the weak spot was the action? We are all really curious, and hopefully we will eventually know for sure, but I am curious if any of you have suggestions that may help us arrive at the cause. thanks in advance.

from the info you ahve give I would say you maybe correct, but what parts "blew up" if the bolt is still closed on action , just debiere from the gas ports on the action ?

Sounds like a over load or a barrel obstruction, if the barrel is still attached to the action you may have to cut it off.

If it was a factory round, do not do anything to destroy any evidence. Leave everything as is until you can have it examined by a professional. A case head separation is what it sounds like. And trust me, a .30 cal bullet WILL make it down a .277 bore without much fanfare. Don't ask me how I know!

Precisely! A split in the case in or next to the web area of the case due to a manufacturing flaw can cause this. Used to be rare and from what I've read is now very rare indeed. But you want to preserve the evidence in case it is. You want an independent expert (in the legal sense) to be the first guy to open the action. Or do anything to it for that matter.

Don't forget to preserve and maintain a chain of custody for the remaining ammo and empty cases if any.

I'll go with Malm on this. I have seen a few like he described and no problems.

Who would be a good example of an "independent expert"?

H.P.White Laboratory. Their phone number is 410-838-6550.

Our prayers are out to your friend.

http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/...001_750051_757983_-1_757978_757978_image

It could have fired out of battery by cycling the bolt. He needs to check into this.

tb,
That notice is for the i-bolt action. The op's dealing with a Howa action. They also had a recall that had to do with the improper reassembly of the bolt. Had to send mine(S&W 1500)in for a new shroud although I never had a problem.

The 1500 like other bolt actions cannot fire out of battery. If it had he would be wearing the bolt.

As Malm said have a pro check this out. It might have S&W on it but it is a Howa. Sounds like a case head separation.

Not saying it did. Just wanted to let tb know we're dealing with a differant beast.

Here's info on that Howa recall anyway:

Howa Machinery Ltd. of Japan is performing a safety upgrade on all Model 1500, 1550 and 1700LS series rifles manufactured between 1970 and 1993.
"The affected rifles bear serial numbers from one of the following series on the receiver: PN00010 through PN87159, LS00001 through LS05150, M000001 through M020422, LS10001 through LS10309, B000001 through B028450.
"The safety upgrade will replace the bolt sleeve to prevent misassembly of the bolt, which might occur on affected rifles. Such misassembly might result in a hazardous condition in which the rifle can be accidentally discharged without the bolt being fully engaged, causing severe injury.
"These rifles were distributed by Smith & Wesson, O.F. Mossberg and Sons and Interarms. These rifles may bear the distributor trademark.
"Stop using your rifle immediately and visit our website at www.regen.com/howa or call Howa at 1-800-456-5131 to receive a Bolt Return Kit.
"Only the bolt sleeve is being upgraded. Your bolt will be returned to you after the upgrade.
"NO OTHER HOWA RIFLES ARE AFFECTED. CHECK YOUR SERIAL NUMBER

I too would speculate on a 30 cal slug. Let us know what the results are.

interesting on that recall i did not know than and have 2 s&w 1500s

hope your friend is ok. you got some good advice. have an expert open it up. if it was a 308 in there you will have to chalk it up to hard lesson learned.
probably not a barrel obstruction as he shot 3 times before the blow up.
kinda points to the recal.

You ever wonder why a lot of bolt handles jump when you dry fire the piece? It is because the cocking notch notch is misaligned when the trigger is pulled causing the coking piece to ride the angled side of the nocth as it and the firing pin moves forward into the fired position. In order for the firing pin to move forward with enough inertia to fire the weapon, the notch has to be aligned with the groove in the receiver. This level of alignment is only possible when the bolt is in battery.

You can pull the trigger and release the striker assembly at any point during the closing of the bolt, but only when the lugs are safely engaged will there be a clear, unobstructed path for the cocking piece to move into the fired position.

And even so, the bolt on this gun was in the closed position when it blew. That's why they were wanting to open it.

30 cal. slug would never chamber. Oh, and it will fire partially in battery.

Aw geezuz. A .308 round will chamber up just fine in a .270.

I think it may even fire often enough. If it does fire the bullet may make it down the barrel. It might disassemble the gun too, but I am with Malm on this, as likely as not it will make it down the barrel without wrecking the gun and/or the shooter.

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