Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors How to blow up a Savage 99

...in two easy steps.

My friend John called me a minute ago and sent me the photo of his beloved 99R in 300.





We went to the range today and he tried to feed a cartridge into the chamber and it didn't make it all the way in, about an 1/8" short, and it jammed up. This was on his fifth shot, all single loaded into the chamber straight from the ammo box. Same batch he'd been firing in this rifle and others for years with no length problems. Yes, handloads.

Since he didn't have any way to clear the chamber he moved on to other guns and figured he'd deal with it later. We fired another 30 or more rounds of the same ammo today in other 300's with no trouble.

When he got home he shoved a cleaning rod down the bore and tried to push it out. No go. When that didn't work he tapped the rod with a wooden mallet and the result is what you see here. The action was open. The cleaning rod wedged in the bore (he said it looked "noodled"/micro bends) and didn't allow the bullet to exit the muzzle. Everything blew out the open action and out the bottom. He has a piece of something in his hand and is shell shocked but otherwise unhurt.

Only thing we can figure is he compressed the primer cup from above with the tapping action of the mallet driving the bullet down in the case and she went ka-blewy. I've not had a cartridge stick in the chamber like that so I'm at a loss to explain why he had one fail to fully enter the chamber. Could he have gotten debris from the last shot fired in the chamber or throat? ? He must have really tried to horse it in to get it so tightly wedged.

Anyway, if you want to blow up a Savage in two easy steps, tightly wedge a cartridge in the chamber and then tap on the bullet with a cleaning rod and a mallet.

Which brings us to the question, how would you recommend a live round be cleared? Like I said, I've never had a round fail to enter, so it's not something I've ever thought about.

Ouch!

I had that happen once when I had a handload that was neck sized only in one gun and tried to put it in another gun. The chambers did not match. Not even close.

$30 to the gunsmith to remove it, if I remember right.

He told me he used hydraulic pressure to push it out. Don't know if that's the "normal" way or not. He said he'd had to do it often.

Wow. I'm glad you're friend is ok.

I wonder if putting the rifle in a deep freeze for awhile would help. That's the only way I can think of to shrink the metal. Might be enough to get it loose, or might not work at all.

I was wondering if the plastic tip came off the Barnes bullet on the way into the chamber and jammed everything up???

We handload his ammo at my house so I know we don't have a neck sizing die for the 300. All Savage lever gun brass gets full length resized. But we're not ruling out a case problem yet.

Other than th stock being [bleep] up, is the rifle damaged?

Hmmm. Glad your buddy wasn't seriously injured. There's the fact that a benchrest shooter was killed a few years ago when doing the same trick- the cleaning rod pierced her.

Your possible explanation of a kernel of powder piercing the flash hole sounds kind of plausible. One farfetched idea that struck me was could've the striker bounced a little inside the bolt from the impact of the hammering, just enough to detonate the primer?

Another thought: disassemble the bolt and see what's going on inside it. Broken firing pin?

As to what may have caused the jam, I'm clueless beyond what's been suggested. Dirt/debris?

I would examine that action with a very critical eye before putting it back into service. It experienced enough violence to push the bolt back and out to bust the stock and shed the cutoff, such that stuff in general may be tweaked.

Do you have access to a borescope with which to take an intimate look at the chamber/throat? Could be though that any foreign object that could've caused the jam would've been dislodged in the explosion.

Ouch. Glad he's alright.

-Jake

Glad he is alright! That is a freak accident for sure. Reminds us all to be careful

I get an occasional stuck live round come up the driveway, I fashioned a tool steel awl from a small long round file. Slowly and gingerly twist the awl on the live primer cup until a small hole pierces the primer, which is then flooded with penetrating oil to 'kill' the primer. Then proceed as normally to remove the stuck case.

WOW!
Thanks for sharing and I'm glad your friend is alright. Certainly a great reminder to be extra careful!

Bearrr264 blew up a Savage 99 that someone had rechambered from 300 to 308. I remember that several "experts" wrote that it couldn't happen that way, but the results looked a lot like the picture, except that both sides of the stock were blown out.

Roy, so the bolt was almost closed (1/8" still to go) and he could not lever the bolt back, so the bolt as still up against the base of the cartridge?

Is there a way to get the bolt back off the cartridge when the a cartridge is stuck like that?

WOW!

In the last few years i have noticed bullet creep in some of my reloads. I never attempt to chamber a round that has resistance . Hate spilled powder in the action and such. I did have a stuck round on a ar that i couldnt morter loose. Gingerly drove the bullet into the case and then poured oil into the muzzle , left it over night and drove it out the next day.
If in the R the bullet had crept forward , jammed in the rifiling, and some smut got into the extractor cut, that ould lock up the thing like fort knox.
What touched it off i dont know and never want to find out first hand! Possible a spark from the rod if steel, glad he still has his fingers.

Wow,
if the bolt was up (I'm a little unclear on this) then I suspect the cartridge could have been hammered into the firing pin. Given the force of the hit also tripped the trigger.

Strange stuff happens but in the case of firearms it can be deadly. Glad the shock only was to the stock and senses and not the body.

Nobody has ever removed live primers from brass?

Eventually you'll get one to go off by exerting enough pressure from the inside as you push it out. Wear eye protection.

I have removed stuck rounds before using a rod to push the live round out of the open breech and never considered this possiblity.

Thank you for the heads up.

I just had another thought. If you remember from high school physics class, a rapidly compressed column of air gets hot. I wonder if maybe the act of hammering on that bullet created enough of that phenomenon to get hot enough ignite the powder? Just wondering.

That was my thinking as well.