Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire model 70 explosion

Prayers for the shooter -

I thought the same - somehow both raceways failed and the bolt lugs passed through then pushed the bolt back, and after which blowing the extractor and brass up it pushed the bolt back until enough case wall was exposed, otherwise it would have stayed up in the front section more, and not blow the scope and rear part of the scope mount base in half. But the bolt lugs are in mostly in tact so one hell of an explosion would be required, but if the lugs held it would have been much more forward than getting back to the scope area.

It would be interesting to look at the sheared off remaining bolt lug race to see if that was carbon or if it was cracked and blueing had gotten into the crack.
The top lug didn’t look to be messed too much compared to how short the bottom lug (right side) is.

Sucks either way, ... I wouldn’t expect this unless you combined a wrong round & a bad bolt race.

Was the action reworked / trued or is it a factory action ?

Again - prayers for the shooter.

sorry to hear about this,hope the young man gets much better too. myself i feel the cause is a poorly installed barrel ,maybe this used barrel was rechambered poorly too ? the barrel threading and the reciever what`s left of it look good ,so was this barrel not really attached /screwed in right ? something just don`t add up ? i don`t think it was the ammo unless some how had a wrong cartridge ? maybe the reciever went thru a fire ? that stock and that barrel are not pre-64 either. i am kinda leaning action/receiver went thru a fire then some garage type gunsmith put a used barrel and a stock and made a rifle with a weak link barrel-reciever and it finally blew apart. very very sad situation with a young man hurt .

Factory ammo?

First thing, he needs the best attorney he can find.

I would not touch that rifle anymore.

That was my thoughts too. but I am far from an expert

Non-expert thoughts.

Not caused by wrong case:

Cartridge obviously chambered - so not too long.
A short case would separate, but I'd expect the rear half would seal the chamber and why would the back of the case head blow off unless the locked bolt slipped back.
An over-size bullet would likely bulge or split the barrel.

Can these rifles fire out of battery? and if so, wouldn't the bolt have shot out the back?



Cracked receiver or extreme overcharge seems likely to me.

I cannot begin to determine a cause without close examination if the rifle. Even then, there is some guesswork involved. If there is a lawyer involved, he should contact someone who is experienced in this sort of thing. GD

I wonder if a larger cartridge of the same case family, i.e. 7mm Mag and 338 Mag, was slammed forward by the bolt, would it drive the bullet deeper into the case, allowing the round to be chambered?

7mm mag in a .264? It definitely looks like a custom or semi custom rifle.

Broken firing pin?

Try to slam the bolt home with a protruding firing pin.

A good lawyer will get that rifle examined by a qualified expert.
As someone already posted, don't send the remaining cartridges to the manufacturer; make sure the lawyer gets them examined independently.

I'm gonna say...it's the Leupold.

I've seen lodged rounds. The barrel splits like a peeled banana along the grooves.
Looks like the round discharged out of battery.

Thinkin that's covered under the lifetime warranty?

Covid.

Next.

Factory ammo but that case only got less than a full charge of slow burning powder when the charge was dropped. Remember powder in factory ammo is dispensed not weighted. I strongly suspect S.E.E. Some years back there was an article in Handloader Magazine where the writer was able to repeat the detonations.

http://www.africanxmag.com/secondary_explosion_effect.htm#:~:text=Secondary%20Explosion%20Effect%2C%20or%20S.E.E.,burn%20at%20the%20prescribed%20rate.&text=The%20most%20interesting%20call%20was%20from%20a%20powder%20company%20ballistics%20laboratory%20technician.

"Secondary Explosion Effect, or S.E.E. seems to occur when a "slow" powder is used and the powder charge reduced to below 15% of max. This will cause the powder to detonate rather that burn at the prescribed rate."

Those threads are rusty, water seeping in through a crack in the receiver?

This ^^

BE SURE to document the complete chain of custody and don't mess with anything.

Agree, but if the remaining ammo checks out to be in spec, then what ? Lawyer fees and ammo lab test fees. Sure won't do the injured shooter any good, just hope he recovers the best he can. And other than an issue with the ammo, I really doubt a qualified expert would be able to pinpoint the exact cause of the destruction.

I’ve rode this ride, almost exactly to a T except I lost all my front teeth and part of my jawbone instead of an eye.

Details are eerily similar, Pre 64, magnum cartridge, second round out of a new box. Barrel in my case was down range about 20 feet but looked fine aside from the separated case lodged in it. Results looked pretty much identical as well.

Laboratory testing in my case showed that the boutique ammo manufacturer had mistakenly used R15 in place of R25. Lab stated pressures likely in excess of 150k PSI.

Box of ammo purchased. One round had bullet pulled and powder dumped. Powder replaced with C4 and bullet reseated. Return to gun shop. Exchange one round in a box of identical ammo. Trap set by urban terrorist for the next gun owner buying that box of ammo. No individual targeted but the shooting public in general.