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

Are you his attorney?

Why can't this young man make an account on this forum and answer some of the questions posed?

Is the bore or chamber currently obstructed?

Can we see the headstamp of the fired round when the action gave up the ghost?

Have you read majority of these posts? I sure in the ph uck wouldn’t create an account to tell this tale. Ph uck already have half guys theorizing it was disgruntled family member possibly an eco terrorist sabotaging ammo at the local gun shop. Now you want to see the headstamp of fired case when the gun blew up? Well that case still stuck in the chamber and their is no more headstamp..

I’ve fired a 270 in a 7Rem mag. Savage 110. Case rupture, brass into the magazine area, a bit of gas to the cheek, bullet left the barrel, no biggie, really.

Only one type of ammo on the bench since then, and shooting glasses, always.

That was what came to my mind as well. IIRC, two cartridges were notorious for the S.E.E. problem, the .243 and the 7MM Rem. Mag. in the fact that there were more instances of S.E.E occurring with those two than any other cartridges.
Paul B.

You wouldn't necessarily need to see the entire headstamp and if you zoom in on the picture of the chamber supplied by the OP, it does appear there may be some stamping still visible on what's left of the case head. The resolution is not sufficient enough to tell. If there is a number or a letter present that is not in the 7mm Rem Mag headstamp, that could explain it. If the stamping indicates 7mm Rem Mag, that rules out some possibilities, namely that he picked up the wrong cartridge from another source.

That said, I certainly understand why they'd be hesitant to share any more details.

I was thinking along the lines of .300 or .325 short magnum and maybe it could chamber up without the bullet extending into the neck area of the chamber but obviously being too large for the bore and with a magnum charge of powder behind it. People do pilfer around in ammo boxes at stores. One time at a Walmart I was looking inside a box of some high priced premium ammo to see what the bullets looked like and I found Remington Core Lokt.

Just to address some of the theories, I'll post a little more. The only oversized cartridge likely to fit into and be fired in a 7mm Rem Mag would be the 350 Remington Magnum. This could, conceivably, cause the pictured blowup. I have seen the result of a 308 Norma mag fired in a 7 STW and it was not this severe. It was not in a Winchester though. It was in a Remington 700 which is undoubtedly stronger and handles extreme pressures better.
The fractures appear to have occured along the top line of the locking lug raceway. This is common and is often the result of the receiver having been stressed by the improper use of an inside wrench. It cab also be the result of fatigue along a sharp corner which concentrates stress parallel to the granular structure of the steel. I have never seen a Winchester receiver split from a too-tight barrel thread but have seen this occur on Eddystone M17's.
The second rifle shown is not a pre-64 and, on these rifles, the locking lug raceway is cut right on through the threaded receiver ring. Again, the creates a stress riser or concentration point in the receiver ring. Fracture can occur if an inside wrench is used to remove the factory barrel. I have seen this a lot on Swedish Mauser rifles (96's) and have also seen it on Brno ZG 47's.
I have tested some actions to destruction and the barrel is usually damaged or swelled to some extent. This is especially true of older barrels not made of 4140. Often, the carbon manganese barrel will fail before the action does, depending on the load. An oversized bullet will usually not swell the barrel but the pressure behind it might. I have examined a long list of overloaded and blown up rifles and, as I said, it is impossible to make a determination from pictures over the internet. Also, witness or victim input is often unreliable simply due to the psychological stress of the occurrence. GD

Horatio Caine you might be onto to something! Everyone to the CSI crime lab now!

lol... right, says the guy posting pictures with arrows and chit drawn all over them.

Settle down chief.... my only point is the answer might be right in front us. The OP came here, to an internet forum, asking for opinions and people just want to help. That and I think most would like to learn from and avoid the same mishap if possible.

Still no proof of a missile strike?

Poor deportment to open a box of ammo in a store for any reason (or for that matter open any box of ammo that doesn’t belong to you).

If you are going to buy the ammo it might be a good idea to make sure there hasn't been a switcharoo like the cheap Core Lock I found in the premium ammo box. But you are right, maybe I shouldn't have been nosing around to see what it looked like.

HAHA

Yeah I’m saying along with others that the action was cracked when grandpas gunsmith back in the 70’s screwed that barrel on.. that’s part of the conversation is lost with majority on here. That is not a factory rifle, only thing commercial about that thing is the Winchester action.

Riveting analysis. Glad you discovered where it came apart and the arrows make it abundantly clear.

I made it easy for retards like you to see..

Oh let’s look at your groundbreaking analysis

True in handgun cartridges with handgun powders. Not so in magnum rifles with appropriate magnum rifle powders.

Increased jump to the lands typically reduces pressure in rifle cartridges.

After seeing the carnage and hearing the sad tale of the young Marine, I certainly would like to know what happened if it can be determined by forensic analysis... however, I'm thinking even analysis of this pile of metal is going to be a WAG by time it is done and legal action will be pretty much a moot point.

A couple points that keep coming to mind. Everyone says this has to be a rebarrel, but I wouldn't necessarily count on that unless I was to see the barrel markings. Just as is reasonably common to rechamber the Pre 64 30-06 rifles to 300 WM using the original barrel, I would think a 7 x 57 barrel could be rechambered to 7 Rem Mag- though the possibility is much lower in my experience... my feeling is one of the two theories floating around here on this thread are the correct one- either the gunsmith who did the work damaged and weakened the action by improperly removing the action or installing the barrel, or the mag case was loaded severely low, leading to an explosion in the case when ignited. This low loading issue has been a known issue with magnum cases for quite some time but I've never actually seen damage like this occur and blamed on this condition before.

Definitely hoping for some resolution in this case...

Whatever the cause, think we will all pay more attention after this thread.

Did the rifle have a pre 64 action type or was it a pre 64 actual?

Was the rifle original config?

Ammo reportedly factory.
And of correct type.

On a range w others shooting, odd report may go unnoticed.

Dunno if mixed ammo ( wrong type ), bad ammo (accidental or sabotage).