Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Bolt Rifle Blows UP On Hunter

Me too - does this mean we are really talking about Howa being responsible?

I think we'd better let the dust settle here before guessing which rifle gave up the ghost. First, let's hope the shooter is ok or will recover.

Second, I'm no expert on Mexican Mausers and I don't know what is meant by mentioning Wby's but I researched the "Blaser Blow-up(s)" which were all over the 'net a couple of years ago and the problem was determined to be with handloads which were hotloads -very hot. Blasers IIRC are tested to > 112k psi.

I hedged on the whether the blow-ups were plural or not because at the time there was so much hear-say going around about this one or that one; I could find but one documented one in Europe was it found by an independant group in Germany to have been an ammo problem.

gdv

Interesting. I've got two Mark Vs (a Fibermark and an Ultra Lightweight), and now I'm going to be thinking about the bolt flying into my face whenever I shoot them.

Prayers for the hunter and family...

Beretta 92s lost a few slides into heads also... Either a bad load, or faulty gun. [bleep] happens.... I hate that it goes right to liability right away. It happens to all makes.

We are literally playing with fire here, so when the number comes up, it comes up.

Jeff

On second nod here, I think I remember the possible Wby scenario: the nine little lugs don't all bear the load..or do so unevenly. Eventually those little guys doing the heavy lifting start to fail or so it goes; the concept then is, that there are few left to suddenly hold and may fail or may slowly "give way" as the first did.

While my explanation is technically challenged, I think that's what I've read. They should be checked, and perhaps lapped, squared so all are carrying the mail equally.

gdv

Why be so quick to jump to conclusions and immediately start to freak out? The two previous Weatherby bolts may have been due to handloader error or other issues not related to the rifle's integrity whatsoever.

Don't be so paranoid, do as other more reasonable people suggested, let the dust settle first before assuming incorrectly.

If true, then get paranoid, which I would rather call "a heightened awareness".....then your concerns are at least based on fact rather than BS sent on down the line.

Just calm down and you'll start to see things alot more clearly.

Very funny, Magnumb, but paranoia is perceiving that others are against you when they are not, such as taking a neutral and innocuous statement, and reading it as if directed at you as a personal attack. Concerns about defectively designed systems that could lead to serious injury fall into a different category.

There has been no mention of a defectively designed system as related to this particular incident, much less ANY mention of any possibility at this point.

Thousands of other Weatherby owners out there and hundreds, I would assume, that use this forum, me included. Being an alarmist, when absolutely no reason to do so, can't result in any positive or fact-based outcome....at this point.

If that concerned, give the folks at Weatherby a call when their doors open tomorrow mornin' and then if so inclined....let us all know what they say. Perhaps, if nothing else, it will allow you to be less scared about pullin' the trigger on your Weatherby's each time.

By the way, as per Mr. Webster, Paranoid - characterized by oversuspiciousness.

Seems applicable......

Then I suggest you also look up the word suspiciousness.

My Weatherby statement to Savage 99 was meant to be he added it in with a junk action� Hell Weatherby makes one of the strongest and finest actions available. You guys are like a chicken with a bug.

This was caused a few years back by a run of SS that had sulphur occlusions in the SS barrels. Only a limited number made it off the dealers shelves and Sako/Tikka was apparently able to recall all (most) of the rifles back. I remember reading about five "blow ups". Utah, California, Georgia, New Zealand, and I think Germany--where a young boy was injured fairly badly.

The top photos are as about as catastrophic failure as I have ever heard/seen in a modern bolt action.

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9411043/m/5771043?r=5771043#5771043


http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/ph...amp;sid=f4018397ccc90185fe04ba351201f950


Casey

The story as it being reported.
Details are pretty sketchy.
One thing is certain, the young man is in a world of hurt.
He has my prayers.


*****************************************************
Knoe--TV

A Local Hunter Seriously Injured

(November - 23 - 2007)


CALDWELL PARISH (TV) - A columbia man is lucky to be alive tonight after his gun accidentally blew up this morning while he was deer hunting, causing him serious facial injuries. TV 8's Julie Van Eman has reaction from his family and fellow hunters.

Gary Rider says it could have been worse and is grateful his nephew, Heath Rider, is alive after a hunting accident Friday morning on Boeuf Wildlife Management Area.
Witnesses say Rider's gun apparently malfunctioned and blew up in his face as he pulled the trigger.

Gary Rider says "Well one of my nephews was down there with him and he saw it and it blew him backwards and it knocked him out. When he got down there he thought he was dead because the way he looked and he was knocked out."

The impact caused serious injuries to Heath's face. Gary saw the 32-year-old hunter shortly after the incident and describes what he saw.

Gary says "The bolt when it came out went through the side of his face, it kind of took his face off."

Hunter, Duane Crews, says hearing of this accident brings back awful memories.

Crews says "It is disturbing and it brings back memories of a boy that was killed here six years ago and it is real sad."

Deer hunting season is in full swing right now and hunters says when they go into the woods their first priority is safety.

Crews says "Make sure your barrel is not obstructed, always wear you orange, make sure you have the right ammunition for your weapon or something bad might happen."

Crews says it is important to teach young hunters how to handle a gun.

Crews says "It is best to teach them gun safety from the get go and say they are not toys at all and not to play with them."

Gary also warns hunters to be more cautious.

Gary says "We all hunt and we our proud to practice gun safety but we are not as safe as we need to be."

Today's incident is now being investigated by Louisiana's Wildlife and Fisheries.

I spent a pleasant hour talking with the late Dave Gentry last summer about action strength. Dave was a gun smithing/metalworking genius and a real experimenter. He's purposely blown up a lot of actions over the years and has had many blown one's sent to him for his collection, which I was happy to examine!

Anyway, his bottom line is there are only three actions he'll shoot without shooting glasses, the M98, Savage 110 and Weatherby MkV.

That's very interesting. I wear shooting glasses each time I shoot but with something as devastating as this sounds, shooting glasses may be too small a comfort.

Edited to add, Brad, was he just referring to powder gas blow-back in the raceways or total failure scenarios?

gdv

That's what I believe to be the problem � especially with super-hot Weatherby ammo. One lug holds for a while, then another holds when that one cracks, etc.

Whatever the explanation may be, the facts are scary.

OK......"Suspiciousness", per Webster, "showing or expressing suspicion".

"Overly" - per the same, "too much or EXCESSIVELY".

Put together in as straightforward and easily understood manner as possible - "showing or expressing TOO MUCH or EXCESSIVE SUSPICION"......ala.....PARANOID - characterized by oversuspiciousness".

Your comments after learning of this unfortunate accident, compared with ALL others prior to the news link, over the top......at best. Over/overly.....yep, they'd be related.

Thanks for the suggestion, but seems it really wasn't necessary.........for me anyway.

Melvin Forbes actually tried to blow up one of his actions and could not. My memory may be faulty on the details but he even tried pistol powder. Locked everything up and ruined the barrel but the action held. I'll double check my facts and correct them if they're wrong as I remember them.

I am of the same opinion, Ken.

I had a mildly alarming experience when I bought my Winchester M70 FW in .270 WSM a couple years ago and took it to the range to play with some WW factory ammo (so I'd have brass to work up handloads with, naturally!). Also, whenever I buy a rifle in a new-to-me caliber, I like to find out what kind of performance factory ammo will yield before I start rolling my own.

Anyways, I fired two boxes of 130 gr ammo with decent results, cleaning the rifle regularly according to my usual barrel break-in procedure. After 40 rounds of 130's, I opened a box of 150's. After firing the first round bolt lift was very tight, and the primer was flattened with a little crater around the firing-pin indent. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought it must be a bad round, so chambered a second round and fired. This time, I had to pound the bolt handle up with a mallet to open the action, and the primer looked even worse than the first one.

I realized that Winchester factory ammo or not, it was NOT safe, even in a Winchester rifle. I took the box back to my local gunshop and showed the empty cases to the gunsmith. He mic'd the cases and his eyes about bugged out of his head. He went to the ammo shelves and pulled every box of WW 270 WSM 150 gr ammo immediately.

I haven't fired a round of factory 270 WSM since, but that would've been the case anyway.

A real test of an action's design takes a lot more time and ammo than a test of its one-time strength. Many a rifle has withstood gobs of hot loads whose cumulative effect has finally let "one round" bind it up or blow it apart � as the legendary over-loaded camel could attest. ("The straw" wasn't just one straw but too many normal straws all a-bunch.)

I had some of that 150 gr WW PP 270 WSM factory ammo and a new Savage 12 (BV something). The initial bolt lift was very high. My dealer sent the rifle and ammo to Savage and all they did was to shoot it with Federal ammo and say it was ok.

I recall that the velocity, over a Oehler 35P, was higher than the listed factory load for the 270 Weatherby. It was something like 3350 fps.