Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire My FN Five-Seven EXPLODED

FYI, That was free advice from a successful lawyer who knows a thing or two about this....

Just sayin'...

Once on the net, forever on the net.

Sorry about the mishap, no matter how it happened, and like Sean said, got see an attorney that deals in products liability.

Okay, so be it. Now, instead of settling quietly with no publicity, it will be the objective of FN to defend the quality of its product by proving that you fricked up instead of the product being fricked up. Since you've already admitted to handloads, I'm guessing that they will say the round in question was a handload or that it was previously damaged by an excessive handload.

Hope you heal well. Too late now, but I would not have published an accounting before things were settled.

Forensics should be able to sort out the brass left in the chamber. But yeah, they're going to probably lean on the handloads in their defense. Also true about making it public.

Did you have any advice from an attorney during your consideration?

Why does everyone assume there will be a lawsuit?

Imagine the world with a few "chit happens" incidents that didn't end up being litigated.

Here's links to Fair Chase's posting found on Google using the search term "FN Five-Seven pistol blow up":

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/6205584/1

This one appeared on FN Forum.net. Did you make multiple posts on every forum possible? Bad business to post all the details. Say nothing and call a firearms oriented law office. Cat's out of the bag now though.

http://fnforum.net/forums/fn-five-seven/26196-my-five-seven-exploded.html

http://www.kifaruforums.net/showthread.php?t=28477

http://consumerist.com/2008/05/five-seven-gun-blows-up-in-owners-hand-manufacturer-indifferent.html

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?134212-Five-seveN-Gun-Blows-Up-In-Owner-s-Hand

http://www.fivesevenforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=11854

If you recall, the higher pressure .17 HRM semiauto rifles were recalled from the market place because the rims would blow out due to the blow back actions being too weak. The FN Five-Seven may fire from a delayed locked action, but there is some anomaly occurring. One post mentions a case separation leaving a partial case in the chamber with factory ammo that prevented the breech from closing. I would avoid using any bottle necked case design in a delayed blow back action pistol. This is especially true of high pressure, high velocity cartridges with a fast recoil impulse in a polymer frame pistol. The polymer frame is what failed catastrophically causing much of the damage. Polymer is just not able to handle that kind of stress as would a steel frame. Still, having a pistol that fires before the breech closes is unsafe in all regards, IMHO.

Good luck and I hope the surgery turns out well. I had a nasty tumor removed from my cervical spinal cord, and regained full function, the medical profession can work wonders, as can the healing power of the human body.

Imagine a world where companies could produced defective products that hurt people, and didn't have to answer for it, or compensate people for their injuries caused by defective products.

If it was you looking at the possibility of permanent nerve damage to your hand, and surgery that takes parts off other parts of your body to try to fix, what would you be doing in this situation?

Was this the pistol in question?

DANGER CAUSED BY RELOADED AMMUNITION!
Subject: Five-seveN serial # 386102425
Date: 6-9-2008
The following conclusions are results from FNH USA's evaluation of the Five-seveN serial # 386102425 sent in to our service facility after a failure using reloaded ammunition.
Upon examination of this pistol we were able to determine that it did not fire "out of battery" and the catastrophic failure exhibited in this example was clearly caused by excessive cartridge pressure generated by reloaded ammunition.
Our examination showed that the shoulder of the case was separated from the rest of the cartridge and it was left in place inside the chamber. The position of this piece of brass shows that the handgun was in full battery when the reloaded cartridge was fire and the excessive pressure occurred. Another indicator that confirmed our findings is the primer extruded back into the firing pin hole and a portion of the case head was stuck to the breech face. This was caused by brass flow back into the leaded chamber indicator hole.
Additionally there was serious damage to the slide assembly which is clear evidence of excessive pressure. The lower edge of the breech face was peeled away and the slide itself was deformed from the excessive pressure. The pressure that caused this damage exceeded OEM ammunition standards.
The FN ballistics laboratory was able to duplicate the catastrophic failure almost identically with 2x the load data provided by the consumer. In this test the shoulder of the cartridge was left in the chamber at the same position as #386102425, the slide was damaged in the exact same way as #386102425, and the cartridge case head seperated in the same manner with the brass flowing into the loaded chamber indicator hole.
The design of the Five-seveN pistol, being a recoil operated delayed blow back system, has key parameters that prevent an "out of battery" firing.
Our established testing data indicates the firing pin will not strike the primer of a cartridge after .1180 inch. of rearward slide travel. With the slide moved rearward .1540 - .1545 inch. (true out of battery limit), it is impossible for the firing pin to strike the primer, at this point the trigger lever does not actuate the lever of the firing pin safety. It was also noted in our examination that the firing pin safety was still fully functional on Five-seveN #386102425.
It is FNH USA's finding that the catastrophic failure of Five-seveN #38610xxxx was due completely to excessive pressure caused by the reloaded ammunition and was not the result of an "out of battery" firing.
Please be aware that the owner's manual for the Five-SeveN handgun clearly states on page 4 that FN Herstal declines any responsibility and invalidates any guarantee and liability claims for incidental or consequential damages (injuries, loss of property, commercial loss, lost of earnings and profits, ...) resulting in whole ore partly from the use of reloaded ammunition.
If you have lost or misplaced your owners manual please contact our customer service department at 703-288-3500 x122 for a replacement.
Tommy Thacker
Product Manager
FNH USA, LLC.

"If you have lost or misplaced your owners manual please contact our customer service department at 703-288-3500 x122 for a replacement."

That part made me laugh....

I reread the thread, and find nowhere that the OP mentioned filing a suit. I do see a common denominator for those who assume there is (or should be) one.

I'd like to know how you can get a 2x overload in that dinky little case.

Have any of y'all tried capping a primer with the slide back as FN described? Never hurts to check on their lab results.

Everything they say is entirely logical if it was functioning properly. However, what if they had a machine that turned out a few firing pins that were a few thousandths too long? My guess is that then those test results might not be that valid.

If I read that "conclusion" right, they're claiming, assuming, the firer of the weapon double charged the case, because they produced a similar result by doing so?

That's how it looked to me, Jim.

Then they go and insult the dude by saying "If you lost your manual, we can send you another." That's code for "screw you, and we'll highlight the part about reloads for ya"

Yep.

Oh geeze.. I see some are loading it with W231. I guess that could do it. It's such a tiny case, I'm surprised most don't stick with Lil Gun or 296 or whatever. Seems like you could get 100% load density with those. Can anyone educate me on this?

There are very few horrendous designs out there anymore. Everything pretty much works if the parts are well made and put together right. And there is the rub. If they aren't well made or put together right, then you may have problems.

So, I'm less than impressed by a test on a pistol that was probably gone over with a fine toothed comb to convince me that something is "impossible" in particular design.

Can there be any doubt that Jack Belk will be at the trial.

Yep, they pick out one of their pistols that they have techs be certain is to tolerance, then proceed to "prove" their own assumption.