Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Rifle action exploded, looking for reason why????

Yep .270 is 30-06 based and a .308 will fit no problem.

Sounds like case head separation

Update. My friend is out of surgery. Turns out there were not 4 rounds in the rifle after all. Here is the way it actually happened:

Friend had 3 rounds in the rifle. Killed 3 hogs. Reached in his pocket and loaded 3 more rounds (from the top) and bolted the 4th round in the chamber. Aimed and pulled the trigger. That is when the rifle exploded. Surgeon said he removed a piece of primer cap from the rt. eye. I can only assume that the primer cap came from one of the cartridges in the magazine.

Rifle definitely did not discharge before bolt was closed. My friend remembers aiming at the 4th hog and pulling the trigger.

Case head separations are bad period, but, that is the worst case scenario. The case comes apart and floods the loaded magazine with white hot gas, with the potential to ignite everything in it's path. Your friend is very lucky.

Shooting glasses would have saved a lot of pain and suffering and maybe an eye.

RAN

Prayers to you and your friends family

Regarding shooting glasses, I was thinking the same thing. I sometimes wear them during recreational shooting, but never during hunting, except pheasant hunting. Are there any shooting glasses that are head and shoulders above the rest? thanks

Found out that my friend rested his rifle on some kind of 2x4 (maybe a feed trough) and had his left hand on the same 2x4 rather than the forearm. Might have lost his hand otherwise. These things really make you think about safety.

Any pictures of the blown rifle?

My LGS has a .308 he pulled from a Remington. The gun was fine once he unlocked it.

When was the Howa/Vanguard recall, & what was the cause? If I recall correctly, it had something to do with accidental discharge.
Jim

prayers to your friend

I have to wear glasses anymore and I had a pair made with just my distance script. They are titanium framed safety lenses. Works great and give that extra bit of safety. My prayers for your friend. Would like to know what the cause was when you find out.

Many years ago my best friend and i were going doe hunting here in Pa. In the morning,he asked if he could use my Browning BBR 7mm Mag instead of his usual Rem 700 30-06.Of course i obliged and we headed into the woods.We met back at the truck for lunch and neither of us had seen anything and he decided to take his 30-06 out for the afternoon so i grabbed the 7mm mag and went on my way.Later in the afternoon,i took a shot a doe and the rifle almost disintigrated in my hands.After a few minutes i was able to regain my senses and tried to figure out what happened.The bolt wouldn't open so i picked up all the parts and went back to the truck.The entire bottom of the action and floorplate had blown apart and the stock was in 5 pieces.When i got home that night i but the barreled action in a vise and had to use a 3 lb sledge to open the bolt.Once it had been removed,i discovered that my friend had chambered a 30-06 shell by mistake and it has indeed gone off and the slug did exit the barrel.Other than the damage to the gun,i lost some hearing in my right ear permanently but had no other i'll effects.I'm thankfull to this day that Browning made such a strong action otherwise it could have been worse.I also learned never to trust anyone else in loading one of my guns.

Years ago I saw of listing over caliber cartridges that would chamber behind lesser caliber barrels. If anyone has a copy, it would be a most informative post.

I don't have it here, but it is in Jerry Kuhnhausen's Mauser shop manual. I believe it is reprinted from SAMMI.

This recall is for the iBolt.....the gun in question is the 1500 that is/was manufactured by Howa and is also called the Howa 1500 and the Weatherby Vanguard (I think).

My thoughts are with your friend and his family! He might be lucky to "just" lose an eye! Scary stuff!


Chris

My opinion is there was an excess build up of pressure when the .308 bullet started into the .270 throat.

The .308 cartridge, being shorter and leaving some space around the case, near the shoulder and neck, allowed this high pressure gas to escape around the outside of the .308 case and flow back into the action. The case collapsed instead of expanding and sealing the chamber.

This is assuming that it was a .308 chambered by accident.

Prayers Sent.

http://www.remington.com/pages/news...notice-Remington270-150Gr-SoftPoint.aspx

Remington has a recall out on some .270 ammo over-loaded to dangerous pressure levels.

My step son managed to chamber a 308 in a 25-06 Browning single shot. It seems the bullet headspaced on the chamber throat to allow it to be fired. Rifle was destroyed as badly sprung, scope is probably in orbit as it was never found. His left thumb which he had on the scope while shooting ( think he had been adjusting the variable) is shorter by one joint. Most of the escaping gas appeared to have gone upwards . Fortunate to have had no eye damage. Two kinds of ammo on the bench at the same time in unmarked lead shot bags.