Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire 22 LR case head separation right in my boy's face

Fortunately nothing happened other than a smokin' receiver, but it was disquieting. I've never had this happen. It was in a 795 Marlin semi-auto. Anybody see this before?





Sorry for the less-than-stellar closeups.

We'd been firing the gun and had fired a clip or two through it. This wasn't the first or last round in the magazine. It was about four from the last. Gun itself appears to be okay.

Is it some of this?

http://www.realtree.com/forums/hunting-equipment/61526-winchester-ammo-recall.html

1st guess would be it (the bolt) didn't close all the way. Was/is the rifle clean?

Damn, that's some scary shcit EE.

Glad your boy is ok.

I was relieved to see that your son wasn't hurt.

Last year I had a CCI standard velocity completely separate in a revolver. The revolver (I think it was my Bearcat) spit pieces of crap on my arm but that was it.

Dink

Thanks for your concern. He didn't even do a double-take. He was firing slow and I was right there observing. So it was cool. Disconcerting though.

No, it wasn't Winchester ammo. I thought the gun was pretty clean but it had been hanging out in my implement shed. I gave it a fair cleaning afterwards and will inspect and clean further later as it was getting dark when this happened.

Thanks. I've had a bunch of 10-22's. Probably a dozen. I finally got a 10-22 and kept it for the kids. This one isn't worth a damn and won't fire reliably when clean and with either the original mag, a 25 round Ruger or two 25 round Butler Creek's that I've tried. It was jamming so much that I went and got my barn gun, the Marlin, for the kids to fire. It was doing fine until the above happened.

I had just opened that 525 pack of .22 ammo. Now I ain't gonna be firing any of it for safety's sake. I'll clean the gun good and go with something else. Just counted my stash and I'm down to about 5000 rounds not counting some misc. stuff. Blessed that we've got that much.

Fortunate. Guess the Bearcat is a stout piece even though small.

I haven't had that happen, but close to it once.

The clips on old .22 auto pistols were infamous for developing problems with feeding in long use. I'd just tweaked the feed fingers of one clip and was cycling rounds through my old High Standard when an unexpected BAM! startled me, and an empty hull flew across the room. (BAM!s are somewhat louder when they're unexpected, especially in a tiny room!)

(Yes, my finger was nowhere close to the trigger! And the muzzle was pointed at the floor.)

The firing-pin opening in the face of the bolt had left a dome "wart" on the otherwise evenly flattened head of the case.

The closing bolt had fired the cartridge, and even as flattened as it was, the head of the fired case was half-again as thick as those on the other (unfired) cartridges in the box.

The height of the "wart" suggested that before it was fired, the head of that cartridge had been twice as thick as it should've been.

Your round must've gotten a double shot of priming compound before the powder charge was dumped-in on top of it.

Remington-Federal? Or do you just prefer not to say?

Glad to hear all is well.

David

clean the barrel and chamber

I have had that happen. It was a S&W 15-22 with mixed ammo. No one was hurt but it was a bit weird.

I doubt that that was the problem with that cartridge.

What ammo was it?

I'm VERY glad that all's well, too.

The coy dodging around as to WHAT [bleep]' BRAND HEADSTAMP / LOT # is aggravating BS.

WTF, ....OVER ?

Looks to me like the thing fired out of battery, and that ANY ammo would have pretty much done the same.

GTC

A cousin of mine had a semi auto 22 when we were kids in the early 'fifties. I don't know what brand it was, but it would do that fairly often. Sometimes it would jam it and sometimes not.

I wouldn't have noticed it but we were sneaking into a pasture and shooting bullfrogs at the stock tanks at night. I was picking up the brass to hide the evidence of our transgression.

He claimed it went full auto on him a time or two but I never saw that.

Yep.




Yeppers.

EthanEdwards;
I'm thankful to read that your son wasn't hurt by the case head separation.

While I've experience case failures in rimfires, typically they didn't look like your photo if fired when supported properly in the chamber.

As crossfire has already said, I'd suspect that for whatever cause the rifle fired before the case was completely chambered.

I'd be curious if the bullet hit it's intended target or perhaps better said if you could ascertain if it flew "normally". That may or may not indicate a higher than normal pressure load though I'd admit.

While I'd not be inclined to fire anymore of that box in a semi-auto, if it were me I'd be interested to see if it fired normally in a strong bolt action.

If it does, it might be indicative of a problem with the Marlin and not the ammunition.

Again its good to read nothing worse happened to your son and good luck in your search for clues here.

Regards,
Dwayne

I think it has more to do with a weak case when they are formed than having to much pressure. I have also thought that it was a head space issue with that round but I am not sure that can happen.

Dink