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

I didn't read every reply, but those I did offered sound advice and possible reasons for this happening. One thing I'll add, is the absolute necessity that everyone shooting needs to wear safety glasses. A $5.00 pair of polycarbonate safety glasses is cheap protection against a blinding accident.

Here are some questions for which answers may help in dissecting the cause of the ruptured case.

Was the image altered (e.g. photoshopped) before posting? There's no detectable headstamp on the ruptured case shown.

Is there evidence of a firing pin strike on the case? The photos are so blurry on my monitor that it is not possible to detect this.

Did you directly observe the firing of the rifle when the cartridge ruptured, or was the rifle with the ruptured case brought to you after the rupture occurred?

For the case shown in the photos, did the cartridge fire in response to a separate pull of the trigger? Did the rifle fire as the cartridge was being chambered without a separate operation of the trigger?

Did the firing of the problem cartridge cause the bolt to be blown to the rear sufficiently to strip another cartridge from the clip and jam it against the fired case still stuck in the chamber? After the firing of the problem cartridge was the bolt face resting directly against the blown case?

How much of the damage to the fired case shown in the photo occurred as a result of digging the case out of the chamber?

From which shoulder was your boy operating the rifle when the incident occurred? If from the right shoulder, it's difficult to imagine how it happened "right in my boy's face". (The ejection port is on the right side of the action, correct?) Was the rifle being fired from the left shoulder? Was it being fired unshouldered, so the operator was facing the port? The answer may not bear on the direct cause of the rupture, but it will help in visualizing what was going on at the time of the rupture.

--Bob

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

EE-
I do apologize for a series of poorly phrased questions. I really, really intended no offense. It's apparent that I missed a key sentence in your second post of the thread. I'll keep working on my reading skills.

It's good to know that the malfunction did not harm your boy, and that he took it in stride.

--Bob

A group of 30-35 of us gather in Yuma 2 or 3 time a week to shoot silhouette and .22 benchrest , we put a LOT of lead downrange. We had 3 of these kabooms last year. One was a Marlin 39A, Federal bulk ammo, clearly fired out of battery, I think he had a little jam of some sort and tried to force it. Very loud report, sprayed bits and chunks on the adjacent shooter, no damage to rifle. Another was with a 10-22, Remington Goldens, out of battery, very loud report, blew the magazine out, no damage done (this is not the first time this has happened with the Remington GB's in a 10-22). Third incident was with my wife's CZ 452, Wolf ammo, happened when she pulled the trigger on a round completely IN battery, very loud report, lots of smoke from the receiver, bullet struck about 10" high at 50 yards. Double charge for sure.

These things happen, documented frequently over on Rimfirecentral.com. All the more reason for everyone on the firing line to be wearing eye protection.