What caused this gun dilemma . . .

[6hold]

.
Take an educated stab at what the true cause of this mishap at the gun range might have been caused by. I haven’t seen any definitive answers publicized. I have my own guess what’s yours? The video is on YouTube's link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh1lyMyejpI&feature=related​

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[one-eyed Jack]

Squibb? 5.56 in .223 chamber? Jack.

 

[WVBob]

He was having to much trouble not to check the chamber and barrel, and he did not. Not playing safe.

 

[FalArAk]

I vote squibb and an idiot behind the trigger.

 

[bdutton]

My guess is that the primers were not seated properly... that during the reloading process the primers were not seated or were missing. One primer managed to ignite the next round which resulted in the magazine exploding. You can see the magazine disintegrate if you stop and start the video frame by frame.

Or, could have been an obstruction in the chamber (why he kept pushing the follower). But I don't think so because it sounded like the last successful round was loud and should have gone down range.

 

[drgrant]

Looks like a classic sort of casehead rupture- you can see the mag blow out too, at the same time.

The guy is lucky it was that and not a lot worse.

My guess would be SQUIB. He jacks a round in and pulls the trigger and nothing happens- but I wonder if the gun
just went "puff" and lodged a bullet in the barrel. Then he clears the empty (without realizing that, hey, theres no
bullet in the empty!) and jacks a fresh one in behind it, and pulls the trigger, thus causing a nice overpressure event.

-Mike

 

[matt1956]

yeah, from what i gather... he was shooting reloads and not very good ones

I'd vote squib. After any jam, i check the chamber/barrel for that very reason.

good reminder though

 

[Half Cocked]

I do not think squib. You do not hear the primer go off on the prior rounds he is having trouble with. I have had squibs and the primer made a noticeable noise.

 

[gene]

Squibb? 5.56 in .223 chamber? Jack.

+1

 

[doobie]

The last round before the he first took the mag out was probably a squib. I heard a 'click' and when he ejected the brass it looked like it was brass only and no bulet. It was probable lodged near the breech which is why he couldn't get the next round to seat properly.

 

[6hold]

I also thought it was a squib. Most of the squibs that I’ve seen blow out the barrel, this one on YouTube seemed to blow out the bottom on the receiver and or the magazine. Would this mean that the squib was just barely into the barrel or could it be that the casing gave out? Whatever the cause, he seemed to have trouble with more than one round of ammo.

# # #

Here a patron used military surplus .308 ammo from India
(headstamp OFV) in a new rifle. One round was a squib, leaving
the bullet about 14-inches down the barrel from the chamber.
Not realizing this, the shooter did not check for blockage, and the
barrel burst with the next round. Luckily, nobody was hurt. .​

.

 

[kevin9]

My vote is a mis-loaded round; double-charged, wrong powder, wrong primer, bad bullet seating, something like that. He had more than 1 FTF with reloaded ammo that he did not reload. Continued usage of it was IMNSHO an invitation for badness.

 

[45 acp]

Operator error!

 

[Chris]

My guess is the bolt wasn't fully closed and the case head ruptured.

Now, why that occurred is a good question, but one that can not be answered here fully given the evidence.

The AR platform is essentially 2 separate pieces. The lower receiver contains the trigger and hammer and the upper contains the bolt and gas system.

There is no way for the lower to know the condition of the upper. In many guns, there exists a disconnecter that prevents firing when a gun isn't fully closed. No such device exists in the AR platform. It is by the length of the firing pin that should prevent a round from discharging from a bolt that isn't closed, but this is no guarantee. Especially on non-military 'soft' primers.

The likely scenario is that something was preventing the firearm to be loaded properly. You can see this in several attempts to fire by the individual. Rather than taking the time to examine the problem and fix it, he continues to force the rifle to load.

In the final scene, he managed to get the rifle closed enough to allow the hammer to strike the firing pin and the round in the chamber is jammed enough to hold its position and the pin detonates the primer. Since I believe the bolt wasn't fully closed, the expansion of gasses forces the round further into the chamber causing a rupture at the case head. 50,000 psi blows out from the unsecured bolt and blows pieces of the gun apart.

This isn't a failure of the gun, but a failure of the nimrod operating it to ignore the signs of trouble and continue to force the issue. He is lucky that a good scare is all he got for his ignorance.

 

[dhuze]

When he takes the first magazine out and pulls back the charging handle an empty round ejects. It looks to me like he had a bullet ride out of the round. When he loaded the second magazine the bolt wouldnt close so he tried the forward assist. It looks like he was only pushing a bullet head into the chamber until the next round could chamber.