catstrophic failure/exploding gun stories

[funshootin1 10]

I was 13, we were near schukyll haven pa (just north of the cabelas in hamburg pa) on a family outing hiking a small stretch of the appalachian trail near hawk mt. and we stopped at a local store for what i cant remember, It was a Lane dept store, kinda like a low rent K mart. in the sporting goods section there was a barrel full of cosmoline coated FR8 spanish mausers in 308. 50 bucks for my first real high power rifle seemed like a winner to me and dad agreed. He new I was becoming a good shooter from me doing very well in military match(with a borrowed garand, and 03 a3 and also extremely well at smallbore, we spent lots of time at the range and hunting back then, I was doing good in school and my birthday was coming up and so was deer season so we took one home. This was the best early birthday present I could ask for and I was exited. we stripped them down and cleaned off the cosmoline and checked them over and put them away till our next range day. I couldnt wait, this was one bad bolt action, short barrel, cool flash hider, front sight looked like a g3 and the rear had a rotating thing with 3 peeps and a v notch, it had a tube under the barrel that looked like a gas tube (supposedly held a cleaning brush and doubled as a bayonet lug). This was the ultimate jungle carbine bolt action tackdrivin deer slayer in my young eyes. It shot great, I kept a 3 in. average group at 100yds consistently with this turd of a gun (I didnt know any better). got a buck that year, my first, and about a month later we hit the range. A local gun shop guy offered to make us up some handloads that would kick less, I liked that for practice and they worked well until it BLEW UP IN MY FACE ! double or triple load we will never know but thank you mr. mauser for that safety lug. bent the bolt,broke both locking lugs and clearly stressed the safety lug and bolt handle,claw extractor blew off,bent the floorplate and reciever and split the stock. I was mortified and shaking cause I knew what could have happened,I had a bad flinch shooting any highpower rifle for 2 years after that, later we learned about the "soft" recievers on these 308 converted mausers. the flinch is cured but the thought crosses my mind everytime I sit behind a older rifle I havent shot yet and this is 2 decades later. I miss that old gun.

[superA 289]

Funshootin huh?

[chevyman097 2,579]

[funshootin1 10]

OMG/LMAO. got a tooth pulled wenesday...I blame the two percocets and beer...apparently that combo cures writers block. Sorry bout that all. skip to the bottom for the point. still wanna hear about those failures.

[waltham_41 52]

Been very lucky up to this point, I have owned well over 50 personal weapons without any of them blowing up, did have a cannon round in the army in an M60 tank that was an over charge.

 

When we shot it the tank tried to pop a wheelie and when we went to take the bore evacuator (a device on the cannon tube that helps draw the smoke out of the tube instead of back in the tank) off of the cannon it would not slide all of the way off because the end of the tube had bulged out. Had to change the cannon tube on the tank.

 

When I changed over to the M1 Abrams, the 7.62 coaxial machine gun (the machine gun that sits next to the cannon and is controlled by the gunner) was moved from the left side of the cannon as in the M60 over to the right side next to the gunner.

 

Had a round squib, and the next round ruptured and stuck out of the barrel sideways.

 

Considering that I was wearing a tanker CVC helmet with earpieces I didn't hear much, but there was a definite puff of smoke in the turret when it blew.

 

Thats about it for me.

[chevyman097 2,579]

OMG/LMAO. got a tooth pulled wenesday...I blame the two percocets and beer...apparently that combo cures writers block. Sorry bout that all. skip to the bottom for the point. still wanna hear about those failures.

 

LOL its all good +1 for the grin. I too have a bad tendency to drink and type. Not a good combo lol!

[waltham_41 52]

I cant even imagine what it would have been like if the internet had been around back in my drinking days. I would have had to have a standard apology for what I said the night before in my sig on every forum I was a member of LOL

[patriot 7,197]

I have an M1 Carbine converted to 45WinMag (Mag-1 Carbine by Tim Legendre)that sheared off the locking lug and the brass deflector hit me in the forehead about an inch from my temple. It seems the bolt was improperly heat treated. I ended up with a chipped skull and after I bought a new bolt and sent the gun back to Tim to be repaired, all is well.

 

My dad was with me and there was another guy at the range that day as well. When my bolt blew and he saw I was injured, he packed his shit and left...fast. If I could find out who that was I'd give him the ass chewing of his life. You DON'T leave without offering aid when someone is injured. What a dick.

 

If the pussy who punked out is reading this, I hope we meet someday.

Edited January 1, 2010 by patriot

[chevyman097 2,579]

wow what a d-bag!

[Mullerbjorn 0]

How about a Saiga-12 injury? Has there ever been one? ...like some nerd trying to stuff in a 3 1/2 round. There has to be a scenario with a bad Saiga-12 like the buffer spring shooting out the back and cover exploding into the air.

 

wow what a d-bag!

[funshootin1 10]

M1 carbine in 45 win mag! BIlly bad ass man. sounds awesome. glad it didnt crack your coconut.

[Jigen 8]

Paul Mauser got his right eye messed up and lost his vision in it while testing one of his rifles. This may have been the impetus of some of the safety features he put in his later designs.

 

I find myself lucky enough that the worst I've experienced has been a pierced primer. Everyone should wear safety glasses. There's no excuse not to. Even if you need prescription glasses, you can get a set from Zeni optical for 20 bucks and shipping.