KB stories posted here for posterity please!!!

Jim Watson said:

No doubt. I think that is why Walther did not put a loaded chamber indicator in a .22 PPK like they did the centerfires.

Click to expand...

The LCI is a known problem on the centerfire PPKs too. I removed it from my .32 Manurhin and feeding improved greatly.

Had a buddy that brought me an old Savage 3B single shot .22 that he insisted couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. These are cheap rifles that are able to shoot short, long, or long rifle. His intent was to use it for pigeons in his barn but couldn't hit them with shorts.
Took the bolt out and looked in it with a bore light and the barrel was entirely obstructed. Took about 3 hours and I managed to free the barrel of 11(!) .22 bullets. Not sure why the first one stuck, but pretty certain why the other 10 did. Also certain why he couldn't hit anything. Obviously there was no kaboom, but if he had tried LR instead, it coulda been sketchy. He said he never noticed any abnormal sound when he was trying to fire it.

mjsdwash said:

No pics, I didn't bother to record any of them because there was no damage (other than the LCI) and no injuries and no mystery what happened.
Basically blowout 1: Round did not fully cycle on ejection, live round knocked out of magazine, pulled the bolt back, released, rim of loose live round hit the LCI's metal tab and fired.
Blowout 2: pretty much the same, but this time I was clearing the jam with a pick because the mag was stuck with a live round half in and partially chambered. When the spent case was pulled out, the live one jumped through the gap in the middle of the mag feed lips, and the bolt crushed it into the LCI. I was looking down at it at the time.
Blowout three, exactly the same as blowout 1.
I put on a Volquartzen exact edge extractor, and the failure to eject problem disappeared.
I only informed Ruger about the first blowout, they didn't send replacement parts, so I reinstalled the old ones and called it good. Again, thousands of rounds between incidents. After the last one I left a hole where the LCI was for a few years, and eventually decided to fix it while I was overhauling my GP's springs. The new parts from Ruger were smaller, and didn't seem likely to cause that problem. MANY thousands of rounds later, no problems with it.
I do not intent to badmouth Ruger about this. This MKlll is and EXCELLANT pistol. The only badwill I have to Ruger is that they discontinued it. I am pissed off about that, I would have bought 5 when they were $260. It seems I got a bad part, and anyone can make a bad part. I did not press ruger for a replacement, I'm sure if I did I would have gotten it, but I'm also sure I would have had to send it in to them. Given I was shooting 300 rounds a week through it at the time, I would rather have a hole in the side.

As for the LCI danger, I attached a pic, and you can see the large metal tag that contacts the rim. If the live cartridge is pinched in the rim between that and the bolt, it will fire. The only seems to happen when clearing a malfunction where the live round is half in the mag, and can slip out of the two part feed lips, into the path of the LCI.

Click to expand...

I also had a MkIII blow the LCI into my thumb from what I assume was an OOB firing. Thumb stung for a bit, but no real injury.

Ruger sent me a new LCI, but was otherwise completely uninterested in the event. Last Ruger I'll ever own; fixed it, sold it and bought a Buckmark and never looked back.

Larry

DT Guy said:

I also had a MkIII blow the LCI into my thumb from what I assume was an OOB firing. Thumb stung for a bit, but no real injury.

Ruger sent me a new LCI, but was otherwise completely uninterested in the event. Last Ruger I'll ever own; fixed it, sold it and bought a Buckmark and never looked back.

Larry

Click to expand...

ouch!

Palladan44 said:

Thats a LOT LOT LOT of match shooting!
Super impressive.

Click to expand...

I used to practice three times a week, from late March to early October. About 80 to 100 rounds per outing. It does add up. I was set to make master across the course until an unfortunate chain saw accident caused mucho nerve damage and all I can shoot now is prone.

Two stories. One kaboom, one not.

1. I bought a Chiappa L339 22lr about 2 years ago. Long story short, extractor cut was mis-milled and cases would blow out. I wound up swapping it to a gunsmith friend who intends to re-chamber it, some how.

2. One of my friends growing up had an ancient Stevens single shot 20 gauge. It had the strange and rather entertain habit of coming open (and sometimes, apart) when fired. He used a piece of lace leather around the action to keep it closed, and hunted for a long time with it.

Mac

Palladan44 said:

Anybody ever blow up a shotgun barrel?

Click to expand...

A guy here wrecked a shotgun by not realizing the difference between card wads and plastic gas seals. I wasn't there and don't know just how it failed.

MacAR said:

2. One of my friends growing up had an ancient Stevens single shot 20 gauge. It had the strange and rather entertain habit of coming open (and sometimes, apart) when fired. He used a piece of lace leather around the action to keep it closed, and hunted for a long time with it.

Click to expand...

Elmer Keith described the double gun that took more than one trip to the factory to get it to quit kicking open.

Never had a KB but in the 80's I bought a surplus 7.7mm Jap, took it home with some Norma factory ammo and on the first pull of the trigger felt a face full of particles blow back at me. Extracted the case and the primer was punched clean through. Took the bolt apart and discovered some enterprising Bubba had brazed the firing pin together after it had broken before. Took it back to where I bought it and returned it (after showing shop owner).

About 12 years ago, a friend from work bought a new to him Mosin. He set it on the bench for the first shot. Upon firing his first shot, he looked down and was missing the tip of his left thumb.

He figured out later what happened. In that rifle's past, someone had apparently cross-drilled the chamber, presumably for the purpose of pinning a plug in place to demil it. At some point later, some doofus must have removed the pin and plug, then put it on the market for sale. Gas blew right through the drill hole, the stock, then took off the tip of his thumb which was laying right over the top of it, unbeknownst to him. I saw him some months after hearing this had happened and he gave me the whole story. Inspect those old warhorses carefully before you pull the trigger.

I had an out of battery KABOOM on my TC Classic .22. The case ruptured downward. It blew the magazine out of the well. My left hand was directly under the
mag well. I had a few small shrapnel wounds and some powder burns. Nothing serious and not blood.

LaneP said:

About 12 years ago, a friend from work bought a new to him Mosin. ...

He figured out later what happened. In that rifle's past, someone had apparently cross-drilled the chamber, presumably for the purpose of pinning a plug in place to demil it. At some point later, some doofus must have removed the pin and plug, then put it on the market for sale. Gas blew right through the drill hole, the stock, then took off the tip of his thumb which was laying right over the top of it, unbeknownst to him. I saw him some months after hearing this had happened and he gave me the whole story. Inspect those old warhorses carefully before you pull the trigger.

Click to expand...

Cabelas had a recall after accidentally selling demilled Mosin Nagants and SKS rifles back in 2010-12. Didn't hear reports of serious injuries at the time but you friend's experience fits the situation. Supposedly the Mosins had a 1/8 inch hole (or two) drilled into the left side of the receiver. The SKS was a 1/4 inch hole drilled from the bottom through the stock and receiver. Another reason to always thoroughly clean and inspect any new-to-you gun.

I have had case failures before, one was a new case and others in the batch were returned as they looked like a problem waiting to happen.




One I’ll never forget and often refer to, so it stays fresh in my mind to not become complacent, is the fellow that accidentally grabbed Titegroup when he intended to grab Varget.

His photos.





Also have one of his hand. IIRC it was still usable in the end.

illinoisburt said:

Cabelas had a recall after accidentally selling demilled Mosin Nagants and SKS rifles back in 2010-12. Didn't hear reports of serious injuries at the time but you friend's experience fits the situation. Supposedly the Mosins had a 1/8 inch hole (or two) drilled into the left side of the receiver. The SKS was a 1/4 inch hole drilled from the bottom through the stock and receiver. Another reason to always thoroughly clean and inspect any new-to-you gun.

Click to expand...

Wow, did not know that. I don't remember where he said he purchased it, but does fit the timeline. I also remember him saying he was pursuing some form of settlement regarding the incident and to that end I don't know those results. Thanks for the info.

Years ago I was working up some loads for a friend's Ruger # 1 in 22-250. The range I used to go to in NJ was most of times empty during the week.
Being self employed and in the ceramic tile installation business (as well as most other construction trades) there was always a day off between jobs now and then.
When those days happened I would get to the range as soon as I was allowed to start shooting.
I would bring my reloading supplies, lunch and spend the day working up loads.

This one day I had been shooting for a while when another member showed up, he set up in the next bench and while I was cleaning my rifle we started talking about gun stuff in general.
He was an older guy than me at the time and had an action with many different barrels in different calibers working up loads.
Once he started shooting, I became his spotter as he didn't have or bring his spotting scope.
After about an hour and a half, he said he was done and left.

After he left I loaded the Ruger and for some reason put my safety glasses back on.
When I pulled the trigger, I was unprepared for what happened, the fore end was blown apart and I got a face full of gas.
When I settled down and tried to open the action it was locked solid.

Trying to come to some answer as to what caused this, ( the load I shot was the same as the previous half dozen).
After looking over the rifle I noticed a small piece of what looked like a cleaning brush sticking out of the muzzle.
I looked over to my cleaning rod and it did not have a brush on it!
What I came to believe was, while I was talking to the other shooter, the brush unscrewed form the rod and I failed to notice it. (Don't get distracted)

When I got home I called Ruger and told them what happened, explaining it was my fault and asked if it could be repaired.
They told me to sent in to them, they would look at it and let me know.

About a week later I got a letter (pre Email days) saying the rifle was not repairable, but if I would give up ownership ship they would replace it.

When I called my friend and told him about what happened he laughed and said he wanted to keep the gun (probably to bust my chops for the rest of my life!).

After a short discussion he said he would give up the rifle.
(He did have a large caricature of me with the blown up rifle, mounted in the hunting quarters of his PA. now permanent home.)

I sent the rifle to Ruger and about two weeks later, when I got home from work there was a note on the door from the UPS guy saying to check my storage shed.
Inside was a box from Ruger with a brand new #1 in 22-250! No paper work, no charge!

This rifle shot better than the first one. Since then, I always check for bore obstructions before firing!

I bought a brick of 1000 Winchester 209 shotshell primers and a few other items at a local gunstore. The clerk asked, “Want a bag?” “No, I’m OK”.

I fumbled the box of primers trying to open the store’s door. It fell on the steel ledge/threshold at the bottom of the bars which were protecting the door from a break-in. BANG!

I froze. Clerk yelled “Primer only, primer only!” The store’s owner and other employees were there in seconds. The owner inspected the box of primers and said, “They’re not supposed to do that”, referring to the individual packaging of primers. The corner of the steel threshold plate ignited three primers upon impact, so the packaging did its job, preventing a chain explosion.

Since then, all my purchases go into a plastic bag.

Firing steel cased Wolf/Tula in a Israeli mauser.
Had a COMPLETE case head failure.
Popped the extractor off and damaged it.

Normally wear glasses anyways.
Heard a unusually loud bang and felt/heard a BIG whoosh go by my head and it ripped my hat off me and tossed it 20ish feet behind me.

Thank God for Paul Mausers predilection for safety. The bolt shroud directed ~%98 of the gas away from me and just a tiny bit of gas hit me.

Here is a great link explaining KB's: http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html

I had one in my G23 gen 4 and it really spooked me. When it happened, it blew the pistol out of my hands, blew out the magazine, and knocked the slide off the runners (but it stayed on the frame). Stung my hands pretty good for a few minutes but I've still got all my fingers so no lasting harm done. Scared the crap out of me, though.

At the time of this (my only) Kaboom in May 2012, I had shot several thousand rounds in the gun, almost all being factory reloads (BVAC, MBI, Freedom Munitions, etc.).

My KB happened while shooting BVAC 180 gr FMJ through a stock barrel. After much research, I am now shooting a KKM replacement barrel and have shot about 10,000 rounds through it since with zero problems.

I rarely shoot my G23 anymore. It sits hidden by the front door these days.

Buzznrose said:

Here is a great link explaining KB's: http://www.thegunzone.com/glock/glock-kb-faq.html

I had one in my G23 gen 4 and it really spooked me. When it happened, it blew the pistol out of my hands, blew out the magazine, and knocked the slide off the runners (but it stayed on the frame). Stung my hands pretty good for a few minutes but I've still got all my fingers so no lasting harm done. Scared the crap out of me, though.

At the time of this (my only) Kaboom in May 2012, I had shot several thousand rounds in the gun, almost all being factory reloads (BVAC, MBI, Freedom Munitions, etc.).

My KB happened while shooting BVAC 180 gr FMJ through a stock barrel. After much research, I am now shooting a KKM replacement barrel and have shot about 10,000 rounds through it since with zero problems.

I rarely shoot my G23 anymore. It sits hidden by the front door these days.

Click to expand...

I had something close to a kB using BVAC awhile back in 10mm. When I posted a warning to the members here I was roundly criticized for doing so. The case split around its circumference and along its length and knocked the rear sight off my S&W 610.

Back in my range days, we had a half assed "gunsmith" who really wasn't much good at anything other than sight inserts and polishing feed ramps, with faint damns on the latter item. He would do the wrong work on a customer's gun, mix stuff up all the time. Basically goof on his own guns all week, the hurry up all the work on Fiday so could get paid.... The really precise jobs were given to me. Rebarrel revolvers, cut chambers, alter chokes, fit stocks, that sort of thing. But... He was full time, and I was part time, so that was that. One Saturday AM I went to the range and one of the other guys said "L" (I wont use his name) "blew up his prize 45" the night before. Sure enough, somehow he managed to double or maybe triple charge a 45 ACP round, that he loaded with his components on the range's AmmoCrafter linear progressive machine. Blew out the mag, mag catch, trigger, slide had a wing on the right side (where he lowered the slide wall to about 1/4 inch of metal at the ejection port), and split the barrel from the chamber, through the lugs to about half down the tube. He swore off a double charge as "no way" but admitted he used the unfamiliar linear machine with difficulty and without permission. Boss was pissed, as the carefilly tuned machine had been totally thrown askew. Took me most of Saturday afternoon to set that right.

Not really a KB story. But I did experience an incident where the web area of a case blew out on me. The gun is a 1911 chambered in 38 special. What happened was the web or case head blew out where it was not supported by the barrel. The case head separated at the web area blowing the magazine out, split the left grip in half, and peppering me with brass pieces in the face. Thank goodness I wear glasses when shooting as that probably saved my eyes.

No, it was not a double charge but a problem with the original barrel not properly supporting the case head and that one particular case. I have replaced the barrel with a Kart barrel and have not had an issue since. The big difference now is I no longer have pregnant cases after firing or fired cases that have a guppy belly near the web area.

I have posted many times about my 1955 Yugo 8mm surplus round failure. Made in Factory 11 which turns out is a common batch to have problems. If I remember right it was the 13th round fired from the first box of 15. No KB but an enormous blast of air off the top of my head just above the shooting glasses. If I had a hat or toupee it would have been long gone. Whilst still holding the rifle on the benchrest I noticed a lot of smoke coming around the bolt. So I peeled my fingers off the forearm and counted fingers...ok there...then ejected the spent brass and popped the mag bottom open to empty the remaining rounds. The Yugo M48a and myself were not damaged in any way except being rattled. The remaining rounds from the 900 count case were pulled and used for components only.