Bad day at the rifle range

[silicosys4]

Just because I got hit by the bolt I picked it up and looked at it. Out was relatively unscathed. I didn't look at the front lugs really well but I didn't see any obvious damage.

How could the bolt have been blown out of the gun but undamaged if the gun was in battery? I guess the receiver could have been blown to bits around it before the lugs sheared, but it seems that the bolt would have sustained damage too. Could have been an out of battery situation, but I've never heard of one being that catastrophic to the gun to the point the gun literally explodes into pieces, receiver and all.
Maybe I am missing something or you didn't see damage but it was present,.... but that seems very mysterious kaBoom.

Its a mystery that I doubt anyone here will ever be able to solve without seeing pictures of the pieces , the brass, and the bolt.
Regardless, I'm glad you were unharmed and I hope the gentleman recovers the use of his hand.

 

[cheygriz]

To have an explosion that catastrophic, I would think 99 percent probability of a barrel obstruction.

Even an overcharge of a faster powder would not be likely to do that kind of damage to the action.

 

[Glockula]

How could the bolt have been blown out of the gun but undamaged if the gun was in battery? I guess the receiver could have been blown to bits around it before the lugs sheared, but it seems that the bolt would have sustained damage too. Could have been an out of battery situation, but I've never heard of one being that catastrophic to the gun to the point the gun literally explodes into pieces, receiver and all.
Maybe I am missing something or you didn't see damage but it was present,.... but that seems very mysterious kaBoom.

Its a mystery that I doubt anyone here will ever be able to solve without seeing pictures of the pieces , the brass, and the bolt.
Regardless, I'm glad you were unharmed and I hope the gentleman recovers the use of his hand.

I don't know how but I do know for certain the front lugs did not shear. I saw them there. The receiver came apart long ways. Two big, long pieces and one small cracked off.

 

[Legionnaire]

Wow. Glad you were not injured, and I feel for the shooter. We're sitting here trying to figure out what happened; imagine what he must be thinking and feeling. Horrible but effective reminder to take care with this hobby. Thanks for posting.

 

[J-Bar]

Buy a steak and a lottery ticket! Thank goodness you were lucky to escape serious injury. I’m sorry the other fellow was injured, but the speculations seem to think he did something wrong.

I’m grateful I have a Missouri state owned and managed range, with walls between shooting booths, to sight in my firearms.

 

[Jessesky]

Could even be a gentleman unwise enough to experiment with powders without doing proper research.

The other day in my load development research, I read about a gentleman asking if H-110 was suitable for his 45-70. Thankfully litterally every poster yelled for him not to do it. But I can easily some overly confident guy attempting something similar there’s a lot of people who shoot, and it’s bound to happen eventually.

 

[Steve S.]

Ranges are inherently dangerous, especially public/ unsupervised ones. You have people handling loaded guns with various skill levels, personalities, temperaments, safety awareness, reloads, etc. Every once in a while at the range, my “gut” gets an alarm and I pay extra attention to another bench. I have seen some real stunts at my range; I like to go really early before “they” arrive. By the time the questionables arrive, I am finished and ready to leave. Very little surprises me anymore about range behavior; when I see some of these people with guns, I can relate to the anti’s perspective. OMG!!!!!

 

[Offfhand]

To have an explosion that catastrophic, I would think 99 percent probability of a barrel obstruction.

Even an overcharge of a faster powder would not be likely to do that kind of damage to the action.

My thinking also. The description sounds like a bomb created by a major barrel obstruction, like a cleaning rod.

 

[Slamfire]

Looked like hand loads

That's the problem. Wasn't that simple?

The Savage M116 looks to be a Savage M110 action. Nichlos Brewster designed a very safe rifle with lots of gas venting protection features. If someone blew up a M110 or M116, it was not due to the design, I will claim it was not due to the materials or construction. It has to be because someone put too much powder in the case.

Or, they poured concrete down the barrel and let it set. Bore obstructions are bad, very bad. But I am going to assume, the barrel was clear.

A bud of mine fired a 270 Win in a 300 Win Magnum M70. Case head ruptured on the 270 Win cartridge. Entire left side of his face was bloody from brass and gunpowder particles, his left eyelid was closed so he did not loose sight in that eye.

Very lucky that he did not lose his right eye, his right eye was protected from debris by the scope bell.

Scope was bent/deformed.

Mc Millian fiberglas stock came out of it without splitting.

Floor plate was not blown open.

The action was headspaced and found to be OK. The rifle is back in use.

Now, the OP mentions the action was shattered. It takes one heck of a lot of pressure to blow the receiver ring, and chamber, I assume, of a modern rifle. The most likely cause: too much powder in the case. It does not have to be the right powder.

I talked to the maker of the Panda Stoll rifle actions. He had a customer load a cartridge (I think it was with the wrong powder, could have been way too much powder). Customer blows the Panda Stoll action all to hell. Gets that replaced. Customer goes back to his ammunition stash, and proceeds to shoot up his old ammunition in his new Panda Stoll. He finds another over pressure cartridge! Big Badda Boom. Back goes Panda Stoll number two to the company. Receiver number two replaced. I did not hear about a Panda Stoll number three replacement, so maybe the guy figured out his problem.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I bought some like new reloading equipment off a guy that said reloading wasn't his thing after he blew up a Rem 700 in .270. The description of his rifle after the event sounded just like what the OP described. The seller told me he learned he had used pistol powder instead of rifle powder.

 

[Englishmn]

Glad everyone survived could have been much worse.

 

[Glockula]

Turns out my buddy got a picture of the aftermath before the police took it .

 

[troy fairweather]

wow

 

[J-Bar]

Son of a young....

Wow.

 

[troy fairweather]

here is one more 116 they seam to be blowing up. i have about 10 more different 116 savage i think they are on my other card.

 

[troy fairweather]

one more

 

[Slamfire]

Horrible. Look at the blood in the area. I feel sorry for the shooter. You know, these weapons are not toys. You gotta keep track of your process and procedure. Keep powders segregated, powders can be confusing, too many labels look similar. A red IMR3031 label looks similar to an orange IMR 4831 label in low light conditions. That gave me a scare. Accidents happen,let us hope our accidents are all minor.

 

[someguy2800]

Worst mistakes I’ve had were a squib in 9mm and accidently substituting scale pans on s balance scale resulting in a 2 or 3 grain overcharge on a 223 resulting in pierced primers.

 

[Jim Watson]

Wrong powder.
Most of the powders you would pick for full power loads peak out at compressed charges. Even the ones that don't are nearly case full. No way to double an appropriate powder.
70 grains of a fast burning powder would do the job.
You may theorize about SEE with underloaded slow powder, too.

A stuck bullet or other obstruction would yield a split barrel, the action normally holds. We have seen those pictures, too.

Picture shows the bolt is wrecked, too. Apparently the handle as safety lug kept him from eating the bolt.

 

[Jessesky]

It’s like he picked up H-110 instead of H-1000, labels and numbers very similar. And H-1000 is a great WSM powder.

 

[Glockula]

Horrible. Look at the blood in the area. I feel sorry for the shooter. You know, these weapons are not toys. You gotta keep track of your process and procedure. Keep powders segregated, powders can be confusing, too many labels look similar. A red IMR3031 label looks similar to an orange IMR 4831 label in low light conditions. That gave me a scare. Accidents happen,let us hope our accidents are all minor.

Sorry for the shooter indeed. There was A LOT of blood.

 

[berettaprofessor]

Edit to add: I always also have an index card on the bench that has all load data for that particular load. I used to thumb back thru load manuals and figure it’s just too easy to get the wrong page and wrong data.

Thanks redneck2. I hadn’t thought of the likelihood of that and that’s a good safety solution.

 

[Englishmn]

Was that a left hand rifle the bolt looks like it?
The lugs didn't fail the reciever split.

 

[<*(((><]

Picture shows the bolt is wrecked, too. Apparently the handle as safety lug kept him from eating the bolt.

The OP said he was hit in the stomach with the bolt, the OP was standing behind left of the shooter in reading his post.

Odd that the bolt didn’t hit the shooter first

 

[Legionnaire]

Yes, that doesn't look like an obstructed barrel. I'm leaning toward the wrong powder.

OP said the shooter was to his left. If that is a left-handed bolt, I don't understand how it could have hit the OP. I'd think it would launch from the ejection port side.