Beretta Ciener .22 Conversion Case Rupture

[whitebear]

I was talking to an acquaintence of mine today at my club's indoor range where I was RO. He was shooting several different .22 pistols, and I commented on his wide variety of pistols choices - a Beretta Neos, a Ruger MKII, a Ruger single action and a Beretta P92 with a Ciener .22 conversion kit on it.

After a little discussion, he said he had something he wanted to show me, and went out to his car. When he returned, he showed me a .22 round with a 1/8th inch high doughnut buldge above the rim, and about 1/4 of its circumference ruptured in the area of the buldge.

He told me that when he had fired the round, it had sprayed his face with hot gas, and that the bullet had gotten stuck in the barrel just beyond the chamber.

I told him that it sounded to me as though the gun had fired while out of battery, and that I would either take the gun with kit to his gunsmith for a check-out, or get into contact with Ciener to see if they had any reports of this happening to anyone else.

I'm not familiar with the Beretta P92. Shouldn't the disconnector, if working properly, have prevented this gun from firing while 1/8" out of battery? He was shooting Remington Golden Bullet bulk .22 ammo, so this was not some high-pressure, high velocity .22 round.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

Tony

 

[whitebear]

OK, several lookers, but no one with comments...

Has anyone seen or heard of anything like this happening with a Ciener conversion?

Thanks!

Tonu

 

[4v50 Gary]

I think your diagnosis is correct. Also check where the striker/firing pin hit on the case. Examine the breechface too. I'm wondering if the action of slamming the cartridge into the chamber was sufficient to ignite the priming compound in the rim.

 

[Brian D.]

Something similar happened to me once with a Ruger Mk. II that most likely wasn't out of battery. Mine was a complete case head seperation, with the bullet an inch or so forward, and the case, except the head, stuck in the chamber. Not too hard for me to believe that the round in question was defective--either too thin where it blew out, or maybe a bit too much priming compound or powder. Or combination of two or more from the above....anyhow, no damage done.

 

[Keith]

.22's seem to be prone to having debris get stuck in the firing pin channel and leave it sticking out to contact the cartridge. The pin is out there on the rim of the bolt and its easy for it to pick up gunk and unburned powder.

I had a "Gallery" pump rifle that almost did that to me. It didn't fire any rounds but I had to pump them through the action to empty the magazine and when I picked them up I noticed the rims were dented. Cleaned it and fixed the problem - and was more careful about keeping it clean after that.

A friends Browning Buckmark fired a round into the dirt at his feet as he let the slide go to load the chamber. Same deal - grit and gunk around the firing pin.

I'd look at that before I went to a gunsmith or mailed the kit back to the manufacturer.

Keith

 

[jercamp45]

I have a ciener...

for my Officer models and NO I have never seen or heard of that one! Matter of fact, I have not seen it happen with any of the 15 .22 pistols I have owned in the last quarter of a century.
Got a couple of .45 squibs stuck in the bore, the reloader I was using was not doing a very good job(well two out of about 3000 rounds...the rest worked fine as I recall). I used him no more, primarily because I left that local.
Jercamp45