Blown .22 LR case

[Walkalong]

My sons Father in Law bought a Ruger SR-22 this X-Mas and wanted to go shoot it. We went to the range yesterday after work. He brought it and his S&W M&P15-22.

I really liked the M&P15-22. The Ruger shot well too, but I just liked the ergonomics of the S&W better.

The SR-22 would eject flawlessly with the hotter ammo, but would occasionally catch a spent casing and jam almost closed using the tamer stuff. He was using Shooters Ridge mags.

I was over to his left when I heard one of the "clicks" with no bang he was getting when it caught a case. He immediately grabbed the bolt and pulled it back. BANG.....He started flipping his hand back and forth like it had been hit and had a *** look on his face. He found the case pictured on the bench right beside the rifle. No harm to him fortunately.

Hangfire maybe? Was the bolt closed enough, even with the hung case, for the firing pin to just catch the rim? I have heard of hangfires, but never experienced one. Anyway, I don't know what happened, but this case is the result. Fired out of battery? I doubt it. Certainly hope not. So, hangfire?

Any thoughts? I am assuming the sharp crease on the case is where it was caught by the bolt.

 

[EmGeeGeorge]

that's why if it just goes click its wise to wait one minute before jacking open the action...

at least it was a .22 and not a .50 bmg...

 

[HOLY DIVER]

yes i agree with matthew

 

[taliv]

dunno. very curious though. if the case was unsupported, i'd think the bullet would just leave w/o splitting the brass. if the case was partially supported, it would be the front part so i'd think the rear of it would asplode instead of the front. the brass obviously couldn't have come that far apart inside the chamber.

where'd the bullet go? it still in the bore?

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

I've had hangfires with .22's (mostly remington), but they were always click/bang (quick) or just duds (thanks remington). I have shot a heck of a lot of .22's too.

 

[taliv]

or just duds (thanks remington)

ain't that the truth...

 

[Walkalong]

Bullet wasn't found. Definitely not in the bore. I checked. Case was obviously part of the way out of the chamber. Probably all the way since the bullet was not in the chamber or bore. The case is what hit him in the hand, & then dropped to the table.

I have always been told, since I was a wee lad, that if a round went click, wait to open the action, but I wasn't shooting it.

or just duds

Yep. As many .22 LR rounds I have had not fire, all were extracted harmlessly without firing, and most did not fire when rotated and tried again, but some did.

 

[wally]

My only hangfire ever was with a .22LR pistol. Scared the beezeezes out of me, I was reaching up to do tap-rack-bang when the gun fired, It was pointed safely down range at the time. I always wait a bit longer now.

--wally.

 

[happygeek]

I've had 22LR cases do that, except the bottom of the case blew out, not the top. In the cases where that's happened with the wife's CMMG 22LR AR upper, the round fired fine, but the case seemed to blow out when the round fired, and of course the case failed to eject because it stuck to the bolt face once it blew out. There was a little smoke coming from the ejection port afterwards.

All the times that's happened with us, it's been Aguila 22LR.

 

[Geno]

Do us a favor and take a picture of the bottom of the round. I would like to see if the rim was struck dead-on, or perhaps an angle. Also post a picture of a spent round that fired and ejected properly.

If one has a stuck round and pries it, it can strike other metalic objects therein...like the ejector. Ask me how I know. I did this myself. It scared the Hades out of me...talk about loud!

Geno

 

[Walkalong]

If one has a stuck round and pries it, it can strike other metalic objects therein...like the ejector.

Sounds feasible, and the mark is pretty long. He did not seem to eject it rapidly, but maybe hard enough.
hmmm.....

Pic of the base/rim

 

[Uncle Mike]

if the case was unsupported, i'd think the bullet would just leave w/o splitting the brass

Years ago we boys in a particular instructor class decided to do an experiment of sorts.
We took a smorgasbord of ammunition and 'set it off' in the open. None of the cases were supported in any way.
What we found was that, even with shotgun shells, the lighter casing or hull would explode apart while often times the bullet or wadding/shot would go just several feet and the bullet exhibited little force, or energy, to say.

The pressure inside the case builds to the exploding point, and the case being unsupported will rupture, the payload, bullet or wadding/shot acts as a 'cork' of sorts.

Hey, it was fun at the time.

 

[dispatch55126]

Mythbusters did something like this whereby they used a 22lr as a fuse for a truck. The case would explode and peel back but nothing would fly more than a few feet. You could throw a 50bmg in a fire (not recommended) and it would go off like a M80 but the bullet wouldn't go screaming down the road. Bullets need barrels to channel the pressure.

 

[Lloyd Smale]

my guess is the firing pin was hanging up and when he strated to rack the bolt it let loose.

 

[rcmodel]

I don't think it was a hang-fire.

From the dents on the rim and opposing side of the case, I'd say it was a simple mis-feed hung in the magazine, and the bolt set it off when your FIL pulled the bolt back and mashed it between the bolt & magazine feed lips..

rc

 

[jmorris]

I have experienced hang fires in some really old .410 shot shells when I was a kid. A friend of mine had one with my 50 bmg.
The only time I’ve seen a 22 case blow like that was some that got dropped into a camp fire by accident. .22’s fired out of battery but still in the barrel just blow out the base, it generally looks like two rims (B) with a slot blown out.

 

[Walkalong]

From the dents on the rim and opposing side of the case, I'd say it was a simple mis-feed hung in the magazine, and the bolt set it off when your FIL pulled the bolt back and mashed it between the bolt & magazine feed lips..

I agree that it probably fired upon impact with something on the way out of the chamber.

I did not see it before it was ejected, but all the other "clicks" had been a round most of the way in the chamber with a fired case stuck between the bolt and the front of the ejection port keeping it from chambering fully.

 

[AR-15 Rep]

i would have to agree, it doesn't look like a firing pin strike... Looks more like hitting the lip of a magazine. The angle and the length are what leads me to that conclusion.