Blown up Tikka

[d2wing]

Today I was in a gunshop and a guy was complaining about his Tikka rifle. The receiver was blown in half, part of the stock blown out, the bolt had the cartridge head melted into it. He claimed that he loaded his shells at safe levels and had a notebook showing the load. He had no injuries and just a little chip in his glasses.
The receiver looked like it may have been cracked before the final break.
Of course it was the rifles fault.
Interesting. I suspect a bit of adventurous loads or maybe double accidental loads. I should have taken pictures.
I say that the rifle was great because he wasn't hurt even though the rifle was totally blown apart. I have no idea how the bolt wasn't imbedded in his brain.

 

[Anchorite]

Today I was in a gunshop and a guy was complaining about his Tikka rifle. The receiver was blown in half, part of the stock blown out, the bolt had the cartridge head melted into it. He claimed that he loaded his shells at safe levels and had a notebook showing the load. He had no injuries and just a little chip in his glasses.
The receiver looked like it may have been cracked before the final break.
Of course it was the rifles fault.
Interesting. I suspect a bit of adventurous loads or maybe double accidental loads. I should have taken pictures.
I say that the rifle was great because he wasn't hurt even though the rifle was totally blown apart. I have no idea how the bolt wasn't imbedded in his brain.

I have to wonder how one over charges or double charges a rifle case.
Sure, it can be done with certain powders (I’ve been known to run Blue Dot in 223 cases before), but you must be a moron to screw that up.

How can one not pay attention to what they are doing when reloading is beyond me. Wish you knew more details. We may all learn something courtesy of the village idiot from time to time.

 

[Show Me]

But to go in some place or post a picture here to complain? I'd take a chop saw to it and not mention it. Pull out another rifle and start over.

 

[thump_rrr]

I was competing this weekend at a precision rifle competition.
We were shooting as a sniper spotter team.
I was spotting while my partner was on the gun.
The team next to me were shooting Tikkas.
She was having extraction issues so she would drive a round (.223) into the back of the unextracted round. She dropped and swapped 2 mags trying to jam a round into a chamber with an unextracted case.
I told her to cycle the bolt before inserting another mag which cleared her rifle.
The 3 rounds that she tried to pound into the chamber had serious bullet setback.
If any one of those would have been put into the chamber I’m sure it would not have turned out well.

 

[LV Gun]

I was competing this weekend at a precision rifle competition.
We were shooting as a sniper spotter team.
I was spotting while my partner was on the gun.
The team next to me were shooting Tikkas.
She was having extraction issues so she would drive a round (.223) into the back of the unextracted round. She dropped and swapped 2 mags trying to jam a round into a chamber with an unextracted case.
I told her to cycle the bolt before inserting another mag which cleared her rifle.
The 3 rounds that she tried to pound into the chamber had serious bullet setback.
If any one of those would have been put into the chamber I’m sure it would not have turned out well.

I don’t even know what to say!

 

[TimRB]

I have to wonder how one over charges or double charges a rifle case.

Some years back I read on a forum (maybe even this one--I don't remember) about a newbie reloader who had bought a bunch of gear and consumables from someone who was getting out of reloading. The seller had put Red Dot into an IMR4895 can and sold it to the newbie. The newbie couldn't understand why the 4895 was unexpectedly overflowing the rifle case, so he asked about it. If he hadn't, he certainly would have blown his rifle apart.

Tim

 

[thump_rrr]

I don’t even know what to say!

Some people don’t perform well when something goes wrong while the clock is ticking.
Once you have missed 5/10 targets there isn’t much to salvage from that stage.

 

[Turkeytider]

I have to wonder how one over charges or double charges a rifle case.
Sure, it can be done with certain powders (I’ve been known to run Blue Dot in 223 cases before), but you must be a moron to screw that up.

How can one not pay attention to what they are doing when reloading is beyond me. Wish you knew more details. We may all learn something courtesy of the village idiot from time to time.

There are two reasons I don’t reload:
1. Not enough room to have a dedicated, organized space for reloading activities
2. I’m 76. I know for a fact that my attention span and my attention to detail are not what they once were. I personally do not believe that those issues are conducive to working with things that explode!

 

[Dr T]

Some things are hard to figure. Squib bullet, wrong powder? Who knows without more data.

Having once confused a pistol powder with a rifle powder that had a similar color of label, I can under stand how this can happen ( I caught this before charging the first case, fortunately). At least the Tikka action did what it was redesigned to do in a severe case of overpressure and he just had a chip out of his glasses lens.

BTW, since I had cataract surgery, my shooting and sunglasses are all impact rated safety glasses (Dewalt and Philips. Much cheaper that the designer shooting glasses and better protection.)

 

[243winxb]

Around 2004 there was a recall, bad steel. Google it.

 

[troy fairweather]

Guns blow up, there's many reasons they may pop but proper built rifles will fail and protect the shooter as much as possible. Some guns not so much, example the serbu 50.

 

[Jonny2guns]

I've told this story before on here.
My brothers BIL may not be the sharpest tool in the shed. He had some old military surplus rifle and surplus ammo. He decided that the manufacturer was being cheap since there was empty space in the surplus rounds. So he pulled some apart and topped off the powder in a few. He then proceeded to load and fire his " full load " surplus ammo. Well...let's just say he's gotta be a lucky dumb a**. When he pulled the trigger on the first round, the only thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital 3days latter.

 

[Turkeytider]

I was competing this weekend at a precision rifle competition.
We were shooting as a sniper spotter team.
I was spotting while my partner was on the gun.
The team next to me were shooting Tikkas.
She was having extraction issues so she would drive a round (.223) into the back of the unextracted round. She dropped and swapped 2 mags trying to jam a round into a chamber with an unextracted case.
I told her to cycle the bolt before inserting another mag which cleared her rifle.
The 3 rounds that she tried to pound into the chamber had serious bullet setback.
If any one of those would have been put into the chamber I’m sure it would not have turned out well.

That’s almost unbelievable. What’s really scary to me, though, is that those sorts of folks breed.

 

[rust collector]

Around 2004 there was a recall, bad steel. Google it.

Here is a link to that discussion. Bad steel, mostly ultralight stainless barrels, 20+ years ago.
https://www.go2gbo.com/threads/recall-on-tikka-t3-and-sako-rifles.35015/

 

[jmorris]

This guy used the correct load data.



He just made a mistake and grabbed the wrong powder and TG can take apart a rifle at charge weights acceptable for Varget.

 

[lemaymiami]

For what it's worth - no cop I ever worked with years ago would ever be surprised at the dumb things people can do (understatement) - and yes, they have kids... I'll bet that any drill instructor would have had the same experience dealing with lots and lots of recruits. The truth is... It's who we are... unfortunately.

 

[Show Me]

This guy used the correct load data.

View attachment 1227492

He just made a mistake and grabbed the wrong powder and TG can take apart a rifle at charge weights acceptable for Varget.

View attachment 1227491

Holy smokes. Save this one for " why you don't use others reloads "

 

[hunt127588]

I've never understood why powder manufacturers don't go to greater lengths to differentiate labels between different powders. As an example, H110 and H4350 labels look VERY similar if glancing at it.

 

[Anchorite]

Well, this is also a good lesson. I try not to have similar cartridges and loading material as part of my bench. Case in point - I’m not going to have a TAC20 and a 223 rifle.
In my mind, no matter how careful I may think I am, there’s just that one chance I could slip up and have a catastrophic accident.
How that guy mixed up Varget and TG….it’s possible.

 

[Anchorite]

I've never understood why powder manufacturers don't go to greater lengths to differentiate labels between different powders. As an example, H110 and H4350 labels look VERY similar if glancing at it.

Well, the same could be said for gasoline pumps. They all look the same and work the same way, but one could inadvertently put the wrong gas into their vehicle. It all comes down to the nut behind the wheel.

 

[Show Me]

I've never understood why powder manufacturers don't go to greater lengths to differentiate labels between different powders. As an example, H110 and H4350 labels look VERY similar if glancing at it.

No kidding. My rifle powders are in a different cabinet than pistol. Plus I keep my readers on a chain like an old person. I resemble that remark. I mean I believe most people don't snatch and grab pill bottles. Right

 

[Walkalong]

Sure, it can be done with certain powders (I’ve been known to run Blue Dot in 223 cases before), but you must be a moron to screw that up.

Ahem........in a world full of morons......

Glad the owner wasn't hurt, to bad they are in denial.

 

[7mmRLC]

I've never understood why powder manufacturers don't go to greater lengths to differentiate labels between different powders. As an example, H110 and H4350 labels look VERY similar if glancing at it.

As a new reloader 50+ yrs ago I wasn't paying attention and grabbed a can of Dupont 3031 instead of Dupont 4831. Both those 1 pound cans were the same color and on a shelf together. Long story short I locked the bolt on my 7 mag and the Speer 145 gr bullet didn't make it to the target. From that point forward I've only had 1 can of powder at a time out on the loading bench.

 

[JmacD]

Well… I know of a mix up of H1000 and H110. Bad deal indeed

 

[2ndtimer]

Decades ago, one of the members of our club was competing in an IHMSA match with his XP-100 in 7BR and had mistakenly loaded his ammo with W-296 instead of the similarly label W-748. The gun detonated and he was left holding on to the Zytel pistol grip of the stock. Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously injured.