FAL Explosion

[Eb1]

I witnessed a FAL blow up yesterday. Seems the gun fired with the bolt not completely closed. Blew the magazine out, blew the top dust cover off, and opened the gun as you would to break it down.

Powder spray went all over the gentleman, and he had some blood marks. Luckily he was wearing glasses, or he would have been blind.

I witnessed the entire episode. Guy pulls trigger and big fireball and grey smoke everywhere. Dust cover slams the tin roof about 15 feet above the bench. Enough to dent the tin roof, magazine flies out of the gun looking as round as a coke can. Bullets and spring go flying as well. Gun breaks open at the stock. Gentleman saying a prayer to Jesus for still being alive.

It made my stomach come up to my throat. I ran over to make sure he was alright. When we got past that point we examined the gun. It was toast. Receiver was bent, mag destroyed. I could not tell if the bolt was damaged or if the chamber was cracked.

 

[GBExpat]

Any idea regarding the MFR of that rifle? ... or if was home-rolled?

 

[Bwana John]

Too bad they made us get rid of the "Safety Sear"

 

[Vaarok]

Handloads?

 

[Eb1]

It had a DPMS receiver. If it was home built or not I don't know, but I am thinking it was. He mentioned that he got the receiver for $170 back sometime ago.

They were not reloads. They were FMJ 7.62x51, and were white box surplus as far as I could tell.

I don't think it was a double charge because of the way the last 4th of the case was ejected and the rest was in the chamber. It totally looked like the bolt did not close and the gun fired. I did not think you could do that. It looked like the gases found the easiest way out. Which would be the magazine and the open bolt, as well as the dust cover.

It was a very scary thing to witness. Very scary. I thought for sure the guys hand or eyes were gone.

 

[Deer Hunter]

A DPMS receiver?

 

[Bwana John]

It had a DPMS receiver.

 

[Eb1]

Yes, the FAL receiver had DPMS on the side of it. The gun looked like this exept it had synthetic forearm and stock.

http://www.mandmgunsmithing.com/FALWork.html

 

[Deer Hunter]

That website seems to group Hesse and DPMS in the same category when it comes to FAL receivers.

I never even knew DPMS made a FAL receiver.

Interesting.

 

[Cmdr. Gravez0r]

Any other rifles susceptible to this?

 

[Eb1]

Any automatic rifle can malfunction and fire with the bolt open. It is not suppose to, but obviously it can happen.

This is one thing I hate about automatics. You just keep busting off rounds. You never think to check the bolt.

EDIT:

Keeping the gun clean, especially the chamber is always good. This has made me want to take my AR-15 down and give the chamber a good scrubbing. Make sure that round can get up in the chamber and close the bolt. I don't know that this persons gun was not clean, or if there was a malfunction in the safety controls.

 

[Deer Hunter]

I find the use of a DPMS FAL lower to be suspect. It doesn't sit right to me. This gun was a kit build of some sort I bet.

 

[Eb1]

I am not a fan of DPMS. My lowers are CMMG and my uppers are either CMMG or Colt for my AR-15's.

EDIT: I put the lowers and uppers together. All are Frankensteins. I just like to, but they are checked by a GS before firing.

 

[Slamfire]

It is very unusual for a FAL to slamfire. The rifle has a spring loaded firing pin which removes a lot of the firing pin's forward kinetic energy.

If the firing pin broke, he could have had a pin tip sticking through the bolt face.

However, I will bet the hammer followed.

My trigger group in my FAL caused some doubles. The darn sear engagement was insufficient. Had to replace hammer and trigger parts.

It is really not a fault of the design, the BATF has required that the design be made less safe. A correctly built full auto FAL has safety sear.






I borrowed the pictures from:

http://www.falfiles.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=134255&highlight=full+auto&

The semi auto rifles do not have that. (Unless my memory is wrong) This device will positively prevent hammer follow.

Instead the semiauto auto rifles depend on the trigger sear to fall into the the last hammer sear notch. If you notice from the pictures, that notch is quite shallow.

A little bit of wear, a little bit of bounch, and the sear may not catch the notch.

That's my guess.

 

[Coronach]

That website seems to group Hesse and DPMS in the same category when it comes to FAL receivers.

That is not a good sign.

I never even knew DPMS made a FAL receiver.

Based upon the OP in this thread, I think I know why.

I find the use of a DPMS FAL lower to be suspect. It doesn't sit right to me. This gun was a kit build of some sort I bet.

Upper or lower? Remember, on the FAL the upper is everything. The lower is just there to hold the FCG, buttstock and pistol grip. It is not a stressed part.

Mike

 

[Picard]

This could explain the problem.

http://www.dsarms.com/safety_warning.asp

 

[Eb1]

Pretty much the same looking mess that I saw. His did not warp as bad. His magazine was in way worse condition that than one, but it did bust the gun up pretty darn good. I would not ever shoot it again. I wish I had taken photo's..:banghead:

 

[W.E.G.]

I slam-fired a FAL once.

Lake City M852 ammo.

Entreprise receiver.

1.633 headspace.

Tossed the round in the chamber.

Slingshot the charging handle.

Fired as soon as the bolt slammed.

Lucky it was in-battery.

I'd like to know what kind of ammo was involved in the KB mentioned in the OP.
I don't know what is "white box surplus."

 

[Eb1]

I did not get a look at the markings on the case. It was just in little white boxes marked 7.62x51. This was not a slam fire. I was watching him from two benches over.
He was aiming and pulled the trigger. That is when it kaboomed on him. It was not a slam fire. The rifle fired out of battery. Somehow. Someway. The rifles hammer fell with the bolt open.

Doesn't make sense. The only other thing I can think of is that the powder in the cartridge might have gotten wet and solidified? It was 93 degrees with 80% to 90% humidity, or it had gotten wet some other time. I don't know.

The three things I can come up with since he pulled the trigger to get the Kaboom are:

1) fired out of battery
2) Double Charge (highly unlikely)
3) squib? Possible, but he was checking his shots every shot with a spotting scope
4) slam-fire. doubtful because he pulled the trigger

I don't know what else. I am no FAL expert by no means. This has actually made me a little afraid of the design, but I know that it could happen to an AR platform just the same.

Then again according to the website posted above, it could have just not had the strength to shoot high pressure NATO rounds. Could have been his 2000th round and boom. That was that. Receiver gave way.

EDIT: to be honest the only thing I could think of was the guys safety. All of this after thought of pics, shell casings and other things just did not come up at the time.

 

[Falcon]

Here's DPMS's description of their receiver when it was first available in 2001....

"Fully Finished, Metric Pattern, U.S. Made
Machined from a casting to Type-3 metric pattern specifications. Features carry handle cut and type-1 magazine and lightening cuts. Semi-auto ejector block is pre-installed for reliable operation. Heat treated to prevent receiver stretch. Provides easy fitting using new and surplus, metric pattern barrels and accessories.

SPECS: 4140 steel, black oxide finish. Heat treated to Rc 28-34. 1"-16 tpi barrel threads."

 

[Eb1]

Okay. Good job. Then it is not alum. I tried to find that, but couldn't via google.com. Thanks for the description.

Then it looks like a fire out of battery, double charge or solidification of powder. Does that sound right?

 

[W.E.G.]

A number of milsurp .308 rounds come in small white boxes.

Chilean '75 comes in white boxes of 20 rounds each.

Marked "FAMAE" and something like "Cartuchos de Guerra"

Well-known to kaboom guns.

IMBEL kaboom'd receiver on Chilean '75 pictured.

 

[Coronach]

Holy CARP

 

[kcmarine]

I've always wondered how countries that make terrible military ammunition would be effected if they had to use that stuff in a war...

 

[Eb1]

I sometimes wonder why people use surplus ammo in the caliber of 7.62x39. Especially after the article in American Rifleman that described the sabotage done to cases of 7.62x39 by our Special Forces to do this exact thing to the enemy.