The Rock Island incident (KaBoom)

[wally]

Wally...I'm curious. In the one that you caught...how far into the barrel was the bullet?

If I remember right it was about half way and was a real PITA to get out, had to actually remove the barrel and pound it out towards the muzzle. The others that didn't cycle or let the next round enter the chamber were pretty easy to drive out from the muzzle back into the chamber.

It was a batch of 200gr hard cast lead SWC normally over 6 gr Unique so it wasn't hard to notice the reduced recoil

But of the probably 30 rounds from that batch of 100 that had reduced recoil, probably 20 cleared the barrel, but unless the plate I was shooting at fell, I stopped and looked every time!

--wally.

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

A couple weeks ago my friend had a squib cycle the slide on her STI. The bullet didn't even more far enough down the barrel to allow the next round to chamber, which is why she caught it before something bad happened.

 

[1911Tuner]

Thanks, Wally.

Irishman...you make five. Six if ya count the time I was on hand, but wasn't actually watchin' the gun.

Maybe this thing is a little more common than I thought.

Oh! Almost forgot!

Chuck...

 

[AcceptableUserName]

This is not acceptable.

 

[1911Tuner]

Don't sweat it AUN. Just a little runnin' joke betwixt me an' Chuck. It's all good, m'fren.

 

[1911Tuner]

?

And you coulda heard a pin drop...

Anyway, I think Guillermo's theory makes the most sense.

my guess is "both"

The barrel bulge speaks to obstruction...period

The lateral splitting suggests a flawed barrel

Flawed steel. The OP states that the first round hit the target. No dismissing that.

The bulge points to an obstruction.

A small obstruction caused the bulge to start in the bad steel.

When the elastic limit of the bad steel reached its limit...it split.

Theah! Now we can all be friends again!

 

[presspuller]

The way the metal is splintered shows that something is not right with the metal. Bad heat treatment or something is going on there.

 

[gb6491]

Theah! Now we can all be friends again!

Why Tuner, would you be of fan of "Tombstone"?
Regards,
Greg

 

[1911Tuner]

Ah'm yuh Huckleberry.

 

[WingRider]

Ya'll crack me up

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

You know, I've got some Bullseye left, but not enough to load much ammo... if my grad school work slows down this week, I'll try the cotton swab thing and see if 10 grains will lock the slide back.

 

[HisSoldier]

The reason I jumped to the conclusion that the barrel steel is suspect is the way it split so catastrophically in 4 linear lines down the bore, that bore shot is amazing!
There is evidence of shattering as well as the splits. If it was caused by a squib or obstruction the pressure must have been very high and a fast impulse, it almost looks like high explosive damage due to the shattering.
I've seen many photos of rifle barrels peeled back like bannanas, but this looks like a shock wave went down the length and the barrel cracked laterally as well as longitudinally. That's why I said it looked like a pressure drawn free machining steel like stressproof, as even "seamed" alloy steel wouldn't do what it looks like that barrel did. But I've been wrong often.
Anyway, I'd sure like to be a fly on the wall at RIA when the engineers look at it. (If they bother, and I'd bet they would want to see it.)

 

[outerlimit]

I was going to say, "that's why I don't buy guns made in the Phillipines."

But I have a Norinco

Great gun.

 

[DeadLiver]

What little I know about metallurgy I learned by way of my Father in law in the Philippines, helping him pound machetes out of old leaf springs. He instructed me one day about properly heat treating a blade, if you temper it too much, you can crack/shatter the blade with a good whack into a piece of dry wood. Much more so I would think with a gun barrel. Seems to me the steel was defective, and that would have been compounded if there was some kind of obstruction in the barrel.

Armscor makes pretty good stuff, I mean everywhere you go in the PI you see private security guards armed with everything; .38 revolvers, 1911's, Shotguns, and even M16/M4's. Same with the cops. It's all made by Armscor, and the cops there (some of whom use their duty weapons quite frequently) tell me that they rarely have problems with their weapons.

Quality Control is never perfect, RIA/Armscor makes good weapons, I'm glad the OP wsn't injured and ecstatic that RIA's gonna make it all better.

 

[ndh87]

Looks like I started a bit of a fight. The pistol was sent off last week, havent heard anything yet, but I'm sure they'll get to it when they can.

Saw a few more questions for me,
Yes, i did clean the pistol before i shot it. Basic field strip, wipe everything down, clean the barrel and oil the slide rails (lightly)

As for my press, I use a Lee single stage reloading press with the carbide pistol dies. I also have a set of digital calipers that i use for measuring C.O.A.L. I've been using a Lee perfect powder measure. And i check the Lee powder measure on a Redding balance beam scale.

 

[HisSoldier]

Looks like I started a bit of a fight.

Hmm? I thought we all had a well reasoned discussion, all admitting we didn't know fer sure.
After my transforming "fly on the wall at RIA engineering" experience I'll know more and speak with some certainty, maybe.

 

[Slamfire]

Flawed barrel steel. Either the material was incorrect, incorrectly heat treated, or there were seams.

 

[ndh87]

*UPDATE*

I got my Rock Island back today. New barrel, barrel bushing, recoil spring recoil spring plug, polished feed ramp and tuned up. If i didnt know better i would swear its a brand new gun. I haven't had a chance to test it yet but it looks great.

I am thoroughly impressed with the customer service at Armscor, and a big thanks to Arnel (their gunsmith)

 

[skoro]

I'd bet that your 1911 Rock is probably better than new.

 

[rbernie]

Good deal. Is it the same frame, or a new frame with the same serial number?

 

[weisse52]

Great customer service

Did they offer an idea on what went wrong?