WASR-10 exploded at the range today!

[MM1794]

Today at the range, me and a buddy were firing his WASR-10, after about 300 rounds, we set it on the table, made sure it was unloaded+safed it and started cleaning up casings.

About 30 secods later the gun LIGHTS ON FIRE and flames start poking out of the spot where the shells are ejected (sorry I dont know the terms)

We backed off as we were the only ones on the range and there was a POP, and several pieces of metal flew out and a big plume of smoke starting billowing out.

We are contactign the retailer and taking the gun to a gunsmith, the only thing I can think of is the barrel temp ignited residue gunpowder?

Help please, what course of action (if any) coudl we take.

 

[Hizzie]

Just how fast did you guys light off those 300rds? Check YouTube for plenty of AK's bursting into flames when too many rounds are sent down range in too short a time period. Wood is flamable, so are oil based lubricants.

 

[MM1794]

Yeah saw a vid of a guy going full auto and it lit on fire.. Ive heard BAD BAD BAD things about WASRs

 

[Frankl03]

Planned obsolescence?

 

[Hizzie]

Yeah saw a vid of a guy going full auto and it lit on fire.. Ive heard BAD BAD BAD things about WASRs

It isn't a WASR thing. It is an AK thing. You checked the gun to make sure it wasn't loaded. So a round could not have cooked off. The only thing that could have "exploded" was unburned powder residue (ammo issue) or excess lubricant/packing grease (operator error) or combination of both. The WASR is a perfectly servicable firearm.

Clean you rifle thoroughly. Lubricate it without overdoing it. It is not an AR is doesn't need to be drippy. Just a light coating of grease on the moving parts. Take it to the range and enjoy. Just don't get the handguards smoking like a forest fire and you should be OK.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Your story is more than a little unusual. Are you really, really sure it was unloaded in the chamber? Because it sounds like a round cooked off.

If it was truly unloaded, I guess you got it super hot, and something finally caught fire after enough heat soaked into it. But I can't fathom how there would have been any "POP" and several pieces of metal flying out, if it had truly been unloaded.

By the way, it's the ejection port where spent cases are ejected.

 

[John Wayne]

How did stuff pop out of the ejection port? The AK generally does not have a bolt-hold open mechanism, unless there is one unique to this particular design.

*edit: on youtube, the only video of a flaming AK I could find was one where the guy actually set the gun on fire before shooting. I did, however, find this video of an M4 that caught on fire. It was firing on full auto, at a much faster ROF than an AK (much less a semiautomatic AK), and got hot enough for a round to cook off in the chamber at 2:14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzfm4pYhIyY It proves that it is quite possible for a gun to get hot enough to do that in such a short period of time, but it is a lot less likely with a semi-automatic piston-driven gun like the WASR-10.

*edit again:
In the video I posted earlier, a full-auto M4 is fired until it catches on fire. Around 2:14, a full magazine is fired through the gun. The operator then ejects the mag, cycles the bolt by hand, and a case is ejected. AT THIS POINT THE GUN SHOULD BE CLEAR. BEFORE ANOTHER MAGAZINE IS INSERTED, THE GUN VISIBLY DISCHARGES OF ITS OWN ACCORD. This sounds almost exactly like what the OP mentioned with his WASR-10. I have no explanation for what happened in the video, or how it could happen to a WASR either.

 

[45Fan]

The AK generally does not have a bolt-hold open mechanism

I am not sure if it was intended to work this way or not, but my WASR, and all of my friends that have them will hold the bolt open if you pull the bolt all the way to the rear, and while holding the triger back, ride the bolt up. Every one I have ever seen would hold the bolt back, and then just pull the charging handle back to relase the bolt.
If this isnt a good thing, somebody please correct me, but I have had my rifle for several years, and usually hold the bolt open in this way when I am between strings of fire at a range, and I have yet to see any ill effects.

 

[essayons21]

I've gotten the wood on my WASR smoking pretty heavily after fast strings of 100-150 rounds. I'd say pumping out 300 in short order could cause dry stocks to ignite. As far as the pop and pieces flying out, sounds like either a shell dumped its contents in the chamber at some point, or it really wasn't unloaded and you had a heat induced cookoff. When you stopped firing did you visually check the chamber to make sure you didn't have a stuck round?

 

[Deaf Smith]

Guys,

Hizzie was right.

Neither the AK nor AR is a base of fire weapon. And ANY air cooled gun can overheat quickly and catch fire or even melt. Unless your gun is water cooled don't spray-n-pray through several mags, especially a closed bolt weapon (sub guns were made open bolt for a reason.)

And yes, M16s have been known to fire by themselves once they are very hot and the chamber is loaded. I bet a few GI's over time have been done in that way and not by the enemy.

Deaf

 

[Z-Michigan]

I am not sure if it was intended to work this way or not, but my WASR, and all of my friends that have them will hold the bolt open if you pull the bolt all the way to the rear, and while holding the triger back, ride the bolt up. Every one I have ever seen would hold the bolt back, and then just pull the charging handle back to relase the bolt.

That's not intended but it is common. Basically it's an issue of the hammer dimensions or hammer pin location being just a little bit off from where it should be, causing the hammer to interfere with the carrier if you move the carrier really slowly. I have seen several that do that, and all of them worked reliably when operated normally. A nice high quality AKM won't hold the carrier back like this because it's more in-spec.

 

[DeepSouth]

Your story is more than a little unusual. Are you really, really sure it was unloaded in the chamber? Because it sounds like a round cooked off.

+1

I am not sure if it was intended to work this way or not, but my WASR, and all of my friends that have them will hold the bolt open if you pull the bolt all the way to the rear, and while holding the triger back, ride the bolt up. Every one I have ever seen would hold the bolt back, and then just pull the charging handle back to relase the bolt.
If this isnt a good thing, somebody please correct me, but I have had my rifle for several years, and usually hold the bolt open in this way when I am between strings of fire at a range, and I have yet to see any ill effects.

It's not hold open, if you remove the Gas Piston you will most likely find the piston doesn't properly line up where it screws in. It will catch when letting the bolt go forward if done slowly, it will eventually wear down and no longer hold open. My advise is not to use it that way because it will most likely fail one day, letting the bolt slam home and possibly chamber a round.

They do make mags with hold open's on them.

 

[justashooter in pa]

yugo mags have BHO.

as for lighting a semi AK on fire, BTDT. bumping $69/thou wolf thru a series of chinese drums i lit a set of handguards on fire some years ago just for fun.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

*edit again:
In the video I posted earlier, a full-auto M4 is fired until it catches on fire. Around 2:14, a full magazine is fired through the gun. The operator then ejects the mag, cycles the bolt by hand, and a case is ejected. AT THIS POINT THE GUN SHOULD BE CLEAR. BEFORE ANOTHER MAGAZINE IS INSERTED, THE GUN VISIBLY DISCHARGES OF ITS OWN ACCORD. This sounds almost exactly like what the OP mentioned with his WASR-10. I have no explanation for what happened in the video, or how it could happen to a WASR either.

Actually if you look closely, the gun had stovepiped. The operator then ejects the mag and shortstroke cycles the bolt to clear the stovepipe, but not to clear the chamber. So a round does cook off as the chamber was not empty.

 

[nathan]

The first time i heard of one.

 

[gunnutery]

yugo mags have BHO.

When I first read this, I was intrigued. I looked one up, and then thought...why bother... when you want to insert a new mag the bolt is going to fly home and then you just have to charge it again.

Is it just for an indication that you're out of ammo (which I suppose would be nice), or so your gun can cool off why you're off to check your target?

Don't bother answering my question, I kind of answered it myself. The last round fired indication would be the primary and most advantagous purpous of the mags with a BHO. I've now come full circle from the first part of my post and am back to wanting some of these mags.

Sorry, it's late.

 

[WardenWolf]

If I was a gunsmith, and you took it to me, I'd tell you that you deserved it for abusing your gun by getting it so hot it would damage the barrel and cause other problems. I know some people will say, "It's just an AK!" or "It's meant to be abused!", but I have more respect for my firearms than to needlessly damage them by getting them that hot. Whatever happened, it happened because it was way too hot. A gunsmith will charge you more than the gun is worth to repair it. Buy a new WASR, and take care of it better.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

My cousin emptied a 75 round drum as fast as he could in a function test. Smoking but no flames.

My son also emptied a 30 round magazine as fast as possible in a stress test, and the rough wood inside the forearm smoked. No flames.

But we haven't gone 300 rounds in one session and we always clean our guns before putting them away.

(I shoot my Yugo Kalashnikov M70AB2 three targets off-hand each 10 rounds in 10 minutes, at the modern military match at the club, and never had a burning guns problem. The Yugo BHO mags make it convenient to know you are at the end of a string of fire and to insert the CMP safety flag to show safe gun to the range officer )

ADDED: Cook offs of a chambered round in an overheated barrel is a good reason to exercise muzzle discipline: never let the muzzle cover anything you would not want destroyed.