This happened a few months ago. We had a line of 20 shooters with M-16A2's Using old M193 ammo. 1969 vintage. They were firing at 25 meter targets. All of the shooters were shooting the same lot # ammo and we've shot a lot of it. The shooter who was not an experienced shooter had at least 2 failures to feeds in a row. Then a round chambered and the rifle KABOOMed when he pulled the trigger.
It wasn't the worst I've seen. Bulged the upper receiver tore up the extractor. A lot of energy went down and out thru the bottom of the mag. No injury what so ever to the shooter. Handed him a backup rifle and he kept shooting. Funny thing was there was a very small hole in the target, about half the size of a normal 5.56 bullet hole. We had no more issues during the day and we fired a total of 2000 rounds.
Upon getting back to the shop we got the receivers separated and the bolt disengaged from the barrel lugs. The extractor was tore up and binding up the works. The lower receiver is fine. The bolt and carrier appear fine but will not be reused. The extractor was chewed up but not the worse I’ve ever seen. Upon tapping the bolt back out of the barrel extension the head of the casing completely separated right at the base of the case. This is the thickest part of the case. The extractor ripped a chunk out of the head. The primer was still in the head and extremely flattened out. The remainder of the case is still stuck in the chamber.
The initial opinion on the range was a squib or some other barrel obstruction. There was a Monday morning meeting between the boss and munitions where it was decided that it was a weapons failure. So here the debate begins. The boss says it was a headspace issue and the rifle fired out of battery. I do not understand his logic at all. I’m not sure there is any.
One the rifle was recently gauged and was fine. Two if it had fired out of battery I do not believe the bolt would have been still locked in the barrel extension or that the primer would show clear signs of extreme over pressure.
My theory is that during feeding/chambering do to the same issue as the previous feeding issues the bullet was shoved back deeply into the case but it chambered. Upon firing do to the bullet being tightly forced against the powder charge excessive pressure resulted. It KABOOMed the weapon. Here is where I can use help. I’ve read somewhere that a M193 bullet will disintegrate or break up in flight if it reaches a critical velocity. I know that it is going to be extremely unstable at a high velocity. I’m guessing the reason that there was just one tiny hole in the shooters target was that the bullet left the rifle at a very extreme speed and broke up in flight. But 25 meters is a pretty short distance for that to happen. Any opinions would be appreciated. If someone could point me towards some where I might find some info on 223/5.56 bullets breaking up in flight at high velocity I would appreciate it.
Thanks for your time and efforts.
It wasn't the worst I've seen. Bulged the upper receiver tore up the extractor. A lot of energy went down and out thru the bottom of the mag. No injury what so ever to the shooter. Handed him a backup rifle and he kept shooting. Funny thing was there was a very small hole in the target, about half the size of a normal 5.56 bullet hole. We had no more issues during the day and we fired a total of 2000 rounds.
Upon getting back to the shop we got the receivers separated and the bolt disengaged from the barrel lugs. The extractor was tore up and binding up the works. The lower receiver is fine. The bolt and carrier appear fine but will not be reused. The extractor was chewed up but not the worse I’ve ever seen. Upon tapping the bolt back out of the barrel extension the head of the casing completely separated right at the base of the case. This is the thickest part of the case. The extractor ripped a chunk out of the head. The primer was still in the head and extremely flattened out. The remainder of the case is still stuck in the chamber.
The initial opinion on the range was a squib or some other barrel obstruction. There was a Monday morning meeting between the boss and munitions where it was decided that it was a weapons failure. So here the debate begins. The boss says it was a headspace issue and the rifle fired out of battery. I do not understand his logic at all. I’m not sure there is any.
One the rifle was recently gauged and was fine. Two if it had fired out of battery I do not believe the bolt would have been still locked in the barrel extension or that the primer would show clear signs of extreme over pressure.
My theory is that during feeding/chambering do to the same issue as the previous feeding issues the bullet was shoved back deeply into the case but it chambered. Upon firing do to the bullet being tightly forced against the powder charge excessive pressure resulted. It KABOOMed the weapon. Here is where I can use help. I’ve read somewhere that a M193 bullet will disintegrate or break up in flight if it reaches a critical velocity. I know that it is going to be extremely unstable at a high velocity. I’m guessing the reason that there was just one tiny hole in the shooters target was that the bullet left the rifle at a very extreme speed and broke up in flight. But 25 meters is a pretty short distance for that to happen. Any opinions would be appreciated. If someone could point me towards some where I might find some info on 223/5.56 bullets breaking up in flight at high velocity I would appreciate it.
Thanks for your time and efforts.