Ruger Hawkeye catastrophic failure......

[cornbush]

Had a major case failure today in my Hawkeye .223.
Blew most of the case head off, drove the mag follower into the floorplate bending it and forcing it open.
The follower and spring hit the ground in separate pieces, blew the spring out of the bolt release catch, shot brass all the way through the action, and it still held together in the places it mattered to keep it in one piece.

Don't know what the root cause is quite yet, and don't want to speculate or trash any manufacturers unduly.

I will post some pictures shortly when I figure out how to resize them on this 'puter.

Anyone had experience with Ruger in a situation like this?
I'd like to have them look it over and see if it can be salvaged, even just the action.

 

[mc223]

Remington .223 Rem 62gr Hollow Point (Match) Ammunition ?

 

[jimbob86]

What ammo?

 

[cornbush]

Factory federal then a starting load of H335 and a Ballistic tip.
26gr of H335, 40gr Nosler ballistic tip, winchester small rifle primer, Federal case (commercial, no crimp), OAL 2.250.

 

[bigautomatic]

Wow. That must have been some serious pressure. Was it first shot of the day, or had previous rounds been fired? Glad you are ok, and this is THE reason why we wear eye protection. And with that kind of failure, my guess is that the rifle will likely be condemned. But you never know.

 

[cornbush]

Second shot, but no obstruction, hit the target at 200 yds with the first one.
Guess if its condemned I'll have a 650.00 wall hanger.

 

[cornbush]

 

[cornbush]

 

[cornbush]

 

[cornbush]

Could have turned out much worse, thank god for over built Rugers'

 

[bigautomatic]

Thank goodness the lugs held. That could have been really, really bad. Judgeing from the pics, I'd say Ruger would not even consider returning the rifle to you. Now the question is, was it the fault of the ammo, and will
Federal own up to it if that is the case. Ruger and Federal may blame each other. Any evidence of the projectile making it to the target?

 

[.300 Weatherby Mag]

Looks the rifle did its job and you suffered no ill effects even after a catastrophic case failure.. It also appears the gas deflecting features did their job as well as you said nothing about getting hit with gas.. I would not have wanted to have a failure like that in an AR...

 

[cornbush]

I got a little gas, some small pieces of brass in my right thumb, and my knuckles busted open by the floor plate flying open and the follower hitting my hand, but still could have been worse.

Edited my earlier post, had to get the particulars on the load. Factory Federal was the first round fired.
The H335 used in this load does not match any other canister of H335 myself or my brothers have in color or grain size. Looks almost like a blend of H335 and another Hodgdon ball powder. We pulled a few down to check, and the charge weight is spot on. Think I might need to send in this pound of powder to Hodgdon for a look-see, the results were not quite as expected.........

 

[.300 Weatherby Mag]

Have you contacted federal yet?? Its important to let them know... Be sure you have the factory box handy with the ammo lot number...

Glad you're not seriously hurt...

 

[Wildalaska]

Have you contacted federal yet?? Its important to let them know... Be sure you have the factory box handy with the ammo lot number...

Glad you're not seriously hurt...

i THINK it was his handload theat blew, not the factory stuff

WildexcusemypoortypingimtryingthelastditchbeertreATMENTAlaska TM C 2002-2011

 

[Dave Anderson]

"...Now the question is, was it the fault of the ammo, and will
Federal own up to it if that is the case." As I read it the failure occurred with a reload of H-335 and Ballistic Tip bullet. Not sure why Federal would have to own up to anything. The case must have been properly manufactured as it handled its original firing satisfactorily (it must have, to have been available for reloading).

The rifle performed exactly as it was designed to when the case seal fails and gas gets loose. It deflected the gas and bits of brass away from the shooter. With some older designs gas might have come down the left lug raceway into your face. The flange on the bolt sleeve (seen in your third picture) acted to deflect such gas away. With a less well-designed and well-made rifle you could have been badly injured.

As bigautomatic says above, this is why we wear eye protection. Rifles can be replaced, eyes can't. Glad you weren't injured!

 

[cornbush]

i THINK it was his handload theat blew, not the factory stuff

Yup, but no reason it should have, I'm really wondering about this pound of powder......I have shot this load before, exact same load, no problems....till I got this pound of powder that looks funny compared to the other cans of H335 we compared it to.( all bought within six months of each other within the last year.)

 

[.300 Weatherby Mag]

i THINK it was his handload theat blew, not the factory stuff

WildexcusemypoortypingimtryingthelastditchbeertreATMENTAlaska TM C 2002-2011

Missed the little handload tidbit... Been up too many hours...

 

[cornbush]

Weatherby--

I probably edited that while you were typing.

 

[FrankenMauser]

I think Cornbush missed the question:

Any evidence of the projectile making it to the target?

It did. ...at a blazing speed.

I'm glad no one has suggested a double-charge, over-charge, or any other reloading error. I would have to object to the assumption.

I was a witness to the reloading process for this ammunition, as well as the catastrophic failure. We know the load was assembled safely, and have eliminated every variable we can - except what was mentioned by Cornbush.

Was it first shot of the day, or had previous rounds been fired?

A bore obstruction check was done at the beginning of the day*, followed by a different load. The kaboom was the first shot of that BT load, for the day (I believe).


The brass streaks down the receiver walls and rails, and bolt body don't appear to be from removing the bolt. We believe they are actually from the blown piece of the case head being 'extruded', and forced through the channels. The cuts and puncture wounds on his hand were from shrapnel blowing out of the bolt release opening in the receiver.


*Our step-mother ringed the barrel of a Special Edition Marlin levergun when we were kids, and one of our uncles blew the barrel right off his S&W .357 Mag with a squib load. Barrel obstructions are taken very seriously in this family.