Can Case-head Separation Cause Kaboom?

[slamfire1]

Hope more information on this failure is forth coming.

The incident described sounds to me more like a significant overcharge / wrong powder or a round fired with an obstruction in the bore.

Anytime a reloader is involved, 99.99% of the time, it is too much powder in the case. However, I am aware of a Range Master at CMP whose 2017 mfgr Rem M700 in 6.5-08 blew up. When the gunsmith removed the barrel and sectioned the lug that moved, it was said to look like "bubbles" in the metal. Something was wrong with the metallurgy, though it took probably a thousand rounds before the lug moved forward.

With today's metallurgy, blow up's due to bad matallurgy should not happen. Period. Now, old vintage military actions, made from plain carbon steels with lots of residuals. And stamped out by forge shop workers paid piece rate (who then have a financial incentitive to crank the heat up to stamp things faster), sure, vintage actions did and do blow.

 

[Will Henry]

I have been shooting Lee Enfields for sixty years. You don't do that without seeing some separated cases. There are seldom any effects except for some possible gas cutting at the separation.
As far as catastrophic failures are concerned, I have seen a dozen or so in my career. Most were wrong powder situations. Some were wrong cartridges. A couple were action failures due to unknown causes. A Model 70 broke the lugs off. A 96 Mauser split at the ring (I suspect this was due to damage to the receiver during barrel removal) A BRNO failed the same way and was definitely damaged by a wrench. WH

 

[762willdo]

I saw a guy put a 30-06 in a .410, he was in a hurry to shoot a grouse and didn’t look down……bang!

 

[243winxb]

Kabooms mostly human error. In 2004, Beretta USA Corp, Sako recall, a manufacturing problem.

Always check current load data and use the correct powder listed.


Kaboom photo link.

 

[SKWERLZ]

I saw a guy put a 30-06 in a .410, he was in a hurry to shoot a grouse and didn’t look down……bang!

I’d be surprised if it blew up since no real obstruction or bullet friction to make pressure


All the case separations I’ve seen were mild case sneeze’s from headspace and or sizing issues.

If your grenading a good action it’s a obstruction or massive pressure.

That poor ARC action!

 

[762willdo]

I’d be surprised if it blew up since no real obstruction or bullet friction to make pressure


All the case separations I’ve seen were mild case sneeze’s from headspace and or sizing issues.

If your grenading a good action it’s a obstruction or massive pressure.

That poor ARC action!

Not like ops it didn’t but that .410 is a wall hanger now

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

It would take a big hammer to achieve that.

It would take somewhere around 100K+ PSI to cause this. The question is what caused those kind of pressures. Case head separation. No that happens every day. Squib load. Probably not. Stuck bullet. Probably not as they said the first round functioned properly. That leaves wrong powder or a gross over charge.

That pic looks nothing like a typical case head separation but rather, an extreme over pressure event.

 

[rijndael]

Since the first round went off properly, and it's unlikely there was a powder swap between the two rounds, I'm left with suspecting there was bullet setback when loading from a mag.

Is there any chance there was almost no neck tensions/interference fit?

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Since the first round went off properly, and it's unlikely there was a powder swap between the two rounds.

So, I'm left with suspecting there was bullet setback when loading from a mag, which caused excessive pressure. Is there any chance there was almost no neck tensions/interference fit?

I guess it's possible but I doubt you'd get that much pressure increase from a bullet set back. But maybe. I agree with Dave that i"d say the load was in excess of 100K PSI.

 

[rijndael]

I guess it's possible but I doubt you'd get that much pressure increase from a bullet set back. But maybe. I agree with Dave that i"d say the load was in excess of 100K PSI.

Back in the days of a 357SIG, a bottleneck pistol cartridge, setback would turn your Glock in to a grenade. CCI Blazer (Aluminum) was the culprit. I believe they stopped making it.

 

[rijndael]

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Back in the days of a 357SIG, a bottleneck pistol cartridge, setback would turn your Glock in to a grenade. CCI Blazer (Aluminum) was the culprit. I believe they stopped making it.

No doubt it'll increase pressures but I'm not sure it'll raise them by the amount that the pic of the case insinuates to me. You're right but I think your analogy is a little bit apples and oranges..but right in principle. I think your chart makes a lot of sense.

 

[rijndael]

I'm not sure it'll raise them by the amount that the pic of the case insinuates to me

You may be right, this is not my area of expertise.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

You may be right, this is not my area of expertise.

Mine either. I prefer to not be the resident over pressure expert, anyway.

 

[Emmett Dibble]

Mine either. I prefer to not be the resident over pressure expert, anyway.

Or AD's or ND's or anything else that involves possible paperwork at an NRA match....

 

[Bill K]

Something else did this, bore obstruction, wrong powder, way over max load, would do something like this.
Normally a head separation only causes the case head to come out on ejection and the remaining case is left in the chamber and can then be remove, more often than not, by inserting a bore brush and pulling it out.
I would be checking other causes for this blown rifle, than a case head separation. Sure would not fire any other loads, from that batch, pull bullets and check powder and load/charge.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Something else did this, bore obstruction, wrong powder, way over max load, would do something like this.
Normally a head separation only causes the case head to come out on ejection and the remaining case is left in the chamber and can then be remove, more often than not, by inserting a bore brush and pulling it out.
I would be checking other causes for this blown rifle, than a case head separation. Sure would not fire any other loads, from that batch, pull bullets and check powder and load/charge.

^^^^^This^^^^^

 

[243winxb]

And more.......https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/tag/kaboom/

 

[NorCalMikie]

I know from experience with a broken case (case head separation) in an M1A, the broken section can stay in the chamber and the bolt will try to cram in another round. The floating firing pin CAN fire the half chambered round. Make a believer out of you!!
And an "out of battery" round going off can and will cause LOTS of problems!!

 

[Rsadams]

I would also say pistol powder might have been accidentally used..... The other thing would be bore obstruction... Pistol powder will turn it into a bomb....