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300 blk out / 556 AR CAUTION

Kenco Arms

Lover of my job @ gunsmith
Full Member
Minuteman
Jan 1, 2006
321
15
Willis, Tx.
One of my good customers who I built a 20 HB AR to shoot pigs ect blew his rifle up. Some how he bought 223 ammo and picked up a box of whisper my mistake. The boxes are the same size so he did not notice the markings on the box. He does not own and has never seen a blk out or whisper. He loaded his mag in the dark in his truck. When he got to the stand he charged his rifle and it loaded a whisper round into the chamber and the bullet must have moved back in the case. He pulled the trigger on a hog. The round went off but it split the upper, carrier, bolt, it blew everything out the bottom of the mag bottom. The lower (one of mine) stayed together but bulged the sides of the mag well. I pushed the front pin and took the lower came off fine the rear lug was snapped off. I was able to get it broke down to a barrel with a bolt stuck in it. With some work I got the bolt out. The round was stuck about 3 inches up the pipe when I got it out and it was forced into the shape of a golf pencil. The brass came out with a easy out for broken bolts. My point is most of have both 300 blk and 556 ARs so keep this in mind. I will post pics a little later. He was not injured. I was able to get it apart and I saved the buttstock assebly and pistol grip everything else pretty much went under a band saw.









 
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Scary stuff there. Hope he came out unscathed...bet his boxers didn't though, I know mine wouldn't have. Looking forward to the pics as well.
 
A .223 round will not chamber in 300BLK chamber, however the 300BLK will easily chamber in a .223. You can search the Internet, he's not the first or will be the last.
 
I almost had the same thing happen to me at the range on Saturday. I reached into my bag that had loaded 20 rd Pmags and grabbed what I thought was a .223 loaded mag. I had the OD Green ones loaded with 300 BLK, and the black ones loaded with .223. I guess i had forgotten that I had one black mag loaded with 300 Whisper, and I started to load it into the magwell, but thankfully looked down at it first. My heart skipped a beat. I wasn't sure how it would've ended up, but I knew the outcome couldn't have been all the good. I felt stupid for being so careless. That won't happen again. I almost shat myself just getting that close to screwing up. I can only imagine what your buddy felt like.
 
can't fix stupid, the 300BLK is not even close to feel, look, weight the same as a 223, even in the dark. I have seen hunters do the dumbest shit at the range too, like loading 300 WM in a 300 RUM and 308 in 30-06.
I hope he is not hurt though.
 
can't fix stupid, the 300BLK is not even close to feel, look, weight the same as a 223, even in the dark. I have seen hunters do the dumbest shit at the range too, like loading 300 WM in a 300 RUM and 308 in 30-06.
I hope he is not hurt though.


^^ HUGE +1 on that!!! ^^

I too have seen MANY people not paying attention or otherwise getting in entirely too big a damned hurry make some REALLY STUPID mistakes that could have easily been avoided with an ounce of caution and patience! I pray that everyone on the line (not just the shooter) walked away unscathed and will live to shoot (safer) another day. I also pray that this genius...when he recovers from his major F-UP...reimburses you for the cost of a destroyed lower receiver group (as stupid should hurt not only the body, but the wallet too). ;)
 
Glad he was able to tell the tale. Incredibly ironic considering the first line of your sig.
 
This is the type of thing that scared me with owning 223, 300blk, and 5.45 ARs. Just too easy for one of your friends at the range to load up the wrong mag.
 
Shooting should be treated with the same care and respect as reloading. Never have the components to more than one load out on the bench at any time. Then check the components, and recheck the components before proceeding.
 
^^ HUGE +1 on that!!! ^^

I too have seen MANY people not paying attention or otherwise getting in entirely too big a damned hurry make some REALLY STUPID mistakes that could have easily been avoided with an ounce of caution and patience! I pray that everyone on the line (not just the shooter) walked away unscathed and will live to shoot (safer) another day. I also pray that this genius...when he recovers from his major F-UP...reimburses you for the cost of a destroyed lower receiver group (as stupid should hurt not only the body, but the wallet too). ;)

I believe by saying "one of my lowers" he was referring to the fact that it was one of his manufactured lowers. not that it was on loan. Glad to hear your customer was un-hurt. its unfortunate with the price of AR15's at this time to see one blown up, but sometimes that's the cost of learning.
 
"Good judgment comes from experience, and alot of that comes from bad judgment"
Will Rogers
 
Wow...and no injuries? Very lucky.

It's pretty amazing to me that of all the AR kabooms I've seen posted on the internet, serious injuries are pretty rare. Usually it's just soiled shorts, some scrapes and bruises from the magazine blowing out, badly wounded pride, that sort of thing. It says something for the AR design that it seems to fail gracefully far more often than not.
 
Good to hear he is ok, a good time for everyone to slow down, think and pay attention.
 
that's why I got pmags for the 300blk and even at that got windowed and non so I could use them for each, just windowed for one, non for the other. amazing to see that 300 draw out like that. glad no one was hurt
 
i was shaking reading and staring at those photos the same time..dang we all shooters here no matter how careful we are.its called " mistakes" for a reason..im glad hes ok
 
This is a fear of mine. Not from lack of understanding or knowledge, just having Ar's chambered in different calibers. So for me, I'm sticking to Polymer mags for 5.56/.223 and metal mags for my 6.8 build. That way I have less of a chance when I wake up or I'm out late hunting figuring out which mags have which rounds. Not saying I'll make that mistake, just reducing the chance of making the mistake. I'll also probably mark the Mags.