One of my fellow co-workers was at our Dept.'s range last week and he was checking the scope on his Winchester Model 70 .270 WSM rifle. He bought the rifle new a few years ago & has only used it for hunting purposes....no tactical stuff or target shooting. So he has only put like 2 or 3 boxes of ammo through it since he's owned it.
He is very particular about not using handloads or buying factory reloads through any of his firearms, because he didn't want to face any roadblocks from the Manufacturers if anything ever went wrong on his rifles or ammo.
He showed up at the range & cleaned his rifle before shooting. His first 2 shots were on paper & made nice clean circular holes. His 3rd shot sounded like a CANNON going off and the concussion/recoil knocked his earmuffs off his ear. It scared the shit out of him & he thought his rifle blew up.
He checked the bolt, chamber, and brass, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He looked down his barrel & there was no obstruction. The round that was fired also made a nice circle on the paper. After a thorough inspection with nothing out of the ordinary discovered, he shot a 4th round.
This round landed <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">sideways</span></span> on the target. He rechecked everything & shot a 5th round.....this round landed sideways on the target also. He ran a cleaning rod through the barrel & decided to pack up for the day. As he was wiping down the outside of the barrel, he could feel a slight bulge about 7 inches from the muzzle.
Using some calipers, I measured the barrel from the end of the stock down toward the muzzle very incrementally. The barrel expands about .007 at that particular spot on the barrel when it should be getting smaller.
He only used Winchester Factory ammo, so when he called Winchester Arms, he was told that the barrel was not the issue, but it was probably the ammo. So, he called the ammo division & they told him the ammo was fine & it was a barrel issue! They were basically playing him off one another & no one at Winchester wants to take any responsibility for checking into this incident.
When he spoke to a Rep at Winchester about the cost of simply replacing the barrel, he was told that he had to buy another receiver too because the barrel & receiver were one solid unit!! Can you believe this crap!!
I checked his spent brass under a magnifing lens and located a small crack in the neck of one of the spent cases. All the other cases looked fine and I didn't see any indication in the primers of any excessive pressures.
Can anyone here give any advice on what the hell could've happened to his rifle to cause this barrel bulge??
Here are some pics:
Cracked case neck
Cracked case primer
Barrel Bulge
Threaded barrel on a supposedly one-piece unit...LOL!
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
He is very particular about not using handloads or buying factory reloads through any of his firearms, because he didn't want to face any roadblocks from the Manufacturers if anything ever went wrong on his rifles or ammo.
He showed up at the range & cleaned his rifle before shooting. His first 2 shots were on paper & made nice clean circular holes. His 3rd shot sounded like a CANNON going off and the concussion/recoil knocked his earmuffs off his ear. It scared the shit out of him & he thought his rifle blew up.
He checked the bolt, chamber, and brass, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. He looked down his barrel & there was no obstruction. The round that was fired also made a nice circle on the paper. After a thorough inspection with nothing out of the ordinary discovered, he shot a 4th round.
This round landed <span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">sideways</span></span> on the target. He rechecked everything & shot a 5th round.....this round landed sideways on the target also. He ran a cleaning rod through the barrel & decided to pack up for the day. As he was wiping down the outside of the barrel, he could feel a slight bulge about 7 inches from the muzzle.
Using some calipers, I measured the barrel from the end of the stock down toward the muzzle very incrementally. The barrel expands about .007 at that particular spot on the barrel when it should be getting smaller.
He only used Winchester Factory ammo, so when he called Winchester Arms, he was told that the barrel was not the issue, but it was probably the ammo. So, he called the ammo division & they told him the ammo was fine & it was a barrel issue! They were basically playing him off one another & no one at Winchester wants to take any responsibility for checking into this incident.
When he spoke to a Rep at Winchester about the cost of simply replacing the barrel, he was told that he had to buy another receiver too because the barrel & receiver were one solid unit!! Can you believe this crap!!
I checked his spent brass under a magnifing lens and located a small crack in the neck of one of the spent cases. All the other cases looked fine and I didn't see any indication in the primers of any excessive pressures.
Can anyone here give any advice on what the hell could've happened to his rifle to cause this barrel bulge??
Here are some pics:
Cracked case neck
Cracked case primer
Barrel Bulge
Threaded barrel on a supposedly one-piece unit...LOL!
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!
