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Savage Kaboom at Local Range

I don't think I've ever seen a rifle destroyed that badly before!!!
Look on accurate shooter, there is an article on what happens if you load pistol powder in a rifle round.
The destruction is almost identical also a Savage action only the scope was blown in half as well, must not have been a Nikon 😉
Fuck it i will post it again for you.
 
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To the fellow who said everyone on Snipershide is an expert reloader who gets much of max speeds, read my electrons, not everyone, especially not this one.

As far as max loads and starting loads, I have a wonderful story. Not only use book loads, but cross-reference with several books. Once upon a time I owned a Remington 700 in .25-06, in the days when multiple books were not available. Yes I got away fine with loads that the one book available had, even though now we recognize the book used a rifle with a lot and lot of freebore, something the Remington did not have. But, that’s not the story. The story is a lovely little Kimber Predator.

Using a load that was no more than half of max, I went to a silhouette match. It was summer time, it was hot in Jackson Mississippi that day. Barely could get the bolt open. I worked this load up, but when the temps got above 100, even that load was too hot. It was a beautiful handgun. #171 of 200. It survived the day, but I sold it not long after as I was abusing A piece of art.

So the point, its not just reference, but as far as what works fine in my firearm, may very well destroy yours. Don’t be the one begging everyone for some hot load or some accurate load. Do the work, its half the fun and a wonderful accomplishment when done.

I don’t have any surviving pictures of mine but this is #1 of 200
32B1B4BF-9ED1-4C92-9375-7BBDDA783D32.jpeg
 
I see a front base screw was still attached to a separated part of the receiver. Torqued properly.
 
I don't think I've ever seen a rifle destroyed that badly before!!!

Saw a peeled Magnum once don't recall the caliber ,it was back when SS actions barrels were just coming around . It looked as if someone had literally peeled the barrel away from the action in #3 strips .

I personally was on the 27 yd. trap line one evening ,when shrapnel flew from #3 stations away . Shooter next door station was killed head trauma .

Russian made O/U and Not cheap . I knew both shooter and victim . Factory loads NOT reload on that incident local PD held everybody for hours while investigation proceeded .
Karma fate apropos call it what you will , two months later same shooter different range during a league shoot was killed on the 16 yd. line . Seems another shooter's homemade load went boom and killed George . Illegal loads and obviously overloaded were the culprit .
I was eating at a local restaurant awaiting MY division's shoot off ,when a mutual friend came in and told us what went down and all was canceled of course . Sad night had known George for 30 + years (n)

This wasn't mine but saw one similar ,some folks just don't understand PRESSURE in a confined space !.
I learned early ,went into My old Bosses garage to get some tools for work early one AM and met a Bobcat !!. Not the mechanical type either :oops:
 

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I know everyone wants to hate on Savage, but I don't know if there is enough here to do so. Savage may be budget tier Fudd-bait, but I strongly challenge you all on the assertion they are UNSAFE.

Given the evidence (which is scant) guns just don't explode. I think the strongest guess is a handload issue. No action on earth is idiot proof as the level of idiot keeps accelerating.

I am not an expert reloader, but I know that things can quickly go away, so I am apt to blame the ammo. That said I have had a gun go tits up. (Shoutgun flare out near chole tube-factory ammo at range), so it could happen, just Ocams razor.
 
I know everyone wants to hate on Savage, but I don't know if there is enough here to do so. Savage may be budget tier Fudd-bait, but I strongly challenge you all on the assertion they are UNSAFE.

Given the evidence (which is scant) guns just don't explode. I think the strongest guess is a handload issue. No action on earth is idiot proof as the level of idiot keeps accelerating.

I am not an expert reloader, but I know that things can quickly go away, so I am apt to blame the ammo. That said I have had a gun go tits up. (Shoutgun flare out near chole tube-factory ammo at range), so it could happen, just Ocams razor.
Just low hanging fruit.
 
I know everyone wants to hate on Savage, but I don't know if there is enough here to do so. Savage may be budget tier Fudd-bait, but I strongly challenge you all on the assertion they are UNSAFE.

Given the evidence (which is scant) guns just don't explode. I think the strongest guess is a handload issue. No action on earth is idiot proof as the level of idiot keeps accelerating.

I am not an expert reloader, but I know that things can quickly go away, so I am apt to blame the ammo. That said I have had a gun go tits up. (Shoutgun flare out near chole tube-factory ammo at range), so it could happen, just Ocams razor.
LOL. This crowd doesn`t need anything approaching facts in this case to use it as an opportunity to rag on Savage. If they didn`t, they`d have to turn in their Tikka fan club cards
Attach files
https://www.snipershide.com/shootin...7170933&hash=bb0bce31aa8cf798cf7cec58dc511171
.
 
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As you know I loved my Savage .308 that I started my precision rifle journey on (gone now). It was however, the only rifle I ever had the scope base come loose on.

View attachment 8123240
I used to be an extreme poor, now I'm just a regular poor, so I can afford nice guns if I drive shit vehicles. When I had to shoot Savages, I would epoxy the scope base to the receiver with devcon steel epoxy. They don't come loose without a heat gun if you do it right.

Savage makes the perfect piece of shit for the diy tinker. Scope bases, extractors, ejector, bolt lift, firing pin fall and protrusion...all are fixable. I
 
I used to be an extreme poor, now I'm just a regular poor, so I can afford nice guns if I drive shit vehicles. When I had to shoot Savages, I would epoxy the scope base to the receiver with devcon steel epoxy. They don't come loose without a heat gun if you do it right.

Savage makes the perfect piece of shit for the diy tinker. Scope bases, extractors, ejector, bolt lift, firing pin fall and protrusion...all are fixable. I
I’m not going to defend Savage.

I will say that I purchased my old Savage plain-jane with the factory tupperware stock. Added a Warne base, 10x SWFA and a Harris Bipod. The gun shot 3/4- 1/2 with factory ammo out of the box. It was by far the easiest rifle to handload for achieving under .5 moa with minimal effort.

For a guy that had never shot over 200 yards, I was out past 1000 yards with ease. For the next 2000 rounds, that is how she rolled, out to 1160 yrds.

Later I would upgrade the glass, chassis, bipod and scope base and add a “lift kit”(small piece of steel with the ball bearing in it).

It was when only I changed to the Seekins base, did it come loose. Until I saw Lowlight’s post in this thread, I just assumed the aluminum base was the culprit. I bedded and reattached it and never had another issue.

That .308 served me better than I could have asked for for some 5k rounds, at which time the barrel burned out. For various reasons I decided to go with the Rem 700 platform going forward.

I will always be grateful for that rifle early in my learning process. It allowed me to focus on the other aspects of precision rifle and not give up out of frustration.

Having said all of that my story is a factual anecdote. The plural of anecdote is not data…….
 
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I was at my local gun store/indoor range last year shooting the shit and these 2 guys shooting a 9mm pistol caught our attention. There was a foot or two of flash coming out of the front of the barrel. They finished up and walked out and I was like 'Man, what kind of ammo were you shooting' and they said they use their coworkers reloads.. I walked back after they left and picked up some of the brass. Flattened primers, pierced primers, missing primers. I am surprised people don't blow up their guns more often.
 
As is with most situations ,it's the dipstick behind the mechanism which is DANGEROUS .

I own a couple of Older SS Savages and out of the box trigger ,accuracy along with Money ; I defy anyone to equal it . Ugly Bolt and lackluster appearance granted but Accuracy and dependability it will hold it's own with any manufacturer .

That S&W model 29 ,that had the cylinder relocated ,didn't stop sales a fraction . Sir Issac stated it best ; For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction .

Just remember it's NOT always and overloaded cartridge ,which can ruin your day and under filled FLASH OVER can most certainly do damage .

A close Friend was fire forming cases for some old WWl French rifle and neglected to get enough Dacron on top of the powder ,so as the rifle became horizontal powder fell forward . Primer ignited overtop of powder rendering extractor and bolt face unusable . The action held but was worthless after that . If any of you have ever witnessed a Back Draft during a fire ,it's the same principle .

One of our less than stellar club members decided one evening he knew more than reloading manuals , was shooting cast bullets out of an AR using Blue Dot powder . Sometimes you really can't fix STUPID !. We never saw his AR at the range again after a reported incident !!. No personal knowledge of what occurred just a board bulletin . When You've been around reloading for #58 years Feb. like Farmers ; I've seen a thing or two and sometimes wish I HADN'T o_O
 
Savages are good factory rifles intended for the average shooter to run factory loads in them. The accuracy level is fantastic for the price point. Not everyone has 10k to put into a Sniper System or needs the ability to hold zero dropped fifty feet from a Helicopter. If you need the best break out the cheek book

They will never compete with the best actions and custom built rifles on the planet no more than a Ford Mustang can compete with a Formula 1 Race Car on a race track

How ever they shoot damm well and are safe. They use good steel and production techniques to make sure they are that way

I have fun rifles from Savage I let students shoot all the time. Savage Ridge Warrior in 308 with Vortex PST Viper. Amazing how well it shoots and how smooth it is. Now being factory produced the next one may not shot as well or be as smooth but whole rig is under 2k retail

My best gun is a Custom Badger Action, Krieger barrel, McMillan Terry Cross Stock, Krieger barrel and Vortex 6-36 Razor gen 3 running AW Mags. It’s barrel is wearing out and I am about to send off to one of the great smiths on here to fit a new Bartlein barrel. Or in short my war gun is a 10k set up that hammers all day, cold or hot, clean or dirty

Both have there place
 
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Savages are good factory rifles intended for the average shooter to run factory loads in them. The accuracy level is fantastic for the price point. Not everyone has 10k to put into a Sniper System or needs the ability to hold zero dropped fifty feet from a Helicopter. If you need the best break out the cheek book

They will never compete with the best actions and custom built rifles on the planet no more than a Ford Mustang can compete with a Formula 1 Race Car on a race track

How ever they shoot damm well and are safe. They use good steel and production techniques to make sure they are that way

I have fun rifles from Savage I let students shoot all the time. Savage Ridge Warrior in 308 with Vortex PST Viper. Amazing how well it shoots and how smooth it is. Now being factory produced the next one may not shot as well or be as smooth but whole rig is under 2k retail

My best gun is a Custom Badger Action, Krieger barrel, McMillan Terry Cross Stock, Krieger barrel and Vortex 6-36 Razor gen 3 running AW Mags. It’s barrel is wearing out and I am about to send off to one of the great smiths on here to fit a new Bartlein barrel. Or in short my war gun is a 10k set up that hammers all day, cold or hot, clean or dirty

Both have there place
" Both have there(sic) place. " Well said, sir. Indeed they do.
 
The scrap heap, for the rifle that is the subject of this thread.
In answer to your earlier question this looks like the pressure only had to go to sides or backwards. Any chance he tried to put larger diameter bullet into the 6.5 bore? Kinda of a pipe bomb? I have seen similar with 300blk in a 5.56
 
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In answer to your earlier question this looks like the pressure only had to go to sides or backwards. Any chance he tried to put larger diameter bullet into the 6.5 bore? Kinda of a pipe bomb? I have seen similar with 300blk in a 5.56
I suppose that is possible. As I mentioned in the OP, he didn't have any idea what his load was - though I'm not sure how hard it would be to accidentally cram a 7mm or .30cal bullet into a 6.5 case.
 
That’s what I said but others said the die would crush the case. I’m gonna go to the shop right now and give it a try. Lots of retired cm cases and shoot very little 7mm any more so lots of material to give it a try.
I suppose that is possible. As I mentioned in the OP, he didn't have any idea what his load was - though I'm not sure how hard it would be to accidentally cram a 7mm or .30cal bullet into a 6.5 case.
Could have seated a .270 or 7mm in a 6.5mm Creedmoor case?
EBC3D6B8-6406-4619-9F4D-66F1E06C0690.jpeg


Pretty Damn easy!

7mm 150 grain Sierra Matchking, seated in a Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor case.
 
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That’s what I said but others said the die would crush the case. I’m gonna go to the shop right now and give it a try. Lots of retired cm cases and shoot very little 7mm any more so lots of material to give it a try.

Could have seated a .270 or 7mm in a 6.5mm Creedmoor case? View attachment 8125560

Pretty Damn easy!

7mm 150 grain Sierra Matchking, seated in a Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor case.
Would it chamber in a 6.5?
 
So the ass hat blew up his rifle, didn't care enough to even find out why, threw the rifle in the garbage and all four pages of this thread are speculation on how this ass hat blew up his rifle ?
How about finding out who this asshole is, ban him from the range and post his picture at the other local ranges before he kills someone ?
Luckily for the other people at the range he was shooting a puny rifle cartridge.

SJC
 
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So the ass hat blew up his rifle, didn't care enough to even find out why, threw the rifle in the garbage and all four pages of this thread are speculation on how this ass hat blew up his rifle ?
How about finding out who this asshole is, ban him from the range and post his picture at the other local ranges before he kills someone ?
Luckily for the other people at the range he was shooting a puny rifle cartridge.

SJC
Haha You fell for this bullshit story ? That's some tough talk your keyboard spit out . :rolleyes:
 
The pics look real.
Being it's a puny 6.5 CM, I really can't blame the owner for trying some reloading experimentation to make it a real cartridge.
He should've tested it with more caution and not in the public eye.

SJC
 
That’s what I said but others said the die would crush the case. I’m gonna go to the shop right now and give it a try. Lots of retired cm cases and shoot very little 7mm any more so lots of material to give it a try.

Could have seated a .270 or 7mm in a 6.5mm Creedmoor case? View attachment 8125560

Pretty Damn easy!

7mm 150 grain Sierra Matchking, seated in a Hornady 6.5 Creedmoor case.


If that’s what he did he wouldn’t be able to close the bolt because the round would be stuck in the neck area of his chamber. Thus, not able to fire. I know this because I once sold a 270 wby mag to a dumbass who went and bought 7mm wby mag rounds and later calls me up and asked me why he’s not able to close the bolt. Comes to find out he’d thought he bought a 7mm wby mag.
 
If that’s what he did he wouldn’t be able to close the bolt because the round would be stuck in the neck area of his chamber. Thus, not able to fire. I know this because I once sold a 270 wby mag to a dumbass who went and bought 7mm wby mag rounds and later calls me up and asked me why he’s not able to close the bolt. Comes to find out he’d thought he bought a 7mm wby mag.
With factory crimped rounds, I totally agree. But with VLD bullets, loosely seated and with the bolt forced home it is possible. its been done. Keep in mind, this fellow does not appear to be the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree. Of course, without the load data, the entire rifle and some kind of visible check on his loading habits/loading bench, who knows.

Here’s another scenario. Perhaps he cleaned his brass and some of the cleaning material, remained in the case. He loaded the regular powder without paying attention to the fact that the level of powder was greater than the other cases. Crushed the powder down, never gave it another thought. Then he set off a Creedmoor round with the internal capacity of a Dasher or maybe even a BR and the result was a massive overcharge.

Again, its all speculation and obviously the individual in question does not care or is just plain lacking in intellectual capability.
 
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There was a nothing that says the action let go due to a single catastrophic event. It is entirely possible that the guy was above book max with an “appropriate” powder and the action let go due to too many high pressure rounds.

One of the main knocks on proof testing is that the proof load, while not destroying the firearm, DOES cause damaging stress to the firearm. The theory is that a proofed firearm is weaker than an unproofed firearm, due to the proofing process.
Proofing a firearm does not cause ‘damaging stress’!
One of the qualities of steel is that if you keep the stress below the ‘Yield Strength’, steel will dimensionally change and when the stress is removed, it still has the original dimensions.
Proof loads keep the stress below the ‘Yield Stress’.
To determine the ‘Yield Stress’,
IMG_5664.png
a coupon is put into a fixture and stress is applied. The elongation is measured and stress calculated using the original dimensions to yield the Stress/Strain Curve.
 
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Proofing a firearm does not cause ‘damaging stress’!
One of the qualities of steel is that if you keep the stress below the ‘Yield Strength’, steel will dimensionally change and when the stress is removed, it still has the original dimensions.
Proof loads keep the stress below the ‘Yield Stress’.
To determine the ‘Yield Stress’,View attachment 8133019 a coupon is put into a fixture and stress is applied. The elongation is measured and stress calculated using the original dimensions to yield the Stress/Strain Curve.
If proof loads didn’t cause “cumulative damage,” you could feed your firearm a steady diet of proof loads without worry. Do this, however, and your gun will eventually fail.
 
With all these theories and logics… how does one know their rifle won’t fail shooting under max SAAMI pressure (say 65,000 psi)
 
I’m going to guess a squib, just because he likely loaded those 50 cartridges at the same time and it wouldn’t have made it that far if pistol powder was in them.
He has 2 different brands of brass in that box.
They also have 2 different colors of primers.
All the fired ones are Winchester with brass colored primers.
Winchester uses brass colored primers.
My bet is that the Winchester cases were factory ammo.

I bet that the silver colored primers were his hand loads.

I love my Savage rifles.
Some people lose their minds when they see a Tangent Theta or a Schmidt & Bender on a Savage.
 
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That would be a Savage AXIS of some sort. Either a bore obstruction or a double charge?

Notice that the bolt body survived and the bolt lugs are in tact!

I see he was shooting hand loaded ammo. If it had been Turkish or Chinese ammo I would have thought pistol powder contaminations or double charge!

That is typical grain structure for bar stock action or even for a forged action that grain structure to the naked eye looks normal.

You would have to see it under a microscope to tell much.

Ok so I just took two Savage 12FV's apart to send out for precision machining to turn them into F-Class rifles for my oldest son and I. there is not a lot of metal in a Savage action and I suspect in most modern day factory push feed rifles. There is easily 2X to 3X more metal in a WWI or WWII Mauser 98 action than in a modern Savage action.

If I remember I will try and weight my Savage 12FV action minus the bolt. If I have the time I will weight it with out the trigger but I am insanely busy. Kids in college coming home that need to train, work and get cars worked on and I have a wedding coming up!

A Mauser 98 the trigger weights nothing but the the action weights quite a bit and so does the bolt. In a modern Savage the action by perception not a scale weights nothing but the bolt body and trigger weight quite a bit!

I have seen every major brand and most military rifles suffer a catastrophic failure either IRL or online and they all look very similar.

You have to keep in mind that heat and pressure change the grane structure or can of the metal at the point of failure.

If you look at a Howa that has suffered catastrophic failure similar to this Savage Axis the grain structure that can be seen with the naked eye looks similar even though the Savage is turned, filed and milled from bar stock and the Howa is mostly milled from a hot forged ingot of steel. The naked eye is just not reliable and the point of failure is the result of immense heat and pressure over a very short time frame.

Sadly we can not tell much from pictures online!

You will seldom see Mausers 96 and 98 fail this badly because they had much more metal and not quite as hard. So much more extreme bending with less shearing and explosive deformation. Plus forging creates a much more uniform grain than you get from turning bar stock that was just hot or cold rolled steel.

Well we would have to examine the barrel to know for sure. That said the weakest part of any modern action turned from cheap bar stock is the area where the barrel and action join up just ahead of locking lugs.

The fact that the barrel appears undamaged does not preclude a bore obstruction since the point of failure will be the point that is weakest.

Here is a Swede 96 that is the worst Mauser catastrophic failure I have ever seen and it was due to a double charge of pistol powder. This is a 1916 Single Lug Mauser 96. https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?106437-Catastrophic-Failure-Swedish-Mauser-m-1896

If I have to be behind a rifle when it fails I want in this order Mauser 98 LR, Winchester M70, Ruger M77 Mkii, Howa 1500, Remington M700.

For your viewing pleasure! Various rifles failing!



I should weight some of my max loads from back in 1998 on my Browning A-Bolt 300WM Eclipse with Boss. they where hot hot loads. Not long ago I found maybe 60 rounds from 1995-1998.

Back then group size at 1000 yards combined with obvious signs of pressure like bolt lift, primer marcks, extractor marks, case stretch was the guide to how hot was too hot. The ink I used to write the load ont he boxes has faded with time.

How much you want to bet it is an insane amount of powder by todays standards? I am pretty sure they where compressed loads of IMR 4350!

Oh off the top of my head Mauser 98 from WWI and WWII is rated to fail at 168,000 psi and Weatherby Mk5 fails at around 200,000 psi!
Keep-it-going GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY
 
He has 2 different brands of brass in that box.
They also have 2 different colors of primers.
All the fired ones are Winchester with brass colored primers.
Winchester uses brass colored primers.
My bet is that the Winchester cases were factory ammo.

I bet that the silver colored primers were his hand loads.

I love my Savage rifles.
Some people lose their minds when they see a Tangent Theta or a Schmidt & Bender on a Savage.
I agree, I noticed it later after zooming in.
 
“f proof loads didn’t cause “cumulative damage,” you could feed your firearm a steady diet of proof loads without worry. Do this, however, and your gun will eventually fail.”

“The SAAMI pressure testing protocol uses test barrels that have a hole located in the chamber at a location specific to the cartridge. “
How many test loads do you think SAAMI fires before changing a barrel?
-Richard
 
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That is typical grain structure for bar stock action or even for a forged action that grain structure to the naked eye looks normal.

You would have to see it under a microscope to tell much.

Ok so I just took two Savage 12FV's apart to send out for precision machining to turn them into F-Class rifles for my oldest son and I. there is not a lot of metal in a Savage action and I suspect in most modern day factory push feed rifles. There is easily 2X to 3X more metal in a WWI or WWII Mauser 98 action than in a modern Savage action.

If I remember I will try and weight my Savage 12FV action minus the bolt. If I have the time I will weight it with out the trigger but I am insanely busy. Kids in college coming home that need to train, work and get cars worked on and I have a wedding coming up!

A Mauser 98 the trigger weights nothing but the the action weights quite a bit and so does the bolt. In a modern Savage the action by perception not a scale weights nothing but the bolt body and trigger weight quite a bit!
You gave pretty much no information and i can definitively disregard any and all info you provided as total rubbish.
I have a couple of Kelbly actions that i can say without hesitation what they are made of and what they are rated for but dont seem to notice any such claimes from you about your preffered savage actions and really ront give two shits otherwise.
I like the two savage rifles i still own but no amount of polishing a turd makes it a diamond.
Start with something better and you end with something better.
My personnel experiance is if you srart with something better there isnt much room for imptovement with minimal gain if you had just started with a quality product to begin with.
 
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Hey Hide,
I was at the rifle range this morning with my shooting partner. The line had been open for all of ten minutes when a shooter about 30 feet away from us suffered a catastrophic detonation of his rifle, a Savage in 6.5 Creedmoor. I do not know the model. Fortunately for the shooter, he suffered a relatively minor cut to his hand and some cuts to his face, but he was wearing eye pro and was not more seriously injured. Several people were struck with debris from his rifle but none were injured. Some of the debris landed next to my buddy and me. The shooter was using handloads, but could not recall his load - he didn't have it written down and was pretty shaken up by the whole affair.

Pics below. I have been trying to figure out what would cause the rifle to fail in this way. The bore was completely clear, but the barrel was launched about ten feet ahead of his bench. The cartridge case was welded into the chamber but the case head was nowhere to be found. All I can think of is that he used the wrong kind of powder in his handloads (i.e. pistol powder in a rifle case), but that is pure speculation.

Scary moment for sure. View attachment 8122402
 
I’ve been handloading for more years than I care to remember and I’ve never had anything like that occur. My guess is that he got greedy and exceeded the max charge (significantly) or he mistakenly double charged a round. The bench is the last place that you want distractions, especially when dropping powder. Someone posted a comment about Savage actions to which I would argue that while a Savage rifle will not win a beauty contest, their rifles are very strong and damn accurate out of the box.
Im glad the guy didn’t get more seriously injured and I suggest never using his handloads!
 
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Saw a peeled Magnum once don't recall the caliber ,it was back when SS actions barrels were just coming around . It looked as if someone had literally peeled the barrel away from the action in #3 strips .

I personally was on the 27 yd. trap line one evening ,when shrapnel flew from #3 stations away . Shooter next door station was killed head trauma .

Russian made O/U and Not cheap . I knew both shooter and victim . Factory loads NOT reload on that incident local PD held everybody for hours while investigation proceeded .
Karma fate apropos call it what you will , two months later same shooter different range during a league shoot was killed on the 16 yd. line . Seems another shooter's homemade load went boom and killed George . Illegal loads and obviously overloaded were the culprit .
I was eating at a local restaurant awaiting MY division's shoot off ,when a mutual friend came in and told us what went down and all was canceled of course . Sad night had known George for 30 + years (n)

This wasn't mine but saw one similar ,some folks just don't understand PRESSURE in a confined space !.
I learned early ,went into My old Bosses garage to get some tools for work early one AM and met a Bobcat !!. Not the mechanical type either :oops:
That pistol didn't blow up at an indoor range around Navarre, did it?
 
Hey Hide,
I was at the rifle range this morning with my shooting partner. The line had been open for all of ten minutes when a shooter about 30 feet away from us suffered a catastrophic detonation of his rifle, a Savage in 6.5 Creedmoor. I do not know the model. Fortunately for the shooter, he suffered a relatively minor cut to his hand and some cuts to his face, but he was wearing eye pro and was not more seriously injured. Several people were struck with debris from his rifle but none were injured. Some of the debris landed next to my buddy and me. The shooter was using handloads, but could not recall his load - he didn't have it written down and was pretty shaken up by the whole affair.

Pics below. I have been trying to figure out what would cause the rifle to fail in this way. The bore was completely clear, but the barrel was launched about ten feet ahead of his bench. The cartridge case was welded into the chamber but the case head was nowhere to be found. All I can think of is that he used the wrong kind of powder in his handloads (i.e. pistol powder in a rifle case), but that is pure speculation.

Scary moment for sure. View attachment 8122402
almost looks like a bullet was down the bore from a previous day from real light load, bang zoom pop goes the dyno mite
 
Saw a peeled Magnum once don't recall the caliber ,it was back when SS actions barrels were just coming around . It looked as if someone had literally peeled the barrel away from the action in #3 strips .

I personally was on the 27 yd. trap line one evening ,when shrapnel flew from #3 stations away . Shooter next door station was killed head trauma .

Russian made O/U and Not cheap . I knew both shooter and victim . Factory loads NOT reload on that incident local PD held everybody for hours while investigation proceeded .
Karma fate apropos call it what you will , two months later same shooter different range during a league shoot was killed on the 16 yd. line . Seems another shooter's homemade load went boom and killed George . Illegal loads and obviously overloaded were the culprit .
I was eating at a local restaurant awaiting MY division's shoot off ,when a mutual friend came in and told us what went down and all was canceled of course . Sad night had known George for 30 + years (n)

This wasn't mine but saw one similar ,some folks just don't understand PRESSURE in a confined space !.
I learned early ,went into My old Bosses garage to get some tools for work early one AM and met a Bobcat !!. Not the mechanical type either :oops:
27 yard line? Ok, he was shooting factory loads but did he reload at all? Particularly for handicap yardage?

I ask because there was (still may be) regular reports on Trapshooters.com about K-80 receivers giving way. At the same time, I had NEVER heard of such a thing happening in skeet.

It is my supposition only that cumulative metal fatigue from regularly shooting mortar rounds made for the 27 yard line is the cause of such a failure and they reason why its not seen in skeet (where a thousands and thousands of K-80s are used) is that there is no benefit in that sport to overloading shells.

I often wonder, when we see firearm failures in shotguns or rifles, what is the history of that gun.

Sorry about your friend, George. Shame.
 
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