What happened here? Case blew up, magazine disintegrated

[Rodney65]

I was popping gophers with my T1X using CCI Standard ammo and after about fifty rounds I felt blast on my face and heard what I thought was glass breaking. I think the sound was the baseplate flying off the mag.

In the chamber I found a case with half the base tore off and stuck under the extractor. I pried it out with a knife.

Sorry the pictures aren't the best. Just wondering what causes/caused this? I have had a case rupture shooting reloaded 9mm years ago but never a .22 in the thousands on thousands of rounds I have fired.

Only real loss was I couldn't find the mag spring in the grass.

 

[KnowNothing256]

My first wildly uneducated guess is a double charge.

 

[Rodney65]

My first wildly uneducated guess is a double charge.

My first thought was the case was weak but that makes more sense.

 

[Makinchips208]

I have packed 22lr cases full of powder from other 22lr rounds i pulled apart, then would fire them in my 10/22. I was young and very stupid. But never had one blow.

Even tried filling with Bullseye with little difference. Man i was dumb!!

That said, id think there must be a compromised case. But only my best guess.

 

[BigDaddy0381]

Did you shoot any after that happened or check the barrel to make sure it free of any objects?

I've seen low charged cases not have enough to send the bullet out the barrel then the next one do what yours did.

 

[roostercogburn98]

Squib and a follow up or two is my guess. Barrel was obstructed

 

[Rodney65]

I pulled a bore snake through afterwards as there was some debris in the bore (little black specks of powder or something) and then kept shooting as nothing appeared damaged other than the magazine.

 

[BigDaddy0381]

That is odd then. did you by chance see if the busted case round hit anywhere close to your aiming point?

 

[Rodney65]

Squib and a follow up or two is my guess. Barrel was obstructed

I didn't remember the previous round lacking at all but I will admit between being focused on gophers, wearing earmuffs, and shooting subsonic .22s it could have.

If that is what happened the next round cleared the obstruction and I didn't think that was likely to happen but I am no expert.

 

[Rodney65]

That is odd then. did you by chance see if the busted case round hit anywhere close to your aiming point?

No. I thought my rifle had grenaded so I was a bit distracted checking for damage to it and myself, haha. Shot fine afterwards.

 

[roostercogburn98]

I didn't remember the previous round lacking at all but I will admit between being focused on gophers, wearing earmuffs, and shooting subsonic .22s it could have.

If that is what happened the next round cleared the obstruction and I didn't think that was likely to happen but I am no expert.

My youngest daughters 22/45 had a squib about 3/4 of the way down the barrel. I’m sure the next round would have punched it out, but likely would have caused pressure issues. Too bad you didn’t look close to the muzzle on the ground to see if you had two slugs laying around, I doubt they would have gone far

 

[Rodney65]

My youngest daughters 22/45 had a squib about 3/4 of the way down the barrel. I’m sure the next round would have punched it out, but likely would have caused pressure issues. Too bad you didn’t look close to the muzzle on the ground to see if you had two slugs laying around, I doubt they would have gone far

Interesting. Glad your daughter didn't have any issues.

I was standing in pasture woth grass a few inches tall. I couldn't find the magazine spring and I doubt I would have ever seen the bullets in the dirt.

 

[RTH1800]

I would check bore with a lead slug to see if there is a loose spot. Even a tight patch could find it.

 

[Big Phish]

I have packed 22lr cases full of powder from other 22lr rounds i pulled apart, then would fire them in my 10/22. I was young and very stupid. But never had one blow.

Even tried filling with Bullseye with little difference. Man i was dumb!!

That said, id think there must be a compromised case. But only my best guess.

Don't think you could get enough powder in to do anything drastically to the rifles but yeah it was kinda dumb to do so.

 

[xsn10s]

I'd contact CCI about that. It's possible there was a double charge of primer compound there. Or like mentioned earlier a compromised case.

 

[DFOOSKING]

Was the bolt closed or did it fire out of battery?

 

[Rodney65]

Was the bolt closed or did it fire out of battery?

Well I had been shooting a lot that day so I can't swear to the exact details of that particular shot other than to say it happened when I pulled the trigger not before.

That said if I have a round chambered and am not shooting right away, glassing or the gophers are hidden or whatever, sometimes I lift the bolt handle as that is what is required at matches and I want to be consistent.

It is possible I pulled the trigger with the bolt handle lifted but the whole purpose of lifting the bolt handle is to prevent a problem from happening. I would not think the rifle was capable of firing out of battery.

 

[Rodney65]

I would check bore with a lead slug to see if there is a loose spot. Even a tight patch could find it.

I will try to do that. I don't know what I would need to slug a barrel but I do have a brush and patches I could use.

 

[RayDBonz]

The far more common problem with CCI is with duds. Not enough priming compound or something. Maybe you found where they stored all the extra!
In tens of thousands of .22 rounds, I've never seen that!

 

[xsn10s]

My buddy had that happen with a 17 Mach 2.

 

[Rodney65]

The far more common problem with CCI is with duds. Not enough priming compound or something. Maybe you found where they stored all the extra!
In tens of thousands of .22 rounds, I've never seen that!

Well I'm just lucky I guess lol. Thousands of these fired and before this only the odd dud.

As someone suggested I mentioned it to CCI and they asked for lot numbers and pictures and have been quite communicative.

I cleaned the bore again and it looks fine. I got quite a few more gophers after this happened.

Only real damage is the lost magazine spring, which unfortunately Tikka doesn't sell. That is not at all surprising as the firing pins are known to break and they don't sell those either only a complete assembly for $115CAD! Sorry, I'm still a bit sore about the cost of a firing pin.