range experience and case failure

[soundguy]

got up early and hit the range with a coupl efriends.. got there at sunup to try and delay heat exhaustion.

made up a few multi targets for some ladder testing ( 30-06 cartridge for scale )



while shooting my rem 700 30-06 about an hour into casual shooting, I cracked off a round that sent a peel of grey smoke swirling out the back of the gun post shot. wasn't a 'hot pressureized gas vent' like a catastrophic failure.. but was sure odd. my range buddies and the guy on the next row sure noticed and ran over. they asked if I had loaded a hot one. my paperwork showed it to be a middle of the line 47.5gr imr 4064 load in that 30-06 case, using win lr primers. after a quick inspection of the gun, I tested the bolt handle to see if it was tight on the lift or felt funny... nope.. bolt moves as smooth as always, cartridge ejected like there was no issue.. i shoot single shots when testing out loads, so no other cartridges in magazine. a quick look at the case revealed a pinhole right next to the primer in the primer pocket, making a fissure like metal deformity at exit. i inspecte dthe bolt face.. other than a grey area from the powder, it looked fine.. anfter more looking i decided to try more ammo... rest of the loaded ammo came out fine.. and so did some remington commercial stuff.

just got home and deprimed the case.. primer actually did not perforate, but did crease as gasses escaped next to it. flash hole looks normal in case, though i do think I see evidence of an angular fissure starting at base of flash hole leading up to the 'vent' damage.

i marked the case at the range with a black magic marker befroe tossing it into my empties.. so i could further study it. i hit the case head with some black maker to make it stand out.

headstamp is F G or F C,can't tel which, and is likely ragebrass I have picked up.


when i process my brass i'm pretty carefull about inspecting botdy mouth, and primer pocket.. al pockets are checked for crimp, flash hole clened/ trued, and pocket cleaned and uniformed. anything looking even marginally questionable hits the brass scrap box. ( as this cartridge is now in ).

anyone have a failure like that?

glad it wasn't worse / damaged me or the gun!



lastly, just before leaving the range, had some guy pull up with some sort of mil pattern weapon in 308 or 762nato and just walked up while all of us were standing talking at the cold range, stepped over the small wood bench that acts as a divider from the range and the sidewalk, and stepped up to the shooting line and just peeled off about a half a mag in quick SA action before any of us could jump move, grab our ears or anything. i had my right side to him, directly on the other side of his lane. ear plugs out of course... my right ear still is ringing and has that nice dual 10k/1k tone buzzing on.. now, even 2 hours later. I've stuck an ear plug in since i left the range and am letting the ear desensitize for a few hours with the plug in.

[gdmoody]

What brand of primers you using?

Good looking targets, great idea.

The head stamp is probably F C which is most likely federal. I have never had that kind of thing happen before, but I have heard about it. Possible the primer didn't seat correctly to allow the gasses to get out next to the "crease" in it.

As far as the guy coming up and start shooting, don't know what to say. I sure would have jumped him for not allowing time for hearing protection!!

[312shooter]

.headstamp is F G or F C,can't tel which, and is likely ragebrass I have picked up.

This would be consistent with much of what I have experiences with FC brass if in fact that is what it is. Waaay too many case head seperations and loose primer pockets in 223 & 308 FC after one firing, I send them immediately to the recycling bucket as I come across them, it is not worth ruining a gun. I am glad to hear you and your gun are in good shape after this..

[gun-nut]

That moron!!! What if someone was down range? Did not ask anyone that the range was clear or if it was ok to run a few rds! What a jurk!!!! I hope you gave him an azz reaming! Hope your hearing will be ok. Sorry to here that people are like that.

[accident]

The story about the firing range reminds me of an incident I experienced at my range.Could have been disaster.Now when the range is "cold" I make sure everyone has their firrearms set down and the shooters are away from the bench before I even consider walking down to the targets.It's truly amazing how many idiots are out there.Most shooters are OK but theres always that ignorant/dangerous few. Joe

[soundguy]

yep.. headstamp is FC.. I looked thru my range brass in that batch and found a couple other FC

primers are winchester LR .

at our range there is a red line drawn around the shooting bench in red paint.. when range is cold most guys open their bolts, and we all STEP BACK out of the red area. then whoever wants to go downrange does.. the rest of us pull hearing protection.. chat.. have a drink of water..e tc. there is a flat bench that seperates the sidewalk and parking lot from the covered shoting area of the range. this guy had to come up and take a wide step over it to bypass the side walk. literally stepped up and to the line and started fast triger pulling

no range officer there, but as I was cupping my ear and walking away, some other guy did jump him.

I can still hear out of my right ear.. but it now rings... hoping it will go away in a few days. managed to make it this far in life working around rock bands and heavy equipment and my own shooting hobby and have (had ) excelent hearing..

[aa1911]

good gravy, ya shoulda smacked that guy!

I've never had this happen with rifle cases personally, but seen plenty of that with shotgun ammo. Time to pitch it!

I did have some federal 30-30 cases years ago that I got rid of; I was weighing all of them to separate by weight and there was such a huge variation (same box/lot of ammo) it was unbelievable. Most federal cases, especially pistol seem to be very good though.

[soundguy]

yep, that case is now in the scrap box. I'll also check out my other cases as I clean them up to look at the base and primer pocket a lil more.

[243winxb]

Defective primer or gas leaking between the brass & primer. http://www.photobucket.com/joe1944usa