556 Blew up in AR that was chambered for 556/223

T

TexasMade

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 4, 2013
321
3
Lubbock, TX
#1
Has anyone ever seen this, not gonna lie pretty scary when it happened. FACTORY ammo. Would you contact ammo manafacture?

20130331_162123.jpg

Primer was hit fine, just a nice little dent. But the neck of the brass got stuck in chamber, and it ejected what the picture shows
 
#4
I would say it would be worth notifying the ammo maker ideally you will want all the info off the box of ammo including lot number and such. That way if they are seeing numerous failures of that lot they can look at a recall.
 
#6
Agree, notify the ammo mfg, and I would have a gunsmith look at the rifle. You think that was scary, wait till you have a failure of the chamber! You would be lucky to escape uninjured-forget about the rifle at that point. Been a few stories like that going around in my shooting circle and the general consensus is to play it safe. Call the ammo mfg, gun mfg, have the gun inspected. Just my 2 cents.
 
#7
This is a case head separation. Usually you see this on brass that has been resized to many times, or hot loads, and especially both. It has happened to me several times, and have seen it happen to others several times. But if this is factory ammo, it could be an individual hot load, but i would follow the above advice.
 
#8
Call the manufacture and let them know, dress it up a little and make it known it scared the hell out of you and your not freaking happy they just might send you some ammo in these hard times!!!
 
#9
And a quick trick that John Markwell showed me last year at the ASC match last year (happened to me on the last stage of the first day). This happened in my bolt gun, put a 45 cal or 410 brush on your cleaning rod, insert from chamber end until you feel the brush enter the neck of the case, give another firm push, and pull out. Most times the case will come with it, because the wire brush tends to not go backwards very well, and usually with grab the case quite well.
 
#10
+1 on notifying the ammo mfg. Keep all the pieces you found, keep the box/packing for the ammo, including any identifying information like the lot number, etc, as well as any pictures you have taken of the rifle, etc.

They'll likely want as much info as possible (depending on the mfg...some may just ignore you). ;)
 
#11
Hasgun Willtravel said:
put a 45 cal or 410 brush on your cleaning rod, insert from chamber end until you feel the brush enter the neck of the case, give another firm push, and pull out. Most times the case will come with it, because the wire brush tends to not go backwards very well, and usually with grab the case quite well.
Click to expand...

Nice trick. I generally have a 45 cal brush in my bag so I will have to remember that if I ever have this issue(God forbid).
 
#12
My wife was shooting my AR15 when it blew up. he upper receiver looked like a banana peel. I sent the ammo in for testing, and the lab wait it was all well under max pressure, and extremely uniform. The barrel was not harmed, but the magazine, and bolt carrier were also turned into junk. All the lab could figure was that there was a defect in the case, or primer allowing the pressure to vent. the rear or the case looked like it was EDM machined between 2-4 o'clock. Sometimes the causes remain forever a mystery. No one was injured in her mishap, but she will no longer shoot rifles.
 
#13
Unknown said:
My wife was shooting my AR15 when it blew up. he upper receiver looked like a banana peel. I sent the ammo in for testing, and the lab wait it was all well under max pressure, and extremely uniform. The barrel was not harmed, but the magazine, and bolt carrier were also turned into junk. All the lab could figure was that there was a defect in the case, or primer allowing the pressure to vent. the rear or the case looked like it was EDM machined between 2-4 o'clock. Sometimes the causes remain forever a mystery. No one was injured in her mishap, but she will no longer shoot rifles.
Click to expand...

Wow. Glad to hear she is ok. Really sucks it scared her away from shooting rifles.
 
#14
Glad that you're okay. Case head separations can also be caused by excess headspace, or excess headspace in addition to faulty ammo. Regardless of what the ammo manufacturer says, I would check the chamber headspace with gauges before shooting the rifle again.
 
#16
wow! yes thats very unfortunate. And this was federal independence ammo(blue white box) shooting out of Black rain Fallout 15. I will call federal tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks for all the good info
 
#17
TexasMade said:
wow! yes thats very unfortunate. And this was federal independence ammo(blue white box) shooting out of Black rain Fallout 15. I will call federal tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks for all the good info
Click to expand...

The stuff with the star on the box? I had really bad luck with that I think they used improperly sized once fired casings.
 
#20
I would insist that the ammo maker report thoroughly on the brass case itself. The "scrub" marks forward of the web to the breakage point indicate either seriously high pressure, or seriously weakened brass. Since I don't also see powder marks, it *could* be a normal-pressure round. Bad brass can lead to the primer pocket opening up and releasing the primer just as easily as high pressure can.

No mention of possible causes of the defect should be made, so as to not taint the investigation. Report observations only, not conclusions.

Keep photocopies of all correspondence, avoid phone calls, record them if they insist on calling you. Depending on your state, that might require their permission.
 
#21
Temp9 said:
Glad that you're okay. Case head separations can also be caused by excess headspace, or excess headspace in addition to faulty ammo. Regardless of what the ammo manufacturer says, I would check the chamber headspace with gauges before shooting the rifle again.
Click to expand...

I had the barrel checked, and it was OK. I have many thousand rounds through the barrel since then without any problem.
 
#23
I would be skeptical of once fired reloaded brass depending on the headstamp. Alot of stuff is loaded real hot, especially the the mil stuff.

Stay far away from TAA and PMJ headstamps. Bad juju.
 
#24
TX Made, can you give more info about the ammo? I have about 500 rounds of 5.56 from Independence waiting for me to shoot it at my house.

Maybe I should just list it on gunbroker and do some price gouging.




(that was a joke)
 
#25
I will try to get the Lot number for you soon. Still in process of trying to contact them with no response. All I can tell you right now is I bought it at academy for 9 bucks and it blew u and I have about 2000 rounds just sitting as well. I tried a different box and it did fine. I think they just double charged a case
 
#26
TexasMade said:
I will try to get the Lot number for you soon. Still in process of trying to contact them with no response. All I can tell you right now is I bought it at academy for 9 bucks and it blew u and I have about 2000 rounds just sitting as well. I tried a different box and it did fine. I think they just double charged a case
Click to expand...

Pretty tough to double charge 5.56.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

F
Ar 15 Issue-Help Requested
Replies
2
Views
211
Black max
Black max
T
I'm sorry, another over-pressure post....
Replies
36
Views
1K
Thorspapa
T
memilanuk
6 ARC headspace
Replies
7
Views
363
LRRPF52
LRRPF52
K
55’s not fully cycling in 223 Wylde 18”
Replies
79
Views
2K
tinker
tinker
supercorndogs
Rainer arms ultra match ar-15 barrel damage
Replies
78
Views
3K
supercorndogs
supercorndogs
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Merch
Alerts