Another 338LM Cratered at Shot

[Lowlight]

Okay so several years ago I was at the local indoor range and next to a guy with a 338LM Semi Auto asked to use my Magneto Speed and 4 rounds later BOOM! It craters and shakes the guy pretty well.

Fast forward to Sunday at Front Sight and I am the acting Range Officer for the ELR World Record Attempt. Since there was a lot of downtime I wandered over to talk to the guys setting up the Wilcox stuff. They were using the range for Monday’s range day. ( mostly they drive around in cool trucks with mini guns ). So my buddy Chad is there getting the rifles sorted out. Zeroed, fined tuned, you know the drill. Chad is like “Hey Frank, wanna shoot the DRD”, and I am like, you can’t pay me enough to shoot that thing.

Fast forward to Monday, I am working the ATAC range for Mile High, and my phone starts buzzing. Finish the day and I return the calls. The DRD cratered and hurt him enough to warrant a trip to the ER. He is all good, but still, not good.

This things are not cool, they can fire out of battery. Near as I can figure, the firing pin hit the primer due to mass of everything before the bolt locks into battery.

The safety tip is to add a spring ala Bill Alexander. Otherwise you risk the same.

Remember Eye Pro gents otherwise, things can get scary.

Shot show tip of the day.

 

[VegasHKShooter]

Very glad he wasn’t hurt bad. With a bolt big enough to handle the .338, size wise and mass wise, a firing pin spring only makes sense. Heck, my Daniel Defense 7.62 even has a firing pin spring. Seems like a no brainer.

 

[lennyo3034]

Ouch, thanks for the heads up. One of the shooters at my local range just got one and wants me to go shooting with him. I'll be sure to stand further away.

I don't suppose you have pictures of the rifles after it happened?

 

[JeffLebowski]

Never saw the point of these anyway, this just reinforces my decision to stay away from them.

 

[AZgeek]

Who sells springs for this application? Any one have a picture of one installed?

 

[Benito]

Damn that sucks.

This is one of the reasons I like the Armalite AR-10 design (firing pin safety spring). I wish it was a standardized thing on all ARs.

 

[AZgeek]

So this feature is proprietary or implemented based on certain manufactures?

 

[ruebarb]

I haven't seen the 338, but the pin on their new .300 norma has a spring

 

[hlee]

The design of the AR bolt should prevent the pin from being able to protrude from the breach face (with or without a spring) until the bolt is locked, so they even if the rifle does slam fire, it does so "in battery." Go ahead, grab your AR bolt and try it. Even the dreaded "bolt bounce" is actually carrier movement around a locked bolt. If these rifles are firing out of battery then the issue (I think) is more than can be remedied with a firing pin spring.

 

[BarrettBoy]

Why do I tend to hear of 338s blowing up so much more frequently than the other calibers?

 

[Supersubes]

Why do I tend to hear of 338s blowing up so much more frequently than the other calibers?

Because it’s a seriously high intensity round. And being an elr round, people push them hard.

 

[mtgale00]

The design of the AR bolt should prevent the pin from being able to protrude from the breach face (with or without a spring) until the bolt is locked, so they even if the rifle does slam fire, it does so "in battery." Go ahead, grab your AR bolt and try it. Even the dreaded "bolt bounce" is actually carrier movement around a locked bolt. If these rifles are firing out of battery then the issue (I think) is more than can be remedied with a firing pin spring.

Agreed... I'd argue that 99.9% of an AR pattern rifles going high order is a result of a case failure. There is a decent amount of unsupported cartridge case when the bolt is locked on a 5.56 metallic cartridge. I'm a lefty and a 338LM DRD gives me nightmares.

@Lowlight - Are any photos available?

 

[whatmeworry_45]

I was always under the impression that it was virtually impossible to OOB fire an AR platform rifle, assuming it is in sound mechanical condition. If this is untrue, how does the M231 port firing weapon exist?

 

[mtgale00]

I was always under the impression that it was virtually impossible to OOB fire an AR platform rifle, assuming it is in sound mechanical condition. If this is untrue, how does the M231 port firing weapon exist?

While it operates from an open bolt, the bolt assembly and bolt carrier with modification still operates identically to a traditional AR platform.

 

[BarrettBoy]

I was always under the impression that it was virtually impossible to OOB fire an AR platform rifle, assuming it is in sound mechanical condition. If this is untrue, how does the M231 port firing weapon exist?

It could be that the bolt carrier in a 338 lap ar pattern rifle is cycling with so much speed and force that the firing pin manages to push forward with enough energy to set off the primer before a full lock is possible.