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Hi all,
I was at the Angeles 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.
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. The stock was shattered into many pieces and flung in as many directions. Receiver a total loss. 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).
I started a thread on Sniper's Hide about it, and posted some photos I took of the rifle's remains, which you can see here:
Scary moment for sure.
Reminder -
Always wear your eye protection. Use extreme caution when handloading.
I was at the Angeles 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.
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. The stock was shattered into many pieces and flung in as many directions. Receiver a total loss. 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).
I started a thread on Sniper's Hide about it, and posted some photos I took of the rifle's remains, which you can see here:
Scary moment for sure.
Reminder -
Always wear your eye protection. Use extreme caution when handloading.
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