.22LR Case Rupture

[Josh3239]

I've chalked it up as just a bad round. What was it? A double charged .22LR? Anyway here's the story...

So yesterday at the range I was shooting some Fiochi .22LR through an AA converison kit on top of a Glock 23 and had a case rupture, scared the heck out of me.

I know the AA kits are pretty picky with regard to ammo and the Fiochi was just not powerful enough for the kit and was getting FTEs like crazy. So almost after every shot I was locking the slide back, removing the magazine and in some way fighting with the kit to get the spent casing out. I had 30rds of the Fiochi and I was not going to let it go to waste even it if was underpowered.

On my second last .22LR it was the same clearing procedure as before until I noticed smoke coming out of the barrel and magwell. I pulled the damaged casing out of the handgun and set it down till I stopped seeing smoke. When it went away I took off the slide and inspected the handgun, it seemed perfectly alright. I put the slide back on a fired my last .22LR round and it worked perfectly. Later that night I stripped it and cleaned it and again the handgun looks fine.

Pictures from this afternoon of the round. The 1st pic shows half of the bottom of the casing blown out. The rest I tried to show how the other side of the blown out part is bulged out. Any ideas? Doublecharge?

[Fjold]

The extra thick rim is probably from the cartridge not being all the way in the chamber and the case expanding because it was not supported. When that happens it usually just results in a blow out of the side of the case though. Interesting failure mode.

[jwest]

FUGLY.

[50BMGBOB]

Defiantly the cartridge not seated all the way in. I have had a few guns that if I don't clean for long enough will do that, even one time setting the round off from the bolt closing, not the hammer dropping. Clean the gun well. Also, with rim-fires, the firing pin can ding the chamber from dry firing (which you have to do to swap slides) which can cause issues with chambering a round.

[CSACANNONEER]

I'm with Bob and Frank here. This was an out of battery discharge. I've had it happen with my dedicated .22lr upper. I've only had one .22lr fail in a bolt gun (bolt was closed so, it wasn't an OOBD) and it failed at the rim too. The surprising thing is that it was Elley ammo and not some cheap crap. It was bad brass for sure. In your case, it looks like the brass and charge were fine but, your gun needs to be tweeked a bit to reliably shoot .22lr.

[morphius]

OMG,

Another notorious brand of ammo with similar issues is Remington Golden Bullets. Don't buy them. I'm actually going to call Remington to ***** at them today.

Friday night I had a few rounds of these literally explode within my GSD5.

The case head separated at the rim/base. There was black smoke everywhere as the ignition gases dissipated in the receiver and openings in the gun, etc.

The case did eject and I found the broken off case and base/rim for evidence. Another time, the case was stuck in the chamber and I couldn't figure out why rounds wouldn't feed. That took a while to figure out how to clear that one.

All I can say it is an ammo problem as Federal Champions, Winchesters XX, CCI Blaser, etc all function fine.

When that happens be sure to check the chamber and barrel are cleared of obstructions before firing another round.

[5hundo]

The extra thick rim is probably from the cartridge not being all the way in the chamber and the case expanding because it was not supported.

Yeah, I agree...

This used to happen in my tec-22 from time to time...

[Josh3239]

I had bought this stuff some time ago as well. I know AA kits are very picky and they seem to work best with Minimags but this was my only .22LR and wasn't going to let the Fiochhi sit there and go to waste. I also bought some of the Remington Golden Bullets, which are suggested by AA but the rupture scared me away from firing anymore that day.

Looks like I'll only be buying CCI Minimags then. They seem to work best in the AA kits anyways.

[morphius]

FYI, I just called Remington. They're sending a FedEx mailer to send everything I have left back for them to test and they will reimburse me for the cost of the ammo.

We'll see what Remington says in my case.

The lady indicated other issues with ruptures due to the rounds not being fully seated in battery in the chamber on some guns.

I doubt that it can be the extractor from the GSG5 that's prematurely ripping the rim off while the ignition sequence is happening. It would require the actual blowback to initiate the recoil and extraction. It's got to be the primer ignition that causing the rim to rupture and the gases are coming back into the gun versus all going down range.

[caoboy]

Were these the 40 grn sp?

I bought a brick of 500, shot about half this weekend, and didn't have any problems with them...I did notice they were a bit less powerful than the CCI mini's, I just thought that was because they are standard velocity, and probably have a little less powder in them.

That also sounds like why your gun wasn't feeding them properly, and with the round not feeding fully into the chamber, ended up with what you have there.

[Btango05]

I'm with Bob and Frank here. This was an out of battery discharge. I've had it happen with my dedicated .22lr upper. I've only had one .22lr fail in a bolt gun (bolt was closed so, it wasn't an OOBD) and it failed at the rim too. The surprising thing is that it was Elley ammo and not some cheap crap. It was bad brass for sure. In your case, it looks like the brass and charge were fine but, your gun needs to be tweeked a bit to reliably shoot .22lr.

Had it happen to my upper.... Stick with HV ammo... no less than 1200fps and a 37-40 gr bullet. Save the match grade/standard velocity for bolt or reliable semi-auto pistols like Ruger's/Buckmarks/S&W 41...I'll trade round for round of HV for your Fiochi if that's your only .22

[50BMGBOB]

When that happens be sure to check the chamber and barrel are cleared of obstructions before firing another round.

Big +1
I forgot to mention that with a blown case, it isn't uncommon for the bullet to still be in the barrel. Deffinantly check/clean before shooting another round.

[Zarrinvz24]

I've chalked it up as just a bad round. What was it? A double charged .22LR? Anyway here's the story...

So yesterday at the range I was shooting some Fiochi .22LR through an AA converison kit on top of a Glock 23 and had a case rupture, scared the heck out of me.

I know the AA kits are pretty picky with regard to ammo and the Fiochi was just not powerful enough for the kit and was getting FTEs like crazy. So almost after every shot I was locking the slide back, removing the magazine and in some way fighting with the kit to get the spent casing out. I had 30rds of the Fiochi and I was not going to let it go to waste even it if was underpowered.

On my second last .22LR it was the same clearing procedure as before until I noticed smoke coming out of the barrel and magwell. I pulled the damaged casing out of the handgun and set it down till I stopped seeing smoke. When it went away I took off the slide and inspected the handgun, it seemed perfectly alright. I put the slide back on a fired my last .22LR round and it worked perfectly. Later that night I stripped it and cleaned it and again the handgun looks fine.

Pictures from this afternoon of the round. The 1st pic shows half of the bottom of the casing blown out. The rest I tried to show how the other side of the blown out part is bulged out. Any ideas? Doublecharge?

The only time I've ever seen anything like this was when a buddy thought it was okay to shoot 22LR in a 22 Mag savage bolt action. Needless to say it didn't turn out okay.

[Josh3239]

Were these the 40 grn sp?

I bought a brick of 500, shot about half this weekend, and didn't have any problems with them...I did notice they were a bit less powerful than the CCI mini's, I just thought that was because they are standard velocity, and probably have a little less powder in them.

That also sounds like why your gun wasn't feeding them properly, and with the round not feeding fully into the chamber, ended up with what you have there.

Yep, AA recommends hotter .22LR. The handgun was short stroking causing a couple FTFs and a ton of FTE. Most of the casings had to be popped out with a cleaning rod or having the slide locked back while I dug it out with my fingernail. That is how weak the ammo was.

Had it happen to my upper.... Stick with HV ammo... no less than 1200fps and a 37-40 gr bullet. Save the match grade/standard velocity for bolt or reliable semi-auto pistols like Ruger's/Buckmarks/S&W 41...I'll trade round for round of HV for your Fiochi if that's your only .22

Used the last of it. The only stuff I have left is 50rd box of Remington Golden which are supposed to be hit or miss with these kits, they are recommended by AA but I've heard they can be finicky.

Big +1
I forgot to mention that with a blown case, it isn't uncommon for the bullet to still be in the barrel. Deffinantly check/clean before shooting another round.

It was short stroking but it was definetly enough to fire the round and somewhat cycle the slide. I watched the round go through the paper.