AR-15 Kaboom Hot Load

[SuperX]

high primer = primer above the base of the case, bolt face touches off cartridge before lock up.

Ah...thaks Mark

[kpdiamond54]

Squib

[hambam105]

WARNING: THIS IS A GUESS.

It is not the ammo. Remember this is a guess. It is a rifle assembly issue or a material issue or both. Did I mention this is a guess?

[ZRen]

Probably not unless it was the first round since every round after would have fast burning pistol powder too.

Lesson learned:
1. Inspect your brass
2. Shoot your own reloads
3. If you shoot someone elses reloads, commercial or not, make sure it's reputable company

Could be.
Can't rally say I read the whole page. Just looked at the photos and reminds me of a very similar scenario where a guy blew apart the chamber of his rifle.
All three of your points make sense.

Were all just guessing here anyways.

But I'm sticking with my #1 guess. Wrong powder. Something that burns WAY too fast.

[ZRen]

Guys that took ALOT of power. Ive seen people test 223 ammo in AR's that was HOT. They must have used pistol powder. Ive never seen an AR blow up like that before. I seen a ****ed up gun from hot loads (mixed power, pistol and rifle).

This

[xfer42]

I did a QL simulation with a .223 case, 55gr bullet filled with HP38 one time. It showed the pmax to be around 250,000psi. I would bet this was a due to a previous squib, though. To fill the case with the wrong powder, enough to blow it up, would have to be somewhat intentional.

[ZRen]

I did a QL simulation with a .223 case, 55gr bullet filled with HP38 one time. It showed the pmax to be around 250,000psi. I would bet this was a due to a previous squib, though. To fill the case with the wrong powder, enough to blow it up, would have to be somewhat intentional.

Or just really unintelligent and not doing the proper research necessary to properly reload ammunition.

Like I said, I just looked at the pictures and first thought that came to mind was a wrong powder.
I'm willing to be wrong because it could be many other things too.

I don't know that a squib would have caused the rifle to even cycle and thereby feed the next round into the chamber. And even if it did, there would also have been an explosion in the barrel itself from the newly fired bullet rocketing into the lodged squib bullet. The damage is all in the upper receiver.

Moral of the story is don't get lazy. pay attention, inspect your components, check and recheck and keep yourself educated.

[ironhorse1]

This reminds me of a kaboom from a few years back. Factory ammo or factory reloads were involved.

What was the cause? Two bullets in one case. The gun was replaced by the ammo company. Definitely a quality control issue.

It is impossible to double charge a .223 case. Most charges are already up to the neck.

If it was the wrong powder, then there would be a lot more blown up rifles.

Possible squib, yes that can happen with the same results.

irh

[bohoki]

I bet it was a high primer.

my theory was he didn't trim

[robert101]

Wild guess on my part (here goes). A pistol primer was used in lieu of rifle primer. Since AR15 BCG has no firing pin spring the firing pin hits the primer before the lugs are engaged - Ignition out of battery as lugs were not engaged. Upon firing (out of battery) this caused a tilt in the BCG wrecking the entire assembly. Far fetched I know.

[Spaceghost]

That fake Russian guy is really trolling the hell out of them, isn't he?

[boanerges]

From the article:

A TFB reader was shooting reloaded ammunition at the range when his AR-15 blew apart. The case head failed and the escaping gas split the upper receiver in two and blasted all it components out. Fortunately he was uninjured. As always, be very careful when reloading!

This is not correct. I have used most all of the common rifle powders used to load .223. It is virtually impossible to double charge a round without overflowing the case and even if any one of them was loaded to the brim they would not generate the pressures necessary to cause this much damage assuming the round was fully chambered when fired. In addition, all rifles including the AR 15 are designed with the possibility that a case head separation may occur and have safeguards to minimize the damage should a case head separation occur. Like others have said either it was a massive overload of some sort of fast burning pistol powder or the round fired somehow out of battery.

[krwada]

The only time I have seen anything like this was when the wrong bullet was loaded. In this case, I would guess that maybe a .227 Savage was loaded. Given the picture of the dented rounds, I am certain that it was not any kind of homemade cast bullet.

If it was pistol powder, a lot of pistol powder may have done something like this. Usually, the failures I have seen were the wrong bullet seated on the cartridge.

The problem here is there is NO descriptive information in that article.

It could easily have been a squib in the previous round, and the idiot, instead of clearing the case from the previous round AND checking the receiver and the barrel, decided to pull the trigger again.

That ... would definitely do this too.

There are just too many ways for stuff like this to happen.

[gunnerstuff]

My vote is for the squib. Seen it before. Both projectiles leave the barrel, but really slow. As the projos pass the gas port, the pressure is still way too high. But the gas unlocks the bolt anyway and everything comes apart at the seams.