I read a post on the CMP board that linked to the following concerning a failure of a M1 Garand. The rifle was purchased from a gun shop and then fired at a range for the first time using reloaded ammo. Pretty scary photos of what was left.

Link to story from Surplusrifleforum.com

http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic...=53&t=66812

Shows again that the practice of shooting someone's unproven reloads in your surplus gas gun may not be a good idea.

I have been saving my brass from my M1 and M1A to start reloading. Along with that I have talked with other shooters who roll their own for the M1 and M1A and have been doing a lot of reading up the subject. There is a lot of good information out there and in the reloading manuals. If safe practices were followed, this would not have happened.

Link to CMP thread

http://www.odcmp.org/new_forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=59891

Not plugging either site, posted as a matter of safety.

This post has been edited by andy2205: November 30th 2008 10:57 AM

Good Lord. He is lucky it did not get seriously injured.

that could have been FAR worse than it was!

I agree with the one poster in the thread. It looks like the reloader reamed all the way down into the case and used either the wrong powder or too much.

You make that little hole a big one.............that's bad. It allows the pressure to reverse. Add in too much pressure.........boom.

Tj

Sad to see a M1 destroyed due to a reloading mistake...

Wow!!! He could have been hurt bad.

Man that is a major Kaboom. I've seen them throw shrapnel from firing out of battery (grease the damn thing, will you!?) but nothing like that. I'd break down those reloads and see wtf is going on. Maybe a double charge? Pistol powder? Usually improper commercial ammo/reloads will just beat the op rod and receiver into junk (too much pressure at the gas port) because the powder burns too slow. I hope the full story surfaces. Sometimes revolvers go boom from very small powder loads in big cases. It causes an explosion rather than a controlled burn. Could be the case here, but I don't know if that's possible with rifle powder.

Glad nobody got killed, but I'm also glad it wasn't a vintage Garand, it was one of SA's recent aftermarket ones.

This post has been edited by Indian4: December 1st 2008 8:50 PM

Holy Shat!!

dayum!!!!!

Quote:
I" have since downloaded their M1 manual and read that using reloads cancels any warranty.
I am thinking about contacting a lawyer. Someone needs to buy me a new M1 and compensate me for my hand, which is still stiff and hurting, I just don't know who yet. I am guessing the reloading company."

Typical of the entitlement mindset these days.... He nearly gets a Darwin award through no fault but his own and he wants to blame everyone but himself... Very sad....

While having that happen does suck, I would like to know if the round would have gone kaboom in ANY gun it was attempted to be fired from.

If the reloader says "no guarantee" like Georgia Arms then you agree to that when you buy it, and thats all there is to it...

Still sucks though...

Yes it does.
This has been making the rounds on the various gun forums.
Here is a reply from one guy I thought was interesting:

{Quote:
Looks like a case head failure to me.
The typical "soot" left bay an overpressure load isn't there although he may have wiped it off.
From what is left of the case I think I can even see an inclusion that would have helped it to let go.

Lots of gas damage with the split wood and all but I wouldn't call it a catastrophe.
Loosing the lower end of the bolt is typical in those cases, you get a fracture right down the ejector recess just like that and the extractor gets pulled out when the brass shoves out and up on the stud at the same time.

Even with the best reloads or factory ammo you can get a head failure. That my friends is why you always wear your eye protection when shooting. No way to tell when you are going to get a bad case.
I have seen them from the factory. Things happen, that is why we take precautions.

Very few KS's are "catastrophic" where barrels split , bolt lugs fail and "shrapnel" goes flying all over. Most of the time the case head lets loose long before the structure of the rifle is damaged. Some rifles are ti