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 4:57 PM

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 2nd 2008 2:50 AM

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 tight enough that you won't know till you try to cycle the bolt. 721/722/700 Rems are almost famous for it. You end up beating the bolt handle clean off the gun with a mallet and can't get it open, finally get it open only to find brass blown down the ejector hole, the recessed bolt face split out and mushroomed no extractor and the thickest rim you ever saw on a case.


In the late '40's they (SA and the Army) tried to "blow up" an M1 Garand. They realized that during the whole of WW2, in battlefield conditions, with millions of rounds fired through them that none had catastrophically failed.

During their attempts to "blow up" an M1 they used the same powder used for the 70,000 psi proof loads and continued loading, firing and examining the M1. The test rounds were fired in a pressure test gun and a Japanese Arisaka bolt action rebarreled to 30.06 as well as the M1 Garand. They eventually reached a point where they stopped testing the rounds in the pressure test gun for fear of damaging it. The M1 and the Arisaka soldiered on. Eventually the Arisaka self destructed. The M1 was left to go on by itself. Based on earlier (while still using the pressure test gun) loading - powder charge increase vs. pressure increase - they got to a point where they estimated a pressure of 140,000 psi. The case failed (not the rifle) and blew out. This resulted in the trigger assembly floor plate blowing off the trigger housing, the stock broke, they also saw a small bulge in the bottom of the bolt part of the way back towards the rear of it. The receiver, barrel and bolt lugs were intact and undamaged. The replaced the broken/warped parts and continued firing standard ball ammo in that M1.

This rifle is not a GI M1 Garand but a cast receiver commercial gun with part of questionable origin (might be surplus GI, might be new commercial parts). My point is not to convince you it's okay to fire questionable ammo in your GI M1 Garand, just to say that they are darn tough and dependable, but if you reload, you better know what you are doing - or stick to GI ball ammo. Quote}

I agree with you 100%. But, I think the guy *could* have a case based on the details of who loaded the stuff. If somebody is selling reloaded stuff, they are required to be licensed to do so. I don't know of any licensed reloaders doling out their product in ziploc bags. Is licensing a guarantee of good QC? Absolutely not, but I wouldn't shoot anything out of a plastic bag, no matter how good the gun shop guy says it is. If it's being sold by a licensed reloader with no guarantee, all bets are off. At least he's got a nice stash of Garand parts. I'd hate to see the shop owner lose his livelihood, but I question his judgement in selling under the table reloads in today's sue-happy society.

Also,
AFAIK the SA (commercial) Garands were built with GI internals, I've heard of them with US, Danish, and Italian marked parts. The only commercial parts are the receiver, stock, and barrel. With the obvious exception of the stock, the commercial parts seemed to fare pretty well considering.

This will be an interesting case if it goes public. And I see your point.
We both know the owner of the Garand stated the reloads came in a sealed plastic bag, and he didn't know who made them. I'm thinking that's where he eats the liability for the situation.
I could be wrong.
I'll bet you in the end, the BATFU revokes his Type 01 FFL at a minimum, for not having the Type 06 FFL that he's required to make ammo for resale. Even to reload somebody else's cases, and charge them for it, you're required to have the Type 06 FFL, and pay Federal Excise Tax.

Now, the reason I say the owner, not the dealer is liable, is simply because, in court, the real question on liability ends up as "What would a reasonable person do?"

A reasonably smart gun owner surely would not buy or use unlabeled reloads from somebody he doesn't know.

That's what it all boils down to. Hell, I'm wary enough of factory stuff, much less something the local hack throws together.