M4 Blew Up

**cjb** · 01-25-14, 07:22

Originally Posted by MeanRider

Some more pics. Also this happened at 0200, and it had only been out of my car for five minutes tops.

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Whats happening in that case head picture? Thats not the blown case head. Do I see a faint strike on that primer? Was that the case you extracted that did not fire? If so... out of battery firing seems even more likely.

**MeanRider** · 01-25-14, 07:23

That is what l assume to be the round that did not fire.

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**patrick0525** · 01-25-14, 07:36

You posted the photo of the smaller broken section of the upper which is the external side.
Do have a closeup photo of the upper's internal side - somewhere closer towards the barrel extension? Just turn it over. Thanks.

**Scrubber3** · 01-25-14, 08:30

Bore obstruction would be my guess here. Really simple. Explosions look for the path of least resistance. Any chance you topped off at some point giving yourself 31 total at hand? This honestly sounds like a squib load.

**SpankMonkey** · 01-25-14, 08:31

How was the rifle stored? In the cab or the trunk? Was it a warm gun brought out into the cold or was the gun already cold? Did you have any condensation on the aimpoint lenses?

**hals1** · 01-25-14, 08:46

Originally Posted by MeanRider

. It did sent the round downrange and it did kill the deer.

For everyone saying squib or barrel obstruction.

**WillBrink** · 01-25-14, 09:06

Yikes. Surprised and happy you didn't get any parts stuck in your body. I have nadda to offer as to cause, but I'm subscribing to the thread because I'm interested to see what the final cause was if it can be determined at at all. Stay safe!

My only (un informed) thought was, was it in the warm car 'till removed or in the trunk? At temps that low for prolonged time, the metals characteristics can change and perhaps be far less tolerant to what wold other wise not be a catastrophic failure. However, many arctic mil types use ARs in some very low temps. Do they need to take special precautions when the temp falls below X? Im not sure, but only thought I had if an obvious cause not found, like a blockage. To m, the temp keeps jumping in my mind as at least a mitigating factor to the event, but that's WAG on my end.