Colt Expanse Kaboom

[jackblack73]

Just curious how this thread would have went had this happened to a RRA, DPMS or Bushmaster ?

Not bashing - I have two Colt 6721's.

The Expanse is not exactly a well regarded rifle on this site since it's not a true Colt.

[Kdubya]

Not much differently. Those manufacturers are sub par, but aren't self exploding. I'm not thrilled about colt expanse either.

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Honest question. What makes the lower on the Expanse any different than what's found on a 6920? Same M4 and Colt Defense markings, and LE serial # on the expanse and 6920s. Did the earlier versions use 6920 lowers? Did they share any other parts?

[tylerw02]

What is the difference between the Federal 5.56 mm Military Grade and M193 that comes in a tan box? Is it the same ammunition?

According to my friend who is an engineer at ATK-Lake City, nothing other than the box.


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[Butch]

Honest question. What makes the lower on the Expanse any different than what's found on a 6920? Same M4 and Colt Defense markings, and LE serial # on the expanse and 6920s. Did the earlier versions use 6920 lowers? Did they share any other parts?

[T2C]

According to my friend who is an engineer at ATK-Lake City, nothing other than the box.


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Thank you.

In my opinion, the M193 Federal is a warm round, much warmer than Winchester white box, PMC yellow box, Remington in the green and white box, etc. We fired truck loads of M193 during training with 400 U.S. Army lend/lease M-16s and a few hundred commercial M4 copies made by Rock River Arms, Armalite, Bushmaster and Colt without any weapons detonating like the one in the OP's video. We had a popped primers with the M-16s and some failure to feed issues, but that was about it.

I think there is a chance that headspace was partially responsible for the carbine detonating in this instance.

[blueskiescavu]

A friend had a Colt Competition rifle that had to go back to Texas. His headspace was so off that after firing only a few rounds his brass was destroyed. He called and was told to send back ASAP. This was a brand new Colt Competition rifle. 10 rounds fired. It was sent back and they put on a new barrel. This was last year.

I saw the brass that came out of this rifle....can't believe he was not hurt.

[tylerw02]

A friend had a Colt Competition rifle that had to go back to Texas. His headspace was so off that after firing only a few rounds his brass was destroyed. He called and was told to send back ASAP. This was a brand new Colt Competition rifle. 10 rounds fired. It was sent back and they put on a new barrel. This was last year.

I saw the brass that came out of this rifle....can't believe he was not hurt.

Those weren't manufactured by Colt. Those were produced by a third-party under license from Colt.


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[Kdubya]

Interesting video, Butch. So the lower (minus some of the innards) appears to be the same as a 69xx. Now, the upper in his video is different than the one falling victim to the KB. The KB rifle looks to have the "C" stamp; but with a Square forge, and not the Cerro keyhole. However, it seems that some 6920s wear the Square (Brass Aluminum) forgings. So, it could be a genuine Colt upper. Or, the "C" is just something they licensed out at one point to whomever makes the Expanse.

Overall, it's informative but leaves room for discussion. We see comments all the time to the effect of, "Just because company X and Y use the same base Forging/BCG/Barrel/Etc. doesn't mean they are the same quality." Everything from the T Markings on the upper to MP and HP testing costs time and money. So, in theory, all of the parts could be produced by Colt; but not to the same level of "completeness" as a 6xxx series rifle.

FWIW, I don't have really have a specific point I'm trying to work towards. You just hear stories sometimes about sellers parting out Expanse rifles; but selling the components as if they're sourced from the more highly regarded models. Ethical discussion aside, it certainly seems plausible this could happen.

[blueskiescavu]

Well aware they are not made by Colt just like the "Colt Expanse ". Question is are the Competition and the Expanse made by the same company? If so, they have a problem.

[Todd.K]

I'd say the same thing about any make, unless it's the first shot out of a new gun. What was different from the last 100 or 1000 rounds fired? It's an obstruction in the bore or an over pressure round.

I've seen an OOB (caused by the primer) There were no signs of pressure on the back of the case and the damage was minimal. This was a much higher pressure event.