Fairly Spectacular Failure of an AR

[Iraqgunz]

This has been mentioned 100 times before. All ammo is susceptible to malfunctions or failure. I have XM193 at the house and use it routinely for training. We had thousands and thousands of MILSPEC M193 that we used in Iraq for punching paper and never had any issues.

For you military guys out there, get with some ordnance or ammo gurus and ask them to show you some recent NAR's and look at the various types of small arms ammo that have issues.

[ThirdWatcher]

As others have pointed out, wouldn't the weapon have to fire out of battery to do that much damage to the (aluminum) receiver? Normally, the round is surrounded by steel (in the chamber) when fired. (I still don't have a clue how it would fire out of battery, though.)

[geminidglocker]

I was just joking about the Colt godlike thing. Had nearly the same thing happen to a buddy in the Army. I like Colt just as much as anyone here, and have never said, nor will I ever say anything bad about them.

[Todd.K]

The pressure forces brass under the extractor.
When the brass fails the pressure goes into the carrier around the bolt.

An out of battery event would not have enough pressure to destroy the bolt carrier.

[ThirdWatcher]

Thanks.

[Caeser25]

"What type of magazine were you using, and what happened to it when the blowout happened?

The one overpressure kaboom I've seen (at the Ft Lewis shoothouse during a blankfire run) involved an M16A2, blanks, and a GI mag. It blew off then end of the extractor claw (I was a safety, up top the catwalk, and a sizable fireball came out the ejector port) and blew out the bottom of the magazine.

It would seem to me that that route would offer considerably less resistance than through the sidewall of the upper receiver. "

reading this from TFL, I've seen the same thing where the bottom of the mag blew out. What would happen if one were using a PMAG

[sff70]

Todd, thanks for the explanation.

[Todd.K]

The barrel extension or bolt carrier splitting is what causes the upper to break.


The extractor being forced out can crack the barrel extension.

The gas escapes under the extractor into the carrier, then splits the bottom of the carrier down and sometimes splits to the sides.

[tonnete_r]

So this can prsume that the kaboom was due to ammo defect?

[CarlosDJackal]

ANYTHING MAN MADE CAN AND WILL BREAK!

I don't care if it's made by Colt, FN, H&K, or what-have-you. When a maker tries to tout their product as being "perfect" - RUN AWAY!! They all make their money from selling as many of their Snake Oil to as many suckers they can.

In engineering terms I believe they call it, "Mean Rounds Before Failure" or MRBF. There is a number associated with this which is normally not available to the public.

Anyone who factually states that Brand 'X' will never fail is full of crap and needs to research just what Murphy can do to "perfection". JM2CW.

[Avenger29]

Originally Posted by Avenger29

I've seen people point out the stupidest things in their hurry to hate on Colt. I can almost guarantee that in the next thread on a lesser site where someone asks or suggests Colt, this kB incident will pop up.


Like everybody else, I do want to hear what Colt and Federal say/do in this case.

I predicted that some mouthbreather would bash Colt for this, and looked what happened. (Do keep in mind I'm not trying to start a forum war, just pointing out the reaction of the idiots across the internets. I haven't been on TOS, so I couldn't tell you what they are doing over there.)

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=487376

but wait, aren't COLTS the best thing since sliced bread?
i laughed when i read this.

colt has the most ardent fanboys. try this article on for size, fellers.

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2...-ar-15-kaboom/

[Todd.K]

CarlosDJackal, can you point out anything than makes you feel this is a weapon failure?

[tirod]

That thread is familiar, hmmm.

"If you shoot enough, it will eventually happen. Lots of kBs have happened in the past that few people not directly connected to the event ever hear about. We are hearing more about them due to the greatly increased number of people that participate in high-round count training that have access to mass-media distribution, such as the internet."

I definitely agree with this. ^

And let me say that Colts are fine weapons. I was a happy user for 22 years, including GM Saginaw and FN. Owned a HK91 from the $160 days.

What I never got to use was a perfect one. Just highly reliable. I agree, anything could go kaboom. My truck even launched a rod through the block once. I don't use that brand of filter anymore.

I still sell them though, and it doesn't seem to be a recent problem. Other lots of XM may be no problem at all. It would be nice to know the ones that may be.

Any feedback on forensics yet?

[tinman44]

omg blasphemy begone!

[Bobert0989]

Originally Posted by spankaveli

If any of you want, I would be so kind as to accept delivery of any of this dangerous XM193 that you all want to get rid of at no charge to you.

I know it's a very noble gesture but it's the least I can do.

Same here... I'll shoot it!

[Iraqgunz]

Based on the Kabooms I have seen this was 99.99% most assuredly not a weapons issue, but an ammo issue.

Originally Posted by CarlosDJackal

ANYTHING MAN MADE CAN AND WILL BREAK!

I don't care if it's made by Colt, FN, H&K, or what-have-you. When a maker tries to tout their product as being "perfect" - RUN AWAY!! They all make their money from selling as many of their Snake Oil to as many suckers they can.

In engineering terms I believe they call it, "Mean Rounds Before Failure" or MRBF. There is a number associated with this which is normally not available to the public.

Anyone who factually states that Brand 'X' will never fail is full of crap and needs to research just what Murphy can do to "perfection". JM2CW.

[Redline]

Originally Posted by spankaveli

If any of you want, I would be so kind as to accept delivery of any of this dangerous XM193 that you all want to get rid of at no charge to you.

I know it's a very noble gesture but it's the least I can do.

I'll go one further. I'll even reimburse you for shipping said ammo to me in NJ....UPS ground of course....

[akgunnut]

So is Federal XM193 safe to use or is it too dangerous? If it is rejected ammo why didn't they send it back to the place that made the ammo and have them fix it rather than putting it on the commercial market?

I have about 700 rounds of this stuff and am now wondering if I should use it in my M&P15.

[Mac5.56]

ummm... interesting story, crazy malfunction.

On a side note though the first image he showed (the group shot) is photoshopped. The guy on the left, the over weight one with the beard is added into the photo. Either that or the entire background is fake and the faker failed horribly when they got to the last guy on the left.

[chadbag]

Originally Posted by dmcmanus

ummm... interesting story, crazy malfunction.

On a side note though the first image he showed (the group shot) is photoshopped. The guy on the left, the over weight one with the beard is added into the photo. Either that or the entire background is fake and the faker failed horribly when they got to the last guy on the left.

I don't think so. I think it is a combination of digital photography, with unsharp mask being run on it perhaps incorrectly, and short focal length on the lense. My brother has taken some shots with his DSLR (Nikon D200) of his daughter out in the woods with her cello and they have the same feel to them as this one and they are 100% original, but processed with unsharp mask etc.