I saw something on 3/9 that I have never seen before - a rifle exploding at the range. An elderly gentleman was shooting on another set of benches near me and I was watching him. He sat down, loaded the gun and at the squeeze of the trigger, the rifle exploded! The barrel fell off and hit the cement floor, the action was split back like a banana, the bolt face face was missing nearly a third of the face and the cartidge case was stuck in the chamber yet. The cartridge head was missing a chunk of the brass where the extractor gripped it and the flashhole was enlarged. The stock which was a thumbhole laminated stock, split in two and the scope bell was bent. The guy wasn't hurt and nobody else on the range was either.
He claims he was loading 25 grains of 2400 powder in the .223 he was shooting. The rifle was a Savage model 25. I believe he overloaded with an incorrect charge of powder.
Exploding Rifle
_ _ _Death Comes Out the End of This Thing _ _ _
