50 BMG Round Explosion

I watched that one the other day a very fortunate man. He did mention he was not certain of the ammo could have been someone's reloads. I would suspect a double charge by the way it went boom. If I had any more of that ammo it would be disassembled.
 
I think this was a progressive failure of the rifle, enhanced by a hot load, possibly a double charge. The M903 round is designed ONLY for the M2, and shooting it in any other gun chambered for the .50 BMG is a risk. I think the several SLAP rounds he fired started a failure mode that culminated in the catastrophic failure of the rifle, of weakening the threads on the breech, even though the cap could be threaded and tightened all the way to the point of firing the last round. I'd like to have seen the threads inside the cap, I believe they were probably distorted as well.

I saw something in the video that I wonder about, it happens just after he chambered the last round and closed the gun; a small piece of something flew down from around the grip/breech area of the rifle and bounced forward off the table. I tried to isolate it by starting and stopping the video rapidly, but could not get a clear idea of what it was. It was light colored, possibly brass, and looked to be about the size of the end of a finger

However, I am extremely please he pulled through the injuries. He was lucky on so many levels; that the shrapnel lacerated his jugular instead of his carotid artery, which lies next to the jugular in the neck; that he is a solid and healthy guy; that he had training and didn't panic; that his Dad was there to lend assistance and get him to advanced care, and that he was in an area that has one of the best trauma centers in the US.
 
Hair Trigger said:
I saw something in the video that I wonder about, it happens just after he chambered the last round and closed the gun; a small piece of something flew down from around the grip/breech area of the rifle and bounced forward off the table. I tried to isolate it by starting and stopping the video rapidly, but could not get a clear idea of what it was. It was light colored, possibly brass, and looked to be about the size of the end of a finger

Howev
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I went back and viewed it yes I see it too see photo
 

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When I first saw this thread yesterday, I ignored it thinking it was just some Bubba with a homemade rifle or some handloads or one of those YouTubers who is always doing unsafe things for cheap views, I only found out that it was Scott when I visited YouTube today and saw his video in my recommended videos. I'm extremely glad that he's okay, as he's a very nice guy and his videos are extremely entertaining. His survival is nothing short of miraculous, how else does a man with a slashed Jugular, a punctuated/collaped Lung, and a crushed Orbital Bone who had the most powerful rifle cartridge explode in his face survive with no permanent injuries/rehabilitations?

I've never shot any MilSurp ammo because it seemed unsafe, and now I'm sure that I never will.
 
steelslaver said:
While the design of the gun is non conventional I agree it was not the gun. At over 85,000psi a Barret may have left you with a bolt in your forehead. That heavy cap threaded on with the heavy threads should have been able to take any reasonably pressure.

He said the manufacture said it would take over 85,000 PSI and I believe that. Look at high pressure hydraulic piping sometime. It would not be hard to pressure test a set of treads like that to determine when they would fail. The manufacture probably did at some point in the design. A blind hole in a piece of that steels round stock with the open end threaded with those threads and that cap, a gauge and port installed in the firing pin hole and a high pressure pump and go to pumping until it let go.

A very old duplex powder that changed it own property or someones concoction is what I suspect.

I met a guy at a gun show who had a blown up single shot bolt action style 50BMG. He had also been pretty severely injured.

An 85,000 PSI round in a Winchester model 70 30-06 might become real evil. Given enough pressure it would rip the bolt lugs right off.

Notice the chamber itself did not fail.
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I was surprised that I didn't see acme threads on the cap.

God bless him that he survived this.
 
After watching this, I really do think that God had his back. Also, the stars were all aligned for this man. Everything that happened from the time he pulled the trigger till when he woke up after the initial operation that saved his life happened to the point that if one part of the event went slightly off-kilter this man would not be alive; and at the very least he would only have one eye. How he stayed so cool during the trip to meet the medics and then to the hospital(s) is just amazing!
 
wood714 said:
Yep, A miracle type blessing period.

I didn't think anyone could survive getting their throat cut like that.
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I can't remember the specifics, (it's probably on YouTube) but I believe it was a pro hockey goalie that got sliced in the neck by a skate in a freak accident and I'm pretty sure he lived. Blood was everywhere except inside his body where it was supposed to be. That was maybe 30 years ago? Yeah, the jugular and the vein in your leg that keeps me from appendix carry. Those are pretty much a death sentence.
BTW, I had to order the shirt, if for nothing else to help him buy a new pair of goggles/safety glasses.
 
God has more plans for Scott, perhaps its just to reach one viewer that was on the fence about God being real. Who knows!? But definitely saved by grace. Praise be to our Father in heaven, who watches over us . I've had close brushes with the Grim Reapper myself, over the years, and I know not why I was spared.

Love Scott's attitude and will become a subscriber, just to see what the Lord has planned. I don't shoot a 50, but I do shoot my own reloads. I'm thankful to whomever shared this on the forum. May God Bless you and your family as well.
 
The video and Scott’s near death experience demonstrates the potential we are exposed to every time we pull the trigger. Six years ago I was 10 ft. away from a friend shooting a 7.62x39 AR that exploded, it fragged a thirty foot area to the left of the shooter, sheared three lugs off ftrom the bolt and split the barrel extension of the barrel.
That was a “puny” AK round.
I have considerable experience with SLAP rounds, and have been shooting BMG rifles for thirty years. I would not shoot the SLAP n any of my rifles, for several reasons.
Nor will I shoot any “unknown origin” cartridges in my rifles, or allow anybody else to.
I am glad Scott survived the incident, and give credit to his dad and Scott for remaining calm under life threatening conditions. Those calm and effective decisions and rapid transport saved his life.
Ten years ago I bought a new McMillan 50 BMG bolt gun and fired a new factory fresh commercial loaded M33 ball round in it. It locked up the rifle, could not lift the bolt handle. After getting the action unlocked and the brass extracted, it was obvious there was an over pressure issue. The base of the cartridge had been pressed so hard against the bolt face that the stamped manufacturer, caliber printing on the head stamp had been “ironed out”. That was with new commercially loaded ammo from (a major manufacturer) ammo producer in a brand new rifle.
50 BMG’s are a “beast of another color” and when things go wrong they are on a much grander scale than usual.
 
wood714 said:
That's what I was thinking. I checked out the maker of the rifle. I'd not be too comfortable shooting 50 BMG out of a $1,259 rifle.

RN-50 - Serbu Firearms, Inc.
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Yeah, people complain about the government and problems with things made by the low bidder and then go do the exact same thing in their own lives.
Having a round with a 55-60K chamber pressure and failure pressure of about 85K doesn't fill me with warm fuzzies, even less when there is nothing between the shooter and the breech cap. I know many rifle designs have a safety-lug setup where for instance the bolt handle also restrains the bolt should the lugs fail. Had this rifle had an extra pound or so of blast shielding it would likely have resulted in much less injury. I don't like them but I can't fault the threads too much since a M2 uses v-cut threads, but in the case of the M2 if the threads were to let go there is a bunch of metal between the shooter and the point of failure, it's also set up so the blast was directed forward.
Of course, continuing to shoot ammo that's giving weird recoil and accuracy results is asking for trouble as well.
All that said, yeah, firearms are dangerous on both ends.

As to the whole lucky/unlucky thing, hard to say. I'd say lucky would be having nothing happen and unlucky is a fatality and anything in-between is viewable either way depending on the perspective of the person making that call. I'm reminded of a unnecessary vehicle rollover where I might have easily died and everybody was all "you are lucky to be alive". After a while I got tired of it since that was true but it was just as true that I was unlucky to have rolled the Jeep. Things just are what they are.
 
Those who worry about the threads should take the barrel off most any bolt action rifle. A model 70 in 458 Winchester mag uses the same threads as a 30-06. How many have had a rifle barrel fly off? A 50 BMG barrel threaded to an action with a locking lug bolt would still depend on the threads to hold the pressure.
 
steelslaver said:
Those who worry about the threads should take the barrel off most any bolt action rifle. A model 70 in 458 Winchester mag uses the same threads as a 30-06. How many have had a rifle barrel fly off? A 50 BMG barrel threaded to an action with a locking lug bolt would still depend on the threads to hold the pressure.
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Yes, but in your examples the threads are preventing something from flying forward, away from you. Having 6 or 8 thin threads being the only thing stopping .50 BMG energy from coming back into your face is different, in my opinion.
 
Drm50 said:
It was combination of the rifles design and bad ammo. From what I understand they aren’t sure if this was actual military ammo or ammo put together with surplus components. At $100 a cartridge there is going to be counterfeit loads.
I’ve never loaded 50BMG. Is it possible to blow up a gun with the correct powder ? The design of that rifle is about the same as a pipe bomb.
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It looks like a .50 BMG zip gun. About a snow balls chance in hell I’ll line up the back of that design with my face. Add to that the skepticism around the ammo and you get to what Ian at Forgotten Weapons talks about in his video concerning this disaster. I’m not coming from a place of after thought. What Scott was doing in his vids gave me goose bumps before this; from shooting high energy at hard targets inside 100 yards, to questionable ammo, to questionable fire arms designs. As Ian put it “When EVERYTHING goes perfectly wrong”. He has a wife and kids. So do I. I can’t imagine what all of them were forced consider when this unfolded. I very sincerely hope he pulls some of the risk out of his hobby. It’s supposed to be fun, not this.
 
When I think of a .50 BMG and its capability, I don't picture any gun other than the M2, and I think of the caliber not as an antipersonnel round, but as an anti-armor or antiaircraft one. In that light, I'd never shoot one in a gun that didn't have a healthy recoil mechanism, or one where my face has to be directly behind the breech/bolt.
 
vt_shooter said:
Yes, but in your examples the threads are preventing something from flying forward, away from you. Having 6 or 8 thin threads being the only thing stopping .50 BMG energy from coming back into your face is different, in my opinion.
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They may keep the barrel from going forward but they still keep the action with locking lugs coupled to the barrel to contain the exact same explosion. As you know the parts with the least mass will accelerate the most. With a heavy barrel that may well be the action. Probably less apt to cause injury, but, absolutely no less apt to separate. If the action was a 16# solid piece of steel with nothing but a hole for firing pin and the barrel was threaded into it with the same threads it would not contain the explosion one bit better than a heavy cap screwed to the barrel as the exact same forces are working on those threads.

A 16# piece of steel does not have to be going very fast to hurt or kill you. Witness a sledge hammer. A swung sledge is going about less than 100fps.
 
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