Thanks Dad!!!

[Jayba]

So this is my first post. Long time creeper though. An interesting story I wanted to share.

While back homen this summer my dad gave me a Remington Woodsmaster 742 chambered in .243. Dad was given it by a friend and and it sat for years and was never fired by him. Eventually it came to me.
Shot great, groups at 100 yards of 2 inches. Pretty darn good for a semi auto huntung rifle. Fired awesome with no jams etc. Over the last couple weeks the bolt wasn't returning to the chamber fully so i gave it some oil, it started jamming open like the ammo was too hot and the extra kaboom was throwing the bolt way back. Did some readung to find the action likes to be dry. Lightly oiled the rails and went to the range today.
Heres where it gets interesting. After firing 5 or 6 rounds I put a single round in the magazine and charged the gun.

I pulled the trigger and the freaking gun exploded in my face in a big kaboom and a puff of smoke! I felt like i was punched in the
face. I sat motionless for a moment taking stock of my bits and pieces. My safety glasses were no longer on my face, I closed one eye then the other to confirm both my eyes were still functioning, touched my face and held my hand out looking for blood. No blood...by this time a nice guy had walked up behind me , put his hands on my shoulders and asked if i was ok. The then proceeded to walk to my right to take a look at the right side of my face.
I passed inspection!
My free rifle on the other hand did not pass. The cartridge brass was torn in 2. Half an inch of it still in the bolt that had been driven way back and was now housed under the trigger assembly. The other half was found nearby. Along with the remenants of the magazine. The sides of the action were bowed outwards and the ejection port mangled.
Afterwards I surmised that somehow the bolt hadn't chambered the bullet all the way in, and hadn't locked itself in. It allowed me to pull the trigger and kaboom. Dirty shorts and a broken gun.
For years I have whined about safety glasses fogging up and getting in the way. Today i am glad they did. A good reminder to wear your gear!
On the way home I bought a lottery ticket....I figured I was pretty lucky today.

Jay

P.S. Looking for a good deal on a gun.....lol

[gunluvr]

Wow... glad you're ok. Think I'll stay with bolt guns.

[sns2]

x2 Glad youre alright

[Unregistered user]

Please post pics of the gun.

[Positrac]

Wow, scary stuff. Glad you made it out ok.

How were your shorts?

[CNP]

You weren't lucky Thank the Lord.

[Jayba]

Here are some pictures. Unfortunately i chucked the magazine at the range.

[Jayba]

Originally Posted by Positrac

Wow, scary stuff. Glad you made it out ok.

How were your shorts?

Shorts were ok at the time. The more i thought about how it could have turned out the more I puckered. :-)

[stob]

A. - glad you are still with us
B. - shooting glasses lesson reinforced
C. - send your story and pics to Remington and leave it open ended by ending with >>>Now What?

[elkhunter11]

Scary stuff, glad you weren't hurt. Were you shooting factory loads?

[3blade]

Glad you're ok.

Just spitballing here...you "gave it some oil"....I'm wondering if that oil made the brass too slick in the chamber and the full force came backwards onto the bolt on firing.

See the reloading sticky at the top for why you should never lube a chamber, or allow oil to get in there. The brass needs to grip the chamber walls to fire safely.

[Unregistered user]

Awesome, Thanx for posting!

[Jayba]

Originally Posted by elkhunter11

Scary stuff, glad you weren't hurt. Were you shooting factory loads?

They were factory loads yes.

[Dick284]

Originally Posted by Jayba

They were factory loads yes.

We're the regular factory fodder, or some sort of super performance/high energy fodder?

[Jayba]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Glad you're ok.

Just spitballing here...you "gave it some oil"....I'm wondering if that oil made the brass too slick in the chamber and the full force came backwards onto the bolt on firing.

See the reloading sticky at the top for why you should never lube a chamber, or allow oil to get in there. The brass needs to grip the chamber walls to fire safely.

I gave a drop of oil on each action bar where they slide against the action wall. The actual bolt and assembly and chamber was dry.

[Ranger CS]

Wow, scary incident. Glad you were not seriously injured. Thanks for posting.

[AB2506]

Glad you are ok.

Most interested in the case. In your photo it appears that the case is also missing the whole neck? Please check the chamber and report if the neck is stuck in there.

First suspected it was a reload where the neck was too long and when you loaded the round from the magazine, the bolt drove the neck into the lands. That alone could cause the over pressure that damaged the rifle.

Did you buy the factory ammo from the store or from a person who no longer needed it? Just wondering if it was the latter, if an untrimmed reloaded cartridge was slipped in the partial box?

If you bought the ammo at the store, it should be sent back to the manufacturer for analysis.

[Jayba]

Originally Posted by stob

A. - glad you are still with us
B. - shooting glasses lesson reinforced
C. - send your story and pics to Remington and leave it open ended by ending with >>>Now What?

I had inquired 2 weeks ago to Gravel about recalls/repairs, upgrades or even buybacks (that Remington did in the 90's) for this troubled series of guns. They they told me to see a gunsmith for any concerns......Well thanks....

This mornings email went to Remington USA. I said if you are unable to help me, please "forward this email to someone who can"

We shall see. What happens

This will be a huge factor on whose bolt action gun I buy...

[hilt134]

Well seeing as how your the third owner i doubt they will help to much but hopefully im wrong. Anyway good thing your safe and sound.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by hilt134

Well seeing as how your the third owner i doubt they will help to much but hopefully im wrong. Anyway good thing your safe and sound.

I have to agree, trying to get the company to reimburse or compensate you for a catastrophe failure on a rifle which was acquired second hand and frankly has no history like this is a lost cause
Cat

[58thecat]

Holy crap!

[Scotty454]

Holy crap!! Case torn in three, crazy!

Also weird that the action seems to be bulged out sideways, but the case ruptured out from the head and the neck with the body still in tact. Lot of force involved here...

[Dean2]

You are a very lucky dude. This type of failure is why I NEVER shoot right handed semi guns left handed. Your face would have looked a lot worse if the ejection port was facing you.

Gun should not be able fire out of battery ever but it is pretty clear this one did. Second hand or not I would still be talking hard to Remington.

[Unregistered user]

I had a 742, sold it and went to a Savage bolt. Never looked back. Glad you're fine.

[KegRiver]

First, thank God you are okay.

Now, I'm not sure that gun did malfunction. It looks to me like you unintentionally fed it a massive overlaod or the bolt failed to lock for whatever reason.

If that round had detonated in the open action it would had done little damage and blown the brass to smitherines. Instead it blew the base off and tore the neck off, that shell was fully in the chamber when the charge went off.

What I can't figure out is what bowed the action walls, I can's see a normal charge causing that under any circumstance.

If the bolt didn't lock it would certainly drive that bolt back with incredible force and do damage. I've seen magazines blown off and bolts jammed open but I've never heard of action walls bulging due to a bolt failure.

I just don't think a normal change could do that. And especially not if the case was mostly in the chamber. All the force should go directly back, not sideways.

Is there a chance one or more of those rounds were hand loads.
A double charge could do that sort of damage. It may also explain why the bolt failed to lock. If that case was not properly resized during reloading, it could prevent such a bolt for rotating fully into the lock position and you might have no indication that there was anything wrong.

Some guys only resize the neck of the case when reloading for bolt actions.
Trying to use that ammunition in a auto can cause all kinds of grief.

You can force he bolt handle down on a bolt action but you wouldn't necessarily know the bolt had not rotated into position with an auto.

I'm guessing of course but nothing else makes sense to me and this does.

If I'm on the right track it's amazing you are even alive. Those kinds of mistakes can easily kill a guy.
This might be a good time to buy a lottery ticket. I think you may be on the luckiest streak ever.

[Jayba]

UPDATE

Just a follow up, these were factory ammo. So a reload getting mixed in is out.
I did piece together the brass and it appears the factory neck is still there, although the shoulder has been moved closer to the neck. You can actually see a line where the factory shoulder was. Which makes me pretty confident that the bullet was in the chamber. As the factory neck size didn't expand.



Suspecting the bolt being the failure I pulled it out. Not sure if using a hammer to slide the charging handle forward did it or what, but a bunch of parts came out of the bolt. I'm no expert, but that seems wrong. Here is the bolt bits.



I'm not real bolt savvy, so I'm going to assume that there's something wrong with the bolt. Maybe as some have said,the bolt didnt lock in, but why would it allow the trigger to be pulled? If anyone could offer scenarios based on the info I have provided it would be appreciated.

Jay

[Dean2]

Clearly the bolt was NOT completely in battery when the gun fired. The longer shoulder and blown head tell you the cartridge was not completely supported by the chamber. On firing it fire formed to the part of the chamber it was in and the much longer case body, missing shoulder and short/no neck says the bolt was a long ways from being fully closed. As you know, gun should not fire when not in battery but this one either slam fired or allowed you to trip the firing ping when the bolt wasn't closed. Do you remember pulling the trigger or did the gun go off while it was cycling (slam fire). The extensive damage to the bolt is from being rammed back under full pressure, which is more proof of an out of battery ignition.

The sidewall blowout was caused by the pressure exiting the gun through the mag well. In one of the pictures, the split in the rear of the case looked like it was facing down so this makes sense as well.My bet is the mag was twisted and deformed pretty heavily.

Call yourself very luck and go buy a good bolt action. Would be interested to hear what Remington says when you hear back from them.

[KegRiver]

I can see the bolt being nearly all the way forward but not rotated into lock position but as Dean says it should not be able to trip the hammer with the bolt in that position.

I've never seen a bolt failure of that nature so I'll have to accept that the blowback from such a situation could bow the action walls.
All I know is that an unsupported case would never develop that sort of pressure. I used to think it was fun to put live rounds on top the old wood stove. Dangerous and stupid but no one got hurt.
Just the loaded cartridge by itself does not generate a lot of power, we usually found the bullet a few feet away, undamaged.

No matter what went wrong, that was a lucky escape. That kind of pressure can do serious damage with the shrapnel alone.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I can see the bolt being nearly all the way forward but not rotated into lock position but as Dean says it should not be able to trip the hammer with the bolt in that position.

I've never seen a bolt failure of that nature so I'll have to accept that the blowback from such a situation could bow the action walls.
All I know is that an unsupported case would never develop that sort of pressure. I used to think it was fun to put live rounds on top the old wood stove. Dangerous and stupid but no one got hurt.
Just the loaded cartridge by itself does not generate a lot of power, we usually found the bullet a few feet away, undamaged.

No matter what went wrong, that was a lucky escape. That kind of pressure can do serious damage with the shrapnel alone.

Keg

I agree about a totally unsupported case. We used to shoot the primers on 12 gauges with 22s from 25 yards. The empty case would come back 20 yards and the shot would stay in the bale. That said, there is a big difference when the case is partly supported. In this case, the bullet still is blocking the gas escape until it exits the barrel. That means the round develops its full SAMI pressure of 50-60,000 psi. In the case of this failure a lot of that pressure went back and down rather than out the barrel.

[rls09]

Just curious, with all the pressure blowing out the backend where did the bullet end up? Also curious if maybe the ammo was marked incorrectly and a larger caliber bullet may not have let the cartridge engage fully in the chamber. Still doesn't explain the gun actually firing though.

Pretty scary though, no matter what went wrong.