AR kaboom, is the barrel salvagable?

Originally Posted By: GLShooterWas it loud? How was the upper? Salvageable?

Greg

Shot was normal. Only noticed a slightly different noise in the buffer/spring and that it didn't cycle correctly. Everything was good except for the gas block and barrel.
 
Yeah it was a bummer. Except for my stinging hand that was holding the mag and some extra smoke that came out of the right side of the gun it was fairly undramatic. My scope mount survived with nothing more than a little scratch.

I've loaded thousands of rounds of rifle ammo but have always used extruded powders, can't really mix that up with ball or flake powder. Unfortunately I wasn't paying close enough attention to see the difference between the flattened ball H335 and the flake Longshot, and I still don't fully understand how I got them mixed together, it was a new upper with new powder. But for the price of a new upper it was a decent learning experience.
 
Originally Posted By: Smokin BarrelOriginally Posted By: GLShooterWas it loud? How was the upper? Salvageable?

Greg

Shot was normal. Only noticed a slightly different noise in the buffer/spring and that it didn't cycle correctly. Everything was good except for the gas block and barrel.

Did you find the laser? I found a ram rod some shot one day. Unique.

Greg
 
Originally Posted By: GLShooterOriginally Posted By: Smokin BarrelOriginally Posted By: GLShooterWas it loud? How was the upper? Salvageable?

Greg

Shot was normal. Only noticed a slightly different noise in the buffer/spring and that it didn't cycle correctly. Everything was good except for the gas block and barrel.

Did you find the laser? I found a ram rod some shot one day. Unique.

Greg

LOL....no, neither hide nor hair of it.
 
Glad, no one was hurt...I got back to the truck after a calling session, and was getting ready to unload, and the farmer pulled up in back of me, I could tell he was annoyed, so I pulled out of the way. I got home and went to double check my AR, and it still had a round in the chamber, of course safety was on, but I was still mortified!!I had a system that worked, but I got distracted, I now never take any of my AR weapons out of the safe with out having the bolt open or the little range chamber flags that I love, I also will not allow any of my hunting buddies to put a rifle or shotgun in my vehicle unless the chamber bolts are open and I inspect them.
You just cant be to careful, and your right its the distractions that get you...
 
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Fired a M16A2 one time back in 93 with a blank adapter on it. knocked me out for about 5-10 sec. Scared the crap out of me. was doing force on force against 2 BCT 10 mtn. Had to do safety stand down because live rounds got in with blanks.
 
I would think the gases of the bullet pushing out the barrel would remove it. I have actually done that too. it makes it super easy to setup a chrony at the range. I had no ill effects.
 
That's why I really don't want to do the whole ball powder. Hard to mix up h4895,reloader15,etc.. Seen a deer rifle wired to a board that the guy mixed up pistol powder with rifle powder it was a 06 if i,remember. It was in 8 pieces.Glad your good. Originally Posted By: Rock KnockerYeah it was a bummer. Except for my stinging hand that was holding the mag and some extra smoke that came out of the right side of the gun it was fairly undramatic. My scope mount survived with nothing more than a little scratch.

I've loaded thousands of rounds of rifle ammo but have always used extruded powders, can't really mix that up with ball or flake powder. Unfortunately I wasn't paying close enough attention to see the difference between the flattened ball H335 and the flake Longshot, and I still don't fully understand how I got them mixed together, it was a new upper with new powder. But for the price of a new upper it was a decent learning experience.
 
first off - let me say to the OP: glad you got away with some bruised fingers, a bruised ego and a stain in your shorts as the only penalty's besides the loss of your equipment.

Quote:Could you re-chamber it

even if rechambering were possible, is it really worth the risk without knowing the exact extent of the damage to the barrel? i'd imagine the kind of testing required to confirm that there's no micro faults present that would effect the integrity of the barrel would cost significantly more than replacing the barrel.


purely for peace of mind, there's nothing on this planet you could do to get me to keep it around after an event like that.

while i appreciate that BHW barrels aren't cheap (we're not talking about a $100 fleabay barrel), taking the mystery out of a barrel that has experienced that kind of event is worth taking the hit, IMHO. I know i wouldnt be willing to risk my personal safety on it going forward.

just my $0.02 usd
 
Thanks a lot pal for digging this out of the grave for your first post! Lol, welcome to predator masters, and remember to never mix pistol powder into your rifle powder.

I did end up finding the exploded magazine I thought I threw out. This is a picture of the bottom side that I was holding on to.

 
you have a conure as a reloading buddy? how cool!
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is that just a regular green cheek? or one of the fancy's (like a pineapple?) cant see its chest to be sure
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Hahaha I was told she is a cinnamon green cheek conure, I ended up with her when my buddy couldn't keep it at his place anymore. They do make incredibly good pets, she wants to get into anything I am playing with, when I start weighing out powder I have to give her her own powder scoop to play with otherwise she will grab mine and run around with it.
 
theyre neat birds, and you're lucky to have one thats so personable, especially taking her on from a rescue type situation
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much like any other parrot (or many other pets for that matter) they each have their own very distinct personalities.

my brother and his wife have a female cinnamon and a male pineapple. She was a rescue who was being tormented by customers at a petstore so she had real issues with hands when she first got to her 'forever home'. Her attitude could go from 'hi, i'm a pretty bird' to 'i want to rip your hands or face off' in about 2.3 seconds - especially when it came to anyone but momma. She has thankfully settle down quite a bit over the years and most days now is fairly sweet
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the pineapple is much more agreeable personality wise, but relatively shy compared to the cinnamon. He will come put and play on his playstand in the living room, but doesnt like to be handled by anyone but my bro and his wife.

they only let them out under supervision because of the cat, although they're more worried about the birds tearing up the cat than the other way around - their cat jumped on the cage one day (and only once, she's never done it again) and the cinammon nipped off two paw pads, and took a chunk out of her lip when kitty was trying to play with the squeaky toy. Scared the heck out of my bro when he came home and found the blood leading away from the bird cage.

being the instigator i am i keep trying to teach the female to say "here kitty kitty kitty!"
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working in pet stores doing repairs, i get to be around them quite a bit and some days am glad im in a no pets lease otherwise i'd find myself bringing a overly friendly one home.

One of these days when i actually own a house i'll likely end up meeting a nice one and taking one on as a permanent resident though
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Oh yes there was a steep relationship curve. She actually came from a pet store also and no one knows where from before that. The pet store closed down and my buddy brought it to his apartment for a couple months but was already planning to move before he knew the pet shop was closing.

The first couple months weren't fun, I have been bitten well over a dozen times in the fingers, arm, nose and lips. Same thing, one minute she is as cute and friendly as can be the next second she is violently chewing on you and you're bleeding all over. I also brought in my buddies 12ft python... I nearly fed the bird to that. I was really considering throwing her outside and figured if she starved and got attacked by some wild animals she would have more respect if she made it back. But I stuck it out and treated the d@mn bird like a queen and things are much better now. I have to imagine getting one of these birds from a young age would be much better.
 
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