A horrible day shooting

[Robocop1051]

I joined an impromptu shoot this weekend. My uncle flew in from out of state, then he and my father swung by and picked up the wife and me. We drove 5-6 hours to a large ranch to shoot the holy hell out of the ground squeaks (squirrels). Sunday and Monday were great days. The body count was well over a hundred.

This morning all went to hell. My Uncle cracked open a new box of ammo, loaded up his Ruger 10/22 .22lr, and went to work. On his second or third shot there is a load explosion, a lot of cussing and quite a but of smoke. An explosion inside the magazine blew the mag out, cracked the stock and blew the bolt face to shit. After counting all his fingers and whiskers, we collected all the parts. We had no idea what happened.

It'll be a cold day in hell before one kaboom will totally ruin the day. He quickly loaded up another rifle. This time a Ruger 77/22, .22lr bolt action. He got back to his spot chambered a round.... BOOM! This time the explosion was much louder. It appeared that several rounds went kaboom in the mag. Everything was blown to shit, more than the first rifle.

This was shooting Winchester Super X Hollow Point .22lr

My uncle is ok, but both rifles are smoked! Pictures coming as soon as I get back home.

Winchester and Ruger will be getting phone calls this week.

[imschur]

holy shit, at least nobody got hurt

[Madhouse]

Jesus, that was a doomed shoot.  Two guns?!?

Glad only the hardware was injured...

[edgecrusher]

fingers check, toes check, whiskers, ok, good thing all the pieces are there. man, i would quarantine that lot number. glad to here everyones ok, damn, your uncle is one tough robobot  ;)

[unforgiven]

Glad no one was hurt. :o

[survivalshop]

WOW!

Keep samples of the ammo if you send it back to WW.

Take plenty of photo's of the ammo ,& any markings on the box.

They should pay for repairs.

[NoFail]

Omg Robo that's a incredible horror story. I am so glad your uncle is fine. Hey you can't blame Ruger, those guns saved your uncle big time!!!!!!! poop, I'm glad my .22lr is Ruger after this story.

[Robocop1051]

Thanks all. Your support is much appreciated. For the record, my father and I each own both the 10/22 and the 77/22. Both KaBoom's were his rifles. Needless to say none of us are very happy with Winchester right now.

Appearantly there was a recall on this Winchester ammo in 2007. The case was near full, but I honestly don't know when it was bought. I read that Winchester had a double load batch make it out to the masses. This would explain the KaBoom.

The pictures are coming tomorrow.

[Robocop1051]

Here's the ammo;

Here's the damage to the Ruger 10/22;

The extractor blew completely out of the bolt and into my uncles hand. (Pic 3 and 4)

Here is what's left of the mag from the 10/22;

It was actually split more. I pushed the pieces back together to make it look the way it is there.

Here is the damage to the Ruger 77/22;

This is all I could find from this magazine;

I think there was a small explosion inside the magazine as well.

[unforgiven]

Wow not easy to crack that wood even mag considering it's inside the rifle.

[MaDuce]

NOOOO!!! Poor squishy squirrels!!

DANG. What a stroke of bad luck! Glad to hear you're all still fully assembled.

[Nood1es]

Holy crap, glad to see no one hurt!

[BLKSHEEP]

Glad to see no one was hurt! i'm amazed that lil 22 could do that much damage! Winchester needs/better make that very right!

[Retired JM]

I, too, am glad no one was seriously injured. DEFINITELY call Winchester about this. Chances are they'll try to deflect responsibility to the gun makers for faulty equipment or to you/your family for not exercising due dilligence since there was a recall on the ammo. Hope you get it sorted out quickly.

[washguy]

WOW!  Robo ,glad no one was hurt.....geez, think of the kaboom if it had been a .556 or .308....a lil .22 still can do big time damage  ;)  Wash

[CSM-H]

Hey to all, New to board and I am the "uncle" mentioned in this story.  I too own a 10/22 but didn't have it with me because of travel.... anyway I have been shootin' for a long time approx 40 years plus and really started with Robo's Dad. shooting as a teenager and then 28 years in the military NEVER had a rifle or pistol "explode" like this, let alone TWO about 10 minutes apart....The first one (10/22) we thought might be from a new magazine mis-aligned etc..NOT, picked up the 77/22 and even a bigger boom!!  that got a resounding WTF!  anyway all is ok, ears have gone back to normal ringing (too many jumps) and the guns have been shipped off to Winchester and we are hoping that they own up to THEIR responsibility.  I have already posted this story on Professionalsoldiers.com and SOCNET.com,  if they choose to be non responsive you can bet small dollars I will spread this story to a whole bunch of my special little friends who shoot a lot and maybe make a dent in their business...  :)

Thanks for all the well wishes, what a way to be a new member..  CSM-H

[unforgiven]

Welcome brother CSM-H/unc <thumbsup> ,glad your ok scary poop also glad there was no eye damage.My hearing is shot also that ringing sure is annoying.Did you hear that? Answer the phone will ya. <lmao>

[KyleTx]

Welcome to the forum

Glad everyone was Ok after the incident  :o

Could have turned out much worse

[6shootr]

wow! luckily no one was hurt!  I'd contact Winchester...maybe they'll ask you to send that box of ammo in for them to test...never know, they could have double packed a few rounds and maybe they'll help you out with the guns if that's the case.

[planeflyer21]

Screw the asswipes at Olin/Winchester!  You need to get a lawyer and start screaming class action lawsuit!

Three or four years ago I had a student show up to a Basic Pistol Shooting class with Winchester ammo in the red plastic box.  On one magazine she said "Something hit me!"  She was shooting a Ruger MKIII Hunter with this ammo.

After looking, we found the case head completely detached from the case, the case still stuck in the chamber.  Doing a careful examination of the case and case head revealed a nick in the rim.

We looked at the remaining ammunition and one other round that was STILL IN THE BOX had a similar nick, same shape and everything.

I contacted Olin/Winchester with the lot number and events, offering to send them the fouled up ammo, with no reply.

Over these last years more stories are coming out about kaBOOMS with Olin/Winchester .22 Rimfire ammo on several firearms and shooting forums.

They don't want to correct their production techniques and continue to damage peoples' nice firearms, possibly inflicting injury, they need to be sued!

And boycotted!

Jon

[Robocop1051]

I was reminded to make a small update.

Winchester Ammo has done well. They are shipping both rifles to Ruger to be repaired. We'll see how it comes out.  <munch>

[survivalshop]

Good to hear. Ruger will make them whole again or replace them .