What blew up my gun?

[normyt]

Just throwing some more ideas out there.
Could it be that the rifle had a microscopic fracture, that got overlooked, and every shot continually weakened it to the point that it was actually a safe charge that caused this? Are the threads stripped (or partially stripped) from the barrel where the action screwed on or did the action just explode? Can you post a better picture of the threads and their condition?
What's the rifles history? Is it stock from the factory or has it been re-barreled or worked on?

I was thinking that too. But making sure I check my reloading process also.
Rifle is probably 7-8 years old (son's gun)
Rifle has had at least 500 rounds thru it.
Original barrel, never worked on

 

[Brasshog]

Went shooting yesterday, shot about 5 shots and on 6th shot this happened.
Reloads from a couple years ago , store in ammo box in a shooting bag.
Rifle is a 22-250 Savage Model 10
Bullets are 55Gn Hornady V-Max
35GN of Varget Powder
Been doing this recipe for approx. 4 years, have never had problem.
No signs of over pressure until this incident, happily no injuries/casualties (except gun,LOL)
Any Ideas out there

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Count the holes in your target, last round never exited the barrel.
The pressure had no place to go and took out the scope. Is my hypothesis

 

[Danehunter]

Give up shooting and join the priesthood in thankfulness for being alive. ;o)

OR... keep shooting but check yer bore often - and wear a crucifix...

Eric B.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

I don't know bullet weld. What kind of naturally happening event could make a bond that was stronger than the pressure behind it in a rifle. The only other time I have heard of this was in some old time rounds with tin plated bullets in government match cartridges. What gives? Where did the bullet go? What part of the case was found in the chamber?

 

[keithcandler]

That sounds plausible. Years ago, Kopak was used to pack down powder in the case on light loads used for low velocity loads. I tried using Kopak and saw pressures go though the roof. The idea on the Kopak was to keep the powder back against the primer to eliminate hang fires.

I have never crimped a centerfire rifle round, but I am very aware of the pressure used to seat a bullet, also....too light...too heavy....they should be about the same.

 

[cohunt]

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I was thinking that too. But making sure I check my reloading process also.
Rifle is probably 7-8 years old (son's gun)
Rifle has had at least 500 rounds thru it.
Original barrel, never worked on

looking at the threads on both the receiver and barrel, neither look to have pulled threads, so it looks like the receiver split before launching the barrel

 

[normyt]

Give up shooting and join the priesthood in thankfulness for being alive. ;o)

OR... keep shooting but check yer bore often - and wear a crucifix...

Eric B.

LOL
Priesthood won't work, they don't drink enough beer
I think I'll keep shooting

 

[Wedgy]

All the pressure went out the back of the barrel as the chamber is still intact. It did blow the sides of the bolt face off though. Good thing the bolt didn't come rearward. I say barrel obstruction or too long of brass, bullet weld will give some velocity spike but won't blow the gun up like that.

 

[normyt]

Ok here's what i found out this afternoon, I'm an idiot but a live one

I pulled all remaining reloads from this batch (approx. 20)
Powder looked like powder in 1lb bottle (not powdered or anything)
Case length were all between 1.88" & 1.91" ( in spec.)
All cases had 34.6gn of Varget except 5had 35gn, 3 had 36gn & 1 had 37gn
I went back to Hornady Load Book and 34.6gn is absolute Max for 55Gn V-Max bullet
The loads I've been making are for 50Gn V-Max bullet. (which I used previously)
Max amount of Varget I could get in a 22-250 case is 39gn
Looks like I've been living on the edge for quite a while.

 

[corsair4360]

Ok here's what i found out this afternoon, I'm an idiot but a live one

I pulled all remaining reloads from this batch (approx. 20)
Powder looked like powder in 1lb bottle (not powdered or anything)
Case length were all between 1.88" & 1.91" ( in spec.)
All cases had 34.6gn of Varget except 5had 35gn, 3 had 36gn & 1 had 37gn
I went back to Hornady Load Book and 34.6gn is absolute Max for 55Gn V-Max bullet
The loads I've been making are for 50Gn V-Max bullet. (which I used previously)
Max amount of Varget I could get in a 22-250 case is 39gn
Looks like I've been living on the edge for quite a while.

Thanks for letting us know.... it pays to be really careful......

 

[lefty222]

1 how many time have they been reloaded?
2 brass lenght to spec.?
3 have you checked neck thickness? brass flow into the neck tight neck will give you high pressure, learned about that the hard way, had about 10 reloads on Winchester brass same lot of 40 cases 22-250 34.5g to 35.3 Win.748 only used Sierra 52g match or 55g spitzer, l reload at the range and scale every charge, all of the sudden load shows high pressures flat primers, same case power and heads, problem was brass flow in the neck, a competition bench rest shooter saw l was haven trouble he came over and looked at my brass then mic. the wall thickness of the case neck and said case necks have to be turned down outside or inside neck reamed the cases, picked up RCBS neck reaming die for 22-250 w/reamer, inside neck reamed the fired Winchester brass cases then resized necks only and things were back to normal. That was 42 years ago still do it today when needed.
The rifle is in my avatar Savage 112V single shot bolt. taken in the 70s.

It,s hard to say what happened in your case. Good thing you weren't hurt.

Would like to see that the inside of the old fired brass.
You shouldn't mix brass

 

[bigngreen]

One thing that makes me seriously nervous is using a single scale, I still use a digital but I throw it on my beam scale as a sanity check before dropping it in a case. Once you see just how bad it can go it's sobering in a big way!

 

[normyt]

I think I assumed my powder throw was accurate & didn't weight every throw
I think I'll make sure I do smaller reload batches
Keep me from getting too complacent hence sloppy while reloading
Just want to thank you all for trying to help. Great to be part of this community.

 

[lefty222]

You are lucky. always check twice.