Wow, he missed the elk!

Must have been the narrow diameter Stainless Steel Barrel and the cold temperatures....

Actually, what would have caused such a catastrophic failure?

Cold weather is a major contributor to these SS barrel splits and "anything" foreign in the barrel will only compound the problem. It doesn't have to be a full plug. Often these splits will snap off the fore end right in front of the front guard screw. There is a reason some of the barrel makers won't make a small diameter SS barrel.

Looks like it was raining - maybe rain got into the barrel and caused an obstruction.

I think the video is quite remarkable to catch something like this. Glad the hunter seems ok.

Glad everyone was ok; something doesn't quite "feel" right, however. It's really, really odd that the camera keeps rolling, and keeps the rifle in perfect view..... I mean, would you? Just odd. FWIW, Dutch.

I thought the same thing. He is focused on the rifle and not on the elk like you would expect.

I was actually impressed that the hunter shook it off so quickly and still had the mindset to shoot the bull.

I know what you guys are saying and I agree but how would you safely blow up a rifle?

til later

I also went from that video link to another showing a blued Rem. 770 with a similar split barrel. Maybe it's not just stainless lightweight barrels. Both appeared to be light weight barrels. Does anybody have any additional information.

Well, I'm no metalurgist but I'd suspect a plugged barrel. That's just the way it looks to me. I think it's another good reason to tape off your muzzle whenever you go into the field. That's me tho. Bear in Fairbanks

Id say plugged barrel also, his rifle handleing technique isnt very impressive to say the least.

The Rem 770 split compared to the SS barrel shows the "typical" differences in barrel failures that split. These are not absolutes but stainless barrels tend to have longer splits. I have seen them split all the way back to the receiver ring, more than once. CM barrels tend to have much shorter splits, sometimes only a bulge near the muzzle. It helps to have the muzzle covered while hunting but I am suspicious about why Kreiger and others won't make small diameter SS barrels. I think that sub zero temperatures are probably sufficient by itself to cause a barrel failure when the shock of 50,000psi is applied.

And the dude calmly just walks over to the other hunter like nothing happened...yea, right. He probably got the ammo mixed up with the other hunter and had the wrong bullet diameter now.

.429, what type of stainless ? Who made the steel ? Crucible's 416R ,used by many barrel makers has much better chemistry control and is good for - 40 F !! Does anyone know if the 4140 [CrMoly ] barrels are high sulfur ? WWII Garand barrels used this.
To me it looks like plugged barrel.

The first SS barrel split that I actually laid eyes on was a Browning ABolt in 338. It was split down to the receiver and broke the plastic stock off just in front of the front guard screw. The part I found interesting was the end of each split was split again down agout 4". I think that this was initally caused by some sort of obstruction about 4" down from the muzzle as there was a bend in the metal there. I had a customer bring in a Savage SS in 300Win about 5 years ago late in the deer season, end of Dec. The barrel was split down to the lock ring and had locked the empty case in the chamber. (killed the deer) The plastic stock was broken off just in front of the front guard screw. There was a very light mark about an inch from the muzzle that may have indicated some sort of obstruction. I have pictures of this if I can get my old digital camera some batteries. There were several reports from Anchorage about Browning SS barrels spliting on ABolts about 5-7 years ago. I haven't kept in touch up there since but someone there may have more current info.

[URL= ]Split Abolt[/URL]
Hope this works.

There is a comment posted under the video saying indicating that dirt in the barrel caused the split.

[URL= ]Savage split[/URL]

I believe that snow got this one. Its not that the SS is spliting with an obstruction, but the degree to which they split as compared to most CM barrels with similar obstructions. There are alot more CM barrels out there but you seldom see one split full length.