The only blown primer I've had in 35 years of reloading thousands of rounds a year was in a Ruger 77. I never even knew it happened until I went to reload the ammo and the primer was missing and blackened. It was during a hunt and I don't know which shot it even was. I have also had case heads separate from overworked brass in an old Sako. The only clue I had was when the bolt was opened and the head was all that extracted,.

Depends what you call "blown" .I guess there are degrees and I've seen some primers fall out with the bolt opening with no other problem.

Also primers pierced with plenty of smoke waffling out, but no noticable pressure gas excaping.

I've seen smoke with a blown primer but I've never felt it on my face. Now a 1/4" long split just in front of the web I felt particles hit my face and was glad I had on shooting glasses.

quote:

Originally posted by CLK320:
A close friend and hunting buddy was firing a relitivly new Ruger 77 compact chambered in 260, He was shooting hand loaded 120 gr. TSX bullets over 37 grains of BLC-2. The first and second shot fired fine with no signs of over-pressure, and did clear the bore, the third shot blew the action and destroyed the stock, barrel appeared to be undamaged, the bullet exited the barrel. The floor plate stayed latched, but was bent far enough to alow the spring and follower to blow out, the bolt is seized closed, the bolt release is blown out. We did not try to open the bolt as to keep it in tact for inspection by Ruger. He called Barnes today and they confermed the load was safe. The call to Ruger did not go as well, they were very interested in getting this rifle, however they said that with him shooting a hand load that he was SOL, they would not replace the rifle. What can he do now? Should he have a gunsmith inspect it? Shpuld he go ahead and send it to Ruger, or should he hold on to it for his lawyer to see. All he want is the rifle replaced, I thought if you called a firearms manufacture and tell them there product just blew in your face they would be more than happy to send you a new one to avoid any legal action. Any advice appriciated.

Even though "the load was a safe one", there is NO WAY that anyone can prove "to the preponderance of the evidence" that the round that blew the gun was indeed a safe one.

I would have the gun inspected by someone who is an acknowledged expert on blowups, rather than send it to Ruger. That way, if there is indeed any evidence that could be used to show that the gun blew up because of some defect in the gun, (which is really not particularly likely!!), YOU will have that evidence, rather than Ruger, who no doubt will claim it was the fault of the ammo!

quote:

I am pretty sure a 37-grain load of Ball 2 didn't grenade a Ruger 77. The only blown primer I've had in 35 years of reloading thousands of rounds a year was in a Ruger 77.

No, and a double charge would have overflowed a .260 Rem. case!

I don't think the fact that you had a blown primer in a Ruger 77 is any reflection on the GUN! It indicates faulty ammunition, however....

I had a smiliar problem with a Ruger 77 in 223...It cracked the stock badly, locked up the bolt, when opened it had screwed up the claw extractor, and the C-ring holding it...it also broke the floor plate, and the feed ramp and spring...

I sent the rifle back to Ruger and they offered to sell me a new 223 at "cost" or $350.00....

I passed on it and told them to send my old rifle back to me.. they wouldn't do so until I returned a letter to them, that they had sent me, signing saying that I was refusing their offer and they strongly encouraged the action to be scrapped...

I got the parts thru Brownells and repaired the firearm.. I also repaired the stock.. since I figured in a 223, it was not going to stress it out too much...

however, even tho I am a handloader, the ammo I was using was from Black Hills Ammunition! there were only a few cartridges left to the box.. but in my frustration I disgarded them...

I did have the box and sent that to Black Hills...

I never heard from Black Hills again at all....
and Ruger sent me my rifle back... and I wasn't all that impressed with their "customer service"....... I felt they were catering to their in house attorney.. instead of worrying what a customer may think.... they'd rather sacrifice a customer, than set an precidence it seems...

Just a by product of our modern sue happy world...like me, your friend is just going to have to take the bite!!!

Once a few years ago, I had a Model 70 lock up and break the stock.. it was on some 30/06 Winchester factory ammo... I got the bolt open and the case removed off of the bolt without hurting anything...

however I took the stock and sent it to Winchester, and told them what had happened, and also sent them the empty box of ammo for reference...

I ended up receiving a new stock from Winchester, in an anonymous box, with no explanation or anything else from them.. I don't think they wanted to acknowledge any wrong doing, but still take care of their customer...

all I had wanted Ruger to do, was to repair the action.. they refused to...

Slightly off topic, but some years back I sent a Blackhawk for repair to Ruger along with a MarkII pistol that had been thru a fire. They repaired the BH at no charge. They would do nothing to the MKII because it had been thru the fire. They did offer to replace the pistol at "mfg cost", which I think at the time was around $125. It was an offer I couldn't refuse.

I've been thru this a few times...while working for a company in Hayward, CA, some stumblefuck bought reloading equipment and promptly stuffed a 20 ga round into a 12 ga with predictable results... Jury "felt sorry" for this fool and awarded $10.000 damages...true story....now how in hell can a mfg stand behind a brain dead reloader and underwrite his stupidity?

Wow! I am amazed by the number of people who have experienced blown primers and locked up bolts when shooting FACTORY ammo. I have seen examples of a couple of then-new magnum cartridges that produced difficult bolt lift and expanded primer pockets indicating overloads in .264 Win. and .300 WSM loads, but chalked them up to "new ammo type" problems.

The only time I experienced a tied-up bolt or blown primers, I knew the cause - me! I did something stupid in producing the rounds that did it. Fortunately, there was NO DAMAGE to the guns in question (or the shooter).

If you haven't read it already, I would recommend pages 91-107 of "Volume I, Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders" by P.O. Ackley. It discusses this issue in some detail.

It does'nt matter if who is at fault. I think the Ruger manual says it best, if you want the warranty don't shoot handloads. Once you break the rules you accept the responsibility.

CLK320,

Could you post pics of the blownup Ruger and ammo?
It might make finding the cause a little easier.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe:
I've been thru this a few times...while working for a company in Hayward, CA, some stumblefuck bought reloading equipment and promptly stuffed a 20 ga round into a 12 ga with predictable results... Jury "felt sorry" for this fool and awarded $10.000 damages...true story....now how in hell can a mfg stand behind a brain dead reloader and underwrite his stupidity?

They don't have to be a reloader to pull that stunt.

Try a .270 Win round in a 7mm Rem Mag rifle (this one happened to be a Ruger too). No injuries, one blown case and a blown floorplate. 'Smith checked out the rifle and it was fine. Still shoots under half-inch (with the right ammo).

Moral of the story: Don't leave Uncle Roger at the shooting point with one rifle and two kinds of ammo (and no, his last name isn't Murphy--he was at the bench next to him).

A bit off topic, but I had a similar problem with a 12 gauge shotgun. I was half way thru a box of Federal 2 3/4 inch magnum #4 shot when the problem happened. It was a break open single shot hammer shotgun by H&R that was my dads. The gun fired normally but when I opened the gun to eject the shell, nothing ejected.

The shell was sucked foreward, to the end of the chamber. I found later that it neatly folded the rim on the shell back all the way around, and the primer was set back even whe the edges of the shell. The back of the shell base was black from powder leakage. I had to go home to get a wooden dowel to tap the case out. If the gun had been a semiauto, the results would have been disastrous.

I sent the shell to Federal, along with the batch numbers from the box. Six weeks later I received a letter from Federal stating that the shell was obviously shot in a 10 gauge shotgun.

I wrote a letter to Federal stating that the shell rim would not have been rolled back to the same diameter as the brass on the 12 gauge shell if it was fired in a 10 gauge shotgun, and the brass would have split along with the plastic hull from not being supported in the larger chamber. I also wrote that I thought they were trying to cover their ass.

I never heard back from Federal. I have never bought a Federal product since, and that has been over 35 years.

quote:

Originally posted by SWD:
It does'nt matter if who is at fault. I think the Ruger manual says it best, if you want the warranty don't shoot handloads. Once you break the rules you accept the responsibility.

I would certainly agree with this, IF IT WERE RUGER'S IMMUTABLE POLICY!! But, based on my reading of preceding posts, I see that it is NOT! Ruger has, in the past, replaced guns damaged by handloaded ammo, but just for SOME CUSTOMERS.

So, to deny this service to one customer, but provide it to another, would seem to me to be denial of equal treatment, which is, in all liklihood, a violation of law, at least in some states....... I still say "contact your state's attorney general's office. Most of them have a consumer protection division!

It should be pointed out tht the rifle did not
"blow up". The receiver is intact, the bolt stayed in, and the shooter was unharmed. What happened was that the casehead failed, and the
design limited damage to the shooter.
This is not a failure, it is a triumph.
Good Luck!

quote:

It should be pointed out tht the rifle did not
"blow up". The receiver is intact, the bolt stayed in, and the shooter was unharmed. What happened was that the casehead failed, and the
design limited damage to the shooter.
This is not a failure, it is a triumph.

I'm with you on this one. The Ruger action held and vented gas without serious injury to the shooter after the handload failed for what ever reason. Too much powder, too little, case failure. None of what I read in the original post was a rifle issue it was a handload issue. Even without the Warranty statement why should Ruger be expected to replace the rifle damaged by user error?

Darn I drove too fast lost control and hit a tree the bags deplyed and saved my life. Why should the manufacturer be expected to replace or repair my car?

I almost lost my right eye shooting a RH Ruger tang safety LH 6mm Remington with factory Rem 6mm. The primer came apart and a piece of it went into my right eye, almost through my corena. Ruger was no help, claiming rifle was fine and sorry about that. Remington paid for my medical bills. Thaough it was odd that Bill Ruger was LH and with all of there safety litature. Nothing is stated about caution of shooting LH with exposure of RH gas relief to right eye. Granted I should have been wearing eye protection. But Rugers help was dismal.

El Deguello

My statement that my only blown primer was in a 77 was not a knock on the rifle. On the contrary, I didn't even know which round it happened on, just noticed it was gone when I went to reload the ammo. This would lead me to believe a blown primer in a Ruger, the gas is handled well. Also, it wouldn't be a double charge, but if thrown with a measure, I have had powder bridge, leaving one case half empty, the secone one receiving the rest of its charge as well. That is why you use a loading block and check them before seating bullets. This is my best explanation for what happened. A low load density such as this could have allowed a 6-7 grain overload without running the case over.

quote:

Though it was odd that Bill Ruger was LH and with all of their safety literature, nothing is stated about caution of shooting LH with exposure of RH gas relief to right eye.

I doubt they've recognized that as a special risk.

I have RH rifles made with the safety vent in the receiver ring on the left side.

I'd expect the open right side of the action to be a bigger gas and particle venting path than the vent port, anyway.