Guy with Vanguard handloading mistakenly double throwed Blue Dot charge?? Wow! Case strained under excessive axial loading head separated pressure release blowed apart receiver/barrel threaded joint, downward thru magazine and rearward to shooter's face? Case rupture didn't act as PSV (pressure safety valve) whoever thinks that. Failure maybe less dramatic with receiver relief port like on my CZ550?

While this particular blowup may have had a hot load as a factor, I think the actual failure was due to a receiver which was overstressed with an inside wrench at some point. I have seen the same sort of failure on '96 Mausers and Brno small ring actions. On close inspection of the fracture line, it was apparent the receiver had been cracked for some time and finally failed. I suspect that is what hapened here. The top of the receiver rind came off and this allowed the bolt to deflect upwards at the front and this is why the lower locking seat is deformed the way it is.
Just guessing really. Impossible to be very certain without having the parts in hand. Regards, Bill

There was a P14 rebarreled to a 264 Winchester magnum in NZ ,the user was gradually increasing the charge until both the locking lugs let go ,luckily he wasnt badly hurt ,was using the correct powder etc.
Maybe its not a good idea Not rebarreling older actions to belted magnums ,especially if they might or possibly have suspect heat treatment ,and best left 30-06/270/243 .JMO

quote:

Originally posted by Robertcat:
There was a P14 rebarreled to a 264 Winchester magnum in NZ ,the user was gradually increasing the charge until both the locking lugs let go ,luckily he wasnt badly hurt ,was using the correct powder etc.
Maybe its not a good idea Not rebarreling older actions to belted magnums ,especially if they might or possibly have suspect heat treatment ,and best left 30-06/270/243 .JMO

Most of the standard length belted magnums operate at the same pressures as the .270 Winchester. And, if they operate at 2000-4000psi higher, that ain't much of a safety factor!

Maybe the straw that broke the camels back ,or to do with case diameter and surface area and bolt thrust ,but since im not a gunsmith ,metallurgist ,scientist or self appointed ''know all'' and there's a ''Alot of air between ''Here and there '',what would I know ?.
A painful one I read was a fellow who used pistol powder in a 788 Remington 243 [when he ran out of rifle powder] near Deer season, sheared all locking lugs ,penetrated his jaw and into his collar bone ,not a nice day at the office

quote:

Originally posted by Robertcat:
Maybe the straw that broke the camels back ,or to do with case diameter and surface area and bolt thrust ,but since im not a gunsmith ,metallurgist ,scientist or self appointed ''know all'' and there's a ''Alot of air between ''Here and there '',what would I know ?.
A painful one I read was a fellow who used pistol powder in a 788 Remington 243 [when he ran out of rifle powder] near Deer season, sheared all locking lugs ,penetrated his jaw and into his collar bone ,not a nice day at the office

Robertcat, I am a gunsmith,,,, a gunsmith school grad with over 30yrs bench experience since I graduated. The problem with M1917s/P14s is many won't bother to cut a relief groove in the barrel, to make the barrel easier to remove from the action and avoid cracking said action. Same as was mentioned earlier in this thread about the "extra" hole drilled in some Model 70s, and a crack or cracks developing from that hole. It appears you don't know what you don't know... Seems everyone has some horror story to tell about a blow-up by a friend of a friend of a friend. The most common reasons,,, bad or wrong ammo, bad reloading practice, bad gunsmithing practice, neglect, or just plain carelessness.

It was common knowledge back in the day that the Winchester 70 would fragment like a handgranade but it took a lot of pressure to do that. A Mauser on the other hand had surface case hardening and soft underneath so that it would puff up like a "blow fish", might "split" the barrel but not come apart.

All I can say is from what Ive seen and the experiments Ive done on Mausers, that seems to be the case, but Ive never played blowup with a mod 70, only mausers, springfields and Enfields and Arisakas..were affordable back then..but I wouldn't swear to it, other than I always preferred the Mauser, but don't fear the mod. 70 pre 64 at all, and have a few and never a problem with either the Mauser or pre 64 Win. My two favorites..

I do know of a test on a mod 70 by a well know gunsmith and it took a case full of Bullseye to blow it up and it came apart, but nothing like discribed.BTW I never could blow a Arisaka up with a case full and packed of Bullseye, got a sticky bolt and a melted case!!

So now we play the blame game without an investigation..but some brilliant lawyer will figure out his brilliant "excuse that its winchesters fault, correct or not, scare Winchester and they will settle for megabucks out of court..

REmington settled out of court som many times that lawsuits put them in the toilet..Our perfect system of justice knows all and will figure it out if not then the democratic party will..I think Remingtons problem was faulty trigger that that they wouldn't correct as I recall, not blow ups??

Excuse the sarcastic post, just a bit of historical fun..fact or fiction, who knows.