Yikes!!! Exploding Mossberg
- Thread starter Acmemfg
- Start date
Scary.
Faulty ammo?
The way the barrel split I’d think there was some kind of bore obstruction.
X2 on barrel obstruction
Not enough info to be of much use. Mossbergs have a reputation of extreme reliability, but anything can happen to any firearm. My bet is on user error, but who knows? Not likely to be a defect in the shot gun since it had been fired several times before. Federal makes quality ammo and a defect of that magnitude isn't likely to be a QC issue. Since it hadn't been shot in over a year, I also suspect a bore obstruction, possibly an errant 20 ga. shell got into the mix during a previous use?
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Hypothetically, if a mouse climbed into the barrel, got stuck and died; could that cause a catastrophic bore obstruction? Just to reiterate,
“hypothetically?”
#3 on this.
Mossbergs are known for their reliability
Hope all ends well. There are some big pieces parts with slugs. It would be interesting to know if it was the first shot of the day and if it was used with slugs the last outing a year ago? Maybe a squib from the last outing with a big year old slug sitting in the barrel.
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Hey! Get to the back of the line! I was #3 (at least implied).
Gotta be a barrel obstruction but there "might" be two or three extrodinary exceptions...
1) Proof load "should" be 3x pressure of factory rounds. If something with that much of an over charge got out of the factory shame on Federal! See below.
2) Barrel definately shows a severe bulge on the middle "piece" of the three and and left piece shows a little bulge as well.
So... The extrodinary exceptions. NO, and I mean NO business should take back ammo. Lets do a what if? So Bubba McDumbass grabs the wrong ammo, fires a round and thinks "Crap! This is the wrong stuff!", grabs one of granddads handloads (old powder and primers can get twitchy and you get at explosion instead of a very fast controlled burn -or- "It always shot fine in my gun"), replaces the missing round 'cuz who is gonna take back a partial box (Wrongly but newbie, etc takes pity and says go ahead and swap it out), and thinks they made out like a bandit! My LGS wants to help customers that goofed (think customer bought .38 Super but wanted .38 Special. People's reading comprehension is... Nevermins) checks every box and if it looks even a hair off they aren't taking it, back. FULL stop!
Extrodinary exception #2? See above. Poorly stored ammo with wild temp and humidity swings (S. Florida) can cause the said twitchiness.
Exception #3? "Somehow" a fast rifle or pistol powder got into that hull during manufacturing. Pushing a heavy slug the pressure spike was EPIC!
We can guesstimate all day but after seeing Kentucky Ballistics KaBOOM (if you haven't seen it he nicked the aortaic or jugular, a piece of the bolt broke his eye orbit, and the explosion turned his trigger finger into a "W" shape) I'd say dude got off lucky all things considered. Hope he heals fast and continues shooting.
1) Proof load "should" be 3x pressure of factory rounds. If something with that much of an over charge got out of the factory shame on Federal! See below.
2) Barrel definately shows a severe bulge on the middle "piece" of the three and and left piece shows a little bulge as well.
So... The extrodinary exceptions. NO, and I mean NO business should take back ammo. Lets do a what if? So Bubba McDumbass grabs the wrong ammo, fires a round and thinks "Crap! This is the wrong stuff!", grabs one of granddads handloads (old powder and primers can get twitchy and you get at explosion instead of a very fast controlled burn -or- "It always shot fine in my gun"), replaces the missing round 'cuz who is gonna take back a partial box (Wrongly but newbie, etc takes pity and says go ahead and swap it out), and thinks they made out like a bandit! My LGS wants to help customers that goofed (think customer bought .38 Super but wanted .38 Special. People's reading comprehension is... Nevermins) checks every box and if it looks even a hair off they aren't taking it, back. FULL stop!
Extrodinary exception #2? See above. Poorly stored ammo with wild temp and humidity swings (S. Florida) can cause the said twitchiness.
Exception #3? "Somehow" a fast rifle or pistol powder got into that hull during manufacturing. Pushing a heavy slug the pressure spike was EPIC!
We can guesstimate all day but after seeing Kentucky Ballistics KaBOOM (if you haven't seen it he nicked the aortaic or jugular, a piece of the bolt broke his eye orbit, and the explosion turned his trigger finger into a "W" shape) I'd say dude got off lucky all things considered. Hope he heals fast and continues shooting.
Guesstimating, but the "blossoming" of the barrel looks to be ~14" down the bore, which is classic for a squib load. Youch!Hypothetically, if a mouse climbed into the barrel, got stuck and died; could that cause a catastrophic bore obstruction? Just to reiterate,
“hypothetically?”
This is yet another example of why I always do a field strip and inspection then lube and reassembly of any firearm before taking it to the range or putting it in service. It doesn't matter if it's been sitting a year, was shot a week ago or even just got back from a full service, inspection and function check from the factory. And as careful as I try to be I've found guns in the safe with a round in the chamber and "how the hell did that even get in there" at times.
I’ve been reading the comments on the video. Something I NEVER thought I’d was mud/dirt daubers building nests in barrels causing obstructions. Granted, I don’t store my firearms where a dirt daubers can get to them. From the comments it sounds like a fairly common occurrence, at least in Florida. One comment said he found a 4 inch long dauber nest in a .22.
I'm thinking bore obstruction too. Also, there's a point in the video where a closeup of the remnants of the shell show an imprint of "70mm". I don't shoot slugs much, but I've never seen "70mm" imprinted on a Federal shell casing. Any thoughts on that?
70mm is on some 12 gauge hulls.
If you managed to get it to fire you’d have an out of battery explosion which usually blows pieces of the shell into the shooters face and trigger hand, but not a split barrel.
Daaaaang. That makes my skin crawl!
