Well that didn't go as planned - Kentucky Ballistics went Kaboom!

[The Heretic]

I would have liked to see the round before it was shot.

Genuine military Winchester SLAP has a distinctive look. The projectile is tungsten, very sharp machined point and an orangish sabot:



I have seen and bought reloaded .50 BMG SLAP - it had a blue sabot and the projectile was a conventional bullet (.30 IIRC).

I sold all my SLAP to a collector after I read that you should not shoot it in a rifle with a muzzle brake.

 

[CLT65]

I can tell you, from my explosion, seconds matter. Scott likely saved his own life knowing to wrap up his thumb and shove it in his neck.

People help too. I was surrounded by them when my incident happened and that likely would of saved my life had I been more critically injured. Not to bash my wife, but having others that were not loved ones helped me a lot. Scott's dad was very calm and definitely aided in helping him stay alive. My wife was a mess. Especially considering my nose was sliced into two pieces and I had a 3" shard of glass sticking out of my forehead, I don't blame her, but I was grateful others were around to assist with first aid and haul arse to the hospital.

Having certain first aid stuff readily available is nice, but shooting with people and having a little bit of knowledge (or a lot) on first aid is likely what saved his life. I don't shoot alone much anymore, and I tend to go to TCGC if possible over the woods. I have a bunch of readily available first aid and trauma supplies now. They are with me when I go shooting, not in the car etc.

Be safe, be prepared! Life comes out of nowhere!

Thank you for posting about that. It's a reminder to me to have at a minimum a first aid kit along. It's easy to get complacent and think it will never happen.

By the way, I need to apologize if my earlier post about the scars was offensive. It was meant as light-hearted humor, but my wife was reading over my shoulder later and told me that it was rude. I apologize if I offended.

 

[Flopsweat]

Well still better than bleeding out in the woods. I'm not looking to make their job "easier" in such situation, my first thought would be to stay alive with whatever means neccessary.

Making things "easier" for the ER may well save a life. Dealing with the fresh bleeding that will occur after they remove the quickclot uses precious time that could instead be devoted to other critical issues.

 

[tac]

I sold all my SLAP to a collector after I read that you should not shoot it in a rifle with a muzzle brake.

Yup, the sabot starts to come away as soon as it leaves the muzzle- and a .50cal brake has a lot of room for that to happen...

 

[The Heretic]

Yup, the sabot starts to come away as soon as it leaves the muzzle- and a .50cal brake has a lot of room for that to happen...

Especially the clamshell type.

 

[waltermitty]

From memory, there were two very serious injuries with 50 BMG rifles and I believe both were the result of shell-holder design. Inherent with this design, the bolt is fully removed from the rifle before each shot, the live round is inserted into a shell holder at the face of the bolt...then the assembly is inserted into the rifle receiver and the bolt rotated down into firing position.

If you can picture this, the firing pin is positioned above the primer the moment the cartridge is placed into the shell holder. It is critical that the design of the firing pin safety mechanism absolutely prevents the firing pin from dropping unless the trigger is pulled. Apparently that wasn't bomb proof enough 20 yrs ago.

I believe the interest in keeping costs down and offering budget based 50 BMG may have cut corners during production. What does the shooting public know?...they love the glamor of owning a 50 BMG at bottom dollar prices. So if these ever show up on the used market, better that you apply critical thinking and understanding about the firing mechanism...and the possibility that they *can* fire out of battery.

 

[RVTECH]

What does the shooting public know?...they love the glamor of owning a 50 BMG at bottom dollar prices.

Damn little if the 'glamour of owning a .50 BMG' is their only motivation.

 

[gmerkt]

I think a well designed bolt would have been stronger. The bolt on my AR50 was massive, as were the lugs and bolt handle, and the receiver.

I didn't like the look of having a screw cap for a breech block, not the form shown in the video. He found out how "robust" the lugs were. I've looked at an AR50 before, that was a substantially stronger weapon by design.

Very true however but it appears he broke the 'cardinal rule' of NOT shooting reloads, or in this case potentially very dangerous ammo of unknown origin (as per his own words in the video)

I paraphrased a portion of his description of the ammo from the video.

'What I didn't know was the SLAP round I put in the gun was extra, extra hot, and there is really no way for me to ever know, these rounds are extremely rare, and over $100 per, and really no way to ever know this round was as hot as it was, and I was under the impression these were genuine military rounds etc.'

I am sorry for his injuries however he should have been a bit 'smarter' about this and maybe used a rest with a 'string pull' for the trigger from a safe distance - like I have seen in similar videos of people testing or experimenting with unknown loads.

I noted his somewhat casual comments re. the ammo used. "No way to know" kinda means, "Maybe should not do this" in my mind. I refer back to my words above about the design of the weapon used. The SLAP rounds were made to be used in military .50 BMG weapons, likely a good deal stronger than his screw cap single shot. And, I wonder if this was an instantaneous event, or had the previous couple of shots started some fatigue in his rifle. The US Army TM says that the SLAP cartridge is only meant to be fired in the M2 machine gun, not the M82 and M107 .50 rifles.

 

[Member 34319]

Thank you for posting about that. It's a reminder to me to have at a minimum a first aid kit along. It's easy to get complacent and think it will never happen.

By the way, I need to apologize if my earlier post about the scars was offensive. It was meant as light-hearted humor, but my wife was reading over my shoulder later and told me that it was rude. I apologize if I offended.

No apology needed. I know it was in kind spirit. Same goes for @Stomper , I can't recall last time him and I were together in person, he may have seen my scars before?

The doctors did a damn good job stitching me up. They also said that glass cuts cleaner than other stuff. So the flaps healed together pretty well. I have a small noticeable chunk of my nose missing that healed surprisingly well. The more noticeable parts of the scars are from the powder burns, which the doctor says is more like a tattoo.

Life comes at you fast when you don't expect it. I'm a lot more ready these days than I was. I also look at things much differently due to that incident. I've invested in a lot of good quality first aid materials for the car, shooting range, house, garage, you name it.

I count my blessings a lot and I am grateful it happened to me instead of my good family friend, practically a cousin to me, who was standing right behind me. I basically acted as a shield for those that were near and just behind me.

 

[Member 34319]

From memory, there were two very serious injuries with 50 BMG rifles and I believe both were the result of shell-holder design. Inherent with this design, the bolt is fully removed from the rifle before each shot, the live round is inserted into a shell holder at the face of the bolt...then the assembly is inserted into the rifle receiver and the bolt rotated down into firing position.

If you can picture this, the firing pin is positioned above the primer the moment the cartridge is placed into the shell holder. It is critical that the design of the firing pin safety mechanism absolutely prevents the firing pin from dropping unless the trigger is pulled. Apparently that wasn't bomb proof enough 20 yrs ago.

I believe the interest in keeping costs down and offering budget based 50 BMG may have cut corners during production. What does the shooting public know?...they love the glamor of owning a 50 BMG at bottom dollar prices. So if these ever show up on the used market, better that you apply critical thinking and understanding about the firing mechanism...and the possibility that they *can* fire out of battery.

I've seen a picture of a guy over seas that used a live round as a hammer to fix the m2 on his patrol vehicle. Primer side as the hammer side. Round detonated in his clenched fist.

This is the first I've seen one explode.

I agree with the "inexpensive" part of this rifle. I'd be curious if Mark Serbu changes the design moving forward.

 

[The Heretic]

I didn't like the look of having a screw cap for a breech block, not the form shown in the video. He found out how "robust" the lugs were. I've looked at an AR50 before, that was a substantially stronger weapon by design.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Ian at forgotten weapons said it was a barrel obstruction. What obstructed it?

 

[Dinglenutz]

The US Army TM says that the SLAP cartridge is only meant to be fired in the M2 machine gun, not the M82 and M107 .50 rifles.

That's some pretty key info.

 

[Member 34319]

Ian at forgotten weapons said it was a barrel obstruction. What obstructed it?

The bullet not leaving the bore faster than the pressure allowed. Technically all overcharged round kabooms are a bore obstruction. Under normal pressure, the bullet leaves before too much pressure build to "test" out other components of the guns strength.

A normal charge of the correct powder, will only produce a certain pressure at the right speed, resulting in the bullet leaving the barrel being the path of least resistance.

A bullet has to swage its way out of a barrel. Like play dough in your hand. Leave a hole in your thumb and index finger and squeeze slowly, you make a play dough poop. Squeeze harder and faster, play dough will come through all your fingers. Well an over charged round is the latter.

 

[Certaindeaf]

The bullet not leaving the bore faster than the pressure allowed. Technically all overcharged round kabooms are a bore obstruction. Under normal pressure, the bullet leaves before too much pressure build to "test" out other components of the guns strength.

A normal charge of the correct powder, will only produce a certain pressure at the right speed, resulting in the bullet leaving the barrel being the path of least resistance.

A bullet has to swage its way out of a barrel. Like play dough in your hand. Leave a hole in your thumb and index finger and squeeze slowly, you make a play dough poop. Squeeze harder and faster, play dough will come through all your fingers. Well an over charged round is the latter.

Oh, I woulda just said over pressure, not an obstructed barrel.

 

[Dinglenutz]

I know a lot of people like those rifles but the setup never looked right to me. No basis for it than just how it looks.

 

[Member 34319]

Oh, I woulda just said over pressure, not an obstructed barrel.

Ian is extremely technical. He explained it pretty well, but ya. Too much pressure, too fast. Bullet likely hauled butt out of the barrel, before or after the cap left its threads, who knows?

Id be curious if the first high pressure one, as Scott noted in the video that was shot a bit before the kaboom, compromised the threads?

Either way, I bet Serbu pulls the product from his lineup. After this, anyone with one of his Nutnfancy 50s shouldn't feel too excited about shooting theirs with old questionable surplus ammo.

 

[The Heretic]

Ian at forgotten weapons said it was a barrel obstruction. What obstructed it?

The sabot? I keep coming back to that because I don't have a clue.

I watched the slo-mo, and had youtube turned down to 25% speed and I saw flame come out of the end of the barrel.

 

[Stomper]

No apology needed. I know it was in kind spirit. Same goes for @Stomper , I can't recall last time him and I were together in person, he may have seen my scars before?

The doctors did a damn good job stitching me up. They also said that glass cuts cleaner than other stuff. So the flaps healed together pretty well. I have a small noticeable chunk of my nose missing that healed surprisingly well. The more noticeable parts of the scars are from the powder burns, which the doctor says is more like a tattoo.

Life comes at you fast when you don't expect it. I'm a lot more ready these days than I was. I also look at things much differently due to that incident. I've invested in a lot of good quality first aid materials for the car, shooting range, house, garage, you name it.

I count my blessings a lot and I am grateful it happened to me instead of my good family friend, practically a cousin to me, who was standing right behind me. I basically acted as a shield for those that were near and just behind me.

Last time we were in each other's company was cleaning up them shootin' lanes and blasting' away with AR pistols (you were getting pelted by hot brass… LMAO!), Ruger Chargers, and that NAA Pug gun of mine (that was a great day!)…. and no I never picked out that you had any past major wounds or trauma to the head, face, or neck…. and believe me, I notice details about people 'cause it's one of those things that I do. (BTW- glad you weren't killed or permanently and horribly maimed by that!)

For any of you "Boomer-Karen's" who may have read my last post and think I was being "mean"… You should know that if I don't like someone I'll ignore them, so if you ever find yourself getting your "groin-boys" busted by me, generally the exact opposite of what I'm saying is what I actually mean, and you've made it into the "cool club"!


BUT… if you're the actual type that I have to explain all that too for you to "get it"… you're beyond saving anyway.

 

[CLT65]

I'm not going to pile on the poor guy, but I will say that the odd happenings with the ammo before the spontaneous disassembly (bullets shooting wild by a foot or more, significantly different flash levels) would have given me pause and made me suspicious that something was seriously amiss.

I remember an incident from 30+ years ago, when I was testing some of my first 12 gauge reloads. I had several shells with increasing powder charges. The first one seemed to have more recoil and bang than it should have for a light target load. The second one was worse, and the hull came out with the crimp mostly ironed out. The third one sounded and felt like a cannon, and the hull ejected itself from the old Mossberg 500, bulged and completely ironed out. I scratched my head because it should have been a fairly light load, but got the message and did not shoot the last one.

That was smart, because that last one could well have put me in the hospital. I realized later that I had been using the wrong powder!

Added: I know this incident reflects poorly on me, but I was young and dumb, and a clueless beginning reloader. I still have that old Mossberg, and it still shoots fine, 30 years and many rounds later.