# .22 rimfire mishap



## elderberry99 (Aug 18, 2005)

A few weeks ago I installed a new scope on a recently acquired marlin model 60SS. After doing all the proper cleaning and inspecting of the rifle, and mounting the new scope I just bought for it, I proceeded to my rifle range behind the house. I have a 25, 50, 75 and 100 yard range setup for practice and general shooting purposes.
I set the scope at the 25 yard mark and moved on to the 50 yard targets. I was shooting the Federal Spitfire .22 rounds. I was having a great time and had shot about 75 or so rounds through this gun. It was getting extremely hot out and I had taken off my hearing protection before going down range to check on a target and reset. When I came back to the rifle rest, I had forgotten to put the muffs back on my head and began shooting once again. All of a sudden a piercing sound came from the receiver of the rifle and almost scared me to the point of dropping the rifle.
I immediately started checking my face and head for traces of blood as I thought the gun had exploded in my face. After about ten minutes of heart pounding and heavy breathing, I began to calm down except for the painful ringing in my right ear ( I am left handed and shoot lefty). I quickly examined the rifle and unloaded the rest of the unfired rounds out of the tube, and checked the chamber. There was a spent casing in the magazine chamber and it was stuck.
I took the rifle to the garage and began to remove the casing and inspect the rifle. The casing was peeled back on one side like you would peel a banana, but was still in the chamber.
I had noticed that there was a blockage in the barrel about two thirds the way up so I took my ramrod and removed the blockage to find that it was the bullet from the exploded round. After cleaning the entire rifle and inspecting it for any bulges and damage, I took it to the local gun shop for a thorough safety inspection.
Once I got the okay that the rifle was fine and safe, I returned to my range and once again began firing the rifle, but not with the Federal Spitfire ammo I was using earlier.
After completing my outing with the Marlin, I cleaned up and contacted Federal Manufacturing Company and explained what had happened in great detail. They immediately told me to pack up all the remaining ammo and the blown casing with bullet that lodged in barrel to them and they would examine everything.
I packed it all up and typed out a cover letter explaining what had happened once again, and sent it all off via UPS. 
About a week later I received a check for the amount of shipping and they have been in touch with me via emails and told me they will be in contact with me as soon as they find the results of this incident.
I tell you all this because I was a fool for not having the hearing protection on after checking the targets. A simple little task of putting on safety glasses or hearing protection can save your life or a part of your body. It was very fortunate that I was not permantly injured from this mishap. I am a very careful shooter but like anyone else can forget to do the simple things sometimes.
I had to inform Federal that I had found more of the Spitfire ammo after I had shipped the first package to them. I took the ammo and placed it in a 1 pound coffee can along with automotive transmission fluid to cover the ammo. Afterwards, I sealed the can and dug a two foot hole in my woods with the post hole digger and placed the remaining rounds where no one will ever recover them. I have done this in the past to render ammo useless and it works quite well.
I am still awaiting on Federal to contact me with the results of the tests.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

Your rifle went off before the bolt was closed. That's why the case "bananna peeled" and the bullet didn't exit the barrel. This is the same thing that happend to the Model 51 Ithaca in the shotgun thread. It's hard to say what caused this though. It could be that being very hot out and shooting fast your chamber got so hot that the shell went off by itself before your bolt closed.

My 1st question would be "was the gun functioning correctly before the problem or was it jamming occasionally, and did it jam before this happend?" If so that may have allowed the case to get hot enough inside of a very hot chamber to detonate on its own. The wax on 22rimfire bullets starts to gum up a very hot chamber and can cause poor feeding/functioning.


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## elderberry99 (Aug 18, 2005)

The rifle was operating flawlessly until this mishap.
I was not doing any rapid fire with this rifle. Sighting and testing the rifle requires shooting at a slow pace, allowing the cooling down of the barrel for accurate shot placement and that was exactly what I was doing at the time. I do not believe the rifle overheated at any time.
I can only wait for the Federal Ammunition Manufacturer to contact me with the results now before I can understand what really happened.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

There is no question as to what happened. Your rifle went off with the bolt partially open, that is beyond debate.

The question you need to ask is, what allowed the rifle to fire, or caused the shell to go off before the bolt was closed?


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

elderberry99
Was there a firing pin mark in the casing that banana peeled?


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## elderberry99 (Aug 18, 2005)

MossyMO,
Yes the mark was there as if nothing wrong ever happened!


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## elderberry99 (Aug 18, 2005)

The results came back from Federal and they seem very positive it was the rifle and not the ammo that malfunctioned.
I spoke to the rep that tested every round I sent back to them and he was very confident that the rifle did not cycle properly, allowing the round to set securly into the chamber before going off.
I am very satisfied with the finding of Federal Company.


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## MossyMO (Feb 12, 2004)

Thanks for the follow up, very interesting. Is this something you will contacting the rifle manufacturer about?


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## elderberry99 (Aug 18, 2005)

No, I don't believe so. I am going to mark this as 'one of those things".
I have gone over the rifle and had a qualified gunsmith do the same before I even contacted Federal.
Federal was super in handling this matter.
They paid for all shipping charges going to them, and they even sent me back the spent round to look over again.
I cannot fault Federal ammo for this mishap, nor can I fault the rifle. This is why I say I will just mark it as one of those things!


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