An Unpleasant Surprise

[AzShooter]

Not once but twice today my Walther 1911 22 fired out of battery.

Good think I always wear safety glasses. Loud report and smoke all over my hand but no other damage. I think I need a heavier recoil spring so I ordered a few of different weights.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Slamfire? Does the striker stick out or something? Protrusions on the breech face?

 

[AzShooter]

Didn't appear to be a slamfire,it happened after I pulled the trigger.

 

[Bill DeShivs]

Clean the chamber and breech face.

 

[4V50 Gary]

What Bill suggests. Bet they're not chambering because of a buildup of fouling.

 

[AzShooter]

I gave it a good cleaning when I got home. I'll try it again next week. Thanks for the advice.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Is there a ring in the chamber that would prevent the cartridge from seating fully?

Do you have 22 dummy rounds you can do a function test with.

 

[AzShooter]

The chamber has been brushed real well and there is no ring. I don't have any dummy .22 rounds to play with at this time. I will buy some.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Good. Function test to see if when fed from the magazine that the slide locks up.

 

[stagpanther]

I don't know about your pistol, but I have played around with barrels on 22 rifles, what I've noticed is that 22lr is exceedingly sensitive to proper head-spacing, I've had a few cases separate at above the rim that looked a lot like yours'. Sometimes even very slight variations in the case OD can result in that. 22lr is also notorious for leave-behind unburnt powder residue in pistols.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Yep and that's why go and no go gauges are so helpful. Copper Chore-boy wrapped around an old brush helps to clean up the residue.

 

[pete2]

My guess is it fired out of battery due to dirty chamber. Some ammo is pretty dirty, may need to clean the chamber more often.

 

[44 AMP]

My first guess would be residue from firing built up on the barrel, preventing the round from being in contact with the barrel steel. (fully chambered).
The action was still able to close enough to allow firing, but with the case not fully flush against the barrel it blew out the small gap.

This could easiiy result in the ruptured case looking like the gap was larger than it was due to the gas pressure opening the action a little during the blowout.

OR it might have been a couple of bad rounds. Unlikely to get more than one at a time, though.

I once had a Remington round blow out of the rim, in my 10/22. Not just ahead but acutally out of the rim itself. Case body (with no rim at all) was left in the chamber, found a disc of brass in the action (the rear face of the rim) and the extractor went bye-bye into the weeds.

Bad round, obviously. Only happened the one time, of of the tens of thousands of rounds I've fired from that gun.

Clean the breechface and the rear face of the barrel specifically and everything else in general and try again.

If it happens again, you've got a gun problem that needs to be investigated and repaired.