Fireball

[zippy13]

This morning, I arrived at the trap range just seconds too late and missed an incident. Shooting had stopped as everyone was abuzz with their descriptions of the fireball they'd just seen come out the side of a stick gun.

A little later, I talked with the owner: It was a Winchester M97 he used for cowboy shoots and it had always served him faithfully. It was his turn to shoot on the trap line, as he closed the action it went off before it locked. A fireball erupted out the ejection port, an extractor claw was blown away, the bolt jammed, and there were several major adrenaline rushes. Fortunately no one was injured.

I mentioned that it might have something to do with the gun's design lacking a trigger disconnect coincidental with another problem. The M97 shooter said his finger had not been near the trigger.

Anyone else experienced or witnessed a similar event?

 

[the rifleer]

My very first gun was a Remington 597. Its a semi-auto .22lr and worked well for about 2000 rounds, rarely jammed. One day the bolt didnt close all the way (its semi auto, so i didnt notice) and something happened.

It ruptured the case and blew out the extractor. It doesnt have a trigger disconnect either. I had it repaired by a gun smith, three shots later the same thing happened. this time i returned it to where i bought it (big 5) and the refunded my money and a bought a marlin 925. Remington wouldnt ship me the part, so i probably wont buy a gun from them for a while, if ever.

For this very reason i went with mossberg and not remington. Im probably going to far with it, but they wouldn't ship me an extractor which cost them my business.

 

[zippy13]

Like some of Ruger's parts. Were the parts available only for installation by factory techs?

 

[Rampant_Colt]

user error

When i was about 12, i was shooting a round of trap with my SWEEEET 1921-vintage Winchester Model 12 and inexcusably had my finger on the trigger. With a shell on the carrier and my turn to shoot, i pushed the forend forward, then BANG! Big smoking hole in the ground and lots of looks from other shooters.

Dad forgot to tell me it's not like the 870, and to practice trigger discipline!



How the heck did that '97 KB??
Perhaps it discharged the shell before being fully chambered as a result of the extractor hitting the primer upon closure?

 

[the rifleer]

zippy13- yes.

 

[xm21]

I had a shell go off as I chambered it in my grandfathers Ithaca 37 20 ga.The firing pin was broken and had wedged in the hole in the bolt face tight enough to ignite the primer.The brass base had a hole blown out of it,no damage was done to the gun.That gun always put a tiny dimple on the primer of any shell that was chambered and not shot.I had shot that gun since about 1970 and the incident happened in 1991 so it had been used with a broken firing pin for at least 21 years.

 

[newkahr]

to The Rifleer

I don't blame you. I bought a used 7400, and Remington sent me to a dealer for failure to feed problems/stovepiping. (McLelland Gun Shop, Dallas TX) who shot the gun 5x, said it was fine, and charged me $70USD, without even taking apart the gun. I found it missing a small metal clip that retains the pin which holds the trigger group in place (takedown pin c-clip). I had to make one myself and polish the chamber with my own tools to restore the gun. Screw remington. I have gotten good service from Mossberg with their shotguns though.

 

[johnbt]

Jammed firing pin or maybe this type of incorrect reassembly...

www.hobbygunsmith.com/Archives/Jun03/Profile.htm

"This is because an incorrect reassembly can render them inoperable. It can actually be dangerous in the case of the Winchester 97.

His case in point is that the 97's have two screws with the same thread size, and these screws can be accidentally switched around. When this happens, the critical shell flag on the right side of the carrier will not operate."

"If this condition is left uncorrected, it will eventually result in an out-of-battery discharge with the potential of hurting someone standing to the right of the gun. It may split the right side of the frame if a hot field load is used. Other than that, the Winchester 97 is a very safe gun.

It should be noted that this condition does not exist on the Norinco shotguns."

"Why is he so well known for the 97? There is simply so much work out there to be done to the 97, that they have taken a front seat for the moment. The Winchester and Norinco 97 Shotguns represent a little more than half of the nearly 1,200 action jobs done in his shop."