Dont leave your cleaning rod in the barrel of your 338 Lapua Magnum.................

orchidman

..........at the range and then fire a round...............

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/02/19/338-lapua-magnum-kaboom/

DoctorWho

Last time I saw one of those incidents the barrel looked like a cartoon gun, the barrel was all sharp and spikey fragments like a strange flower......

Ok, now that I remember, the incident involved a rifle in .300 WSM a Remington 700 ish IIRRC, and it was not a cleaning rod, it was a bore sighting scope, everything else about the rifle was intact, only the barrels last 4-5 inches opened up like a flower.

We turned the barrel down, and later replaced it.

tennmike

Well, the problem is obvious. He was cleaning a bolt action rifle from the muzzle. If he'd been cleaning his bolt action rifle from the breech, then this accident would not have been possible. :tooth:

Glad no one was seriously hurt!

shootbrownelk

tennmike wrote: »

Well, the problem is obvious. He was cleaning a bolt action rifle from the muzzle. If he'd been cleaning his bolt action rifle from the breech, then this accident would not have been possible. :tooth:

Glad no one was seriously hurt!

You're right mike, cleaning from the wrong end for sure. That shooter was the luckiest guy at the range that day. What destruction. Almost seems impossible he didn't lose half his face and an eye....or two!

Zee

tennmike wrote: »

Well, the problem is obvious. He was cleaning a bolt action rifle from the muzzle. If he'd been cleaning his bolt action rifle from the breech, then this accident would not have been possible. :tooth:

Glad no one was seriously hurt!

This.

Big Al1

La.....KABOOMpua!!

JasonMPD

At least that rifle is out of its misery. A precision long range rifle cleaned from the muzzle is probably the victim of many other firearm molestations sinful to the sport.

His other rifle is probably a .270.

tennmike

If I had to guess, I'd say the bullet tried to ride over the cleaning rod and jammed the bullet just ahead of the throat. With nowhere for the pressure to go, it blew up the action in the chamber area.

I was taught (read YELLED AT) to ALWAYS use a cleaning rod guide when cleaning rifles that could only be cleaned from the muzzle. Once I got a lathe, I turned out guides from hard brass stock to do that for the rifles. I've got them for pistols, too. And I have some Derlin plastic rod guides to use when cleaning from the breech. Cheap protection.

And I've seen a few ramrods for muzzleloaders launched by inattentive shooters. But none of them blew up, and it was with traditional sidelock rifles. Only injury was from the laughter of bystanders. But with the new sabot bullets and 150 grain equivalent loads some are shooting, I could see the same thing happening to the inline muzzleloader crowd.