22 LR slamfire in a BL-22

[geobru]

I took my daughter shooting last weekend. We were shooting the 22's. a BL-22 and a 9422. It had been quite a while since she had shot anything, so I went through the whole enchilada about how to hold the gun, how to pull the hammer back, how to put the gun on safety, etc.

She put the gun to her shoulder, cocked the hammer, and fired. She kept the gun on her shoulder and asked what to do next. I told her to take her finger out of the trigger guard and rack the lever. She was unsure what I meant, so I had her take her hand off the lever, and I reached in and worked the lever. When the action closed, the rifle fired. At first I was dumbstruck and when she asked why the rifle just fired, I said I'm not sure, just a minute. I looked at the hammer, and it was still cocked!

My first thought was that the firing pin was stuck in the forward position, so I took the gun and immediately racked the action to see if it would go off again. It didn't and while she was shooting the Winchester, I spent the next 15 minutes trying to get it to fire again. It never did, and I shot a couple hundred rounds through it without incident. The firing pin is spring loaded and was operating normally when I tested it repeatedly.

I have shot tens of thousands of rounds through 22s over the years and have never had anything like this happen. Unfortunately, I jacked that case out when I tried to get a repeat with the next round, and was unable to isolate it.

Is it possible that there was something about that round that might have contributed to this incident? Or should I be looking at the gun?

This really shook me up. I am just glad that she was pointing the gun in a safe direction when it went off!

Have any of you ever had this happen??

[junkbug]

Perhaps a slightly oversize rim would cause that. Or a hard piece of grit or sand sticking on the bolt-face. How it would get there after just firing the first cartridge is anyone's guess. It would have been nice to look at the spent casing from that shot, but honestly, I probably wouldn't have had the fore-sight to save it.

[airedaleman]

Remington bulk ammunition?

[geobru]

Federal Bulk ammo

[OldWin]

Glad nobody was hurt. Had an out of battery detonation with a Colt Woodsman. We were at the club's indoor range and my dad was beside me with the Colt. He fired and then came a LOUD second bang. Pieces of the casing struck me in my right cheek. Never happened before or since in thousands of rounds.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

I tend to think the firing pin was gummed up stuck setting it off on closing then the thrust helped loosen it some.

[Pete44ru]

I tend to think the firing pin was gummed up stuck setting it off on closing then the thrust helped loosen it some.

+1 - If it were my rifle, I'd use a good solvent, sprayed into the front of the FP hole with the small straw suppplied with most cleaners, to power-flush (out) whatever gunk may still be lurking in the FP channel, before the incident recurs.

Best practice, however, would be to remove & strip down the bolt for a closer look-see & detailed deburring/cleaning.


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[geobru]

I tend to think the firing pin was gummed up stuck setting it off on closing then the thrust helped loosen it some.

+1 - If it were my rifle, I'd use a good solvent, sprayed into the front of the FP hole with the small straw suppplied with most cleaners, to power-flush (out) whatever gunk may still be lurking in the FP channel, before the incident recurs.

Best practice, however, would be to remove & strip down the bolt for a closer look-see & detailed deburring/cleaning.


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I have been thinking along these lines the last few days as I have thought about this incident. I recently replaced the firing pin when the old one broke. I'm thinking that a complete tear down is in order to check the firing pin and the bolt area for burrs and clean anything up that isn't smooth.

[horsesoldier03]

Just more proof that the only Safety worth a dang is between your ears! The fact that no one was hurt is proof that you were teaching her right. The gun was obviously pointed in a safe direction.

[geobru]

Just more proof that the only Safety worth a dang is between your ears! The fact that no one was hurt is proof that you were teaching her right. The gun was obviously pointed in a safe direction.

Don't think for a minute that that didn't cross my mind.

How many times do we get sloppy in our safety etiquette? This incident gave me an instant reminder that you ALWAYS have to remember the basic safety rules when handling weapons...... Even with the lowly 22lr. I say that because it is easy to get careless when you are "just" shooting a 22.

I think about what might have happened if this had occurred when I was a kid, out with some buddies on a plinking binge... YIKES!!

[C. Cash]

Glad everyone is OK!