I WAS LUCKY! Always wear your shooting glasses!

TOBY458

TOBY458

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Yesterday while shooting some long distance steel targets with a Tikka T3X in 223 Remington, I experienced something I’ve never experienced before. I was shooting factory loaded Hornady ammo, and had a cartridge case rupture in my rifle. It split down the side and peppered my eye and face with what I’m assuming was burned powder residue. Luckily it didn’t hurt me or the gun, but I consider myself very lucky! From now on, I will be wearing shooting glasses at the range. (I know I already should have been.)
On the bright side, the Tikka rifle handled this pretty well IMO. Like I mentioned, no damage to the rifle at all. And very little residue reached my face. So, be careful out there!
 
Crazy! And I agree, it goes to show that things can happen unexpectedly... Glad it ended up ok
 
Glad to hear your ok, I had a primer leak on me with my .300win while hunting a couple years back, certainly got my attention.

I was at a public range in college when a man fired a .308 in a 25-06; the gun didn’t come apart but the blast knocked him off the bench.
 
TOBY458 said:
Yesterday while shooting some long distance steel targets with a Tikka T3X in 223 Remington, I experienced something I’ve never experienced before. I was shooting factory loaded Hornady ammo, and had a cartridge case rupture in my rifle. It split down the side and peppered my eye and face with what I’m assuming was burned powder residue. Luckily it didn’t hurt me or the gun, but I consider myself very lucky! From now on, I will be wearing shooting glasses at the range. (I know I already should have been.)
On the bright side, the Tikka rifle handled this pretty well IMO. Like I mentioned, no damage to the rifle at all. And very little residue reached my face. So, be careful out there!
Click to expand...
Glad you’re ok. I certainly would keep pictures of this case and send it to Hornady and a letter. But keep the pictures and written down notes on what happened.
 
Yeah be careful for sure
I was hunting with a 270win loaded with 61gr 4831sc and had a blowout with a old Remington m700 , I was pretty lucky I only got a bit burnt

Unfortunately my 375Ruger only has hornday factory loads and brass ,
I think it’s inferior brass , but then again I’ve had cases rupture with federal premium 2nd loading before
 
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Wow....glad to hear you are ok! Those are scary. Factory load...I would let Hornady know which lot it was from. No other issues with that box?
 
Interesting it reached your face. I would have thought the Tikka design would have prevented this.

In reality, the things we shoulder are little bombs unless everything goes just so. Be careful out there. There are many, many ways to put the wrong ammo in the wrong rifle, goof up while reloading, or just having bad luck with factory ammo. Might have been a slightly oversized bullet. Might have been too much or the wrong powder. Could have been bad brass, but less likely. Might have been something in the barrel from a previous round.

Be glad it was a .223 and not a big magnum or DG rifle.
 
Green Chile said:
Wow....glad to hear you are ok! Those are scary. Factory load...I would let Hornady know which lot it was from. No other issues with that box?
Click to expand...
No. All other rounds seemed fine. I think it was probably just a bad piece of brass. I fired approximately 35 rounds from the same box with no other issues.
 
Glad to hear you are ok and the rifle handled it well. I have the same rifle and likely shoot it more than my others combined.
 
Glad you are ok. Case rupturing in a factory load is rare to say the least. Send a note and picture to Hornaday.
 
I wear glasses so they are shatterproof polycarbonate “safety” lenses.
Same style as Kareem Abdul Jabbar wore.
 
I hunted quail once with a just retired USN Captain who had run EOD. He said something that has stuck with me: he considered ammunition to be an explosive, just like a bomb, and he always protected his eyes and ears. His observation may sound obvious, and it is to a degree, but until then I had been more inclined to think of bombs and the like as different from ammo. Stay safe.
 
Wow, I’m glad you are OK! I am religious about wearing shooting glasses. You never know what may happen.

I was shooting skeet with friends a few years ago. We were at station seven. I was standing to the left of the shooter as I was next up. When he shot the low house, a going away bird, a pellet hit me in the arm hard enough to break the skin. All we could figure was that it must have ricocheted off the target. I would not have believed it possible. That pellet in an eye would cause serious damage.
 
TOBY458 said:
It split down the side and peppered my eye and face with what I’m assuming was burned powder residue
Click to expand...
this happened to me when I was about 12 years old shooting my grandfathers 22lr rimfire rifle.

What I noticed in recent years, when shooting steel challenge with pumo action on steel poppers, on occasion I got hit back by shotgun shot ricochet. Now, this is with lead trap ammunition.
I wonder how it will be when lead shot is totally banned and we are forced to use steel shot?
 
Toby 458 where are you thinking the peppering came from. The relief port is on the opposite side of the action? Are the bolt lugs out of spec? Or just the gas blowing out around the bolt?
 
That is scary.
Glad you and your rifle made it out unscathed.
One more safety reminder!
 
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