Cartridge exploded in the chamber. I need help!

[insomnitec]

Have you checked the barrel for a squib yet, so far everything shown and stated sounds like squib round followed by a good one, IE; ammo related.

What happened to the first defective Rifle ?

The barrel appeared to be clear of obstructions when I was taking the pictures. I will double check when I get home just to be sure. I think the likelihood that the ammo caused the issue is not very high. What are the chances that this guy would have had the exact same experience as me?

Bill Och Says:
November 28th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I also bought a new m&p 15/22. The first time we shot it was OK Maybe 100 rds. The second time out, after around 50 rds, it exploded a round in the chamber. I got the full treatment of powder,metal, and LOUDNESS in my face. I called smith and they sent me a pick up tag to return it. Has anyone else done this ? Did it fix the problem? I just got it back and have yet to take it out to play. It’s a cool gun , and I would like to keep it if it works. Should have gotten the Ruger I believe.

This persons experience sounds very similar as well:

1965 Mohawhs response after recieving the "repaired" M&P15-22: I received a "repaired" rifle: yet it must have never been fired at S&W, they don't get how bad this thing is flawed. Today, I went to the range again after receiving my "fixed" rifle; after the 5th round triggered a round exploded before it was fully locked into the breach, it caused a louder explosion and the side of the shell was ripped apart as material went flying out the ejection area. Why S&W????????


As for the first defective rifle, I sold it to a gun dealer for a $150 loss because they said that they could fix the problems themselves. After doing some research, it appears that the FTE problem specifically is fairly easy to fix. The other problems may have been attributed to the magazine.

 

[scheesman]

I just don't understand why you would take a $150 loss on a rifle that would have been fixed for free from S&W? Inconvenient? Of course. Unreasonable? Absolutely not...

 

[yj-guy]

Update: Obviously the cat is out of the bag, so I will go ahead and admit that the firearm in question is indeed the Smith & Wesson M&P15-22. I'm sorry for not immediately stating this, but I honestly just do not know if it may have impacted Smith & Wesson's liability for the matter. I am also adding some photos at the bottom of this post in a moment.

I am a bit leery to post this, but I am counting on the mature, responsible members of this forum to help me resolve a serious firearm safety concern.

I have had a long and upsetting experience with a certain brand and model firearm. I want to be specific, but I'm afraid I may say something that I shouldn't or interfere with a possible solution to the problem. To get to the point, I will say this; I have been communicating with the manufacturer of this firearm since the day I first purchased it. I was having repeated issues with the firearm failing to fire, failing to chamber, and failing to eject and I requested a new replacement of the firearm after I had decided it was defective. The manufacturer responded as I expected, stating that they could not replace it and that I should send it in to the factory to be repaired. Their answer was unacceptable to me, so I replaced the firearm on my own. I fully expected that this action would resolve my issue, but unfortunately I was sorely disappointed.

I took the brand new replacement to the range yesterday and prepared for a few hours of target practice. I loaded 3 magazines and began to shoot. Each magazine holds 25 rounds and after about the first 15 shots, I had a cartridge that failed to chamber. When this happened, I simply pulled the magazine out and removed the dented cartridge. I continued to fire the remaining rounds in the first magazine without issue. I inserted the second magazine and was able to fire 10 more shots. The 9th cartridge came out of the chamber with an excessive amount of powder burn, but it still fired appropriately. However, I was not so lucky with the 10th round. The 10th cartridge that I attempted to fire actually exploded inside the chamber of the firearm. Fortunately, I always take the necessary safety precautions and therefore I went unharmed. Had I not been wearing safety glasses, I could have very likely been seriously injured.

I have performed some research and determined that I am not the only individual that has been through this terrifying experience. This is why I am now extremely concerned. It appears that this company is currently manufacturing a defective product and I want to make sure they are held accountable. More importantly, I want to prevent this experience from happening to anyone else. Can you imagine giving your teenage son a small caliber rifle for Christmas, only to watch them lose their eyesight when they fired it? The problem is, I don't want to be misunderstood. I am a NRA member and obviously a supporter of the 2nd amendment. I am by no means attempting to hold this company accountable for unlawful use of their product, but only for the manufacturing of a defective product that has produced very serious safety concerns.

I have no idea how recalls come about. As far as I can tell, there is no government agency that regulates the production of firearms in terms of quality assurance. I don't want to address it directly with the company in question because I am concerned that my efforts will only result in a solution for me personally. I want to make sure that this company remembers what happened to me every time they manufacture a firearm. I also want to see them increase their QA procedures to a point that ensures the safety of every single one of their customers.

So the question is, how do I accomplish this? The only thing I knew to do was to collect the exploded pieces and to use my cell phone to record a video immediately after the incident and take pictures once I got home. I'm sure all of these things could be used to assist me in my efforts, but who do I give them to? Could/would the NRA actually be interested in assisting me? Who else can I contact that may be able to help? Are there specific groups that are dedicated to firearm quality and safety that would be interested in my story?

Let me be clear. I am not interested in making a quick buck or trying to use this experience to defame the company. I simply want to be compensated for a defective product and to hold the company accountable for this very serious safety concern. If that results in recall, so be it, but seeing as this company has had various recalls in the past, it does not seem like that alone will prevent them from manufacturing another defective product.

is the first bullet jamming and then you go to shoot the next one not realizing it is jammed? or the the headspace might be way to tight

 

[Steven]

The barrel appeared to be clear of obstructions when I was taking the pictures. I will double check when I get home just to be sure. I think the likelihood that the ammo caused the issue is not very high. What are the chances that this guy would have had the exact same experience as me?

Bill Och Says:
November 28th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I also bought a new m&p 15/22. The first time we shot it was OK Maybe 100 rds. The second time out, after around 50 rds, it exploded a round in the chamber. I got the full treatment of powder,metal, and LOUDNESS in my face. I called smith and they sent me a pick up tag to return it. Has anyone else done this ? Did it fix the problem? I just got it back and have yet to take it out to play. It’s a cool gun , and I would like to keep it if it works. Should have gotten the Ruger I believe.

This persons experience sounds very similar as well:

1965 Mohawhs response after recieving the "repaired" M&P15-22: I received a "repaired" rifle: yet it must have never been fired at S&W, they don't get how bad this thing is flawed. Today, I went to the range again after receiving my "fixed" rifle; after the 5th round triggered a round exploded before it was fully locked into the breach, it caused a louder explosion and the side of the shell was ripped apart as material went flying out the ejection area. Why S&W????????


As for the first defective rifle, I sold it to a gun dealer for a $150 loss because they said that they could fix the problems themselves. After doing some research, it appears that the FTE problem specifically is fairly easy to fix. The other problems may have been attributed to the magazine.

It very well could have fired out of battery, just wondering if the chance of squib round has been ruled out yet.

 

[djl02]

T

 

[straight-shooter]

According to the pictures, Remington ammunition was being used. It's a known fact all over the internet that Remington ammo is a major no no in this gun. Almost every documented OOB malfunction was with this ammo. The S&W MP15-22 will shoot any other ammunition. I purchased some Federal bulk and compared to some Remington Gold and can clearly see a OAL difference between the two and attribute these problems with the Remington being way out of reasonable spec. Even my Ruger MKII pistol hates the Remington bulk ammo.

Now, I don't find it unreasonable that if the MP15-22 is having trouble ejecting to take two minutes out of my life to adjust the ejector 1/16" toward the port. Test results have shown this 100% fixes the ejection issue. I also don't find it any trouble to avoid a particular ammunition the gun doesn't agree with and instead just purchased brand x. I mean heck, the gun only disagrees with one particular ammo, so what ?

I don't know, I'll get off my soap box about this topic now.... I done my research and found the answers I needed and still decided to heed other peoples experiences and go ahead and purchase a fine rifle.

 

[mettle]

Sign me up for one of these....

 

[Srtsi4wd]

I have had this exact failure occur to me with my Marlin 60. I also have had issues with my Browing Challenger that lead me to my hypothesis. I'm no genious but I think I know what is going on here.

.22LR bullets are held to the case by a crimp on and undersize base. The bullet itself has the same if not a greater diameter than the case. When the round is chambered, the bullet is right at if not engauged to the rifling.
The chamber of my Marlin is decently tight, I had put ~400 rounds thru it that day. The chamber of my Challenger is VERY tight. It will not chamber rounds after ~250 shots if I used cheap, dirty ammo.

What happened to make me really notice was some old .22 ammo I inherited from my Father-in-Law. It had been in storage for quite a while (est~7-10 years). The lead bullets have a coating of corroision on them making them slightly oversize. These will NOT chamber in the Challenger or my 60.

I think that the rounds are not chambering completely, but enough that the disconnector is disengauged and the hammer is allowed to fall. The case blows out where it's unsupported and scares the beejeezus out of you. This would be supported by the fact that the OAL of the remington rounds is slightly longer than normal. It would make this issue show up more quickly.

Give it a try with your rifle. Close the bolt on an empty chamber, check to make sure chamber is empty, check one more time to make SURE! chamber is empty, slowly pull it back to open up a tiny gap between the bolt and breechface. Pull the trigger and see what happens. My guess is that the hammer will fall with the bolt slightly OOB. Get a tight round and the bolt closes enough to let the hammer fall, but not enough to fully support the case, and pow.

Boiled down; a tight chamber, dirty or oversized ammo, weak recoil spring and a small space that allows the hammer to fall OOB before the disconnector kicks in are all factors in this failure.

What do you guys think?

 

[straight-shooter]

Very well said !

 

[Steven]

I dunno, in the orginal post it was stated:

Quote;
"The 9th cartridge came out of the chamber with an excessive amount of powder burn, but it still fired appropriately. However, I was not so lucky with the 10th round. The 10th cartridge that I attempted to fire actually exploded inside the chamber of the firearm. "
end quote.

Sounds a little like the classic "Squib Round Failure" . Haven't heard back yet as to if a bullit or two was stuck in the barrel.
So it could be either that or just fired out of battery. With out feed back from the OP , we may never know.

It seems that a lot of people have problems with that brand of ammo , I've never had good luck with it either in a Colt semi-auto .22 pistol that eats everything else.

 

[cce1302]

I have had a long and upsetting experience with a certain brand and model firearm. I want to be specific, but I'm afraid I may say something that I shouldn't or interfere with a possible solution to the problem. To get to the point, I will say this; I have been communicating with the manufacturer of this firearm since the day I first purchased it. I was having repeated issues with the firearm failing to fire, failing to chamber, and failing to eject and I requested a new replacement of the firearm after I had decided it was defective. The manufacturer responded as I expected, stating that they could not replace it and that I should send it in to the factory to be repaired. Their answer was unacceptable to me, so I replaced the firearm on my own. I fully expected that this action would resolve my issue, but unfortunately I was sorely disappointed.

Just curious as to why this was unacceptable? Isn't sending the firearm back how the replace / repair process works with every manufacturer?

What he said. S&W is very good about repairing firearms at no cost to the owner, incl shipping when it was a manufacturing defect. (I know this by personal experience.) In the case of your rifle, they probably would have replaced the barrel, barrel extension, and maybe the bolt. at any rate, yours isn't the first to have this problem, and from what I hear, the others have been adequately repaired/replaced.
what you ought to do with the second rifle is call them. They will send you a UPS tag at no cost to you. They will repair the rifle/replace any parts that are out of spec, and return it to you.

 

[Srtsi4wd]

I dunno, in the orginal post it was stated:

Quote;
"The 9th cartridge came out of the chamber with an excessive amount of powder burn, but it still fired appropriately. However, I was not so lucky with the 10th round. The 10th cartridge that I attempted to fire actually exploded inside the chamber of the firearm. "
end quote.

Sounds a little like the classic "Squib Round Failure" . Haven't heard back yet as to if a bullit or two was stuck in the barrel.
So it could be either that or just fired out of battery. With out feed back from the OP , we may never know.

It seems that a lot of people have problems with that brand of ammo , I've never had good luck with it either in a Colt semi-auto .22 pistol that eats everything else.

Ture, there is the possibility that it was a squib round. However I woulld think that a .22 round without enough oomph to get a bullet out of the barrel would not have enough to fully cycle the action either. He didn't mention if it jammed on the 9th round. The dented rounds look like a feeding problem.

With my OOB misfire, the round exited the barrel and put a hole in the target, just a bit low. The case body was still in the chamber, I found the case head in the feed ramp area. I used a cleaning rod and the case popped right out with no resistance.

When I pull the bolt back and pull the trigger, the hammer will fal with ~1/8-3/16" of a gap. On a Marlin 60 this is the same distance the bolt has to move before contacting the disconnector bump on the transfer bar.

I think these rifles have tight chambers and weak recoil springs. Could also cause the FTE problems if the bolt is moving rearward before the case has let go of the chamber wall.

JMHO, Other ideas?

 

[gmviso]

I am confused. Why do you have unfired ammunition that is so badly dented? Why would you attempt to chamber it?

 

[finity]

I am confused. Why do you have unfired ammunition that is so badly dented? Why would you attempt to chamber it?

I think the OP had several failures to feed that caused the round to dent & bend. I've had a few of those myself. You eject the bent round & cycle in a good one & go on. What you end up with is a dented unfired round. I don't think he was trying to feed the dented rounds into the chamber....I hope.