Author Topic: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded  (Read 6659 times)

bedlamite

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makattak

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #51 on: May 12, 2021, 01:23:00 PM »
160,000+ PSI?!?!

Wow.
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dogmush

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #52 on: May 12, 2021, 02:00:23 PM »
Counterfeit SLAP round maybe?  The crimp and sabot do look different.  That'd be a mother *expletive deleted*er.  I wonder if Scott has any left that he can have someone pull the bullet on and check out.  I'd be pretty pissed to find someone had sold me a .50BMG case full of Win231.

K Frame

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #53 on: May 13, 2021, 07:01:42 AM »
That's a very interesting point about the possibility of it being a counterfeit round. It's decidedly different from from the several authentic slap rounds I've seen over the years.
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #54 on: May 13, 2021, 02:47:53 PM »
Even if is was a faulty and/or counterfeit round -- the design of the firearm made the breech cap the weakest point, so that failure turned the cap into a projectile aimed at the shooter. Firearms designers (in general) learned a hundred years or more ago that the design should vent over-pressure away from the shooter, and the part that's going to blow up should not be the part closed to the shooter's head.
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MechAg94

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #55 on: May 13, 2021, 03:52:23 PM »
Even if is was a faulty and/or counterfeit round -- the design of the firearm made the breech cap the weakest point, so that failure turned the cap into a projectile aimed at the shooter. Firearms designers (in general) learned a hundred years or more ago that the design should vent over-pressure away from the shooter, and the part that's going to blow up should not be the part closed to the shooter's head.
How many hundreds of years or more?

I wouldn't go back further than when the big innovations were adopted:  center-fire cartridges, interrupted screw, smokeless powder, mini ball, etc.
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WLJ

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #56 on: June 16, 2021, 08:36:31 PM »
Quote
markserbu
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I just received the RN-50 from Scott and here's a quick look at it.  There were obviously some HUGE forces at work here, and it's good that I've finally got my hands on this thing to start doing the analysis of what happened.

Kentucky Ballistics' RN-50 Blow-up: First Look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ny_V_VfT3Q
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RoadKingLarry

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #57 on: June 16, 2021, 10:23:13 PM »
Quote
analysis of what happened


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec-8A5k16Ak
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Bogie

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #58 on: June 16, 2021, 11:55:07 PM »
Primers start to flow at 60kish.
 
Over 100k? I'd expect serious kinetic disassembly.
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WLJ

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #59 on: February 16, 2022, 11:04:59 PM »
He recreates the incident/accident with the same model 50cal this time in a safe, for him, manner using rounds from the same batch.

My 50 Cal Exploded...AGAIN !!! (Recreating My Accident)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsw70VfSFFw




Spoiler: Far too hot rounds. Hasn't blown the gun yet though but I'm still watching

Edit: All the SLAP rounds were too hot but did not blow the gun. A final round purposely loaded to what they think the one on April 9th was loaded to did.
« Last Edit: February 16, 2022, 11:35:27 PM by WLJ »
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MechAg94

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #60 on: February 17, 2022, 10:38:22 AM »
Cool video.  Glad he was prepared with the overpressure round. 

I still think the Serbu doesn't offer as much protection for the shooter as other designs.  I think if I were to get a 50 cal rifle, I would lean toward other guns. 
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HankB

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #61 on: February 17, 2022, 10:40:57 AM »
Watched the video. The rifle stood up pretty well to some obvious overloads, but it reinforces my opinion expressed early in this thread NOT to fire questionable ammo from a gun show (or anywhere else) and if I ever get a .50 BMG rifle (which I think is unlikely) to avoid Serbu. I think some other designs have likely failure modes that may not be quite as catastrophic to the shooter as that rifle.

(I also avoid milsurp ammo that comes from countries where I wouldn't drink the water, like India or Zimbabwe.)
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WLJ

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #62 on: February 17, 2022, 10:47:47 AM »
Cool video.  Glad he was prepared with the overpressure round. 

I still think the Serbu doesn't offer as much protection for the shooter as other designs.  I think if I were to get a 50 cal rifle, I would lean toward other guns.

Yep.
The Serbu design while strong doesn't provide anywhere else for the an over pressure to go except straight back at the shoot if a guy named Murphy happens to comes along.
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230RN

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #63 on: February 17, 2022, 01:11:52 PM »
Double post, sort of half expected it, sorry.

230RN

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #64 on: February 17, 2022, 01:19:05 PM »




Cap threads looked OK for 40-60 psi household water pressure.

Sidewise relevance: Couldn't think of the name of that project to give dangerous ammo to the enemy.... "Project Eldest Son."

https://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/gun-nuts/2011/10/project-eldest-son-covert-ammo-sabotage-vietnam/

BobR

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #65 on: February 17, 2022, 01:49:44 PM »
^^^^^

Salting munitions is a popular way to deter people from using stolen munitions.

When we were in Djibouti in the late 80s we would go drinking with a few French Foreign Legion guys from the US. There was an issue with stolen hand grenades making it into the hands of rebels/etc. He said they would put instantaneous fuzes in 2 or 3 grenades per box and let them get stolen and put on the black market, etc. He said it cut down on the amount of stolen hand grenades from them because nobody that took them knew whether they would work properly or not. They also offered to get every one on the crew an AK pretty cheap if we wanted one.

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MechAg94

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #66 on: February 17, 2022, 02:04:47 PM »
I assume they had a way of determining which grenades had the wrong fuse?
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BobR

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #67 on: February 17, 2022, 02:38:54 PM »
I assume they had a way of determining which grenades had the wrong fuse?

The way he explained it was they would put them where they was a very high probability of theft and just left them there. If they found any while they were out and about they just destroyed them all. The only way to find them was to pull the pin and let em rip. I just figured they had a way to deal with things, they didn't seem to be as constrained as the French Army we interacted with.

bob

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #68 on: February 17, 2022, 02:43:59 PM »

(I also avoid milsurp ammo that comes from countries where I wouldn't drink the water, like India or Zimbabwe.)

Turkish mil surplus 8mm Mauser is considered to be loaded too hot for most semi autos. 
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Bogie

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #69 on: February 17, 2022, 07:44:14 PM »
If you load a .308 or a .30-06 with a heavy bullet, and a case-filling powder, you risk tearing up the action in a semi-auto that uses an op rod... .
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WLJ

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #70 on: February 17, 2022, 07:48:02 PM »
If you load a .308 or a .30-06 with a heavy bullet, and a case-filling powder, you risk tearing up the action in a semi-auto that uses an op rod... .

M1 Garands have that problem because of the dogleg bend in the rod. That was largely fixed in the M14
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WLJ

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #71 on: February 24, 2022, 02:43:09 PM »
Watched the video. The rifle stood up pretty well to some obvious overloads, but it reinforces my opinion expressed early in this thread NOT to fire questionable ammo from a gun show (or anywhere else) and if I ever get a .50 BMG rifle (which I think is unlikely) to avoid Serbu. I think some other designs have likely failure modes that may not be quite as catastrophic to the shooter as that rifle.



Heeee's back
This time with a round loaded to the level that took out the Serbu in a Barrett.

I Blew Up My Barrett 50 Cal...For Science
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRufSjBtJNE






Spoiler: It didn't do much better
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Bogie

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #72 on: February 24, 2022, 06:02:17 PM »
I suspect that my 180 grain 600 yard .308 rounds wouldn't be a happy combo, even in an M14... They were loaded pretty hot, but then again, I was playing at the time with custom actions, and we took a LONG time building up loads for that rifle... I really miss it. The primers were flowing a little, but weren't perfing...
 
FWIW, many benchrest competitors will run about 3420 fps with a 68 grain 6mm bullet - that's a known sweet spot/starting spot for working loads... You change the vibrational characteristics after that with seating depth. And yeah, we were starting with a touching the lands - not jammed... Jammed, if you have to pull your bolt with a life round, you can dump powder into your trigger, and that'll screw up your record target. Jammed does tend to do well, because it is consistent, but... Too much hassle.
 
And yeah - that is WAY over SAAMI for a 6PPC, but we were using custom actions and barrels...
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Brad Johnson

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #73 on: February 25, 2022, 10:23:13 AM »
We used to have a guy that sold home-rolled ammo at local gun shows. He stopped showing up after a bunch of folks experienced multiple squibs per box, some ending up with bulged barrels. Never had an overpressure that I know of, but his attention to detail with regard to powder drop was certainly lacking.

I saw a muzzle loader go boom at the range once due to straight up dumbassery. Guy was one of those "Why this here's modern gun steel, cain't hurt it fer nuthin. Don't matter much whut ya put in it" types that exist mostly to waste oxygen and employee's time at gun counters. I guess he figured powder meant for handgun loads meant it was powder with less power. Exactly one charge of Blue Dot later, he found out different. No one hurt that I recall, but lots of swearing and an invitation to never return.

Brad
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K Frame

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Re: Kentucky Ballistics - My 50 Cal Exploded
« Reply #74 on: February 25, 2022, 10:37:08 AM »
Really surprised that the bolt lugs didn't shear off the Barrett bolt.

That opening sequence was pretty funny, too.
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