Ever had this happen?

[Steel Shootist]

I loaded up some moderate .243 loads for myself and a friend. I gave him 20 rounds to take to the range to try out. He shoots a Sako bolt action (I think a Frontier model). He starts loading and shooting them one by one. He told me that the rounds were a little stiff going into the chamber (yes I checked for OAL and resized full length). About the 4th round, he his closing the bolt and as he's closing it and when it's nearly closed, the GUN GOES BANG!!! He ended up shooting the rest of the reloads without another 'incident'. He's a new-ish shooter and was sort of making it sound like he suspected something may have been wrong with my reloads. From everthing I know, this probably had NOTHING to do with the reloads and had EVERYTHING to do with his gun. The primers were all seated and were Winchester primers.

So, anyone have any input or things to look for in the future? We are planning on going on a pig hunt with several other guys and he is going to use the same gun and we are both going to use the same ammo. Last thing I want is another AD!! or worse!!

Your thoughts and input are appreciated.

Thanks!

[mscott]

Maybe a stuck firing pin or a trigger issue is where I might start looking.

[Litlratt]

If he was having issues closing the bolt, it's entirely possible that he hit the trigger when doing so. I've seen it. I would also check for sear engagement.

The fact that he was having trouble closing the bolt was more than likely the chamber was dirty or the brass was not sized enough for his chamber.

[Religious Shooter]

I've never had it happened.

But 700's are known to do that with the old triggers if it has been set too light.

[barney88pdc]

2 safety checks to try. This will determine if he has the trigger set dangerously light.

First open and close the bolt to cock the firing mechanisim. With the gun on SAFETY pull the trigger. Then deactivate the safety and place the gun on FIRE if it trips bad news.

Second with the gun on FIRE open and close the bolt HARD about a dozen times. If the gun trips BAD news. Either a sear engagement problem or too light of a trigger setting.

My dad had a buddy who's gun went off one morning Elk hunting. They climbed a mountain in the twilight of early morning and upon reaching the park on top they got under a big tree with heavy snow all around. The branches were weighted by the snow almost touching the ground but it made a perfect tent. When Ed chambered a round with the gun on safety BANG right behind my dad. Lucky the gun was pointed up and all that insued was a doucing of snow falling on them from the branches and of course a nice ringer for a few hours in his ear. They took the gun apart that night at the camp and apparently there was some brass pieces in the trigger mechansim. Best they could see was someone might have got a "wrong shell" (.270) to go off in the gun while sighting it in. I think the gun was either a 300mag or 7mm. They said the brass looked to be bits of casing. Not sure this was several years back and I was not there but a close call. Good thing it was pointed in a safe direction. At the very least have a knowledgeable person or gun smith tear it down and inspect it.

[GrumpyOne]

I was putting a new scope mount on a Savage 110 bolt action .270, put a live round in to see if it would clear the mount, closed the bolt, "BANG", in my LIVING ROOM. Blew out a window, no one was hurt. except me. I had the rifle butt on the inside of my thigh when it fired. Turns out, the firing pin was stuck, so when I closed the bolt hard, it fired the primer. Took it apart to find this out, then traded the gun the next day. Told the shop I traded it to about what happened, said they would fix it.

[zero_down]

I've had 2 accidental discharges and both were down range thankfully. The first was with a rifle that my friend wanted me to sight in for him. He told me that he had adjusted the trigger to be really light. He's not the gunsmith type but said that he had done it before on other rifles. I tested the trigger without ammo first to see if jarring the rifle would set it off and it didn't. But when I went to chamber the round it went off as soon as I turned the bolt down. BANG! The trigger was set too light. The second was from a gunsmith with a tuned trigger. This one was from an actual gunsmith so I had all the confidence that it would work and it did but...I chambered a round was about to get set up behind the rifle when the person shooting next to me asked me a question. I put the rifle on "safe" and helped him with his issues. (I never moved from behind the rifle) When I started to set myself up again I took the rifle off safe and BANG! Needless to say, range session was over and immediately back to the gunsmith for inspection. The trigger needed to be tweeked. My point is that both times it was a trigger issue which is probably what you've got right now.

[FLL1911]

I saw it happens with a Weatherby 30-06 (a Vanguard Synthetic, I think) at the range nearby. This shooter was at the far left position, and as he finished firing, he put his rifle case on the bench, at 180 degrees to the targets. The rifle was pointing the target, with the bolt open. He grabbed the rifle, pushed the bolt forward, but without pushing the bolt down completely. As he put the rifle on the case and tried to close it, the top of the case pushed the bolt all way down causing the rifle to fire inside the case towards the parking lot to the left of his position – no car was hit, but it was a close call. Had he had his rifle towards the opposite direction, it would fire towards the other shooters still close the bench to his right. It was quite scare. I never saw the shooter again, so I do not know what cause the discharge, and how it was fixed. Bottom line, he had a rifle with a live round while people were restoring targets, and having the bolt open is not enough safety measure.

[gm iprod]

We have a bunch of people in this part of the world who think carrying a rifle on "half cock" is a good thing. It is either open or closed. Halfway open is like a parachute that is half open, completely lethal.

Anyways back to the original problem.

With a two lug Sako (especially the older ones) the striker housing and the back of the bolt body can become a little dirty and this will gum up the works and cause the striker to fail to locate on the sear correctly. If the rifle has had the trigger adjusted too much this will exacerbate the problem. The sear may bear against the striker incorrectly and sometimes as the pressure increases as the bolt is closed it will fire as the bolt goes fully into battery. Surprisingly enough proper maintenance will somehow cure this.

I have an very old and poorly maintained Sako 243, it had been left in the bush for a week after the previous owner had it fall of the top of the van he was using after he forgot it was on top. Took him a week to retrace his steps and locate the rifle. The bolt was open when the rifle skidded off the top and landed fairly hard on the gravel at the side of the road. He recovered the rifle and brought it to us to fix. After an quick inspection the barrel was found to be bent. The bolt had decocked and the guide had broken off. Insurance claim made, and a small amount of money changed hands and I had myself a new project (I only wanted the stock and action), I cleaned up the bolt as best I could. But after some advise from a gunsmith friend I found when tested (with no ammo) 1 time out of 10 it would fire on closing, full disassembly and checking by a said competent gunsmith revealed some internal damage to the striker and it was not enagaging the sear correctly, the trigger had been severely dicked with to boot. Put all this together and it was a problem. More money changed hands and I have a fully working SAFE 243 with a bent barrel. It groups good enough (1.25" some 4ft left) at 100Y, and awaits a new barrel. Stock is not cracked at all.

[Singlestack]

I've never had it happened.

But 700's are known to do that with the old triggers if it has been set too light.

I had a 700bdl in .270 fire when I let the safety off. I was hunting in a tree stand. Sitting there all bored and quiet. Flicked the safety off and BOOM.

Hurt my feelings real bad.

[Steel Shootist]

Thanks you guys! It's great to have a place to ask questions like I did and get some VERY intelligent (and helpful) answers. I have some questions of my own that I will be asking him. Not sure of all the details, but I agree that it probably should be taken to a gunsmith or at the very least disassembled and thoroughly cleaned. I'm sure it will be fine but it deserves some attention before something happens. If I find out more details, I'll write back.

I have a variation of this rifle and it makes me more aware of some of the potential problems. Sounds like a great time to take it apart.

Thanks again!

[kgunz11]

I loaded up some moderate .243 loads for myself and a friend. I gave him 20 rounds to take to the range to try out. He shoots a Sako bolt action (I think a Frontier model). He starts loading and shooting them one by one. He told me that the rounds were a little stiff going into the chamber (yes I checked for OAL and resized full length). About the 4th round, he his closing the bolt and as he's closing it and when it's nearly closed, the GUN GOES BANG!!! He ended up shooting the rest of the reloads without another 'incident'. He's a new-ish shooter and was sort of making it sound like he suspected something may have been wrong with my reloads. From everthing I know, this probably had NOTHING to do with the reloads and had EVERYTHING to do with his gun. The primers were all seated and were Winchester primers.

So, anyone have any input or things to look for in the future? We are planning on going on a pig hunt with several other guys and he is going to use the same gun and we are both going to use the same ammo. Last thing I want is another AD!! or worse!!

Your thoughts and input are appreciated.

Thanks!

First off, I'd recommend not loading ammo for others. By doing so, you break a Federal law which is regulated by the BATFE. Secondly, if you're going to do so, don't post about it on the internet. Legally, you're not allowed by law to load personal ammunition and even give it to another to fire in their own gun. Even if you do it for absolutely no charge. Now will they prosecute you for doing so? Probably not, but had your friends gun gone off and caused some damage or injured someone, they would almost certainly come after YOU.

[Steel Shootist]

Good point! Point taken.

Thanks

[kgunz11]

I got an email from a foreign IPSC shooter wanting to come shoot the Florida Open. He was looking for someone to load him some 9x21 ammo here in the States. I contacted the appropriate authorities to find out if I could do this and was told no, even if I did it for free.

[Smokecloud]

Sounds like everyone here left some great information on the AD, if it wasnt a misplaced finger, then the trigger would by my first area of inspection, the last thing I would like to address is the bolt closing hard on the live round. You might check your ammo on a case gage. Even though you full length sized the case, you still might not have achieved the correct shoulder set back and that could be causing that particular problem. If your case shoulder is set correctly and the problem continues, check your trim length in that particular gun.

[TdK]

Get one of these: Hornady Case Head-space Gage

Measure a once fired case out of your friends gun then measure a case that you have re-sized and note the difference. Chances are his chamber is cut shallower than the one that you originally set up your die for.

As far kgunz11 post I didn't know about the legal issues I wasn't aware of the federal law aspect. Before I acquired my equipment I would purchase my components and my friend would let me use his 550b to load my ammo on. He said that way his liability would be mitigated by the fact that I did the actual loading.

HTH