Squib load mishap.

TDIOhio is a world class shooty school located in Southern Ohio.  They release a very informative monthly newsletter that highlights not only their program, but other topics of interest to the training and shooting community. Their current release featured a story of a recent squib load that destroyed an M16 but fortunately did not seriously harm the shooter.  Squib loads are actually rare but even though all NRA instructors mention them as part of any NRA sanctioned class, we sometimes do not give them the attention that they warrant.  The following is reprinted by permission from TDIOhio .

M16 Explodes On The Range — Greg Ellifritz

“Every firearm is just one round away from disassembling.”- Pat Rogers

Last week I was conducting a rifle training class for my officers. I was supervising the firing of our government surplus M-16 rifles at the 25 yard line. I had 5 officers on line firing the drill, 10 rounds in 10 seconds from the standing position.

Midway through the firing string I heard a loud explosion and saw one of my officers staggering off of the line, bleeding from his face. I called for cease fire and went over to check him out.

After a couple of seconds I determined that he was not badly injured and that his rifle had blown up. He told me that he was firing and had a malfunction. He pulled the trigger and nothing happened. He immediately executed a “tap rack” malfunction clearing drill. He said he saw an empty case being ejected from the rifle and thought that his rifle had failed to extract. The new cartridge went into the chamber and he pulled the trigger again. That’s when the gun blew up.

The officer said that it felt like he was punched hard in the face. He had a small cut from flying shrapnel on the bridge of his nose. He was very glad he was wearing safety glasses.

The rifle was locked up tight. It was a government surplus M-16 A1. The charging handle would not move. The magazine was blown out of the rifle and all the rounds were scattered on the ground. Some of the live rounds were seriously dented and damaged. There was a long crack on the top of the upper receiver, running underneath the carry handle for it’s entire length. I could see the underside of the bolt carrier was peeled back like a banana.

The bolt was closed, so I was able to separate the upper and lower receivers. I soaked the upper in penetrating oil and was finally able to open the action by beating on it with a 6lb sledgehammer….nothing else would work!

When I took it apart, the bottom of the bolt carrier was fractured, the upper receiver was bowed, with the dust cover bent into a gentle u-shape. The extractor was bent, but remained pinned into the bolt. There was a blown up empty case welded into the chamber. The case-head ruptured on its upper right side. The barrel was clear of any obstructions. The lower was undamaged.

What happened???

I think the malfunction that the officer experienced was actually a squib load. The cartridge probably had no gunpowder. The primer likely fired but the officer didn’t hear it because of the other firing on the line. The power of the primer drove the bullet just inside the barrel, where it got stuck. When the next bullet was fired behind it, all the gas was directed backwards into the upper receiver. It went down (blowing out the magazine) and up (cracking the receiver). The pressure also blew both bullets out of the barrel.

The ammunition we were using was [Withheld by Webmaster] steel case 55grain full metal jacket practice cartridges. We’ve fired more than 100,000 rounds of this ammo without any previous incident.

I called [Withheld by Webmaster] and spoke with one of their technicians. He agreed with my assessment and is in the process of replacing our upper receiver free of charge. Out of curiosity I also asked him about the possibility of an overloaded case. I did not know it, but he told me that with the powder they use in that round, they couldn’t stuff enough in the case to cause it to blow up.

Lessons learned:

ALWAYS WEAR EYE PROTECTION! If this officer hadn’t been wearing safety glasses he could have suffered serious eye damage.

Be alert for strange sounds. If your rifle makes a loud noise or an especially weak report, stop and check it out. I know that most tactical trainers (myself included) advocate a non-diagnostic immediate action drill when experiencing a malfunction. It’s fine to train that way for most malfunctions, but if you hear an odd noise on firing, take the time to be more thorough. Unload the gun and check the barrel for obstructions and damage. The same thing can happen in handguns too!

Always have another gun! This type of catastrophic firearms failure is rare, but it does occur. I’ve seen it happen several times and had it happen to me twice. When it happens your gun will not be operational! If that happened in a gunfight, you’d need another gun to carry on. That’s why I generally carry 2 guns all the time!

Use good ammo. This ammunition was of generally high quality. We haven’t had any problems with it in the past and I will continue to use it. Sometimes a bad case makes it through. It happens. It happens a lot more with crap ammo. That $10 per case you save by buying junk ammo at the gun show may be more expensive in the long run.

Go here to sign up for TDI's mailing list. They are also on Facebook .