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Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:05 pm
by M99
Trying to think about what caused the bolt to blow back as it did - I would hazzard a guess that it was caused by gas coming back passed/through the round in the chamber on to the bolt face - now the question is what caused this? - was there a bullet stuck in the barrel? - have you looked down the barrel for any signs of this?
Were these homeloads or factory rounds?
Mike
Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:07 pm
by kennyc
wow! hope you get a full refund for it! I am not sure I could ever get over a failure like that, I would never want to shoot it again, thank God it wasn't a .223 that went bang!
Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:13 pm
by phaedra1106
Nothing in the barrel, chamber, throat etc are almost spotless as I only got 16 rounds through it, yes they were factory.
I am however missing a case, no idea where that went but I usually loose one or two per session anyway.
Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:16 pm
by John25
Good habit, shooting glasses.
I wear them for my BP pistols and Carbine but funnily enough not for my effing rifles!
Perhaps I should....
Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 4:52 pm
by Sim G
Glad you're safe. What on earth could have caused this? I don't think it was your ammo, especially as you've stated it was factory. You've had a catastrophic failure of the rifle. Exactly what though, I could only speculate at.....
Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:16 pm
by bobbob
Was this fitted at the time?
"I've fashioned a crude but hopefully effective brass catcher from sticky back plastic and a Fairy liquid bottle ...... well to be more precise a metal coathanger to form a holder and a spare carry bag off my headphones, sits over the ejection port by cliping it to my scope rail riser. Hopefully I'll manage to come back with all my brass this time".
If it was, could it have caused a problem?
Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:18 pm
by Blackstuff
Absolutely ridiculous!

Glad you're ok though. I've only ever seen one rifle blow up on someone in person and its very, very scary

Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 6:39 pm
by phaedra1106
Bobbob, no, didn't have it with me. It wouldn't have caused a problem as it's basically a net bag (like a kids fishing scoop) positioned to the side of the port to catch the cases as they fly out, doesn't touch the gun or block anything.
Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:29 pm
by IainWR
Hi
As (since 0730 yesterday) the NRA guy charged with running technical investigations, may I ask where and when this happened, what the ammo was and what precisely has failed on the gun? Even if the NRA has no jurisdiction, I would like to capture the details as part of a project to do some statistical analysis on failures.
yours
Iain
Firearms Manager
National Rifle Association
Re: SGC 9mm - Catastorphic Failure - Almost lost an eye :(
Posted: Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:49 pm
by phaedra1106
Hi Iain, I was at my gun club today and using PPU 115gr TMJ. I loaded two magazines (both original Glock) with 10 rounds each, fired the first mag with no james, changed mags and fired 5 out of the second without a problem, 6th shot and all Hell broke loose. I did check every time I released the bolt to make sure the round was fully chambered as mis-feeding is a common problem with the LRA9 (see other users reports on this forum about having to file the bolt etc. as a fix). I haven't made any modifications to the gun or magazines as I didn't want to get into a situation where SGC may say that the mis-feeding problem was due to something I did (even though it's well documented now).
From what I can see the alloy "lug" on the upper that goes down into the lower and is then held by the rear fixing pin has snapped allowing the upper to hinge up on the forward pin as it would for cleaning. The rear pin is still in the lower through the bottom half of the "lug" piece. I hope that makes sense, I didn't want to remove the pin or anything else in case it helps find out what happened.