Hi Gang...
First of all let me tell you that I am okay. Thank god.
I was out with my reenacting unit today getting a little live fire in. One of our guys recently aquired an Underwood Carbine and a Remington M1903A3. Both weapons were cleaned, and inspected and found to be with no faults, lubricated, and reassembled. Five others fired the M1903A3 before I did, and had no problems. I was handed five rounds, which I had fed into the internal magazine and I closed the bolt. When I pulled the trigger, I thought I'd lost my face. The round in the chamber ruptured, flashing back and destroying the extractor, and the metal clip around the bolt. The shrapnel and gasses and unburned powder vented back almost directly into my face. Most of the force of the blast vented our at the extractor, however some vented straight back along the bolt channel and into my face and hand where I held the stock.
I stood there dazed for a moment, with the others asking if I was okay... I can hear myself on the video saying yes, but the next thing I felt was blood running down my face. I put a hand up and came away with blood. I went to my vehicle and got my first aid kit and worked at tending and assessing my wounds. I was lucky, I only had one small puncture, which caused all the bleeding. I dont know what hit me, but it punctured the skin but did not penetrate all the way through. Nothing got under the skin. The small puncture was about one inch under my right eye.
The others came over and were trying to remove the bolt from the weapon in order to unload the remaining rounds. After about twenty minutes they finally got the bolt open and the ruptured casing out of the chamber. The case ruptured right above the extractor groove, blowing out a small portion of the brass, which did not separate from the casing, but allowed the gasses to vent back. The excractor was bent, and looked like it may have been chipped. there is a kind of clip around the bolt... and this was pretty well mangled.
The Casing was marked with an K at the top, and 54 at the bottom. The rounds had been sold new, I think, but may have been reloads, I'm not sure, they werent my rounds, but they came in a red colored box with a name that started with a P, and the rounds were held in 2 red 10 round plastic racks inside the box. All the rounds that had been fired before me came from this same lot.
A couple of things I've learned today.
1. No matter how many people have fired a weapon before you safely, it CAN malfunction when you pull the trigger.
2. No amount of prep... disassembly, cleaning and lubrication can stop a weapon malfunction.
3. Seemingly brand new ammunition can, and will from time to time malfunction.
4. Not all ammunition packages as new ammo, is indeed new ammo. They very well may be reloads.
5. As safe as ammunition makers try to make their ammunition, there is always that one casing that slips through.
6. Most importantly, wear safety glasses. I wasnt, and I'll tell you, that lesson is not lost on me. I could very well have lost an eye today. As it is, I have a face full of minor flash burns. It might have been alot worse.
Hope this helps everyone to be extra careful, especially when you are firing ammunition you have no idea where it came from. I'll never shoot ammo someone else provides again. My face and nose are still tender from the incident.
Wayne
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=55014