A story about barrel obstructions and luck

[greaseywater]

I received my green mountain "monster" group buy barrel a few days after ordering in early February. Due to work, vacation, and a bad case of stomach flu I wasn't able to assemble and test out my new Grendel until early March. In the first outing, I shot 36 rounds of Hornady American Gunner. The goal was function testing, initial break in, and a peek at accuracy potential. It was mediocre. More work needed.

For the next test I gathered all the factory ammunition I had, and loaded up some 120gr ELD-M over CFE223.

I arrived at the range to find the only two other shooters packing up. It would just be me and the RSO. He sits in an office behind the range and monitors several ranges via remote camera. I set my target at 100. Got my rest set up and fired a few rounds. That's my typical routine before setting up the shooting chrony. A new method I've been using is to insert a bore sighter in the muzzle. This helps quickly align the chronograph, which is very helpful when the range is busy. Not necessary on this day, but I used it anyway. I would use the cartridge shaped bore sighter, but my normal ranges require the chamber to be clear and have a chamber flag for cold range. So I use the muzzle version.

I called the range cold (easy to do when I'm alone) and set up my chronograph. It went quickly. I called the range hot and loaded up a magazine. The first few shots hadn't been great, so I was thinking that Hornady AG may not agree with this barrel. Just a few more shots to ensure the chronograph is working right, then on to something different.

The first shot went in to space. I could not find a hole on my clean target. But I saw dust. I must have missed completely. The next 3 were on paper, but no where near the POA. 3 more rounds and it's only getting worse. I stand up and start looking at the gun. It is then that I notice the flash hider is gone. The naked threads make me realize what I just did.

I called the range cold again, no longer thinking it funny, just relieved no one else was around to potentially get hurt.

I walked up and down the range looking for the bore sighter or flash hider. I found the bottom half of the flash hider directly beneath the end of the muzzle. I could not find the top half or any sign of the bore sighter.

I did not notice at all when I shot the bore sighter. It seemed like a normal round, other than not hitting the target. It was a small clue, but should have been my first.

It is 4 days later and I still can't believe how careless I was. I didn't get hurt and no one else did. I think the barrel is shot, but that is a small price to pay for the luck.

I don't think I'll be using the muzzle sighter at the range anymore. I'll set up the chrony like I have before. And save up for a magnetospeed or labradar.

I hesitated to post this, thinking that everyone would just call me out for being careless and stupid. But if you do, that's fine. I was those things. I'm going to work to not be in the future.

[A5BLASTER]

Dang that is a close call. Glad you weren't hurt. Murphy's law and all. And he never takes a day off.

[lazyengineer]

Thank you for posting this. Failures of this nature can be embarrassing, but tend to be the most educational. Appreciate the reminder sir.

[BCHunter]

Glad your ok ... there was pictures floating around years back when they first came out of a guy who did the same thing but wasn't as lucky, was shooting a 7mm mag I believe.

I would point to the positives of routines, and that changing yours, help lead to the mishap. Thank you

[MarkS]

Thanks for sharing your mistake with us.

It is very easy to screw up when we change a routine or get in a hurry. When I look back at my close calls, they are almost 100% due to distractions or changes to my routine.

[greaseywater]

You guys are right about routines. This was a new one and I didn't do enough work to incorporate the change. I would have had to have a meeting and fill out two forms to make this kind of process change at work. I will need to improve my recognition of those situations.

A photo of the flash hider

IMG_20190329_163618

[Chipj4]

Your not alone. I did this exact same thing. I also used a muzzle bore sight to align my croney because it usually speeds things up. There were a few guys down at the 50 yard range but both the 100 and 50 are on the same line so both sides have to go cold. I always hate holding people up when setting up the croney so I did it as quickly as possible. It was windy that day so I was having some trouble aligning correctly but got in a hurry because of the other guys. After the range went hot I noticed it was not aligned well enough so I had to wait till the range went cold again. So sitting there with nothing to do I decided to take a few test shots. I noticed right away something was not right when the first round went off. Lots of smoke and what felt like powder blown back at me. I looked the rifle over and realized what I had done. I had an Odin works ATLAS comp which was still there but all bent up on the inside. The bore sight was nowhere to be seen. Fortunately the 50 yard range is about 75 yards away from where I was and no shrapnel from the bore sight hit anyone. They never even noticed. I felt like a complete moron packed up my stuff and went home. I had other guns to shoot but felt like I didn't need to be handling any more firearms that day. I don't do careless things especially when it comes to fire arms. Because of my impatience and frustration with the croney I did made a careless mistake that could have really messed me or worse, someone else up. God was looking out for me that day I guess. All that was hurt was my ego and a expensive compensator. Luckily the barrel (Odin Works also and expensive) was fine. There may have been a tiny burr on the crown that I was able to smooth off but that may have been there before and I had not noticed. I think the length of the compensator saved the barrel since it did not allow the metal part of the bore sight to enter the barrel. The $100 comp was a bargain for a lesson learned. I found the bore sight months later about 25 yards down range. Consequently it was shot :-)

TLDR
I screwed up too making exactly the same mistake.

[41bear]

Thanks for the story. Just remember the only folks who don't screw up are the ones who do nothing, the rest of us screw up. From one who knows.

[OLDCOOT]

Glad you're okay. These kinds of real story postings help to improve my own situational awareness. Thanks for posting.

[1Shot]

My hunting buddy did all the testing and rifle sighting in for a local gun smith and sporting goods store. When I was over for my annual 3 weeks of deer hunting each year we would usually go to the range once or twice a week during the middle of the day and do the test shooting and sighting in. We learned to really pay attention to making sure that we had the right ammo for the weapon. You would be surprised how many people would send the wrong ammo with their rifles that they wanted the zero checked or sighted in. Got so bad that the store owner had to really make sure his two employs double checked to make sure ammo matched the rifle when people brought them in. We once did get to the range and there was the laser bore sight sticking in the bore of one of the rifles. Once my buddy took his neighbor and his muzzle loader rifle that he had just bought used from someone to the range to check it's scope and let the guy shoot it some. Normal first thing to do with an "assumed" unloaded muzzle loader is to pop a couple caps to clear any oil etc. First cap to be popped luckily with the muzzle pointed down range was a BOOM. Know of the same thing happening to another fellow but he was in his loading room at the time and blew a large chunk of concrete out of the floor and got shrapnel in his legs. Don't know of how many "unloaded" weapons I have seen brought into gun shops, gun shows etc. that were "unloaded" only to find one up the pipe. Getting in a hurry or complacency can get you killed. Glad you did not get hurt. Did it mess up your barrel?

[greaseywater]

Did it mess up your barrel?

I think so. I can't see anything obvious on the surface. But when I run a patch through the barrel, there is a loose spot about 1-2 inches from the muzzle.

[FANGGHOSTWOLF]

Shared lessions as this are hard to swallow but working in safety in heavy construction ever near Miss is of importance to share. Yes you were lucky in many ways. Manning up of your mistake speaks loud and is just another lesson learned and shared with others. To easy to get distracted and forget.
I've made it a habit when working in the shop to not answer the phone esp when on the lathe. Thanks for the share and glad you are here to tell about it.

[1Shot]

If it does have a bad spot just stretched a little at the muzzle you may be able to still get some service out of it by using an end mill to drill down in the muzzle enough to get by the bad spot and this end mill will cut a square crown like end to the rifling. I have seen a number of Russian military rifles done like this to refurb them and they shoot pretty good. Then again I will probably be just as easy and quicker to just get another group buy barrel and replace the bad one.