Duplex Powder Loading Causes Catastrophic AR15 Kaboom
Thinking of combining rifle and pistol powder in a blended duplex load? Well think again. If you want to keep all your fingers, stick with factory powders and established loads at safe pressures. Here’s what can happen with a duplex load composed of both rifle and pistol powders. This catastrophic kaboom of an AR rifle took place at the Phoenix (AZ) Rod & Gun Club (PRGC) range. The photos, first posted on the ArizonaShooting.com forum, show how the AR blew up, ruining the bolt carrier, splitting the upper receiver, blowing out the Cavalry Arms polymer lower, and actually detaching the barrel.
Another shooter, who was nearby when the Kaboom occurred, reported: “I was standing 10 feet behind [the shooter], loading mags. The shot was no different than any other shots. I only looked up because the RO was yelling for assistance.”
Obstructed Barrel? Probably Not: “The target showed four hits — the fourth round Kaboomed the rifle. [If there was an obstructed barrel only three holes should be on the target.] A piece of the exploded cartridge is still in the chamber of the barrel. The barrel extension split into three major pieces with smaller pieces cutting the left inside forearm.”
Suspected Cause? “It was a combination of rifle and pistol powder. The rest of the batch was pulled and there were apparently 3-4 other rounds with mixed loads.” It has been reported that these were commercial .223 Rem reloads.
What Happened to the Operator? “The shooter is fine. He got whacked in the face with the charging handle, giving him a fat lip. Minor cuts on his face. His wrist got fragged with carbon fiber/free float tube remains, which were embedded in his skin for a few weeks.”
Parts Ruined: Upper receiver, Cav Arms MK2 polymer lower receiver, Bolt Carrier Group (total loss), forearm, barrel, gas tube, gas block, muzzle brake, mag release, bolt release, custom trigger and take-down pins. Also charging handle is bent and trigger group sustained some damage.
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Tags: AR16, Cav Arms, Duplex Powder, Kaboom, Phoenix, Pistol Powder, Reloading
Duplex loads, seriously? What is wrong with people?!?!?!?!
With so many good powders out there for the AR….. why mess around with duplex loads is all I have to say. Sounds like he mixed the powders in bulk instead of doing one at a time or something.
I’m always amazed that these failures don’t result in more serious injuries. I will also suggest that anyone who mixes powders probably also has a higher incidence of double charges – so who knows what really happened?
Sounds like an aspiring candidate for a Darwin Award! The Lord looks after blind men and fools (I wear glasses).
TA
Gimme a break! The affected shooter mixed propellants intentionally? That’s just too incredibly stupid to be believed if true.
Glad to hear no innocent bystanders were affected, except maybe by having to watch this event and the aftermath play out.
Fellows,
The usual cause of this sort of thing is having more than one powder container on the reloading bench, and absentmindedly emptying the contents of a powder measure into the wrong one. The solution is to only have one kind of powder out at time, return the unused portion to the container at the end of every reloading session, and then put the container back on the shelf. Also, it is a good habit to look at the powder as you pour it…slowly, from container to measure.
Not sure why guys in their reloading rooms seem to think they can come up with better powders than a dozen chemists with PhD’s. that do this for a living, and have several million dollars in lab equipment, can.
The stupid shall be punished!!!!
After re-reading carefully, I notice that the article says that supposedly these were ‘commercial reloads’. Someone on the (production) line sure goofed. Didn’t think anyone with the saavy to put together an AR like that one would also be stupid enough to experiment with their own powder concoctions.
This was pistol powder. it was commercially reloaded ammo. the shooter did not reload these rounds. had purchase a quantity from a known company he trusted. afterwards, other rounds in that case were found to have also been loaded with pistol powder.
READ the Fabulous Post, people!!!
““It was a combination of rifle and pistol powder. The rest of the batch was pulled and there were apparently 3-4 other rounds with mixed loads.” ”
4-5 rounds total (if the charge that blew was NOT preceded by another/others that stressed but not to the point of failure…) out of the box means this was most likely NOT an intentional duplex load. Those are calculated and carefully worked up and I NEVER go there myself.
“It has been reported that these were commercial .223 Rem reloads.”
Hmm, Occam’s Razor tells me that someone most likely ended one run of ammo with the charging equipment and then forgot to dump that last little bit of powder in the hopper. Yeah, I did that once and wound up with about 4 ounces of model rocket fuel powder, because I was sharp/dull enough to notice that my 4064 thrown into the scale’s pan had just come out green…VARGET!. Had been interrupted at the end of the run the week before, and the powder level was well below the plastic hopper and even below the baffle. I thought I was finished the stuff off.
“It has been reported that these were commercial .223 Rem reloads”
What does this mean?
Editor: Mike, it simply means that the ammo was produced by a business that sells .223 Rem reloads. There are quite a few such enterprises. Looking at the cases on the bench, I would suspect this ammo was produced by one of the smaller outfits. Bigger makers of re-manufactured ammo generally tumble the cases so they appear more shiney.
OK, I admit I didn’t read the part about “… commercial reloads.” Sorry for the lapse.
As to the appearance of those unfired rounds: maybe they’d been in the magazine at the time of the ka-BOOM? I’d be reluctant to trust any ammo from a source that would sell cartridges looking like those.
Shooters in Tucson AZ beware….. this ammo was manufactured by Slash K guns in Tucson Az!
Did you NOT read the article?! COMMERCIAL RELOADED .223- Seems this guy is NOT at fault but the ammo company owes the guy a new AR!
I was squadded with the 3 Gun match director the other night at our weekly IDPA match. He says that the manufacturer of the ammunition goofed, and has admitted the mistake and compensated the shooter for all the equipment that was damaged. Good to see a company take responsibility and cover the losses incurred by the users or their ammo. He did say that it made a heck of a bang when it happened.
How did the charging handle come back and smack him in the face? Sitting here with my Armalite AR10 trying to figure the logistics of that out.
this is all pretty fishy.
It’s not that hard to understand, Brigo. Fishy? You may just not understand.
“It has been reported that these were commercial .223 Rem reloads.”
I don’t understand this…. you either have reloads or you purchase commercially manufactured ammo. What are “commercial reloads”? How do they differ from commercially manufactured ammo?
ooops …. sorry for the redundant post… just noticed my question was already asked by another reader and answered by the editor.
Cases cleaned by basic ultra-sonic methods don’t come out “shiny” as with other methods . That doesn’t mean the case isn’t clean ; inside and out . Just not shiny brass . And shiny brass may not be the best for some semi-auto feed rifles . Shiny brass in some rifles raises the incidences of mis-feeds and malfunctions . Clean is required ; but shiny isn’t .
As for the accident ; just goes to prove that anyone can make a mistake while loading / re-loading . Whether commercial outlet or individual . Stuff happens . Which is why we should always check , check again . And recheck our powder as we set-up , through the process , and as this example shows ….Check the hopper before filling it . TWICE !