.22 Mystery

[sailorb]

I was recently shooting my Single Six Bisley and a had a bizarre occurance. I fired two shots and on the second, felt some hot gritty stuff hit my hand and face. The cylinder locked up and after some fiddling with it I went to pull the cylinder pin. The base latch pin was gone and I assumed it had come undone. When I pulled the cylinder I found the round under the hammer had gone off, plus one a third of the way counter clockwise, i.e in line with the base pin nut. It had exited the cylinder and clipped off the base pin nut in the process. The ammo is older Federal, given to me by my brother in law. I have fired two other boxes from a 500 round brick with no mishaps. The round in line with the chamber had a split case, as did the round that misfired. The round that misfired had no signs whatsoever of anything impacting the rim. I am pretty puzzled by this and would appreciate any input. I have examined all the other rounds from the box of 50 with a magnifying glass and can't see anything odd. There was a bit of discoloration on the cases where they were stacked up and down to fit the box and the lead was against the brass, but it wiped right off.

 

[contender]

Definitely a puzzle. My first thought was an obstruction around the back of the cylinder that recoil caused an out of sequence discharge. But you mentioned the rim wasn't impacted.
Did you inspect the rim under a magnifier? Check the sides as well as under the rim.

 

[sailorb]

Took said ammo to my land today and loaded it up in a bolt action rifle. Took three different boxes from the brick. All had bad rounds within two to three shots. Got some soot on my hand, but no mishaps like before. The cases split where the firing pin strikes. I am guessing debris from the round in the revolver hit a weak spot in the case of the out of sequence round.
Next question. How do I dispose of the rest of this ammo? Don't want to throw it in the trash as our city incinerates it's garbage. Thought about throwing it in a lake, but don't want to pollute the water. Any ideas?

 

[22/45 Fan]

Contact Federal. Despite the ammo's age, they may replace it. Otherwise soak it in a bucket of oil for a couple of weeks. The oil will eventually soak into the interior and deactivate the primers. Then incinerating the remainder won't be a hazard.

 

[contender]

I concur about contacting Federal.
Send them the fired cases & a detailed description as well in writing. BUT,,,,,,,,, call them first as they may send you a proper shipping label etc. Follow their advice too.

 

[recumbent]

Put the rounds in a bucket of water let sit for 1 week. That should make them inert.
Check with your police dept they may take them.

 

[Highstandardguy]

I had a problem with some Federal target ammo a number of years ago and they took care of it. Definitely contact them.

 

[Hondo44]

I found the round under the hammer had gone off, plus one a third of the way counter clockwise, i.e in line with the base pin nut. It had exited the cylinder and clipped off the base pin nut in the process. The round in line with the chamber had a split case, as did the round that misfired. The round that misfired had no signs whatsoever of anything impacting the rim.

Very interesting especially that it clipped off the latch button; what's the odds???

The round 1/3 out of battery didn't misfire, you had a "chain fire" like can happen in a cap & ball revolver. The blow back in your face was almost certainly from the 2nd round, burnt powder and bullet fragments.

The ignition of the 2nd round came from the front of the chamber. We can only speculate how hot gases from the 1st round got into the 2nd round:

The 2nd round's case may have cracked under recoil from rounds fired before it due to old brittle brass. The first round cracking is telling;

1. it my have been an over loaded cartridge.
2. It may have been slightly out of line with the barrel because the cyl was not locked in position. This would cause excessive pressure as the out of alignment bullet seeks the hole in the barrel. Recognize that .22s operate at a higher pressure than the normal 15,000 PSI of .38s, .44s, and .45 Colt.

Check your cyl timing. The full cock click and the cyl latch should click in at the same time. A short cocking stroke may cock the hammer but not quite lock the cyl if timing is off. Check by cocking the hammer very slowly until it clicks, then verify if the cyl is locked up for every chamber.

Whatever went wrong with the first round could blow hot gas thru the bullet seal of the 2nd round, or much easier to enter the case and ignite if the excessive pressure from the first round cracked its case.

We get a real good idea of the forces at work during cartridge ignition when things go wrong!