Thread: bolt failure P14

Really glad your ok mate.

@mucko. Yep. I found if I full length resized I had case head separation within 5 loads. Went to sizing for headspace off the shoulder which extended case life a bit.

Originally Posted by jakewire

Really glad your ok mate.

cheers mate, im healing fast and thought doing a thread about it might find some answers to what happened and maybe save someone else going thou it.

Originally Posted by Woody

@mucko. Yep. I found if I full length resized I had case head separation within 5 loads. Went to sizing for headspace off the shoulder which extended case life a bit.

i had a google of failed h&h cases all the images show them failing about 4mm above the belt, from whats left of my it failed at the belt lower then where the die gets to. its hard to tell how thick it should of been or to tell if the case failed then the bolt or bolt then case. i would of thought a failed case would just gas out the ports and not blow it apart.

@mucko. Fair comment. Its jusy a possibility to consider is all. As you correctly state, head separation usually occurs a bit above the belt. Certainly in my experience too.
The final analysis of cause will be of interest to all on here who reload. It is intriguing , but bloody bad luck it occurred at all.

Originally Posted by Woody

@mucko. Fair comment. Its jusy a possibility to consider is all. As you correctly state, head separation usually occurs a bit above the belt. Certainly in my experience too.
The final analysis of cause will be of interest to all on here who reload. It is intriguing , but bloody bad luck it occurred at all.

its all good mate, right or wrong i would like piece of mind to find the right answer to what happened, if there's lapse in my reload procedure i can improve that if its random metallurgy causing random bolt failure then i simply move on and buy a custom action brandnew that will handle the 62,000psi i might run, its been a good thread and getting some excellent questions and answers.

Originally Posted by Mauser308

First thought I had was Eddystone action - Gundoc confirms that. Some of those were tested by writers in the past and failed at surprisingly low levels - the more work the actions had done the lower the margin for safety and the earlier they poos'd it. Would suggest glass-hard action with a fatigue issue that finally let go. That's the danger with the p14 scrubbed BSA actions - probably safe enough for .303 but they got a reputation for magnum conversions and the BSA ones don't have their parentage still visible...

your in my neck of the woods if you want to look at the bits and give your opinion. im in te puna

Originally Posted by Mauser308

First thought I had was Eddystone action - Gundoc confirms that. Some of those were tested by writers in the past and failed at surprisingly low levels - the more work the actions had done the lower the margin for safety and the earlier they poos'd it. Would suggest glass-hard action with a fatigue issue that finally let go. That's the danger with the p14 scrubbed BSA actions - probably safe enough for .303 but they got a reputation for magnum conversions and the BSA ones don't have their parentage still visible...

you have to look at other bits to get a idea of parentage all attachments are E. my dad just built a 338 edge on the same action for him and his mate, after witnessing my injury he is pulling the pin on them and will look for another action.

Damm might have a bit of a flinch next time you pull the trigger ,glad there are no permanent injures

Originally Posted by 17brno

Damm might have a bit of a flinch next time you pull the trigger ,glad there are no permanent injures

just about normal again whatever normal is for me lol. i got off very lucky

Originally Posted by Mauser308

First thought I had was Eddystone action - Gundoc confirms that. Some of those were tested by writers in the past and failed at surprisingly low levels - the more work the actions had done the lower the margin for safety and the earlier they poos'd it. Would suggest glass-hard action with a fatigue issue that finally let go. That's the danger with the p14 scrubbed BSA actions - probably safe enough for .303 but they got a reputation for magnum conversions and the BSA ones don't have their parentage still visible...

@Mauser308 not saying the action is a bit dodgy but in this case it seems to be the bolt that let go. If so that's a different animal altogether

Its a rebarreled action in this instance. Nevertheless, for better case life with belted cases it is usually better to headspace from shoulder rather than the belt.
Regardless, it appears , as Mucko and Gundoc surmise , the issue lies rearward of the cartridge itself.

Greetings Mucko,
Congratulations on your escape. Looking at your load of AR2213SC at 61 grains I wonder if you have been the victim of old data. Hodgdon has produced some modern data for the .264 recently in psi which shows 61 grains as near max for the 129 grains and way over max for the 140 grains. Nick Harvey was giving much higher loads at least up until his 6th edition which would be excessive to dangerous based on the current Hodgdon data.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings Mucko,
Congratulations on your escape. Looking at your load of AR2213SC at 61 grains I wonder if you have been the victim of old data. Hodgdon has produced some modern data for the .264 recently in psi which shows 61 grains as near max for the 129 grains and way over max for the 140 grains. Nick Harvey was giving much higher loads at least up until his 6th edition which would be excessive to dangerous based on the current Hodgdon data.
Regards Grandpamac.

ADI data online and 9th edition print. thats their most up to date data specs and i was still .8 under max. but in saying that i dont know when the data was last reviewed. there was zero indication of high pressure in the 3 shoots beforehand. zero function issues to indicate bolt stretch or deformity, even the remaining case in the chamber looked normal minus the base. Thanks for you feed back its worth looking into that further.

@mucko. Out of curiosity; what projectile? -and was it seated deeper than previous tests? An unlikely cause in light of no previous pressure signs though.