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My .50 BMG Exploded (Graphic Warning)
Zebra 2.0
Member Posts: 29 ✭✭
This is why you DON'T Shoot aftermarket Slap Rounds in an .50 Caliber BMG! He's lucky to be alive since his juggler vien was lacerated and his lung punctured. His Law Enforcement background and his Father helped save his life. This Video is for Education Purposes Only.
Comments
Yikes. I hope Serbu didn't get a bad rap for that.
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Good gosh!!!! Yes he was very lucky to survive this.
thats very old
he is doing great and he is glad he is alive and his dad was close by to get him to the hospital , they said him being a big old boy ( working out ) also help save him
best guess the round had been floating around for years in surplus
any one could have doctored it up of just all the handling ground the powder finer and caused mush higher pressure
as the round is rare and demands a premium price any thing is possible.
its was best guess it was way way over pressured the gun was not at fault they and him have proven that
by th eway he has a great you tube chanel with a lot of followers
he has went on to blow up a lot of guns just for the show but uses a long rope and lots of barricades between him and the gun LOL
I think the only thing that got a bad rap was the ammo, which if I remember right, was somebody's mystery handloads, using pistol powder, that ended up generating something along the order of 400,000 psi.
I don’t understand why people play with things that contain so much energy. It maybe harsh, but ‘there was no way for me to know how hot the round was’ is a questionable statement at best. Also, if the pipe cap looking thing is all that contains the pressure, I wouldn’t shoot M33 Ball through the thing, much less anything else. Seems like a weak design. He states that the manufacturer told him it would take 80k psi to shear the threads in a rifle designed to handle 55k psi. Can’t imagine how a less than 2:1 safety factor based upon the failure strength of the design was thought even close to acceptable by the manufacturer.
Stupid games, stupid prizes.
Brad Steele
I agree that the design appears weaker than desired. Rather than a threaded on cap which can strip I would prefer interrupted lugs like on an artillery piece or Weatherby Mark V action. Also, in case the cap blows off there are 2 ears which stick up to stop/deflect it. It was one of these tabs which sheared off and entered Scot's neck, almost killing him.
I don't know if the manufacturer paid for the hospital bills or even anything at all but they were fortunate there was not a big lawsuit. Similar over-pressure rounds have been handled much less lethally in other .50 BMG platforms.
I could google but then I don't post here...what is a "slap round?"
It is a sabot round. Diameter is less than .50”, and is surrounded by lighter material to fill bore. Lighter overall weight yields higher velocity round. Sabot is flung clear when exiting muzzle due to spin and small diameter round continues to target at higher velocity than a standard .50 BMG round.
You’ll notice in the video that the round fired prior to the failure is shown to have larger muzzle flash, signifying a hot load. Possible this caused plastic deformation of threads in the cap and/or on barrel resulting in a week joint before the failure round was ignited. A hot load and a weakened connection go boom.
Brad Steele
A lacerated jugular and he survived? Very lucky.
After reading @Don McManus 's comment above, maybe they should?
Sabot
Light
Armor
Piercing
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
😐️
When I look at the lugs on the bolts of my .50 BMG rifles and the heavy interrupted thread on my Boys rifle, it is obvious there is an order of magnitude more interlocking steel backing the round. Even with that, the first few times I fired the Barrett M95 (bull pup) I thought twice with that amount of energy being released 5” from my cheek. Obviously the Serbu holds up for most, but it looks like a modified pipe bomb.
Brad Steele
And fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain