View Full Version : Lucky guy, 50 cal explodes
https://youtu.be/1449kJKxlMQ
wow!
[MOD: Or, you could actually include the video in your post instead of making us open a new window. Like this..]
1449kJKxlMQ
.455_Hunter
04-29-2021, 18:56
Gun show reload filled with Bullseye passed off as "military surplus"?
Yeah, he got lucky on that one.
Most people don't get a second chance....he's fortunate.
fitterjohn
04-29-2021, 21:27
Lucky guy. That’s the exact reason I refuse to shoot someone’s reloads. Knew a friend of a fried that reloaded his own shotgun ammo, one day his gun did a similar thing almost lost his hand, but he swears it was the beretta shotgun not his reload.
hollohas
04-29-2021, 21:27
I enjoy his videos. Seems like a cool dude. Glad he survived.
Same here. Had a cousin of a friend that lost his eye and part of his hand to a family members reload. They narrowed it down to pistol powder on the bench while loading 30-06.
Lucky guy. That’s the exact reason I refuse to shoot someone’s reloads. Knew a friend of a fried that reloaded his own shotgun ammo, one day his gun did a similar thing almost lost his hand, but he swears it was the beretta shotgun not his reload.
That's crazy - man, he IS lucky several times over! The blast didn't kill him, the "wing" piece didn't go through his forehead, his dad was there to help him, they knew what to do to manage the bleeding - just wasn't his time to go. Fortunate would be an understatement!
Those 100 dollar slap shot rounds are now worth zero.
Hope it isn't long and he is back to exploding watermelons.
And people wonder why I always bitch about wearing eye pro. Without those cheap $5 glasses he would have also lost en eye.
Aside from the kablooey aspect of the round, that rifle design scares the crap out of me.
Aside from the kablooey aspect of the round, that rifle design scares the crap out of me.
I kind of wonder about that too...I mean if the threads and retaining blocks he points out on the lower start to wear out over time, what is the eventuality...?
I kind of wonder about that too...I mean if the threads and retaining blocks he points out on the lower start to wear out over time, what is the eventuality...?
Helicoil?
I kind of wonder about that too...I mean if the threads and retaining blocks he points out on the lower start to wear out over time, what is the eventuality...?
It's basically a potential pipe bomb with the 2nd obvious location for pressure evacuation (1st being the muzzle) being the breech... right where the shooter's face is.
It's basically a potential pipe bomb with the 2nd obvious location for pressure evacuation (1st being the muzzle) being the breech... right where the shooter's face is.
How is that different than a muzzleloader?
hollohas
04-30-2021, 11:32
I thought the same thing. Looks exactly like a modern muzzleloader. One for very very large brass cased ammo but with A LOT less mass backing up the breech plug than a muzzleloader has.
No thanks! I'll pass on ever getting one of those.
It just looks dangerous and like it was made in a garage.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210430/6ccb00e9839ac3e03f676a5792495f20.jpg
Helicoil?
HAHAHAHA no way in hell [ROFL3]
I didn’t know what a slap round was, Saboted Light Armor Piercing.
(Also, thanks to mod for adding link to post)
whitewalrus
04-30-2021, 13:35
I thought the same thing. Looks exactly like a modern muzzleloader. One for very very large brass cased ammo but with A LOT less mass backing up the breech plug than a muzzleloader has.
No thanks! I'll pass on ever getting one of those.
It just looks dangerous and like it was made in a garage.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210430/6ccb00e9839ac3e03f676a5792495f20.jpg
Yeah, not sure why people want to go cheap on a 50 BMG. Most of the cheap ones look pretty scary.
whitewalrus
04-30-2021, 13:37
How is that different than a muzzleloader?
Or any other gun? There are only 2 openings in the barrel unless the bullet makes it down far enough to the gas port on autos that have one.
whitewalrus
04-30-2021, 13:42
I thought that the SLAP rounds weren't supposed to go thru anything except the machine guns? Didn't Barrett design a barrel for the m82 that had a different throat design or something for them?
Or any other gun? There are only 2 openings in the barrel unless the bullet makes it down far enough to the gas port on autos that have one.
Because most other guns have to contend with things like bolt mass, mechanical lockup of lugs, standoff for the shooter's face and a design which provides exit points for the gasses/pressure in the event of a failure, etc.
It's not that there's something per se different about other barrels so much as what's between those other barrels and the breech end; it's that those other barrels' breech end aren't staring the shooter in the face at the 2nd most obvious place for pressure evacuation with virtually nothing stopping that process.
Even on a ML there's a design difference compared to slapping a threaded cap on the ass end of a .50 cal barrel like some redneck recoilless rifle w/ a shoulder stock.
hollohas
04-30-2021, 15:36
The more I think about this, the more I question that gun's design.
Modern muzzleloaders only have pressures around 20,000 IIRC. They have MUCH longer threads and a lot more metal behind the breech plug than that serbu 50.
The piss ant breech cap threads on that serbu 50 weren't even as long/deep as his finger when he showed them sheered off. I seriously question the engineering behind a threaded breech CAP. And the only support behind it being two thin metal wings? Literally nothing solid behind that breech. And it's supposed to be good to 85,000 psi?? Hmmm.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210430/93ac1e1d39639963e20770a6b251fe7f.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210430/9f225945000bde950748ca657edbeb88.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210430/6da3059d200cdec55a19a188a0df59d9.jpg
hollohas
04-30-2021, 15:59
I just read the description of this gun on their webpage, which reads...
"Represents the first time a production firearm has ever been inspired by social media. Designed in conjunction with youtube celebrity Royal Nonesuch".
Royal Nonesuch made videos of him designing, making and shooting homemade guns from hardware store parts basically.
One of the designers of this 50 literally makes hodgepodge guns in his garage.
That doesn't inspire much confidence.
I just read the description of this gun on their webpage, which reads...
"Represents the first time a production firearm has ever been inspired by social media. Designed in conjunction with youtube celebrity Royal Nonesuch".
Royal Nonesuch made videos of him designing, making and shooting homemade guns from hardware store parts basically.
One of the designers of this 50 literally makes hodgepodge guns in his garage.
That doesn't inspire much confidence.
Taking stupid in a whole new direction.
Singlestack
05-01-2021, 06:34
Darwin attracts the feeble minded
Darwin attracts the feeble minded
"Stupid is as stupid does" - Forest Gump :) My son and I watched the video, he's 16, first question was "where did he buy the ammo" and second was "screw on a CAP for a .50 BMG"? Smart kid!
And people wonder why I always bitch about wearing eye pro. Without those cheap $5 glasses he would have also lost en eye.
I knew a guy in commercial construction who never needed to be reminded to wear eye protection, he had already lost one.
Never go "Full-Grebner".
http://youtu.be/irr_id06dVs
whitewalrus
05-02-2021, 12:15
I just read the description of this gun on their webpage, which reads...
"Represents the first time a production firearm has ever been inspired by social media. Designed in conjunction with youtube celebrity Royal Nonesuch".
Royal Nonesuch made videos of him designing, making and shooting homemade guns from hardware store parts basically.
One of the designers of this 50 literally makes hodgepodge guns in his garage.
That doesn't inspire much confidence.
Really screams buy me. Most of the cheaper 50 BMG guns look pretty scary, but this one is towards the top of the list.
Kind of like a giant polished Zip gun!
I wonder if in the history of man, a person with a 'sploded gun has ever called the manufacturer and they have done anything other than blame the ammunition. [LOL]
On top of everything already contributed...
If we play a little game, and say it was in fact designed and tested for 60,400k PSI (the max rated pressure of 50 BMG), and the manufacturer expects it to not just fail, but completely explode into a pipe bomb if the pressure is just 29% higher at 85K PSI when it is brand new, and it entirely relies on tiny ass threads for it's only safety mechanism... well.
Screws threads are far stronger from shearing force than extraction force to top it off, and this is entirely an extracting force, and those are some very fine threads for such a task. When you account for manufacturing tolerances and wear, that's a mighty fine system right there with some guns likely expected by the mfg. to explode if they are just 10-15% overpressure! Imagine the difference in failure from just slight variations or wear to the threads. The way they are designed they may very well all fail eventually even with regular 50BMG rounds. And maybe, they fully realize that, but expect shooters to fire so few rounds that they won't explode while SERBU is still in business.
The other risk too is any metallurgical defect of any kind with those threads probably leaves it incapable of safely shooting even standard pressure '50. Even slight variation in heat treatment would have dramatic effects.
hollohas
05-02-2021, 16:41
That serbu rifle apparently works just fine nearly all of the time. What's concerning is the main failure point is directly towards your face. One thing fails (those breech threads) and that's it. There is no failsafe. And as stated above by fox, the failure point is not much higher than the design standard if what Scott said in the video is correct. Failures may be uncommon. Maybe this is the only one. (Serbu himself said it's the only one out of 14,000 guns). But that's really not great odds IMO.
I've witnessed guns fail because of overpressure. Here's a picture of a buddy's bolt from one such instance that I witnessed. Overpressure was enough to sheer the lugs right off the bolt. But the bolt didn't come out the back of the gun. Explosive gases have somewhere else to go instead of only sending things straight back.
Yes, it appears the ammo was the problem. And even Scott at Kentucky Ballistics says it wasn't the gun. But I'd be real curious to see if he ever shoots that rifle model again. I wouldn't. And I bet most others won't either. I predict that Serbu model doesn't have long after this.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210502/c49271bf2c8b7ee678bcad62c8e67d1c.jpg
Schedule-80 PVC pipe would've been cheaper.
I wonder if in the history of man, a person with a 'sploded gun has ever called the manufacturer and they have done anything other than blame the ammunition. [LOL]
Glock replaced a member's gun because of a kaboom that I know of. G21, if I remember correctly.
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