Why did this happen?

I would not fire that rifle again until you get to the root of the problem. Take the rifle and that shell casing to a gunsmith and see if a solution can be found.

Could this be possible

A case pulled apart and left some of it in the camber, (you mention having sticky cases)

The next round fed in until that point of the broken half and fired out of battery

It helped the spent casing still in the chamber expand to the point of allowing others to chamber and would still cause sticky extraction.

Again, not saying this is what happened, only could it happen.

Can a AR-15 fire out of battery and if so how many inches are we talking about?

Lee county is South Fl, no problem

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Lee and its surrounding counties prefer to be called Southwest Florida. We in no way, shape or form want to be lumped in the same category as Miami.

Didn't realize Miami was still part of Florida

Wouldn't that mean that there would still be a portion of a shell casing inside the chamber?

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Yes it is possible of not noticing it unless you use something to run the edge of the chamber (like a toothpick)

I've had 2 cases split on me in my years. The first was in a 45acp rifle (that one was easy to spot) and the second was in a mini14 (this one not so easy)

I got lucky that the next round for the mini when I tried to chamber the round a third time grabbed the broken half and extracted it for me.

I don't know nothing about an AR15, but the gas was still expanding while that casing was being ejected. Does the bolt lock on that gun?

the neck and shoulder look so much bigger also. almost like a pregnant straight walled round.

i would at least want to be sure a no-go wont-go before i even considered firing that again.

like others stated, that looks impossible without a total chamber failure

is it possible that was just laying on the ground when you got there?

id bet a donut that the case mouth measures around .310-.312 now, as if mistakenly fired from a 30 wildcat, and you found it in your pile.

My guess is that gun fired out of battery.

You are lucky you were firing steel cases that the case did not rupture as it was extracted from the chamber.

I had an out of battery slamfire in a Garand with a brass case. Case looked normal all the way up to the point where the case ended. The open end of the case was cylindrical and more or less even. As if the forward section of brass simply eroded off.

You are lucky, lucky, lucky.

My guess is that gun fired out of battery.

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i suppose anything is possible, but for an ar to fire out of battery is a tall order.

but then again so is the fact that your garand did it, so crazy things do happen. does the tang on your m1's firing pin still look geometrically correct? and the slot in the rear of the bolt where it goes? thats as strange as the op's deal

I'm going with out of battery. All it would take is the lugs to not lock and you now have a blowback .223. Fire the round, launch the bolt while pressure is building and it will pull the case out with it. Its a guess, but I would say the chamber was dirty, enough to not fully go into battery leaving the locking lugs unlocked and from there you get the case above. Its a total guess but its the best I have.

wont the firing pin not reach the bolt face until the bolt has rotated?
(unless of course theres a problem with the cam pin or the bolt carrier where it rides)

its definitely a strange deal

kanook said:

Could this be possible

A case pulled apart and left some of it in the camber, (you mention having sticky cases)

The next round fed in until that point of the broken half and fired out of battery

It helped the spent casing still in the chamber expand to the point of allowing others to chamber and would still cause sticky extraction.

Again, not saying this is what happened, only could it happen.

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I don't see how that would be possible, ARs (amongst other rifles) are designed so they cannot fire OOB. Rather I suspect that the bolt was not fully locked (it must be at least partially locked for the firing pin to strike the primer), thus unlocking the bolt early (before the pressure dwell), blowing out the case...or the firing pin could be broken AND stuck forward (possibly but very doubtful)...or the primer could be set out too far (doubtful b/c Wolf uses hard mil. spec. primers) thus setting the round off early (still chambered, but bolt not fully locked)...or simply the timing is off (doubtful, unless it is a recurring event...this doesn't "just happen")

...but to be honest the most likely explanation is that it was fired in a rifle chambered for .30cal (or thereabouts) by mistake.

wont the firing pin not reach the bolt face until the bolt has rotated?
(unless of course theres a problem with the cam pin or the bolt carrier where it rides)

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Yep, and there would have to be severe (noticeable) damage in that case...but it could be "mostly in battery" if that makes any sense.

In any event you need to thoroughly clean and inspect the locking lugs, firing pin, chamber, and interior of the receiver for any foreign matter, damage, and/or undue wear.

Strange things do happen, but I just can't see out-of-battery firing on an AR, at least via the firing pin. The mechanics of the bolt are such that it is not possible. If something else caught the shell before it was fully chambered and hit the primer, causing detonation, you would know it because the case would rupture, especially since it had enough pressure to fire-form the case like that.

Just so you don't think I'm crazy, here's a photo of a 5.56 and 7.62 side by side. I'm not questioning your veracity, but you can probably see why I thought it was a 5.56 in a 7.62 chamber?

When you're shooting something like M193 or even the wolf, what is the ejection pattern like. Is it throwing the cases far forward?

When ARs have extraction issues with wolf, many just assume that it's because of the cheap under powered ammo. In reality, it's not unusual for these symptoms to be caused by too much gas causing the bolt to unlock too early. Yeah, that case looks like it was fired out of battery, but it's kind of hard for that to happen with a modern AR. It seems to me that the case was extracted before the pressure in the case dropped, if that's possible. It's hard to tell without putting my hand on it. Considering the problems you are having with the wolf, I'd yank the gas block and get a measurement on the gas port.

To put the OOB speculation to rest: what does the primer look like? If it looks even remotely normal, it was not OOB firing.

As to excess pressure at the gas port: that case is fire-formed. Fire-forming occurs when high pressure forces the case against the chamber wall. If gas port pressure is too high, the rim will be ripped off. The case will not start to exit the chamber ever when there is still enough pressure to balloon a steel case like that.

is there anyway you can take a pic of the case in question standing right beside an unfired 7.62x39 round? and post it? standing right next to each other?

I think it's because folks failed to read the part where you mentioned removing it from the chamber yourself.

I think it's because folks failed to read the part where you mentioned removing it from the chamber yourself.

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yes, my apologies. i did fail to read that. i saw the pic first and never even imagined that could have happened.

it just looks so strange, folks are trying to make sense of it, and if you did in fact pull that out of your 5.56 chamber,,,,,,,,,,,,,,it just seems impossible. like pulling something large out of something smaller???

but ya, i was wanting to compare the shoulder location and overall case length and size of a 7.62x39 round to the markings and bulges on the deformed miracle case.

if you did in fact physically pull that case out of a 5.56 or .223 chamber,,,,,,,,,,,,there surely is something seriously wrong.

do you have a no-go headspace gauge?

ive got to say,,,that is indeed the strangest thing ive ever seen come out of a chamber intact.

is it thin, like does it feel more flexible or springy than logic would suggest it should?

the no-go is really aimed more at chamber depth measured to the point of the shoulder that stops the case from forward movement, but in your case (lol, pun intended) it would swallow the no-go if your chamber looks anything like that case would lead us to believe, even if the finish ream is the correct depth.

a no go is cheap at just about any good shop, and a nice thing to have around. i would pick up a no go and a field gauge. read the directions and check your chamber.

(as others have said, it wouldnt be a bad idea to have a smitty look at it and that case, just to be safe)