.22 case head separation today

[sniper5]

Shooting my MkII today and noticed with the last shot out of the mag the report was louder than normal and felt some gas exhaust against the top of my right hand. Checked the port and the case head was blown back and sitting in the ejection port. Disassembled and rodded the casing out of the chamber by catching it with a brush. It released easily. Doesn't appear to be any damage, recoil spring feels normal, extractor undamaged as is bolt face and chamber and bore, and the round before it had fired and struck the target so no obstruction in the barrel when it happened.

Anyone ever have this happen on .22s before? The ammo was Federal Target 711B. I'm guessing defective casing. No harm done, but was interesting.

 

[xstuntman]

I had that happen with a model 60 Marlin when I was a youngster in the '80's. I never did figure out why and it did load the next round so luckily I didn't keep shooting. This was the only problem I've ever had with bulk .22 ammo. Mike

 

[velvalco]

had the same thing happen in a new buckmarck. Using Federal auto match target ammuntion from Wally world. Cracked the grips of the buckmark.

 

[Dienekes]

Had a round from a very old box of .22s let go when I was a kid. A bit of a surprise. The ammo was probably from somewhere in the 1920s...

More interestingly I had a .44-40 case head separate in a 73 Winchester, with the top cover open. Most of the sound and blast went into my right ear. NOT fun . At least I had protective glasses on at the time. I figured that the rather old brass I reloaded had been weakened by mercuric priming.

Just goes to show that eye and ear protection is just common sense.