A Flaming Empty

[kt]

This morn bright and early i unleashed my wrath on a bunch of about 8 mallards, smoked two pretty well but i really flinched after the last shell ejected like a tumbling fireball hit the mud burning and the empty breech stood locked open with fire coming out, not a spark, a steady flame that i readily blew out then stepped out the empty. What the hell?
any body else have this happen, any ideas why? not looking forward to a repeat, to close to the face for flaming projectiles. thought maybe rem-oil caught fire but the flame was real steady out of the empty and rem-oil has never done that in 10 years. rest of the day went fine a whole limit died.
kt

[skeet]

Was it a factory load? What brand? Please don't tell me Kent! Kent has been having a bit of trouble with their shells. Possibly one of the Rem Sportsman Steel? Oh BTW discontinue the use of those shells. What kind of gun were ya using?

[GoodOlBoy]

erm yeah deffinantly stop using those shells! Sheesh.

Get the lot number off the box and call the company. Tell them what happened.

GoodOlBoy

[kt]

No it wasnt kent, but fasteel has been trash since day one. this was actually my favorite waterfowl load, a fed premium 3" #3. no clue on the lot number i throw out the boxes and carry ammo in plastic shell boxes. on the other hand most of my shooting today was with rem. 2 3/4 #2's bizarre thing on decoying birds alot needed a second shot and i found a ton of pellets that never made it through the first 1/2 inch of breast. not good for 20yd birds
kt

[skeet]

A shame ya threw the boxes out. Lot numbers are important. I always save a box with the lot number. I buy the shells in the 10 box "case" but hardly ever take more than 10-15 shells with me when hunting. Where I hunted in Md we had a plastic box of older steel shells that stayed in the blind. Used exclusively for cripples. Most of the guys I hunted with are using the high dollar shells.....so the box is there for cripples if we have any. Mostly used for invitees who still use steel. Let Federal know about the problem though. Were you shooting an auto? Steel really sucks for anything.

[kt]

yeah the tumbler flew out of my beretta 390, luckily for me that gun ejects on about a 100 degree angle a little more than straight off to the side and it throws them far.
steel does suck, but me and my friends are so picky about shots that a load of rock salt should bring down most of what we shoot at.
having lots of trouble finding waterfowl loads any where except for all the way out at cabelas
kt

[tjwatty]

A year or so back my son was trap shooting and had a similar experience with Nobel trap loads in his Browning Gold. The chamber was belching flame long after the empty was ejected. He used my reloads and I used the rest of the Nobels in my o/u and we didn't have another instance, I did wait a little longer to open the gun just in case.
My theory was damp powder, making for a slow burn, but I have nothing to base my opinion on. I seem to remember 105 cannon powder that got a little damp burning slower but that stuff wasn't smokeless shotgun powder. Definatly some kind of contamination though huh!

[TreeDoc]

Was the Mallard cooked to temperature when it hit the ground? :D ;)

Funny you guys cappin' on Kent Fasteel! I shoot it by the case-load since I have no reason for the Hevi now that I shoot the rice. I'm on my second case this season alone now as is my blind partner. We're shooting 3" 1-1/8oz #3's and we've got piles of dead birds including geese and no ammo failures or flaws. I'm shooting a Beretta 390 with either a Briley Lite Modified or Modified extended choke. My partner an Extrema. Out here, you'de be hard pressed to find a waterfowler that wasn't hunting it. I don't shoot at "tall" birds but then again, I wouldn't with any steel shot.

[skeet]

TD
In the last 2 yrs before leaving Md I had 4 guns brought to me that had a problem caused while shooting Kent Steel. 2 were ruined beyond reasonable repair. Glad it works for you but I'll shoot the good stuff.

Now another question...Do you put pink flamingo decoys out so ya can wear the tutu hunting?...You know...so ya can hide amongst the decoys??
:D :D :D Ok, ok I'm duckin now

[TreeDoc]

Absolutely! Flamingos and pink Camo are integral to our success here in the rice! :D

Regarding the shells, what kind of problems occurred rendering the guns useless? Just curious, I've heard 2nd hand of an occassional misfire of a Kent but again, never have experienced any or heard of any gun damages whatsoever.

[yOtecHaser101]

Iv been through maybe 200 round of fast steel all BBB they do a wonder one them geese

[skeet]

The guns were all overpressure problems. One of the bbls looked like a black snake that ate about 6 eggs. And no it wasn't plugged with mud. The guy killed a goose with the first shot and the second one just ruined the gun. The shell was compressed to about 3/4 in long half melted and the receiver was expanded... the bolt was ok except the extractor spring and plug were gone and the extractor cut in the bolt was expanded out of shape. One of the others was somewhat like this but the receiver was ok and the bbl was only slightly expanded. Luckily noone got hurt. I fixed one back up with new extractor etc and miked the bore etc and it was just a little out of whack. The guy took it to another gun shop the next day and traded it off. It had a slight bulge in the bbl just in front of the chamber. It also had a very short fired shell. The other two they never found the shell or the extractors. the receivers on both were bulged enough that they were unusable. One split the forend ...but it just came apart in the guys hand. BTW I found out late in December that one of the guns was sent to Remington and they accepted no responsibility but gave the guy a new gun. I don't know what story he told them though. BTW none of the guns had the classic look of a plugged bore. I've seen a few of them..even had one happen to a sport I was guiding once. He was one of those scary ones though. You know, the kind you make sure you don't EVER take out again!!

BTW maybe I should say..all were using either BB or BBB shot. 2 were 3 inch and 2 were 3 1/2 inchers. The one gun replaced was a 3 1/2 in Rem 11-87