General GunTuber thread

I peered through the YouTube comments and saw some people suggest this had to do with SLAPs and muzzlebrakes, that they don't fit properly or something. I don't know if that's true, I don't know that much about these loadings, but as I understand they're a sub-caliber projectile with a sabot, it seems to be like this shouldn't be a problem, but I'll defer to other people's knowledge/experience.
This is stuff that happens in milliseconds so I'm only spitballing, but a sabot that petals right off the muzzle could impact the baffles and become a barrel obstruction. I don't think they mentioned finding the projectile lodged anywhere though.
 
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You've all probably heard of the 'fabled' Turkish 7.92x57mm Mauser surplus ammo (Ian did a video on it a while back even), most of it has not been stored properly, either it was exposed to direct sunlight or lots of moisture, or both, and it's some really funky and weird stuff which you don't want to shoot. Aside from the crazy high pressure, which is known for cracking stocks on Mauser rifles and for straight up exploding the action on machineguns and other self-loading guns, it's also known for hangfires, which is fantastic if you open the action to see what happened/load the next round the moment the sizzling primer finally touches off the propellant. That's a reminder to always keep the action closed and the muzzle downrange if you get a sudden click, let it sit for a few seconds.
Random memory just came up reading that. Several years ago, Classic Firearms posted a listing for a big-ass crate of Persian 8mm Mauser that they said they found in a barn and were selling as-is with no guarantee of quality. The pictures were exactly what you would expect, scummy looking ammo loosely packed into a big-ass crate with traces of hay and dirt everywhere. They were selling it for like 17 cents a round or somewhere thereabouts. This was before 2015, maybe 2013 or 2014 or even earlier. Never before or since have I been so terrified to even be near any ammo like that.
 
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The rifle is probably safe enough, but Serbu already produces a proper bolt-action rifle in .50, and a semi-automatic which uses Barrett magazines and shoots tighter groups than an M82, so the RN-50 doesn't exist for any reason that's particularly good, it's mostly just because of the RoyalNonsuch dude. A rifle with a more enclosed receiver might have protected this guy more, but he'd probably still have had to rush to the hospital.
The rifle design need more testing* long before anyone lay a finger on the trigger themself.
*The testing where the gun is clamped in place and the trigger is attached to a string or something to enable it to be used remotely, Plus destructive testing to see when, where, how, and why the gun will fail either to the design, subpar manufacture, bad or incompatible ammo.
 
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Weirdly enough in an earlier video he said that Serbu cut a machine gun chamber on that RN 50 so he could shoot SLAP.
The chamber wasn't damaged, the locking surfaces sure as hell were. For traditional .50 BMG I'm sure the threaded endcap design is enough but if you see the stills from the muzzleblast that shit is exceptionally overloaded and I'd wager it would give an M2 a bad day.
 
The navy experimented with SLAP rounds out of guns with muzzle brakes. They tended to just blow the brake off and destroy it in the process. The way that gun detonated my guess is that some bubba used the wrong powder. It looks like all three rounds had the same problem so this could have been the one to finally cause failure.
 
The chamber wasn't damaged, the locking surfaces sure as hell were. For traditional .50 BMG I'm sure the threaded endcap design is enough but if you see the stills from the muzzleblast that shit is exceptionally overloaded and I'd wager it would give an M2 a bad day.
The chamber isn't the weak spot, when there's problems it's the weakest link that gets blown out. It's like if you had running water on a hose and pinched it hard, the blockage downstream causes it to come off the tap because pressure will find the path of least resistance.
Anyway, here's an interview with Chris Barrett:
https://www.outdoorlife.com/articles/guns/2015/12/accurizing-barrett-50-bmg/
From there, Barrett took over the manufacturing of its barrels, bringing in blanks and running them through its own CNC machine. It started using match-grade single-point-cut barrels that are hand-lapped, Barrett says.

“This is like what guys are putting on their one-off benchrest rifles. That’s what is on our production gun,” he says.


Taking over barrel manufacturing also allowed the company to perfectly cut the chamber into the back of the breech. “That improved alignment of the chamber, and better dimensions of the chamber was probably 75 percent of the puzzle,” says Chris Barrett.

There was a little slop in the neck and throat of the chamber, and those tolerances were tightened.

“The machine-gun chamber is sort of big and floppy because it has to run on full-auto like a scalded dog in the middle of the desert. A sniper rifle that holds only 10 rounds doesn’t see that rate of fire. So, we’ve optimized our chamber for precision.”

Mark Serbu's rifles:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/h...nnounces-World’s-Best-.50-BMG-Semi-Auto-Rifle
The BFG-50A has achieved .5 MOA accuracy at 400 yards, a feat impossible with any other semi-automatic .50 BMG rifle. Its nitrided alloy steel barrel features the exclusive Serbu Accuracy Chamber, which allows shooters to fire standard surplus as well as match ammunition and fire either more accurately than guns equipped with machine gun chambers.
Took me a while to find it but the "machine gun chamber" isn't just hearsay, it's the military spec chamber while civilian rifles are cut tighter for precision.
 
The chamber isn't the weak spot, when there's problems it's the weakest link that gets blown out.
The chamber was cited as a reinforcement point, hence my focus on it. As rare as it is for barrels to rupture from the chamber, you would think he'd question the strength of the threads before that.
I'm definitely of the opinion that testing a new action in a caliber ripe for full-retard handloads should involve consciously blowing it up to find failure points.
The stamped and cut "ears" on the RN-50 to serve as a secondary lock were always sketchy as hell but I'm not sure anything short of a milled block would have prevented the endcap from flying directly rearward upon failure, and even then it would just deflect or trap it while still opening up.

Of course it probably could have been a double charge and a half that could've taken out any rifle it was put into, but we could never know for sure.
 
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The chamber was cited as a reinforcement point, hence my focus on it.
That's the thing, it's been the opposite of "reinforced", it was relieved. They cut material away. I know it sounds counterintuitive but the smoother the transition the lower the pressure spike. That's why if you look at a .223 Rem chamber the rifling is sharp and almost touches the bullet, in a 5.56 NATO barrel the bullet flies in a smoothbore barrel for the first few millimeters and the rifling then ramps into engagement. In case of overpressure the bolt is always going to be the failure point, a looser chamber minimizes chances of overpressure.
But I'm rambling too much. What they did to the chamber was meant to take the load off the threads so it's not like they were worried about the chamber over the threads.
 
The rifle design need more testing* long before anyone lay a finger on the trigger themself.
*The testing where the gun is clamped in place and the trigger is attached to a string or something to enable it to be used remotely, Plus destructive testing to see when, where, how, and why the gun will fail either to the design, subpar manufacture, bad or incompatible ammo.
Knowing Serbu, he's probably done all of that.

The stamped and cut "ears" on the RN-50 to serve as a secondary lock were always sketchy as hell but I'm not sure anything short of a milled block would have prevented the endcap from flying directly rearward upon failure, and even then it would just deflect or trap it while still opening up.
The ears are kinda eh, but I just never liked the idea of a screw plug breech, for multiple reasons. The resulting action must be strong as hell though, because they shoot normal .50BMG just fine.

The pictures were exactly what you would expect, scummy looking ammo loosely packed into a big-ass crate with traces of hay and dirt everywhere. They were selling it for like 17 cents a round or somewhere thereabouts.
Geh. They should just recycle stuff like that if they find it. I'm sure there's someone who'll be glad to reload some old 7.92mm casings, even if they're funky and Berdan primed.
 
Ian uploaded a video about catastrophic failures in firearms.
Between this and the two videos about firearm patent conflicts, I’d swear Ian was reading this thread.

He’s not, but I’d chalk up the patent stuff to a fascinating coincidence. This exploding gun vid, on the other hand, is 100% him riding the algorithm wave.
 
Of course it probably could have been a double charge and a half that could've taken out any rifle it was put into, but we could never know for sure.
There are people who can and will investigate everything on the exploded gun if they get their hands on all of the pieces and everything else related to find the answer(s). Solving mystery explosions is of special importance as anti-2nd organizations love to be able shut down the gun industry for making "unsafe" products.
 
There are people who can and will investigate everything on the exploded gun if they get their hands on all of the pieces and everything else related to find the answer(s). Solving mystery explosions is of special importance as anti-2nd organizations love to be able shut down the gun industry for making "unsafe" products.
This is 100% why the Kentucky Ballistics video has been allowed to trend, even outside of the recommends of people who typically watch guntubers anyway.
 
There are people who can and will investigate everything on the exploded gun if they get their hands on all of the pieces and everything else related to find the answer(s). Solving mystery explosions is of special importance as anti-2nd organizations love to be able shut down the gun industry for making "unsafe" products.
That, and it'll tell you how to develop better products.

Godamn. His father plugged his open jugular with his thumb. Dude really earned that #1 Dad mug.
No, he told his son to wrap his own finger in his shirt and to then plug his jugular with it, because he had to drive while his son held himself together. Very quick thinking and acting on his part.
 
Taufledermaus made some good points.

Never go full Grebner
Tau "FW didn't demonitize at the same time as IRTV so it's a scam" Fledermaus is scared of the freedom to do what you want because he cannot imagine it.

"don't show your gun blowing up because it might hurt Mark Serbu's bottom line" fuck off
 
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