Because of the recent incidents I thought I would post this. These are some pics of the bolt from a Viper SS. It is a coned bolt, sliding extractor, S7 tool steel, etc same as all of our viper, diamondback etc non drop bolts. This gun was chambered to 6 x 47 Lapua. The barrel was brand new with a cleaning rod in it. The owner was doing something with it on his couch, and a live round touched off. The 107 grain bullet was lodged 2 inches down the bore. Luckily his face was not near it. Here are the pics with some explanations. It seems to be of interest exactly what happens.
These 2 pics clearly show where the gases go. They find the least resistance path which is between the bolt and barrel cone and out the rail. The burn patterns show that quite well. Note the extractor pushed all the way to the bolt od and stopped in the action. By the way, the case came out like this and is swaged into the bolt.
In this pic you can see where the pressure went. It blew out the slot in the extractor area and left some brass on it. It is a nice slot about .070 wide and as long as the extractor. I would bet that it accompanied the gases out the side rail.
In this if you look real close you can see the slot missing in the case where the extractor is. That is really the only projectile that comes out of this deal. This action also had the primer blanked as I could see light through the primer hole. My belief is that the only thing that goes that direction is the blanked primer and some gases. When the hit the exit holes, they seem to go more straight out and in front of the face, not so much aimed back at it like the port rails.
I have a blown up drop port also. The 3 ring of steel theory is good, but about equal amount of the bolt that forms the clip slot was missing on that one and come out. Luckily didnt hurt anyone either. It amazes me how strong these actions really are. I assume that over 100,000 psi probably was reached and it has to go somewhere. If Tink will ship my his gun, I would love to do this same type of investigation on it and see just what went where and how. These few examples are great learning aids on how to make better products in the future.
These 2 pics clearly show where the gases go. They find the least resistance path which is between the bolt and barrel cone and out the rail. The burn patterns show that quite well. Note the extractor pushed all the way to the bolt od and stopped in the action. By the way, the case came out like this and is swaged into the bolt.
In this pic you can see where the pressure went. It blew out the slot in the extractor area and left some brass on it. It is a nice slot about .070 wide and as long as the extractor. I would bet that it accompanied the gases out the side rail.
In this if you look real close you can see the slot missing in the case where the extractor is. That is really the only projectile that comes out of this deal. This action also had the primer blanked as I could see light through the primer hole. My belief is that the only thing that goes that direction is the blanked primer and some gases. When the hit the exit holes, they seem to go more straight out and in front of the face, not so much aimed back at it like the port rails.
I have a blown up drop port also. The 3 ring of steel theory is good, but about equal amount of the bolt that forms the clip slot was missing on that one and come out. Luckily didnt hurt anyone either. It amazes me how strong these actions really are. I assume that over 100,000 psi probably was reached and it has to go somewhere. If Tink will ship my his gun, I would love to do this same type of investigation on it and see just what went where and how. These few examples are great learning aids on how to make better products in the future.
