What happened to this round?

[mikepro8]

So, I put my AR together and shot a few rounds this weekend... after sighting it in, this happened:

The rifle smoked like hell - smoke was coming out of every crack in the receiver and honestly, I panicked ... I didn't think of a cook off round and jacked that round out QUICK when I saw all the smoke. (I have been reading Flags of Our Fathers, and they make several references to ammo dumps being hit and huge explosions as a result... thats all I could think of with a nearly full 30 rd. mag). I racked it out, and laid it next to my shooting mat. Nothing ever happened.
It's an Ultramax remanufactured 55 gr. FMJ round. I havent been shooting centerfire very long - was this a bad primer?

[Xringshooter]

Looks like a primer that the cup had a manufacturing defect (maybe too thin on that side) or wasn't seated quite right. I would guess an anomaly. I've shot a lot of R-P in my AR and never had a problem.

[Brick]

It looks like the primer was seated sideways. Striking the primer with the firing pin would cause the prime to pop and might or might not cause the powder charge to fire also.

I take it there is no other damage to the rifle, the magazine and other cartridges are OK and there is no bullet stuck in the barrel (You did rod and clear the barrel right?). If so then all is well.

[Rick Thorne]

I don't know for certain if a primer will pop when factory primed sideways. They prime wet anybody know if they can pop wet?

[hipowr]

It looks like the primer was seated sideways. Striking the primer with the firing pin would cause the prime to pop and might or might not cause the powder charge to fire also.

I take it there is no other damage to the rifle, the magazine and other cartridges are OK and there is no bullet stuck in the barrel (You did rod and clear the barrel right?). If so then all is well.

I'll second that opinion. Being a reloader, that's exactly what a sideways primer looks like. The good news is that it shouldn't have caused any damage. The worst is likely a bit of extra powder fowling in the action area.

later,
AJ

[4XLT]

did the round fire completely ?? is it in the barrel ?

thats some ugly lookin stuff right there

[pacrimescode5904]

she's gonna be dirty but shouldn't have caused any damage. Make sure you punch that bore to ensure you don't have a squib...

[mikepro8]

The round never even unseated.
When I pulled the bolt back, it extracted and ejected everything intact, except for that nasty looking primer.

[normanvin]

Do you have a bullet puller? I would be interested to see if the powder went off. Looks like a bad primer.

[Advocate]

sideways seated for sure

like this: