My gun committed suicide today...

leeland · Jul 25, 2009

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I just got a whole bunch of suppressors in that will be demo units. I needed host guns to try them all out, and I also recently decided to re-evaluate my everyday carry weapon. To that end, I bought some new stuff to play with.

Today was the second time taking most of the new stuff out shooting and I had an H&K USP Tactical .45 blow up in my hand!

While reloading a mag, I had taken off my shooting glasses. I stepped up, shot 2 rounds, and my wife looked over (to take a picture) and said "Hey, you need your glasses." I thought: "Yeah, I really do. I'll put them back on after I empty this mag". VERY next pull of the trigger and BOOM. I get a face full of powder and plastic fragments. My wife snapped a picture about 1/2 a second after. You can see a look of oh-(*!%& on my face, a cloud of smoke around my head, and a piece of the magazine at my feet! My hands were numb for 5 minutes or so, and the gun is destroyed.

Tonight's prayers include: "Thank you for the continued use of my eyes and fingers!"

Citizen · Jul 25, 2009

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Ouch!! Glad to hear no permanent injuries.

Any idea what caused the kaBOOM?

The picture seems to show a failure of the case wall.

Did the gun fire without being fully in-battery, meaning the case wasn't fully into the chamber because the slide wasn't fully forward?

Over-pressure reload?

Is the firing pin dimple in the primer normal, or pressed back out and flat?

leeland · Jul 25, 2009

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Citizen wrote:

Any idea what caused the kaBOOM?

Not sure yet. Unmodified gun, factory ammo, no suppressor. Hopefully the techs back at H&K will figure it out.

Tell you what though, last time I ever shoot without the glasses on!

leeland · Jul 25, 2009

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Citizen wrote:

Did the gun fire without being fully in-battery, meaning the case wasn't fully into the chamber because the slide wasn't fully forward?

Is the firing pin dimple in the primer normal, or pressed back out and flat?

I do not think it was fully locked up when it fired.
Dimple in primer looks normal to me.

leeland · Jul 25, 2009

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On a happier note, my wife had a good time. She spent most of the time on her suppressed Walther P22, but took a definite liking to the new Sig P226 with a Gemtech Multimount on it.

Citizen · Jul 25, 2009

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leeland wrote:

Citizen wrote:

Any idea what caused the kaBOOM?

Click to expand...

Not sure yet. Unmodified gun, factory ammo, no suppressor. Hopefully the techs back at H&K will figure it out.

Tell you what though, last time I ever shoot without the glasses on!

Roger that!! I always cringe when people shoot without eye protection.

I'm really interested in the out-of-battery question. In the outdoor photo of the destroyed gun, it looks like the slide is out of battery.

In the indoor picture of the barrel/chamber, it looks like the cartridge is not fully seated into the chamber, and the peeled brass makes it look like it fired from that position.

You might spend some time on gun forums or googling kaBOOMs on that model.

Also, I've read where "unsupported" chambers can involve cartridge case wall failures, meaning the feedramp is a little deeper into the chamber opening on some guns compared to others, and sometimes the brass is not strong enough to contain the pressure unsupported.

Edited to Add: I see the answer in your post that went up while I was composing this one.

Citizen · Jul 25, 2009

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I like the photo of the person carrying a silenced semi-auto while wearing a T-shirt with a peace sign.

leeland · Jul 25, 2009

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Citizen wrote:

I like the photo of the person carrying a silenced semi-auto while wearing a T-shirt with a peace sign.

Peace (through superior fire-power).
Peace as in "Rest in peace"
or maybe "You want a peace (sic) of me?", etc. etc.

turbodog · Jul 26, 2009

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Glad to hear your ok.

Be sure and reboot this thread when HK gives you a report on what happened.

Bennelli · Jul 26, 2009

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Listen to your wife, the one time I didn't it cost me $20,000, and that's a different story.

"Peace" through the barrel of a gun.

Bushidonate · Jul 27, 2009

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Murphy's law... Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong... And at the most inopportune time. I always yell at my buddies when they shoot with out eye/ear protection.

apollosmith · Jul 27, 2009

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Wow! That's scary. Good thing everybody was OK. And pretty cool to catch the aftermath on camera.

Oh, and me thinks you need to teach the wife a bit about trigger discipline.

leeland · Jul 30, 2009

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update: Called H&K and spoke with them about getting repairs covered under the warranty. The tech on their end immediately told me that whatever ammo I was shooting was at fault (before I could really even describe what had happened). He went on to say that I needed to get the box top and call the ammo manufacture and tell them to pay for repairs. I pressed him a bit asking what was covered by their supposedly great "Lifetime Warranty" and he pretty much said if you are actually shooting ammo through the gun and something fails then it is not their fault! I understand that the gun manufactures can't be responsible for whatever crazy reloads someone jams into their gun, but the attitude of the H&K tech really put me off.

After demanding to speak to an actual service repair man, I eventually got authorization to send in the gun. Right now their stance is that they will do repairs, but at my cost.

thx997303 · Jul 30, 2009

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Don't you know, they're H&K, and if you are not an operator, they hate you.

marshaul · Jul 30, 2009

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thx997303 wrote:

Don't you know, they're H&K, and if you are not an operator, they hate you.

Whatever. You just can't understand that a true operator needs a gun that can feed from a magazine no matter how he loads it.

Citizen · Jul 30, 2009

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leeland wrote:

update: Called H&K and spoke with them about getting repairs covered under the warranty. The tech on their end immediately told me that whatever ammo I was shooting was at fault (before I could really even describe what had happened). He went on to say that I needed to get the box top and call the ammo manufacture and tell them to pay for repairs. I pressed him a bit asking what was covered by their supposedly great "Lifetime Warranty" and he pretty much said if you are actually shooting ammo through the gun and something fails then it is not their fault! I understand that the gun manufactures can't be responsible for whatever crazy reloads someone jams into their gun, but the attitude of the H&K tech really put me off.

After demanding to speak to an actual service repair man, I eventually got authorization to send in the gun. Right now their stance is that they will do repairs, but at my cost.

Don't send the gun in just yet.

Take as many close up pictures as you can, well lit.

Then get it looked over by a competent gunsmith, or somebody really familiar with semi-autos. The point being an independent evaluation.

I would then include a write up of that competent evaluationwith some photosin the box that ships the gun.

I'm still a little suspicious that the gun fired out-of-battery. The question being, what held it out-of-battery? Did something else break first--some part that if broken would prevent going into battery? Did you ride the slide when loading it? Dirt? Out-of-tolerance round? You get the idea.

The main point being to find out what happened before you ship it back, if possible.

Tomahawk · Jul 30, 2009

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leeland wrote:

update: Called H&K and spoke with them about getting repairs covered under the warranty. The tech on their end immediately told me that whatever ammo I was shooting was at fault (before I could really even describe what had happened). He went on to say that I needed to get the box top and call the ammo manufacture and tell them to pay for repairs. I pressed him a bit asking what was covered by their supposedly great "Lifetime Warranty" and he pretty much said if you are actually shooting ammo through the gun and something fails then it is not their fault! I understand that the gun manufactures can't be responsible for whatever crazy reloads someone jams into their gun, but the attitude of the H&K tech really put me off.

After demanding to speak to an actual service repair man, I eventually got authorization to send in the gun. Right now their stance is that they will do repairs, but at my cost.

Wow, what a-holes. No H&K's for me, thank you.

leeland · Aug 11, 2009

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Tomahawk wrote:

Wow, what a-holes. No H&K's for me, thank you.

Final word from H&K: "If the gun spontaneously breaks while sitting in its box on the shelf then feel free to call us. On the other hand, if you are using it then its your fault or the ammo."

I sent it in and had it repaired. $185 for parts and labor + nearly $100 shipping. :X In any case, its done. I put a GG&G slim rail adapter, Streamlight TLR-1, and Gemtech Blackside suppressor on it. Once I've put a few hundred rounds through it to verify it operates well, this is my new night time bedside gun. Don't want to wake the neighbors if I have to take down an intruder.

apollosmith · Aug 11, 2009

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You're braver than I am if you trust your nightstand gun to be one that has no company support and has already kB'd once for apparently no reason.

1245A Defender · Aug 28, 2009

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soooo it broke on july 25. you still hadnt sent it in on july 30. its got a life time warrenty. so then 12 days later its done and back?

and you were testing suppessors, i dont see one on the gun. did it blow off? were you not using one right then? had you tried one on that gun before?

what exactly was the ammunition? was that case tight in the bore?

did you have a trusted gunsmith check it out?

in the 2nd pic, why is there a powder burn lengthwise on your left hand?

how old is that gun? how many rounds thru it?

that gun either was weak (bad material), incorrectly machinied,or poor design. HK is responsible either way!

you should have never have paid to get it repaired, they should have refunded you the money you spent to buy it in the first place!

since you did pay, to get it fixed. you should just wear your glasses, when you take it out plinking.

if you manage to shoot 3 or 4 thousand rounds thru it, and it doesnt blow up?

till then i wouldnt trust it to defend my family.

My gun committed suicide today...

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