Alan Garber's M1 Garand accident

I am posting these images on the forum to warn shooters of the value of common sense and knowledge in buying ammunition. Before using any ammunition, you should know what it is and where it came from. Alan bought a new Springfield Armory (not USGI) M1 Garand. He bought reloaded ammo from the dealer he bought the rifle from. The ammo was reloaded and in plastic sandwich bags. He violated the basic rule of never shooting unknown reloads or unknown ammunition. He was slightly injured in this accident and the rifle was a complete loss. Alan was not at fault in ths incident. He bought the ammo from a gun shop and he should have expected the ammunition was serviceable. The photo of the overview tells it all. The photo of the bolt shows a complete failure. The cartridge case shows how high the pressure was. I have never seen a cartridge case destroyed like this one.







Doug Bowser

Didn't Springfield make the rifle good?

captain-03 wrote:Didn't Springfield make the rifle good?

I can't imagine rifle powder generating that much pressure in a .30-06. They must have used pistol powder with the grain weight of rifle powder. Many other rifles would have resulted in the shooter being killed.

Can't blame this one on Springfield Armory

Doug

Don't know about y'all, but I have a hard fast rule. I shoot ONLY my reloads. I will NOT shoot any questionable ammo no matter the source.

Did the dealer take a responsibility?

Stryker6 wrote:Did the dealer take a responsibility?

He tried not to but a Judge changed his mind,

Doug

If I don't load it, I don't shoot it.

Glad he got taken care of. I'll shoot other peoples reload but i'll have to know them really really well.

Quite a lesson to keep in mind! Glad he wasn't hurt badly! And glad the judge understood!

Xd357 wrote:Glad he got taken care of. I'll shoot other peoples reload but i'll have to know them really really well.

I agree.

Id be surprised if the dealer was still in business after the courts got done with him. If he was then they atty's didnt do a good job. There is almost 0 liability in gunsmithing, but in ammo manufacturing there is a ton of liability.

Id be surprised if the dealer was still in business after the courts got done with him. If he was then they atty's didn't do a good job. There is almost 0 liability in gun smithing, but in ammo manufacturing there is a ton of liability.

The way the court system so backed up in my state you will die of old age before the case is placed on the court docket.

There is an article in a gun book i have at home that shows what happens to a Winchester bolt 30-06 when the guy loaded it with HS-6. Gunsmith said the pressure was roughly 250k psi instead of the 56k it was rated for.

Needless to say he didnt find all the parts but he walked away from it with a few scratchs some how.

Lesson Learned