Reply With QuoteI have gleaned enough information from pictures and testimony from this thread to tell what exactly happened without a shadow of a doubt. You can quit treating this like a crime scene investigation, because the evidence will not change. This is just an unfortunate FREAK accident. Here are the facts as presented: The shooter shot at a coyote (didn't say whether he hit or killed it, but none the less he attempted to reload). The shooter cycled the bolt back to eject the case and reload the next round. The next round exited the magazine and entered in the chamber, and before the bolt could be turned into battery, the round went off, exploding, blowing the bolt out and destroying the rifle and caused injury to the shooter.
Here's what happened in detail: After the first shot, somewhere in between the pulling of the trigger and the raising of the bolt, the firing pin separated from the cocking piece. This would explain why the bolt was in the cocked position and the firing pin was in the fired position. This could have only happen to a multi piece firing pin assembly. Once the cocking piece and the firing pin become separated, the spring will push them apart, something that could NOT happen with a 1 pc firing pin. The 1 pc firing pins have the springs BEHIND the cocking piece.
With the firing pin now protruding, racking the bolt and driving it home for a fast follow up shot resulted in a "slam fire". The bolt hadn't been turned yet to lock it down, it never got that far before the detonation.
Now begs the question......how did the firing pin separate from the cocking piece? Robinhood suggested that it came unscrewed, and I wouldn't rule it out, but is it very unlikely due to fact that the cocking sleeve is keyed to the lock washer and the lock washer is keyed to the flat on firing pin. If the lock washer was broken, and I have seen a few broken, it may have rotated on the pin. I every case I've seen of a broken lock washer, even though broken, they stayed in place for the fact of the notches in the cocking sleeve. By the way, there is only one way to break a cocking piece lock washer...a pierced primer or case failure. Escaping gases exit through the firing pin hole in the bolt head and basically push the firing pin assembly back like a piston until the spring compresses to solid height and has no where to go but to bottom out on the lock washer. This is evident when the bolt is disassembled because there is a trace of soot all over the firing pin assembly.
The next guess would be that the firing pin broke. It would have to break somewhere between the cocking piece and the firing pin stop nut....the thickest part of the pin. The most likely place would be at the start of the threads on either end, because that is where the smallest diameter is. The firing pins are heat treated, and it would be possible that a hard spot could occur and fail from all the slamming and stress. The only other reason could be that the threads were faulty, over/undersize on the pin and the cocking piece, and it didn't have enough thread engagement to overcome the tension from the mainspring. That would be evident by looking at the threads.
Like I said before, the evidence will NOT change, no matter who tears it apart. Oh, and Dave....FYI, the decision makers at Savage know me on a first name basis. I was at the plant in July 2018 at their invitation and on their dollar.
Originally Posted by sharpshooter
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