M16A4 Weird happenings at range day

[Dominion_120]

We were out at the range a few weeks ago to do our regular qualifications with our M16A4’s and M4A2’s. I was assigned as a Range Safety Officer and the Assistant Armorer for the range. It started out as a typical range day, bunches of people with their assigned weapons arranged in firing orders and chock numbers at firing points awaiting their turn to qualify… orderly chaos right? Right. At about the fifth iteration of the firing order 10 (the ones who really need the help at the range, or non-firers.) I started hearing a rapport from lane number five that sounded like a “ping” than a “pop” from the M16A4 that was on that line.

At first I did not think anything of it because of the acoustics of the range (in a bowl at the edge of an airfield on the base I am stationed) and the constant noise other than weapons fire. None the less at about the fifth or so shot from this lane, I got curious and wondered down that way to see what was up. Everything looked fine up until the point we headed down range to inspect the targets for scoring. Then I saw the strangest thing I think I have ever seen… the rounds were striking the paper in a manner that showed the silhouette of the bullet as it entered the target long ways! The bullets were hitting the target as if they were being thrown at it, and each one struck vertically where you could see the perfect imprint of the round as it penetrated the target… whoa! That’s not normal… and me with out my camera, I’ve never seen this happen nor heard of it.
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Naturally we took the weapon from the solider and told them that them not qualifying was no fault of theirs. Clearly the weapon was having issues. After a quick field strip and cursory inspection with a sure-fire down the barrel, breech end first, I noticed that there were parts of the barrel that appeared “worn out.” The first third of the barrel lining was slightly larger than the second third and the same as the last third… looking as if someone took a reamer to the first half, from the breech and reamed it out, then did the same from the muzzle down as far as it would go, leaving a space not touched that was about maybe 4” in length!
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The big question that everyone was asking was… what causes this to happen, and if a person were responsible, how or what would they use to do this? Some people think a cleaning rod and a cordless drill with the chamber brush attached could do this… personally I have no idea… needless to say, the weapon went back to depot to have it re-barreled.

 

[BelchFire]

I've seen a revolver that had the wirebrush/drill treatment to the cylinder, but not the barrel. It would swell the cases and then when they were resized and shot again, they'd split. It's highly likely that's what happened to that rifle, but short of a confession, I don't know how you'd ever prove it.

 

[socalkid]

I shot a very well used Ruger Mini 14 once and the impact of the bullets on the paper targets were often side-prints. The bullets tumbled end over end instead of spinning. Must be a problem with the rifling in the barrel. That's my guess.

BTW, I kept that target, very interesting:bounce-aqua:

 

[SCREWLOOSE]

I've also got a target with side prints from a 6.5x55... Gave it a good cleaning and switched ammo. That seemed to fix things.

 

[MarinePMI]

Sounds like someone got a little over aggressive with the cleaning regimen. (?)

Perhaps they tried some form of "foul out", which removed the chrome lining in the military barrels? Or maybe used a steel brush attached to a cordless drill to "get the copper and gunk out real good"?

That's the problem with weapons that aren't permanently assigned to a service member, you never no who screw it up some how.

I'd wager it was some cleaning routine, gone very bad, and someone just didn't say anything about it when they turned the weapon back into the armory (the Armorer should have caught it, as they are supposed to break the weapon down and look through the barrel for safety reasons, before returning it to the rack).

JMTCW...

 

[Dominion_120]

That is exactly what happened. The upper receiver came back last week and that's what wound up being the issue.

Now if we could only send the soldier to Depot to have the operator head-space and timing adjusted!!