AK blowup?

[Lanius]

What might've caused this?

Eldest Son? Badly maintained weapon? Defective manufacture?
The last two are unlikely, seems to me. The first one is too... wasn't the ammo Eldest Son operations planted supposed to maim the user of the weapon?

[Freiheit]

Eldest Son? Got a link?

[Lanius]

Project Eldest son on militaryimages.net

Not sure whether the info there is correct. Lots of hits on google.
But this doesn't look like Eldest son ammo. They guy is still alive. And I don't think PETN degrades that quickly. Maybe that better stuff they used degrades ?

[21H40]

Defective manufacture

This would be my guess. As simple as the AK is, I expect there are still some pieces that require a semblance of proper temper (like pins) or a spot weld failed.

It looks like the front end is removed by the last shot and the rest of the rifle falls into pieces.

Without better evidence - this is only a guess.

[Lanius]

Possible that it was a Khyber pass knockoff, or just used some crappy parts made there..

[SJDigriz]

Could be one of the Pakistani - made knockoffs. They REALLY ARE made by guys sitting in caves!!!!

[Burt Blade]

I think it was bad ammunition.

Watch the muzzle flashes closely. Several rounds make a very different flash, including one right before the gun comes apart.

[ants]

Funny the way we narrow down our selections.
Sabotage.
Manufacturing defect.
Bad ammo.
Made in a cave.

There are probably several dozen likely causes.
And more than one might have contributed.

An example of contributing cause is age and poor maintenance.
Many guns on the insurgent battlefield are hand-me-downs,
some have seen service in a dozen different conflicts,
in the hands of dozens of badly trained recruits,
none of whom knew how to take care of a gun.
Not to mention the self-appointed 'armorer' who last rebuilt it.
Then one day it blows up in full auto mode.

Add to that Burt's observation on the muzzle blast,
and the possibility of a poorly made small part,
and the outcome shouldn't be surprising at all.

[RecoilRob]

Regarding the muzzle flash/blast being different.....let us not forget that filming live fire will normally miss many flashes due to the shutter (or similar video component) not being open during the brief event.

Back as a child, I saw the movie 'The Blue Max' which was filmed with live gunfire whenever possible. Many thought it wasn't 'real' because only sporadic flashes were captured, unlike the movie blanks which are deliberately over-loaded with flash powder to create a long enough flash to be reliably captured by the camera.

I'd guess a worn/defective interrupter letting the gun fire out of battery. Even an AK can malfunction if it is in bad enough shape.

[Jeff F]

I think the barrel trunnion let loose and it just disassembled itself. I have seen it happen, it did not blow up.

[Burt Blade]

Didn't realize the bit about flash-time vs. shutter-time. Thanks.

[Combat Diver]

Eldest Son was a Vietnam era projectm, which was designed to injury the shooter. I'll had AKs go bad with bad ammo and I have all my digits, which I'll leave it at that.

CD

[Lanius]

Cheap, accurate, reliable.

Pick two.

[Lanius]

Soviet safety record is not very good.

Soviet appliances never had any grounding. Like ever.

I kid you not. People sometimes got electrocuted ...

[Jeff F]

The barrel trunnion let loose and it disassembled itself. It happens sometimes.

[therewolf]

What might've caused this?

Eldest Son? Badly maintained weapon? Defective manufacture?
The last two are unlikely, seems to me. The first one is too... wasn't the ammo Eldest Son operations planted supposed to maim the user of the weapon?

How about that "the magazine is not a handle" thing?

So assuming the gun is fine, could the user's deathgrip on the mag , during FA fire,

have had anything to do with it?

[nalioth]

How about that "the magazine is not a handle" thing?

So assuming the gun is fine, could the user's deathgrip on the mag , during FA fire,

have had anything to do with it?

"The magazine is not the handle" is a lesson usually taught by the 3-fingered instructor.

In an in-spec AK, it doesn't affect the operation.

[therewolf]

"The magazine is not the handle" is a lesson usually taught by the 3-fingered instructor.

In an in-spec AK, it doesn't affect the operation.

Yes, but what if it's one of those half-beat AKs with the

loosey-goosey wobbly mag?

[nalioth]

"The magazine is not the handle" is a lesson usually taught by the 3-fingered instructor.

In an in-spec AK, it doesn't affect the operation.

Yes, but what if it's one of those half-beat AKs with the

loosey-goosey wobbly mag?

"Mag wobble" is inherent in the Kalashnikov design.

All AKs have "mag wobble" to some extent.

It's the mag wobble that is so extreme that it cause the weapon to malfunction that is the "mag wobble" worth complaining about, and with mag wobble of that magnitude, it doesn't matter how you hold it . . .