S&W M&P 15 Kaboom
Two police officers, training on patrol rifles at the Smith & Wesson shooting range in Springfield, suffered injuries Wednesday morning when one of the firearms exploded.
“For one reason or another the weapon had a failure, we really haven’t determined the cause yet,” said Sgt. Patrick Manley. “A round exploded in the chamber and caused the weapon to blow to pieces…It just blew up.”
When this happens, my first thought is hey, reloads. But I doubt the police roll their own. S&W says it’s not a problem with the gun which may mean ammo was the culprit.
And when the police have them, the go from being assault weapons to patrol rifles.
April 4th, 2011 at 8:51 am
Could you imagine the lebanon police with these. They trip accidentally discharge then the “gunman” shoots back when the rifle explodes so they call the swat team to kill help kill another drunk…
April 4th, 2011 at 9:39 am
Perhaps we should start making the push from using the term “modern sporting rifle” to calling them “patrol rifles”
April 4th, 2011 at 10:06 am
A lot of police agencies purchase commercial reloads. Some of the commercial reloaders have a spotty reputation. But if you notice, there have been a spate of ammo recalls from major manufacturers lately.
April 4th, 2011 at 11:07 am
One person while having a debate asked me what I would call an AR-15 if “Assault Rifle” was a bullshit term.
I said: “A Rifle”
Not that I’m bragging, but I had the last word. 😀
April 4th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
I know about spotty ammo. I bought a box of .223 umc ammo from walmart. I have a habit of checking every cartridge I put in a magazine for defects. Just as I was about to insert the cartridge I felt a slight catch as I turned it with me fingers. It was a split case jaggedly ripped from top to bottom but completely formed without leaking powder. Not sure what that would have done to the mini 14 I was shooting it in but it could not be good for the weapon or me.
April 4th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
Back when I had occasion to train with/on police ranges almost all the training ammo was reloads, some of it very poor. The El Paso PD was notorious for breaking firearms with bad reloads. Of course, this was 20 years ago… They may have changed (but I doubt it).