Thank God we're old and wear glasses!

We were up on the IPSC range this morning and the little woman was having fun shooting falling plates when I heard a very loud report and she shook her head and staggered back. She was shooting her little Walther P22 and it blew up. The top of the slide was missing and she had one little bit of brass in her face. There was a large ding in her glasses but she was none the worse for wear after we picked the brass out of her skin. Thank you Lord! It was high quality ammo and the pistol is in good repair and is her carry gun. The brass case is still in the chamber and the head was stuck in the steel part of the bolt face. Must be a good design because everything went away from the shooter. All I can figure is that the cartridge was loaded too hot. We are in the process of sending the gun and ammo away to get it replaced and they will determine what happened. I've shot lots of the same lot of 22's through my SIG conversion with no problem and many went through the Walther too. Maybe one in a million that got out. We'll see.
Mark
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She was very lucky. Could have been worse. alot worse.

Glad to hear she is OK. Now I know the reason for the shooting glasses.

Let us know what the root cause was.
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NONYA
wow ive never seen a 22lr explode without a barrel obstruction. #-o
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We have an on site gunsmith and he inspected it. No bulge in the barrel. She's pretty well trained so I doubt it squibbed. I didn't notice it doing so. We'll see what the experts say. It's guaranteed for life so I imagine somehow we'll get a new pistol.
Mark
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TheGreatwhitehunter
Wow thats crazy glad to hear she is ok, could of turned out alot worse.
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Loafer
Glad she's okay. Let us know when they identify the problem.
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Here's an update and conclusion on the matter of this pistol blowing up. The ammo manufacturer admitted fault after testing an extensive amount of the lot number in question. They found excessive pressure in several cartridges and will replace the pistol and ammo and have given us extra ammo and will cover all our expenses. They also thanked us for being patient and considerate. Over the years we've shot hundreds of thousands of 22's and experienced no problems that were a danger to us. It's actually a very safe sport and the ammo manufacturers deserve lots of credit for keeping it that way.
Mark
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TheGreatwhitehunter
WOW sounds like you will be taken care of =D> Glad no one was seriously injured.
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