Training rifle fails at commercial nuke facility-

[EMDII]

From: DeLay, Robert J.
Subject: OE20555 - Preliminary (Cooper Station) Near Miss Event on Firing Range
Date: 5/4/2005 2:09:06 PM
Organization: Nebraska Public Power
Plant: Cooper
Group: Operating Experience Daily Data Entry
Forum: INPO Plant Event OPEX Reports (*Limited Access)

ABSTRACT: On the afternoon of May 3, 2005, at Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) a training rifle, which fires only blank ammunition, ruptured while it was being fired. The officer operating the training rifle was not injured, but did experience some ear discomfort from the loud noise the rifle made when it ruptured.

REASON FOR MESSAGE: Insure others know hazards experienced at CNS involving a failure of a Bushmaster A3 rifle modified for blank ammunition.

EVENT DATE: March 3, 20005
UNIT NAME: Cooper Nuclear Station
NSSS/A-E: GE / Burns & Roe
TURBINE MANUFACTURER: Westinghouse

MAINTENANCE RULE APPLICABILITY: No

COMPONENT INFORMATION (AS APPLICABLE):
MANUFACTURER: Bushmaster A3 rifle receiver
MODEL NUMBER: Ammunition 5.56 MM
PART NUMBER: Lot Number SMQO4M302S235

DESCRIPTION: On the afternoon of May 3, 2005, at Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) a training rifle, which fires only blank ammunition, ruptured while it was being fired. The officer operating the training rifle was not injured, but did experience some ear discomfort from the loud noise the rifle made when it ruptured.

At the time, eight officers were equipped and performing an exercise on the CNS gun range using Bushmaster A3 rifles modified for blank ammunition. One new rifle (42 rounds previously fired) experienced a failure of significant magnitude. The round fired with a much louder than normal bang and the plastic far end of the upper receiver was destroyed by the venting of the pressure from the explosion of the round.

Blank ammunition sounds similar to live ammunition, but discharges gases instead of bullets. The gases enter special vents, and the return gas pressure cocks the rifle for the next round enabling the security officers to fire blanks in rapid-fire mode.

CAUSES: Potential Causal Factors
· Catastrophic failure of a Bushmaster A3 rifle receiver;
· Unusual crimping noted at the tip of the spent round casing;
· The ammunition is 5.56 MM and came from the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, MO. The lot number was SMQO4M302S235;
The cause of rifle failure will not be known until the rifle manufacturer has tested the weapon and the blank ammunition.

CORRECTIVE ACTIONS: More information will be made available as facts are compiled.

SAFETY SIGNIFICANCE: No plant effects occurred do to this event.

SIMILAR EVENT:
OE20512 - Injury on Range (Callaway)
On 04/08/2005, an officer on the range experienced an abnormally overloaded gun powder charged blank round of ammunition. The officer was returned to site for medical assessment/treatment after he stated that he felt some "tingling" in his left hand. No injury was subsequently reported, and the officer returned to the range. Blast overpressure vented through the safety ports designed into the rifle near the chamber area. Over pressure was directed into the hand guard area of the rifle, causing it to burst and crack. Small pieces broke away from the hand guard and impacted the shooters hand. The overpressure was contained in a tube under the hand guard as designed, preventing further injury.

Interesting events. Not sure yet how the A3 was modified for blank use. I have seen DOE rifles that were 'hollywood' with no visible BFA, but had the magwell and magazines modified for blanks only.

[BUFF]

"The round fired with a much louder than normal bang and the plastic far end of the upper receiver was destroyed by the venting of the pressure from the explosion of the round."

Plastic far end of the upper receiver?

Plastic?

[FN74]

Probably got a clogged BFA - the most popular way to blank adapt outside of a USGI BFA is to use the hollywood type adapter - a machined disc that inserts on the barrel face and the flash hider is tightend down over it to keep it in place. Sometimes USGI blanks will break at the tips, that may have clogged the oriface giving the gas no where to go.
Interesting indeed.

[ggiilliiee]

i can only hope they have better luck with the reactor ...than they did with the ammo....homeland security ...what a joke

[v188]

That's too bad. We used to occasionally do our monthly quals out there. It's not a bad range, but last time I shot out there, the ground was covered with at least 6 inches of snow. Quickest qual I've ever done. LOL Man it was cold.

[bykerhd]

The accident is unfortunate and glad to hear no one was seriously injured.
I guess I don't really understand why there would be a need for a purpose built blank firing rifle. Except for maybe the movies or honor guard situations.
Does the military use them also ?

[RichM]

Originally posted by BUFF
"The round fired with a much louder than normal bang and the plastic far end of the upper receiver was destroyed by the venting of the pressure from the explosion of the round."

Plastic far end of the upper receiver?

Plastic?

Handguards.

Unless Bushmaster is doing something really "inovative".

[ftierson]

Hey, Ted, are these the real rifles that you guys are using to guard the nukes?

Training rifle, indeed...

Train like you fight, fight like you train.

We could probably take up a collection for some non-blank firing ones, since a melt-down at one or two plants could bankrupt the treasury...

By the way, Ted, I say this in jest because the safety of operating nuclear power plants should be at the very top of the list of "homeland security" people. As a plant security specialist, you can spend your whole life in boredom, and the fate of the plant can be determined in five minutes of "excitement." And, in many ways, the economic fate of the nation could be determined during those five minutes too.

My Mom and Dad live just to the south of the Ginna Nuclear Power Plant on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. As far as I know, I believe that it's the oldest operating commercial power reactor in the US, and since it was returbined a couple of years ago, my guess is that the plan is to keep it operating for a while longer.

And, if anyone interprets anything said above as an anti-nuke comment, they'd be quite wrong.

Keep up the good work.

Forrest

[falfan#1]

Originally posted by bykerhd
The accident is unfortunate and glad to hear no one was seriously injured.
I guess I don't really understand why there would be a need for a purpose built blank firing rifle. Except for maybe the movies or honor guard situations.
Does the military use them also ?

I would guess these are setup for MILES or are used for force on force simulations without the "Laser Tag" extras. Special rifles that can only accept blanks in that case make sense, you can paint them orange or whatever to tell they are simulaters. Eliminates the possibilty of live ammo accidentally getting into a training scenario where you are firing towards others.

[Hellion Productions]

Our ESS M-16s are pinned through the barrel to not chamber live rounds. Their mag wells have a bolt through the front of the lower that excludes unmodified, "live" magazines. They accept only notched mags that are orange-marked. Likewise, the buttstock and/or handguards are marked with an orange stripe. Handguards are sometimes bored with a hole, as well. BFAs are usually permamently attached. MILES modules pop on and off, and are synched up with a particular harness.

Our M-60s are modified to accept only blank as well. Their recoil springs are also usually cut short. The word "jam-o-matic" doesn't begin to describe their performance during FOF drills.

These mods are all done to real select-fire weapons. They remain in the armory as blank-firing weapons, but the M-16s could probably be reversed to real weapons with a little TLC and a new upper.

All done according to DOE regs. I am dreading the day when they cut up perfectly serviceable $10K M-240s just to make them permanently blank-firing weapons.

Best,
John Bear Ross

[FN74]

A little off subject, but ss room just recently got approvel from atf for a full auto blank only PPSH, and are going into production. They will follow with a Thompson and MP40. Cool video of them firing over there.

www.ssroom.com

[HawaiiFALer]

Originally posted by bykerhd
The accident is unfortunate and glad to hear no one was seriously injured.
I guess I don't really understand why there would be a need for a purpose built blank firing rifle. Except for maybe the movies or honor guard situations.
Does the military use them also ?

No, the military does not use "dedicated" (purpose built) permanently modified blank firing rifles. The military standard is the regular standard rifle with the BFA (blank firing adapter) which fits to the birdcage flash suppressor.

Originally posted by falfan#1
I would guess these are setup for MILES or are used for force on force simulations without the "Laser Tag" extras. Special rifles that can only accept blanks in that case make sense, you can paint them orange or whatever to tell they are simulaters. Eliminates the possibilty of live ammo accidentally getting into a training scenario where you are firing towards others.

The military MILES uses the standard BFA setup. The MILES rifle device clamps on the top front of the barrel. It senses the firing of the blank then sends off an invisible laser beam. If the beam hits one of the sensors on the soldiers' body, one like suspenders, another around the helmet like the camouflage band, an audible alarm goes off, and only an umpire/referee can turn it off with a key. There's an ump/ref laser shooter too.

Ted is talking about a DOE (Department of Energy) blank firing training rifle.

[FN74]

Originally posted by HawaiiFALer
There's an ump/ref laser shooter too.

We used to call this the "God Gun".....



Thing would work on everything - tanks included....

[falfan#1]

Originally posted by HawaiiFALer

Ted is talking about a DOE (Department of Energy) blank firing training rifle.

I was too.

[HawaiiFALer]

Originally posted by FN74

We used to call this the "God Gun".....



Thing would work on everything - tanks included....

Yep.