I heard about the ammo shortage, but I haven't tried to purchase any recently. That mag looks mean dude, what rounds are those? I'm not up in all the latest AR mods, lol.
I was bouncing around YouTube the other week and this video popped up that was titled something like 'My .50 cal exploded on me' (don't quote me on that). The video was only a day or two old, so I clicked it. CRAZY!!
So apparently this guy has a fairly large channel, and he is ex law enforcement and loves shooty pops. The vid starts and this guy is in a sling, all black and blue, and just looking generally like he got his ass kicked. He starts telling the story....
So he has a nice fitty...single shot, threaded breach plug, simple and elegant, chambered in the legendary .50 BMG. He also has these seriously old crazy incendiary rounds, along with some more modern rounds. He busts out a freaking fire hydrant and winds up taking a few shots at it with both ammo types. He was having a bit of trouble with the incendiary rounds being on target. He loaded up a round and put it straight through the thing and it came halfway out the other side and got stuck. Still freaking sharp and not mangled, maybe it was like a depleted uranium round or other armor piercing, can't remember, but man did it look cool...anyway, naturally after that shit you're gonna have to take another pop. He proceeds to unthread the spent casing and puts one of them flame rounds in. He screws the cap back firmly and locks the barrel down to the lower. The lock will not accept the barrel if the breach cap isn't screwed down all the way. He is sitting at a table, and using a bipod, so he looks super comfortable. He looks down the scope, holds his breath and squeezes the trigger. Flash. The muzzle flash was monstrous, and the whole weapon goes flying almost instantly.
Here is what happened:
Those old rounds were all over the place in terms of pressure, he couldn't even put em in target. So this one extra hot round made so much pressure, that it sheared the threads for the cap right off the end of the barrel. The cap came straight back, and hit him directly in his safety glasses...it hit so hard that it broke the glasses and the glasses hit his face. On either side of the threads are these 2 big ass ears, that are what stop the lock from engaging unless the cap is all the way screwed on. When the cap sheared the threads....which are big meaty threads as you would expect...the ears were the next part to fly. One went into his neck, nicking his jugular vein, and then penetrating his lung causing it to deflate. The other ear tore up his fingers pretty bad. LUCKILY, his dad was the one filming, and his truck was 100 feet away with the keys dangling in the ignition. He said within 60 seconds of the explosion, they were rolling. His dad drove and he called 911 to have the bambulance meet them. As soon as it happened, pops said you got a hole in your neck...he shoved his thumb right up in there and then pinned it with his head and towel to keep the pressure up. He fought to stay conscious and actually wound up remaining conscious through the entire event. The doctors were all worried about him having a stroke when he took his thumb out of the hole. The doctor said that all the stars aligned that day, any number of things could have ended him, from a millimeter difference in the ear, to going unconscious, to having a stroke, to infection.
Absolutely insane. He is gonna get right back up on the horse though. I guess the owner of the company that made the gun said the pressure had to be over 85K psi to shear the threads like that. Normal should be closer to 55-60k. Lucky ass mofo.