D-Day commemorative M-1 blows up with HXP

[Griff Murphey]

Speaking specifically to Limpetmine... I wondered about the quality of those pieces and whether they are actually made to spec. How much actual work SA Inc. did with the rifle as opposed to the people who sold it is speculative...

[tim-stock]

HXP is really one of the finest

[RCS]

It could have been an out of battery firing of the cartridge as it was being chambered, I have seen one of their M1A rifles with the same problem and result. The SA Inc M1A had a defective trigger pin which was broken and caused the out of battery firing.

There are other things to check such as the receiver, bolt & firing pin, barrel and headspace.

[JustPassingThrough]

At the time he was shooting HXP 1965 from CMP, lot # 1062 HXP 65 in cartons.

I've shot several cans of HXP-65 lot 1062 without issue. In fact I reload the brass also and haven't had any issue with it.

[Griff Murphey]

I still have the blowup pix on my phone; just looked at them the other day. BTW the end of it was: SA Inc. had him return the rifle, and they then replaced the D-Day commemorative with a new M-1A. My friend is very happy to have it, and I set him up with some slightly used match brass. He's happy. Boy... he was "gun shy" (LITERALLY!) for a while....

My guess is that SA INC. would have not replaced the rifle if they felt, after examining it, that it was the ammo's fault. But then that would be a big bad ball of wax for SA Inc. to say anything about those gazillions of rounds of HXP CMP has sold to everyone from you and me to wholesalers...

[tokiwartooth]

Never buy "commemorative" anything.

HXP is very safe. If it blew up on that, I shutter at what would have happened had he run today's hot loaded 30-06 Springfield through it. Or Prvi for that matter, which for the most part, which I've safely fired through my CMP USGI Garands (although I would recommend an adjustable gas plug).

Sounds like he got a lemon.

[Bob Womack]

Note that the original post is a year old...

[willie8]

Who would shoot a commemorative?

[byronroland]

I do have a question/comment. Even though it was a commemorative "now" what will it be in 50 years? No one will know what or who it commemorated or at least there is a good chance no one will. And, we may still be using brass ammo.

I have 2 M1A Springfield's, a wood stock standard and a "tanker" with fiberglass stock. I have shot both very little. Should I be worried about the strength of these? I have been thinking of trading in one or both for a M1A NM, I am getting older and would like to get back into target work. Both of mine are at least 15 years old, should I purchase/trade for a new NM or upgrade my standard? This would only apply if the quality has deteriorated over the last 15 years?

Thanks!

[Maniac]

There was a similar occurrence that was the subject of a thread on the CMP forums over a year ago that involved a USGI M1 Garand and HXP. A couple of the posters then mentioned that the year before at the National matches at Camp several shooters had similar problems using HXP. The description of the mishap mirrors the one that happened with the commemorative in this thread, FWIW