Got this email today:
From: Faxon Firearms <
[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, January 6, 2020 1:58 PM
To: somejackass@someaddress
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Thanks for making a strong product
Hi ikarus1,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us! We're glad to hear no one was hurt and those are some pretty amazing pictures! I would certainly hang on to that slug as it is pretty unique. I've never seen one outside of a cross-section.
At this point, we won't need the barrel back, but, we'd like to send out a replacement barrel for you as well as some swag, both as a thank you for sharing with us and to help off-set the cost of building up a new rifle (or at least upper half).
If you let me know your preferred shipping address I can get it shipped out right away! Also, what size T-shirt do you and your son wear?
Thanks,
Martin
Customer Service
Faxon Firearms
On Thu, 2 Jan at 3:21 PM , snipped wrote:
Hello,
I wanted to tell you guys that your Gunner profile 18” 5.56 NATO barrel is probably the strongest barrel in it’s class. We inadvertently tested it at well past it’s proof pressure yesterday…..
I built a 5.56 NATO upper about 2 years ago that quickly became my favorite with it’s easy recoil due to rifle gas system and excellent accuracy. I didn’t skimp on the barrel or bolt because that is the heart of an AR.
Yesterday, on New Years Day, my family and I experienced an incident where my 15 year old son was the shooter firing the last magazine that we had at our outdoor backyard range.
He had fired approximately 100rds thru it during this time, but on the last round he experienced a catastrophic failure. The explosion sent gas thru the empty GI steel mag and blew out the floorplate.
The upper bulged, the bolt was locked into battery and the upper actually cracked. Stress fractures all along the top of the receiver where the optic mount was. The dust cover was bowed out and the bolt catch was broken.
When we separated the 2 rifle halves, we noticed that the bottom of the 9310 steel BCG cracked at the bolt gas vents, and it blew out the roll pin at the gas block (also a Faxon product).
However, the actual Faxon .625 lo-pro gas block and nitride tube seemed to be fine.
We knew it had to be a barrel obstruction, so I decided that since the upper was wrecked I had to find the cause ASAP. I probably should have sent it to you guys because I may have been able to salvage more.
Upon further inspection we discovered that a lone .300BLK round had somehow found it’s way into one of my 5.56 magazines, and it had chambered and fired.
Thankfully, there were no injuries to my young son, and I attribute this to the quality and strength inherent in your product as well as a strong Stoner rifle design and the HPT/MPI bolt from Alpha.
This could have been the worst day of my life as a parent, but when I did an inspection (with an angle grinder!) we found the 120 grain HPBT bullet had swaged down perfectly from .308 to .224.
This will probably become a very expensive piece of copper jewelry for me as a reminder. It had made it 4 inches past the chamber throat into the barrel and there was no sign of a BULGE in the barrel.
That is a strong product and it helped keep my son safe and intact. Thank you so much for making a quality product. Thank you many times over and I hope 2020 is a great year for your company.
This was 100% my error but if this helps someone in the future I will be happy to be a testimonial for your company! If you are interested in inspecting the barrel I will be happy to send it your way.
Thanks again,
ikarus1