[thirsty]

FN's conclusions:

FS-2000 # 025563 Review

Service invoice # 371191 came into the Arnold Gun Shop for review; the customer claimed it fired out of breech. Portions of the fired case are missing but the evidence that remains indicates the cartridge in question discharged with the action open see photo

After discharging the bolt tried to push the cartridge forward resulting in a bolt imprint on the casing
See
photos.

The ammo sent with the weapon are reloads and it is very possible that they may be the cause of this incident see photo.

In the normal function of the weapon the cycle of operation would position the bolt in the unlocked position to extract and eject the fired round then picking up the cartridge that discharged. The bolt alignment lever would hold the bolt in position during the closing of the action and would not move till lockup which would prevent the firing pin from striking the cartridge in question. Further evidence on the bolt slide indicates that the cam lock struck it with a great amount of energy rolling a burr as it traveled rearward indicating that the position of the parts was correct for the firing cycle.

The amount of energy the bolt struck the bolt slide with and working with the escaping gases resulted in the damage to the stock from the bolt slide attempting to rotate.

One final broken part is the bolt return spring, it is broken and a small portion is collapsed. At this point there is no way to tell if this occurred during the discharge or was damaged before the discharge. Even if it was broken before the discharge, the function of the cam lock and bolt slide position the bolt in the correct alignment when cycling to the unlock position and the bolt alignment lever would then hold it there but here is a photo of the spring.

The evidence that we have points to a cause other than the cycle of operation, the weapon’s parts positions would not allow a firing out of battery. Poorly manufactured ammo could be the cause of the cartridge to discharge out of battery, without the cartridge head to see what struck it; it is impossible to say positively what caused the discharge out of battery. The damage to the parts indicates correct part position at time of discharge.

Best Regards,
Robert Semonis

Original post:

Originally Posted By Model_One:
I got a call from my brother Friday afternoon (July 3rd), and he sounded a bit dazed.
No wonder, because his FS2000 had blown up in his face.
The gun was nearly new, and hadn't had more than a few hundred rounds through it.
Luckily, the polymer stock contained and/or redirected the blast away from his face.
He got some light powder burns and some cuts and bruises, but he got off pretty easy, considering. The stock split along the top edge and the top cover blew open, but it appears most of the gas went down through the magwell as we've seen happen with AR-15s. Magazine (Colt 20-round) floorplate blown off, ammo scattered on the ground.
The bolt and carrier was driven back into the stock and is wedged there, and some of the plastic bits were thrown loose, but overall the damage doesn't look as bad as it is - the weapon, or at least the lower half, is a total loss.
He said he'd had some "misfeeds" prior to the incident but upon inspection some of those rounds had very light firing pin strikes.As near as we can determine, there was a fire out of battery, or maybe the bolt closed but wasn't completely locked. I suspect the latter because of some deformation and chipping on the lugs of the bolt and the barrel extension. Or, I suppose it could have been a double or half-charge and it just blew the bolt open. We found the piece of brass you see in the photo below, but we never found the case head - it might be wedged down inside the rifle somewhere, but I'm not taking anything apart at this point, at least until we talk to FN.
He's going to talk to FNUSA tomorrow and see what they say.
Pictures below.
Questions, opinions, guesses?

ETA a couple of things:
1.) I am not blaming the gun, i.e., "the platform."
2.) My brother didn't buy shoddy ammo on purpose to save a few pennies.
He normally uses high-quality ammo, but was shooting with a friend, who provided the ammo. Brother has been counseled on suspecting and inspecting such ammo.

Update: The ammo wasn't reloads but a mixed bag of commercial and mil-surp.
Headstamps are all WCC, F (correction: FC) and LC. I have also learned that there was an issue with early FS2000 carbines that had the military firing pin and spring installed, which caused light strikes and slam fires. This gun came from a dealer who included this gun as part of a transaction for Hummer parts (my bro sells Hummers/Humvees), and he'd had the gun in stock for awhile, so maybe it was subject to the recall. I'll post updates as they come along.

Here's a few original pics:

Note the position of the FCG in the stock- you can see it through the sling mount...

 

[thirsty]

One of the more plausible theories is the chip from the bolt lug was lodged in the bolt lug recesses and prevented the action from locking completely- leading to the light strikes and ultimately the KB.

 

[fatcat]

As bad as this sounds its a relief to see that the weapon will not shatter parts and send the toilet lid flying into your cheek. I have always been scared as to what would happen in case of a KB and have never even been near the weapon fireing without safety glasses on in fear of such. Held up surprisingly well and contained the explosion.


Now, wonder what happened to cause such a thing..

Although, that sucks.. Id be quite upset...


Please let us know what FNH says...

 

[iCeMaN]

OMG....That f****** sucks! Hope all turns out well for you!

 

[DAUG]

Wow, I bought my FS2000 used quite some time ago, but have never fired it . . . now this happens! Seems like another potential PR mess (like the FsN) for FNH or will it be!?!?! If it's a true OOB, then I'll be waiting till further notice on the outcome before considering putting any rounds through it.

 

[ShipWreck]

Wow, I bought my FS2000 used quite some time ago, but have never fired it . . . now this happens! Seems like another potential PR mess (like the FsN) for FNH or will it be!?!?! If it's a true OOB, then I'll be waiting till further notice on the outcome before considering putting any rounds through it.

Considering there are no other reports of this yet - I wouldn't use this as reason to not use it. However - as we don't know the entire situation, I don't want to be the classic stereotype of the admin of an FN Forum trying to cover the FN product. If this happened to me, I'd be pissed too (with the assumption that it wasn't my fault)

 

[humslr]

I tell you what, there was one hell of a fountain of fire out of that toilet seat!
I wish I had taken a picture right after the blast, while I still had all the black powder on my face. When it happened I thought my cheek was hanging off my face, walked over to my buddy and asked "how bad is it?" He said, it looks like your face is all there. I went directly to the bathroom and scrubbed it good. Felt like I had been hit with a boat paddle.
A really hot boat paddle.
Anyway, I'll live.

 

[DAUG]

Quote: Shipwreck . . . . Considering there are no other reports of this yet - I wouldn't use this as reason to not use it. However - as we don't know the entire situation, I don't want to be the classic stereotype of the admin of an FN Forum trying to cover the FN product. If this happened to me, I'd be pissed too (with the assumption that it wasn't my fault). . . .

===============

Gotcha!

 

[humslr]

I'm not sure if my cheek will want to rest on another FS, I loved the gun--everything about it. I bought an AAC M-1000 to go on it--even bought the wrong hand thread adapter, just waiting on the ATF, it's been 2 months now, I'm sure the stamp will come in any day.

 

[fatcat]

Well, im glad your alright.. Im sure FNH will make it right with you.

 

[Promoted Pawn]

Yeah, I'm glad to hear no one was hurt bad. Does your FS2000 have the safty sear, the sear up front???

 

[Adosh]

yeah i fired over 7000 rounds through my fs2000 and it never went out of battery

must have been a freak accident

good thing youre ok

 

[thirsty]

Yeah, I'm glad to hear no one was hurt bad. Does your FS2000 have the safty sear, the sear up front???

It looks like his is in the 025xxx s/n range, so it shouldn't have the SS. However, the safety sear is meant to work only in full auto, so in a semi-auto gun the piece is vestigial and unneeded.

The civvie FS2000 disconnector should be catching the hammer after every shot- exactly the same as an AR-15 semi-group does. Therefore, the safety sear is redundant and unnecessary. Like the AR-15, the FS2000's fire control assembly is a simple trigger/disconnector/hammer setup. The safety sear is just an extra part.

 

[humslr]

Thanks guys, I've been lurking in this forum for some time- just never posting. Pulling from your knowledge. I'm sure it was a"freak accident" but I just hate being the one it happened to. I'm not bitter or anything like that--hell maybe I'll switch to a SCAR or something. They will probably want to give me the same model back, however. I have full faith in FN, they are truly a world class-top level gun company.

 

[Promoted Pawn]

The safety sear is just an extra part.

But in semi auto it still prevents the release of the hammer until the bolt has come home.

 

[thirsty]

The safety sear is just an extra part.

But in semi auto it still prevents the release of the hammer until the bolt has come home.

Redundantly, yes. The disconnector is the primary hammer catch.

The safety sear serves the same role as an auto sear does in an M-16; when set to "auto" it prevents hammer follow when the disconnector is disengaged. After the bolt carrier is in battery, the auto sear releases the hammer automatically so long as the trigger is held back. The safety sear does the same thing, which is the reason it would be later omitted by FN. The disconnector catches the hammer the same as it would in an AR-15.

Does it provide an extra margin of safety through redundancy? Yes. Is it absolutely necessary? For semi-auto use, no.

 

[Promoted Pawn]

Agreed. But I'm glad for the extra margin of safety. With my face so close to the chamber it's more important to me than it would be in a 'regular' semi. The disconnector may grab the hammer, but there is nothing in that trigger group, aside from the SS, that "knows" the position of the bolt.
So even if the disconnecter is working fine you can still drop a hammer on an unlocked chamber.
(((This is actually a much bigger issue with the PS90, since the FS2000 bolt carrier is supposed to block the firing pin until the lugs have rotated into the locked position....)))

 

[Scud]

You may want to try a higher capacity magazine.

 

[hcpookie]

As bad as this sounds its a relief to see that the weapon will not shatter parts and send the toilet lid flying into your cheek.

Held up surprisingly well and contained the explosion.

Agree on both counts!

 

[iCeMaN]

Any updates with this issue as of yet? What is FN doing about this issue?