The Verdict is in on Colt 6920 Catastrophic Failure

[parallel]

The verdict is in, and as most had guessed the verdict is that the cause of the catastrophic failure was from an ammo defect. At this point I'm just glad that the lower is salvageable. Other than having the bulge fixed and finding a new complete upper, I'm not sure what my next move is. I have had some tell me that I should go after the ammo manufacturer. While I haven't ruled it out, I know that the cost of the repairs aren't worth the hassle. Still some point to the fact that I could have been injured and they say that I have a responsibility to others who might be injured due to bad ammo from this manufacturer (Prvi Partizan). I just need to think this through and decide if I agree with that or not. Anyway, here is the official (mildly redacted) Colt Manufacturing Engineering Exam Report.





To clarify the ammo issue; I posted this on other sites back in November. I thought I had posted it here as well but it appears I was mistaken (again).

I had originally posted (again on some sites) that I was using xm193 (I don't know why, I guess because that was what my last purchase had been) before I checked the invoice for the actual ammo that I used that day. The invoice for the ammo that I was using had an item number listed versus a designation. It took a while for me to contact the retailer of the ammo to verify what the designation was. The answer that I received was that the item number referred to PRVI Partizan M193. I have to take their word for it as I am NOT an expert on ammo, I just shoot it. Again to clarify, I KNEW that I had been using PRVI, I just thought that the designation was xm193.

[charles isaac]

I shoot Privi .30 Mauser out of my Broomhandle Mauser because that is all I could find for it. I notice distinct differences in the recoil and report sometimes-very inconsistant ammo.

I couldn't believe they said your lower was salvageable! I've been there for 2 M16 blow ups and have seen 5 or 6 others. The mag well was always too bulged to ever be trusted again!

[Bingo]

You should send a copy of Colt's finding to the ammo importer to see if they will make good on it. Wolf ammo had a couple of incidents that they did re-imburse the owners for the guns they lost when destroyed by their ammo.

[randyhamrick]

+1 with Bingo. You may be "fighting city hall", but you may wind up with restitution. It's worth a try.

[JRI]

+1 with Bingo. You may be "fighting city hall", but you may wind up with restitution. It's worth a try.

#2 with Bingo. Definately worth the try. All they can say is no but a check would make you feel a lot better.

Hope it all works out for you and that this is one of those isolated instances. I have a couple thousand rounds of the Privi 193 and 855.

[parallel]

I just got off the phone with colt manufacturing (again). I tried to call yesterday, but because the gun was sent from my FFL, they said that they couldn't talk to me (go figure) concerning the repairs and the shipping of the entire gun (scrap and all) back to me. Interestingly, I asked that they send me the paperwork to initiate the process (versus it going to my FFL and then him forwarding it to me) and they initially said that they couldn't send it to me, but rather, they would have to send it to my FFL. This, even after I had to get my FFL to call them yesterday for them to even be willing to talk with me today. After I politely stated that my FFL is an active LEO and this fact would delay my getting the paperwork, RJ took my name and address and said that he would try to send me a copy as well.

Anyway, the ballpark figure for repairing the lower is $55 plus $15 or so for shipping. Not too bad, so I'm going to have that done. Then I'll start my research to decide what to do about getting a complete upper and whatever else I'll need. LOL... my 6920 has become a "project gun".

[longranger]

Probably a little late for this thread, I will post in the reloading section as well.Worth your time to review what you buy.
http://www.firearmsid.com/Recalls/Ammo_Recalls%201.htm