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The Rancho Deliverance Shooting Range located in Lake Elsinore in Southern California recently posted these pictures on their Facebook page of a Palmetto State Armory AR-15 that went kaboom. Apparently a customer had some sort of jam and asked someone at the range to borrow a cleaning rod, according to Rancho Deliverance Shooting Range:

Palmetto State Armory AR kaboom, customer asked to borrow a cleaning rod, apparently he thought he could pound a live round out of the chamber. This is why we get pissed off and have to kick people off the range from time to time

A commenter on the Facebook posting chimed in a with a bit more info:

Was told from folks that were there, he tried to unjam with a cleaning rod when the bolt slammed forward and fired . The rifle was not taken apart before trying.

This isn’t a knock against Palmetto State Armory at all, they make good AR-15 uppers and parts for the price (I have two uppers from them). This seems to be the result of a careless shooter who didn’t take the proper steps to ensure their rifle was safe before attempting to unjam a round. This is definitely not the first firearms related catastrophic failure we’ve posted about, there was that AR-15 kaboom from reloaded ammo we posted a while back where the case head failed causing escaping gas to split the upper receiver into pieces. Then there was the kaboom where a shooter fired a 300 BLK round in a 5.56 AR-15. Firing incorrect ammo seems to happen pretty often. Sometimes the shooter walks away unscathed but gun failures can cause horrific injuries, just like with this Marlin Lever Action Kaboom likely caused by a barrel obstruction. Stay safe out there kids!

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