My co worker bought a Vulcan 50 cal and it blew up on him on his 1st shot! Fucked him up really bad. Bolt when half way through his right shoulder, blew off 3 fingers on his left hand and he might be blind in both eyes(lost the left and they might be able to save the right). He was out at Pawnee grasslands shooting with another friend who saved him and got him back to town. This all happened a couple weeks ago and he is out of the hospital and in a rehab center.
I never even heard of Vulcan till this happened and now it seems this is all to common with this rifle. He was using factory ammo but I'm not sure exactly what but I'll report back any details I can find out.

F***!!!!!! What is going on with these Vulcan rifles???????

UPDATE:

Ok I got to see my friend this afternoon. He is doing very well considering. Best news is his right eye is 100% and the doc thinks his left eye will be saved as his vision is coming back! His pinky, ring finger and middle finger were blown off completely and never found. The bolt stopped when it his his clavicle bone in the shoulder. Has bad powder burns on his right hand but it is ok. You have to remove the bol in this gun and load the cartdrige onto the face of the bolt and then put it back into the gun to be fired. He was inserting it back into the gun when the cartdrige detonated.  The gun does not have much damage since the bolt was not closed. The below pictures are the gun after the accident even though the date on the camera stamp is wrong. If you look closely the shell rim is still on the bolt face. The big piece to the left of the .50 bullet is a piece of shrapnel but I'm not sure from where just yet. The red arrows show some impact damage from when the bolt flew out of the gun. The ammo was made by Freedom Arms. These pictures came from a family member and he said when he gets out of the hospital I can stop by the house and see the gun in person. I'll get better pictures then. I did not take pictures of his hands or face but I'll ask him a little later. Now is not the time for that. THE PICTURE DATE STAMP IS NOT ACCURATE ON THE CAMERA! THESE WERE TAKEN A FEW DAYS AGO!





UPDATE 7/27/2013:
Ok I saw the gun in person and got to talk a little more with my friend. I have some much better pictures of the gun and his injured hand and shoulder.  I'm out of time now and wont have any till Tuesday but I'll post all of them then. Till then here is how his hand looks and the damage to his shoulder. It broke all the bones and he has plates in it now. I'll fill in the details on Tuesday evening when I'm off work and back home. Look at the end of the bolt head and you can see the .50 rim still on it. Also the bolt handle sheared off from the force. I'll post those pictures on Tuesday:





More Pics

Here is a few more of the bolt. This 1st picture is the bolt handle. It was broken off when the .50 detonated. If you look close the threads are bent down and flattened out as it was ripped from the bolt.

Here is the hole in the bolt it threaded into. You can see the threads have been damaged and the flat spot on the edge of the hole is where the handle broke off of.

More damage to the bolt:

A chunk and crack from impact damage from where the bolt flew out of the receiver.
And finally the rifle:

In. Really, just in.

DAY 1

Oh snap

I came here to post this.

Someone should suggest that Vulcan add bandages and eye patches to the apparel section of their website

Guys I have no reason to make this up. I'm not a troll and have 13,000+ posts. This happened in northern Colorado and tons of shooters have heard about it. Don't think it made the news. His family is with him and I don't feel comfortable asking if I can take pictures of his face so I can post them. If I can get access to the rifle I will and post pictures. I promiss I'll follow up with the ammo he was using and other details when he gets out of rehab.

In!

One day at my range, I shot next to a guy shooting a Vulcan 50 BMG.  Didn't know much about their quality back then, but I hope your co-worker has a speedy recovery, although it sounds like his life is pretty much fucked up for good.

Chris

You are not a 13er and you have a respectable post count and a Vulcan .50 was involved so I believe you. In before Vulcan name change. Sorry bout you friend.

Sure hope they can salvage his vision.. That's a tough one to deal with.

Thoughts are for his recovery.

I've shot .50 BMG's out at the Pawnee grasslands myself.  There's a lot of energy in a .50 BMG.

Prayers for your friend.  Any pics of what's left of the rifle?

We gotta do a better job of getting the word out.  How is this company still having product out there?  These things need a total recall.

A couple weeks ago... And you're just posting about it now???

I hope your friend can make a full recovery.  

In before people saying Vulcan will sue you for libel.

Holy shit. It's really time for Vulcan/Hesse/Blackthorne to go away.

I'll do my very best to get pictures of the gun or even him if it is ok with him. This was a couple weeks ago and he will be able to have visitors soon at the rehab place. I'll follow this week if I can see him.

I hope you understand that without any sort of evidence/documentation to validate your OP, this thread is going to get raped.


You don't need to take identifying photo's of him.  Not even his whole face.  Pictures of the gun would help.

Oh Shit...

I wouldn't subject a friend injured by a shoddy firearm to Internet fame.  You just know some anti-gun assholes would try and turn him into a poster boy of some sort, or a subject of mockery, and all of that would be getting off light.

I was on vacation for the past 11 days. Did not find out till recently.

In.  

If this is a troll thread, I'll be very surprised.

I'll do my best to get the gun and post pictures.

Likewise. I have no trouble believing that a couple of Vulcan .50 BMGs blew up within a couple of weeks of each other.

Not sure about this one. Tag I guess

In on one.

Hopefully this leads to the death of Vulcan and some jail time for these hacks

I'm not going to and as I mentioned I'm not comfortable taking his pictures. I will try to get the gun if it is possible. I'm sure his family has a lawyer so the gun may be off limits.

IBRM

*In Before Ranger Monroe*

Holy fuck....Another Vulcan went kaboom ?!?!?!


I'm shocked some greedy lawyer hasn't filed a class action against Hesse....

Your friend should have a case worth several million, easily.....

Paging Aimless, Aimless to the green "easy money" phone please......

It is not a troll thread. This really did happen.....as God is my witness!

I have to work some long hours the next couple days but I'll report back. I'm going to visit him by Friday and if he is talking I'll try to get info on the ammo and how this happened and if I can somehow get access to the gun.

What exactly is that company doing (or not doing) to cause these horrible accidents in their products? I dont know much about bolt action .50s so why Is this not happening in barrets and happing with these manufacturers guns? Shitty material, design, etc? Why? It would seem that with such a powerful round that could do so much damage to a customer youd have all the kinks figured out.

Edit- I hope your friend is ok enough to return to a semi normal life and not permanently blind

Holy fucking shit dude.



I hope you're not yanking chain because I actually believe you...



If this is really true, Vulcan is releasing death traps just waiting to kill someone.
 

I will keep him in my thoughts.



 

In the last thread it was believed to be an oversized chamber I think?



 

Like I said God is my witness and this is no joke! It really is true and I'll do my best to get pictures of the gun and info about this incident.

I have no reason to doubt you, it's just that I'm used to parody threads.



This is terrible and Vulcan needs to be held accountable. Hell IANAL but this shit should be criminal.



They're selling fucking pipe bombs.



 

Glock is to hand grenade, as a Vulcan .50 is to............?

Hiroshima

Sounds like a wonderful excuse for more governmental intrusion - In the interest of public safety, of course.

This.

Show your friend the respect he should be given in this situation.  You don't need to post pictures just to satisfy GD.

Damn..  

No shit.





 

How the fuck are these guys still in business?

Qué paso, mi amigo?

I reckon that clock is ticking a whole lot faster now.



 

Came to post this.

 

I'm in Wisconsin... We speak 'Murican round these parts!

Comprende???