Case seperation

[edman87k5]

While shooting today I hade a case failure. The rimmed base cleanly separated from the round and the bullet lodged 3/4 down the barrel. I was shooting an old marlin lever gun but it appears to be the ammo's fault. It did spook me as it blasted me in the face from the explosion but I was grateful it happened to me rather than the kids.
This was a golden bullet and once we dislodged it from the barrel, the projectile does look misformed, but I don't remember anything abnormal when loading it. I had the casing base but lost it.
I have had squib rounds and non firing rounds but have never seen one do this.

 

[Barry J]

I had a lever gun in 38 special that would tear the base from the rest of the casing. Figured out the cause was a dirty chamber and the brass was sticking in the chamber. Never happened while firing. How far down the barrel was the brass, or was it in the chamber?

 

[edman87k5]

Brass was right there in the chamber. When I opened the bolt, the base fell out.
This is a old gun but is regularly fired and maintained. After dislodging the bullet, we fired the gun a few more times with no issues.

 

[La Rebel]

The only time I ever had that happen was with reloaded ammo. The case had been reloaded too many times. The bullet didn't lodge in the barrel though.