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Buckshot
04-04-2005, 04:34 AM
..............I guess I orta put these up here. This WAS a really neat old Springfield sporter that belonged to my great grandfather. I shot it for years and years with factory ammo and handloads. What did it in was a double charge of H4227 behind a Ly 311284. To satisfy any curiosity the slug tripped the chrono at 3050 fps.

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http://www.fototime.com/{9B66F838-B9BB-4E6C-8853-B324442F8A1E}/picture.JPGhttp://www.fototime.com/{57CC4421-0C8B-4F29-9745-4A8518CCAFB1}/picture.JPG

I got a small cut at the scalp line and that was it. Well my nose hurt for awile where my hand busted it due to recoil. When it was all over the bolt was lying there in what was left of the action. The safety lug had made an impression on the right bridgewall. There was effectively nothing to keep the bolt there other then the rear action screw. As you can see the rear of the action is seperated from the front.

The extractor was stuck in a sandbag on the bench to my right. There was only maybe a 1/4" of it sticking out and it was only noticed due to a stream of sand running out. A piece of the left reciever wall hit a leg of a spotting scope tri-pod on the bench to my left, and dented it. I was at bench #16 which is where I ALWAYS used to shoot from. To this day you can look up and see a hole in the plywood from something having left in a big hurry.

The only thing salvageable from the rifle was the front and rear sights, buttplate and triggerguard. The chamber was swollen but only known through miking. The body of the cartridge case had to be peeled out in strips. In the top lft photo there is a bit of the cartridge head visible in front of the boltface. Also at the bottom in the top rt photo, the same piece. The rest of it must have vaporized.

Both locking lugs have cracks on the back (pressure side) than go maybe a quarter inch along the backside corner where they join the boltbody.

I thought I was a pretty safe reloader in my regimen, but have since changed it :lol: after some thought. I would suggest that anyone reading this give their operation a good hard look to be sure they ARE being safe and sensible.

................Buckshot

jh45gun
04-04-2005, 09:12 AM
That Sucks Buckshot glad you did not get hurt bad though except I suppose your pride and your gun too bad a family heirloom ect. I look at each round I do after I charge one I look to see the level in the case and then compare that one with every other on in the block to make sure I did not double charge them or not charge them at all. Jim

Jumptrap
04-04-2005, 10:39 AM
when did this happen Rich?

JDL
04-04-2005, 10:43 AM
Glad you weren't hurt! Seeing all that scrap iron does bring a tear to my eye though.
Along those same lines, I had a wake-up call a few weeks ago. I had loaded up some 140 grain Sierras in my 7X57 with a charge of 44 grains of IMR-4320(weighed), which has proven outstanding accuracy at a velocity of 2755 fps. I look into all the cases with a bright light, after the powder has been added to make sure there's not an over/underloaded round. I was happily shooting these and checking the velocities when, all of a suddend one clocked at 122 fps over normal with definite pressure sign on the primer. We just can't be too careful!-JDL

mike in co
04-04-2005, 03:47 PM
tell me what the load was suppose to be, oal, and lenght of the bullet too.
a rough check says the pressure was about double max.........over 110kpsi

Maven
04-04-2005, 04:40 PM
Sorry to learn about your misfortune, but I'm glad you're all in one piece. Same thing happened to a friend who double charged his Springlfield with 48gr. 4198 and probably #311291. He was cut some by shrapnel and burst an eardrum, but otherwise was OK, but he couldn't accept the fact that he made a reloading error (still can't). Two weeks later it happened to me when I think I did the same thing (used ~28gr. WC 820 instead of 14gr.) in my SKS: had a case head separation, which I assume was due to a 2x charge. I was entirely uninjured, but the SKS stock was splintered and the mag. twisted. The rifle itself was fine and shoots as well as it ever did. Say what you will about a Chinese SKS, but they are strong, well made rifles. ...Maven

KCSO
04-04-2005, 05:10 PM
I worry about double charges so I made a charge indicator from a dowel and If I can't see in the case I slip in the indicator and check the reading on the scale. On pistol rounds I always charge a tray and then shine a light in and check the levels. I have a Springfield sporter and shudder at the sight of yours. T/G you didn't lose any appendages.

Dan in Wa
04-04-2005, 08:24 PM
I know a guy that blew up a brand new M70 featherwieght in 6.5x55. The very first shot blew it up. He loaded up a batch loaded with W680 instead of W760 that he intented. Got lots of brass particles in his face. Lucky for him he wears glasses. This guy knows his stuff but accidents can and do happen.

Buckshot
04-04-2005, 10:32 PM
when did this happen Rich?

............Jump, it happened about 15 years ago.

............Mike, I still have the data sheet so I'll have to look it up.

...........Buckshot

BruceB
04-04-2005, 10:58 PM
Yep, and the screw-ups can happen to anybody at all, if we don't pay proper attention.

I came within about a half-hour of dropping the striker on a CASEFUL of 2400 (59 grains) behind a 200-grain Nosler Partition in my old Remington 700 .30-06. Fortunately, my normal routine precautions caught this bomb-in-waiting before I finished the loading session. (I was planning on going right out to finalize my zero for a next-day hunting trip, immediately after the loading project. I would have "finalized" it, all right!!!)

NVcurmudgeon
04-05-2005, 11:59 AM
The thought of a blown-up gun makes my blood run cold. Maybe it goes back to a few years ago when another shooter at my then club destroyed or damaged three firearms in less than a year with his handloads. He topped off this performance with an accidental 1911 discharge in his car, and heating a forgotten .380 pistol in his oven, along with a pizza. (Most of the cartridges in the magazine cooked off.) The lucky so and so is still alive! I observe all the usual precautions; only one powder can on the bench at a time, charging cases from either jumbled in a box or mouth down in a loading block, and without fail checking charged cases in the loading blocks with a flashlight. In addition all my powder cans have large black on white labels added to the factory labels. WW 231 is labeled "fast pistol", Aliant 2400 is labeled "fast rifle/Magnum pistol", IMR 4895 is labled "medium rifle", etc. I am an expert on my own carelessness, and using the wrong powder is IMO the most likely malpractice I could commit. Safety through cowardice, curmudgeon

Jumptrap
04-05-2005, 12:26 PM
Makes a man want to give up shooting weak guns and do all his shooting with a Mosin....hehe!

mroliver77
04-05-2005, 05:39 PM
Not really. Unlike some fat belly gun writers I admit I made the double whamey.
A few years back Willbird made me a die to swage .22 double end wadcutters. We were swagging away and shooting out the window of my then computer-loading room into the garden at birds and old vegetables and whatever. Bill was going on about a breasts or something 34 or 36 and my kid was asking what is three plus nine and the wife was yelling up the stairs that we would eat in 2 hours and Rush Limbough was in his third and final hour on day 856 of the Clinton occupation and I was loading 8 grains of Unique behind a 55 gr whatever we had wadcutterized and BANG! Bill said "that didn't sound right" I said "Uh... it broke." It was a .223 NEF Handi Rifle heavy barrel. The apparent over charge sheared the brass threw to the extracter cut taking the extracter with it and shearing the locking piece off also. The primer hole was very large with a FLATT primer and case head ironed out. After we had time to check it out Bill said that it had done its job well and nobody was hurt and I didnt have much in it. Ya.
I put new parts in it and barrel to frame fit had "changed". I sent it to NEF with a letter explaining that I was a Butt and I would pay for the fixin if It was fixable. It was back in one week good as new. No invoice,no bill, no nothing. Same barrel, same action I could not tell what they did to it.
What it boils down to is I did everything wrong. Had someone with me taking my mind off from my work. Wife, kids, dog,radio,tele yadda.... Now I load alone. No radio or distractions. If I find my mind wandering I quit. I try to keep tape on my powder measure with powder type and charge. I cover powder droppers not in use.
Reloading is great and could possibly save me some money someday if I ever shoot enough to have saved enough to pay for all my equipment. It was a reality check though and was just an NEF and not my Springfield. Hehe Jay

azrednek
04-05-2005, 09:39 PM
Great news that there wasn't any serious injurys. You might consider posting this at http://p067.ezboard.com/fmilitaryfirearmrestorationcornerfrm1

I had to eat my words on that board a while back. I challenged another poster about the dangers of the low numbered Springfields and he diligently responded with some strong documentation from US Govt sources. Some hard core military bolt action fans there that would really appreciate you posting it.

Four Fingers of Death
04-16-2005, 06:37 AM
My mate who is a very experienced reloader had a mishap, working up cast boolit loads with a fast powder. I wasn't there, but apparently the front scope mount sheared, hinged back and whacked him in the head, parting his hair. The extractor was launched into orbit, never to be found again and the barrel just popped out of the receiver and dropped on the bench in front of him. No injury, all gases vented away properly.

It could have been worse, it could have been me!

I always take my charged cases out in the sun or under a good light in the evening and visually check the powder level in the cases. If in doubt chuck it out. After making a bit of scary and squib ammo on progressives I always stop at exactly the same point in the loading sequence, no matter who is hollering, they get ignored until I have a fresh case at the start and a boolit in the case which has just been charged with powder. Then I will respond, never before.

My worst mistake was reading across the Lee Auto Disk chart and slipping down a couple of lines as I crossed the sheet. I was loading some 357 mags with IMR4227 and they had 21 Gns of powder from memory. Boy, did they kick! They were very accurate however. Because of the mega kick and extreme noise levels, I stopped after five rounds and emptied a case and weighed the charge. I was shooting from a range house and had all of my loading gear with me. I put the lot through the kinetic hammer before I did anything else. Didn't lock the gun up or anything, but definetly unhealthy. I use a ruler now when looking up disks now.

Ps I knew a cop who had an old S&W 38 which was plumb worn out. The guy used to shoot it on a farm his family owned for kangaroos, etc. The whole gun was badly rusted and the blue was worn out and the front of the chamber, forcing cone and top strap were very eroded and he used to jam 357s in the gun. Only one sort would fit, they had a flat nose and were shorter overall. He had to place the gun against the spare tyre on the back of his 4wd and force the shells into the chambers. They thought I was a real girl when I moved out of reach and declined a shot. There was a ball of flame the size of a soccer ball from the cylinder gap. Boy let me outa here! I couldn't convince them they were crazy. I didn't go shooting with them after the first time, they thought guns and booze was a match made in heaven. Scary or what? :(