A Close Call or "Saved BY Proper Training"

[omgb]

Yesterday at the range, I was busy trying to sort out some free-bore questions and I had a close call with serious injury. I had been shooting my .375 Win and had loaded 4 rounds into the magazine. I fired two, was looking throught the spotting scope and stduying the target. I returned to the gun, cycled the action and pulled the trigger. Nothing, zip, not even a pop. I dropped the lever and ejected the case. There was a good square primer strike. There was no smoke nor were there any unburned powder granuals. Discipline took over and I visually inspected the bore. It was blocked. I took my cleaning rod and knocked out the obstruction .....the bullet. Had I just levered in the last round and fired I would have been in a world of serious hurt. Years of shooting however and a strict safety regimne compelled me to check the bore.

There had been no sound of a primer fireing and there was no sign that anything had gone a miss. Still, I had it ingrained that i had to check the bore. All I can figure is that I inadvertantly put a round I had used to set the seating die into the group of rounds I was taking to the range. Now the question remains, how did I ever manage to use a primed case for setting the seating die? That is a big no-no for all of the obvious reasons. I'm going to have to stew on that one for a while. Any way, thought I'd mention this since it could have happened to any one of us.

[Cherokee]

Great that you made the effort to do what you know you should have. It's possible you overlooked putting powder in the case. In 40 years of reloading, I finally did that last year or so in my 30/30. I also had a 32/20 act like that a few months ago but when I broke the load down, the AA9 powder was one solid lump. No stuck bullet in either incident, they stayed in the case, but I did check.

[swheeler]

Omgb; I also had a squib load several years ago with 357 and AA#9 in cold weather, powder was clumped and wet looking. No so long ago, few months, I had anotrher with some old Win 571 in a different 357, I would hate to think what it would feel like to run another in behind a lodged one! I made VERY sure that my wife understood what happened and how serious it could be, and if she ever had a similar happening-STOP ! If you shoot ENOUGH it will happen, may take 40+ years or so, it did me, but nobody is immune, trying to stay away from hard to ingnite powders may help postpone it!

[kodiak1]

omgb that makes the hair's on the back of my neck stand up and tingle. I have never had that happen.
Ken

[omgb]

It definitely has a "pucker factor" as we used to say in the USAF.

[Buckshot]

...........Years ago when I started shooting cast lead in my Savage M112, 223 Rem I had some really nice slowspeed but accurate loads. The caveate though was that you HAD to tip the muzzle up to orient the tiny charge of Bullseye against the primer. Otherwise the little cast bullet wasn't going to make it all the way out that 26" barrel.

I was having such a good time watching the boolit fly in it's ballistic arc, and then have a tiny black hole appear as if by magic in the target paper, I forgot to tip up the muzzle for the next shot.

When I pulled the trigger there was a faint pop, no boolit appeared in the scope's view. I then became aware of a faint sound. There was a low but definate hiss coming from the chamber end of the action. I listened up by the muzzle, but nothing. I found it neat the caseneck had sealed as well as it had. It hissed for several seconds.

When it had stopped hissing I lifted the bolt handle and the bolt kind of slid back without me pulling it and it went, 'Pop'. The case was lying there loose in the action. The slug had stopped about 6" short of the muzzle.

This was educational too in that I would have thought that in that smallish 223 Rem case a small rifle primer would have the poop to ignite a grain and a half of powder regardless where it was? However, that was NOT the case at all. Non oriented powder didn't supply enough oomph to get the bollit out of the barrel. But orienting it not only got it up through the barrel, but it would trip the chrono at a tad over 400 fps.

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

[StanDahl]

I had a couple of squib loads a while back, done before I got my new progressive press figured out. It was a busy range and I didn't hear anything different in either one, luckily, the next round wouldn't chamber completely, or I would have put another right after it. It was a .357 Marlin, not a 375 Win, but it would have been interesting anyway - really interesting especially after I got home, because it wasn't my rifle! Stan

[Bucks Owin]

Sure glad you "dodged the bullet" amigo!

I once read somewhere that you're seldom allowed more than one mistake when reloading....:drinks:

Dennis

[alamogunr]

I had that happen once with a .45 ACP round in a Kimber 1911. I heard the primer go off and was about to pull the trigger again when the friend I was shooting with said that something wasn't right. Sure enough, there was a bullet stuck about a third of the way down the barrel. It was a j%*&# bullet and was a pain to remove.
The only thing I can figure was that I was concentrating hard enough that the low report and lack of recoil didn't register. Thank goodness my shooting partner was paying attention. I might have racked another round in and tried to shoot. I am much more careful now.
John

[madcaster]

I have had it happen in a stainless Ruger Bisley,and another local fella done it with a .458 Winchester 70,so you sure aren't the onlyest one!

[DLCTEX]

Years ago my son, Dave, then 8, was with his teenage brother when he (his brother Barry)accidently jammed the muzzle of my shotgun into mud. He poked it with a small stick, bumped it with his hand, and thought everything came out. When he fired at the next dove the barrel expolded like a pipe bomb. Fortuantly no one was injured, Dave said " Dad's going to kill you"! I was just glad they were ok. A few weeks later Dave was hunting with me using a 20 guage I had shortened the stock on. We were walking across a stretch of hard, bare ground when he jammed the barrel into the ground due to a long barrel and short legs. He said that he'd better check his barrel, but I looked at the hard, bare ground and said it was ok. He insisted on emptying the gun and looking through the bore. Of course he found a small square rock lodged a couple of inches up the barrel. A good lesson for both of us.

[tom barthel]

I've only done that with a muzzel loader. My wake up came from shooting lite loads. I double charged a case. Just a painful recoil and hugh flash. No damage to the rifle. To this day, I don't like fillers. I would rather have to clean unburned powder than ruin a good rifle. Stuff happens, you learn. I'm glad you came through it the right way.

[PatMarlin]

Happend to me with a brand new Raging Bull in 454.

I was with a buddy out shooting, and I had fired cylinder full, then reloaded for him. He started firing, and I walked back to the truck to get something a few yards away. I came back and he handed me the pistol. Iooked down and saw a huge bulge.

He hadn't even noticed. I was shooting 350gr LBT cast and 4227 fairly heavy 45 colt loads, luckily, and all I can think of is I missed charging a case.

Tell you what those raging bulls are tough. They replaced the barrel too free of charge.. :drinks:

[StarMetal]

Hey Pat,

My friend did the same thing with one of those new S&W's. He was alternating between shooting the new Smith round and 45 LC's low power rounds from a reputable firm. After he was done he noticed a bulge in the barrel. Smith & Wesson charged him a few hundred dollars to fix it and that was a brand new revolver. Big difference between them and Taurus huh?

Joe

[PatMarlin]

Wow- that sucks.

Yea it's an 8 3/8" long one too. I took them about 12 weeks though because they were out of barrels in the US, but they shipped it back FedEx overnight.

Perfect job. Same close cylinder gap, and it shoots 1" at 50 with condoms. Still breakin' it in for cast.

The other thing about this RB is the throats are dead on .454, and the barrel groove .452.

Why can't US makers do that?.. :veryconfu