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Thread: Unusual cartridges

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
    Gunslinger1911's Avatar
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    Unusual cartridges

    The no primer hole post got me thinking - always a bad thing, mostly.

    So, what ya got ?
    Old, unusual, weird defect, strange range pickup.

    Pics are always cool.

    Me :
    .44 rim fire
    9mm fired in a .40
    22 tcm fired in a 9mm
    45-120 Sharps case
    45acp case with base blown out (dbl charge of 231)

    Pics when I can figure out why I can't down load.
    Cogno, Ergo, Boom

    If you're gonna be stupid, don't pull up short. Saddle up and ride it all the way in.

  2. #2
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I've found separated 223/5.56 cases on the range. I've got one where an unfired cartridge was jammed up into the neck of a separated case that was left in the chamber. 300 Winchester cases fired in 300 Weatherby chambers. 308 Winchester cases fired in 30-06 chambers. Blown out 40's and 45's. A 41AE case with 9mm on the headstamp. Probably a few more that I'm forgetting.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
    GoodOlBoy's Avatar
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    I've got a single 38 case (wish I had a loaded round because people don't believe me that it isn't just a cut case) that is about 1/4-3/8 inches long. It came from an uncle who had a 38 detective (don't remember the brand) that had the shortest cylinder on it I ever remember seeing on a pistol except maybe an old 22 short revolver, the rounds he got with the gun way back when were all that length brass with a bullet that was probably double the length of a "normal" 38 bullet sticking out of them. I want to say he got it when he was stationed in Vietnam or maybe the Philippines, but I can't remember for certain where he said he got it. He almost never shot it, but when I was a kid he used it to dispatch a rowdy racoon that entered a camp house uninvited and decided to run everybody else out. Hence how I got the single piece of brass as a kid. As far as I know that pistol is long long gone and so is the ammo for it. That uncle is very elderly now, and barely knows who he is, much less remembers that old pistol. If I ever find that piece of brass again, and have a working camera (which should be soon as parts get here) I'll try to remember to post a pic of it.

    As for boo boo rounds Once upon a squirrel hunt I had a 20 gauge shotgun shell that didn't go off, then had to be pried loose with a pocket knife out of my old single shot. When we got home I cut open the bulged case to find no powder, and shot on both sides of the fiber wad. IE somebody loaded shot twice but never had powder in it. It was an old factory load, a peters shell that was older than me if I remember correctly. Back then we didn't save stuff like that so the shot went in the lead bucket for fishing weight melt down and the shell went in the garbage.

    God Bless, and One Love

    GoodOlBoy
    Yes I can be long winded. Yes I follow rabbit trails. Yes I admit when I am wrong. Your mileage may vary.

    Keep your powder dry. Watch yer Top knot.

    "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!"

    Yes there were "Short" 45 Colts! http://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/45_short_colt.htm

  4. #4
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I started collecting cartridges when I retired a few years ago. Many of the members here have donated both fired cases and loaded cartridges. I did have a thread about this but I think photobucket deleted my pictures. I have a few rare or unusual cartridges;

    a line throwing cartridge case --- used to shoot a line from one ship to another. Looks like a 45-70 case
    a 50 BMG spotter case --- looks like a 50 BMG short
    6.5-284 Norma---Loaded by the AMU team at Ft Benning
    243 Win---Loaded by the AMU team at Ft Benning
    30-03---REM-UMC
    470 Nitro Express
    500 Nitro Express
    577 Nitro Express
    505 Gibbs
    460 Weatherby
    256 Newton
    30 Newton
    35 Newton
    30 MM practice round

    A bunch of older black powder pistol rounds. Probably left some out.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
    Mal Paso's Avatar
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    First is a 505 Gibbs next to a 12 ga. Second and last are 44 Mag fired in a 45 Colt (common). In the middle is a 308 fired in a 308 Norma Magnum next to a properly unloaded 308.

    Down range I've found tungsten cores for 50 cal and 50 mm practice grenades.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Range.jpg   Brass.jpg   44in45chamber.jpg  
    Mal

    Mal Paso means Bad Pass, just so you know.

  6. #6
    Boolit Grand Master Bazoo's Avatar
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    I had a federal brand factory 40 caliber casing that had a thick rim. It was about double thickness and had a larger bevel on the face. It had the extractor cut as normal, but further up the casing. It would have had a decreased case capacity. I contacted federal about it, and described it. They wanted it bad. I offered it to them, for the cost of a case of ammo, they declined.

    It caused a stoppage in the gun I was shooting. A smith and wesson 4006. I loaded it in a magazine and dropped the slide on it in my G22, and it chambered! Glad I didnt find it while shooting that gun.

    I had a russian made steel cased 223 that had an inverted primer.

    Lost them both when my house burnt down.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master

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    best defect is from when i was making rifle brass for a living. i only kept the one , but its a 30-06 casing with judging by weight 3 other cases stuffed inside. LOL bad things occasionally happen when you turn out 40,000 cases in a 12hr shift.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master

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    I once needed a box for 50 41 mag handloads. I wound up using a plastic box I had marked 45 Colt by placing a piece of masking tape over the 45 and marking the tape 41 mag. Big mistake. Took my son and his buddy to the range and the tape disappeared. After about half the box was shot my son's friend remarked "your 45 isn't very accurate". Didn't take me long to figure out the problem but the real surprise came at home later when I cleaned the 45 Blackhawk. The barrel was leaded do badly I could barely see any rifling. Surprisingly not a single piece of 41 mag brass split.

    After a long struggle with Hoppes and a brush. Somebody here advised me to use copper wool and Lead-Away patches and like magic my Blackhawk had a bright and shiny bore.

  9. #9
    Boolit Grand Master Bazoo's Avatar
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    I also have a few pieces of 38 special with large primer pockets. A couple of which will be sent to Lightman if I can ever get a package up for him.

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master

    Wayne Smith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GoodOlBoy View Post
    I've got a single 38 case (wish I had a loaded round because people don't believe me that it isn't just a cut case) that is about 1/4-3/8 inches long. It came from an uncle who had a 38 detective (don't remember the brand) that had the shortest cylinder on it I ever remember seeing on a pistol except maybe an old 22 short revolver, the rounds he got with the gun way back when were all that length brass with a bullet that was probably double the length of a "normal" 38 bullet sticking out of them. I want to say he got it when he was stationed in Vietnam or maybe the Philippines, but I can't remember for certain where he said he got it. He almost never shot it, but when I was a kid he used it to dispatch a rowdy racoon that entered a camp house uninvited and decided to run everybody else out. Hence how I got the single piece of brass as a kid. As far as I know that pistol is long long gone and so is the ammo for it. That uncle is very elderly now, and barely knows who he is, much less remembers that old pistol. If I ever find that piece of brass again, and have a working camera (which should be soon as parts get here) I'll try to remember to post a pic of it.

    As for boo boo rounds Once upon a squirrel hunt I had a 20 gauge shotgun shell that didn't go off, then had to be pried loose with a pocket knife out of my old single shot. When we got home I cut open the bulged case to find no powder, and shot on both sides of the fiber wad. IE somebody loaded shot twice but never had powder in it. It was an old factory load, a peters shell that was older than me if I remember correctly. Back then we didn't save stuff like that so the shot went in the lead bucket for fishing weight melt down and the shell went in the garbage.

    God Bless, and One Love

    GoodOlBoy
    Sounds like he may have had a 38 S&W with the Brit 200gr boolit? Or maybe a 38 Short Colt?
    Wayne the Shrink

    There is no 'right' that requires me to work for you or you to work for me!

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    32 auto fired in a 30 tokarev, 223 fired in a 7.62X39.

    what you get when you let a 10 year old load mags for you.

  12. #12
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    I've had this jar sitting on my workbench for years!
    Attachment 221387

    Some of what's in it........
    Attachment 221388Attachment 221389

    Sorry about the camera...what they are, left to right: Two 7.62mm NATO rounds fired in .30-06 M1 Garand. WW II vintage .30-06 dummy with steel case, holes in case, no flash hole, head stamp FA 4.
    Old commercial .30-06 that was corroded around base and burned through in several pin holes, head stamp Super Speed .30-06 G . .30-06 missing 2/3 of rim. .308 with rim that looks like a ratchet.
    Tired .30-30 Win. Very tired .30-30 Win. Pistol case stamped .38 Super +P which appears to have been fired in .40 S&W. Tired Colt .45. Nickel plated .38 Special reloaded once too often. Two of Her Majesty's British .303 Subjects that lost their heads. 5.56mm that must have jammed, and jammed hard, as the bullet looks like a flower petal. 9mm case blown out at base. Rem. .45 ACP shot case, fired. Odd .44-40 WCF, quite old, has hard rounded bullet crimped very close to top of case, suspect that it might actually be a shot cartridge.
    Last edited by Der Gebirgsjager; 05-31-2018 at 08:00 PM.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    I have a .35 Rem headstamp.the Savage head stamp.

    The font is identical to R-P brass so I am guessing it was really made by Remington.
    EDG

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    I have a 12 gauge cartridge that was factory loaded to be a slug ("punkin' ball) round. The projectile is a hollow base design. By some mystery the projectile was inserted into the shell upside down, making it a massive 12 gauge hollow point round. It is really impressive to hold and stare at the front of that round.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check