case forming, the stupid way

[dogmower]

I was scrounging brass up at the range a few years ago, and I came across 20 interesting cases. They had the typical Weatherby double radius shoulder, but a REALLY short neck. I looked at the headstamp and it was "R-P 300 Win Mag".
Yup, someone had fired a whole box of 300 win mags in a 300 weatherby chamber. I didn't see any blood, hair, teeth or fingers lying around, so I assume nobody got hurt.

[Winger Ed.]

Sounds like a extreme example of fire forming.

If the bolt faces are the same, the bullet/bore jives up, OAL was OK or on the short side for the chamber,
and the cases didn't split, ya wouldn't think it would have been dangerous to do that.

If it was a single box of once fired, it might have been a case where someone just bought-
or was sold the wrong ammo for their deer rifle and didn't realize the .300Wby was actually different.

I don't know how common they were, but I've seen one old Weatherby rifle bought new in the early 60's
that was chambered in, and the barrel was stamped .300WinMag from the factory.

I wonder how accurate it was.

[Saltner]

I, on the other hand, saw a person shoot 7RM cartridges from the bench into a 300WM weapon , after a few shots he turns to me and says "I have the gun that doesn't shoot well, I can't hit the target, maybe it's the cartridge's fault, they make a strange bang, they seem weak to me.

[Lloyd Smale]

Sounds like a extreme example of fire forming.

If the bolt faces are the same, the bullet/bore jives up, OAL was OK or on the short side for the chamber,
and the cases didn't split, ya wouldn't think it would have been dangerous to do that.

If it was a single box of once fired, it might have been a case where someone just bought-
or was sold the wrong ammo for their deer rifle and didn't realize the .300Wby was actually different.

I don't know how common they were, but I've seen one old Weatherby rifle bought new in the early 60's
that was chambered in, and the barrel was stamped .300WinMag from the factory.

I wonder how accurate it was.

weatherby still sells weatherby rifles in 300 win mag and 7 win mag. Matter of fact the only two weatherby rounds chambered in a vanguard are the 257 and 300 wby last i looked.

[DHDeal]

I've seen a few of the same pieces of brass some years back. It was one of my employees sighting in some new ammo. I knew what he had done immediately. He had a newer Weatherby Vanguard in 300 Weatherby and had fired 3 or so 300 WM in it. It didn't shoot well he said.

[RustyReel]

I purchased a used Vanguard in 300 Wby locally. Guy said he had a partial box of ammo with it. He handed me a box of 300 Win Mag with a few rounds missing. When I mentioned it to the guy he said that is what the man at the gun store told him he needed. I'm simply amazed at the number of supposed gun store guys who don't know squat about guns! Anyway, rifle was fine but I didn't fire any Win Mag in it.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

300 Weatherby and 300 Win Mag both headspace on the cartridge belt by design, based on the 300 H&H. Both 30 cal so not much to cause a problem, case is shorter, so accuracy may not be optimal but not really dangerous, just not a 'best practice', brass simply fireforms to chamber. Shooting short cases in longer chambers is really common practice, 22 Short vs LR, 38 Spcl/357, 44 Russian/44 Spcl/44Mag.

[blackthorn]

In the mid 1960's I bought a 300 Weatherby Magnum. Even then the cartridges were a dollar each. I got one box with the rifle. 300 H&H ammunition fire-forms very nicely to 300 Weatherby, and it is accurate enough to be used for a good Deer load. I got several boxes of 300 H&H and a reloading set-up. I am still using some of those fire-formed cases. They do take a grain or two less powder and I am phasing them out so they will not pass on to my son.

[1Hawkeye]

Someone at the range I shoot at has done the same thing on 2 separate occasions. The first visit he left a whole box of cases the second trip about 2 weeks later he left about a dozen. I'm about 20 miles from a cabela's so we figured one of the bozos up there sold a newbe the rifle and either the wrong ammo or told him you can shoot anything thats a 300 mag in it.

[country gent]

Ive found 308s with no necks on them several time on our range over the years, apparently fired in a 30 06 rifle. We suspect possibly an insert pulled out of a garand chamber. Also have found rebated rim 40 S&W from being fired in a 45 acp chamber. The one thing that saves them is when the case is blown out and the bullet has a big jump or under size pressures drop considerably. There are a lot that believe anything that fits can be used. There was a video on this site a few weeks ago of a guy firing 50 bmg in a 12 gauge shotgun.
Ive had several at the club tell me I can shoot 45-70 in my 45-90 that ists the same as 38 SPL in 357 Mag. .300 difference in case length.

[Winger Ed.]

Ive had several at the club tell me I can shoot 45-70 in my 45-90 that ists the same as 38 SPL in 357 Mag. .300 difference in case length.

Awhile back somebody was selling basic, overly long, rimmed straight wall cases in .45 that they'd come across some place.
You needed to trim them to which ever length ya needed from .45-90 on down to .45-70 or whatever.

I'd heard of the same thing with .50-120 cases that had to be cut down if ya wanted them for a .50-90.

Just glancing at the dimensions of them in the Lyman book-- it looked like it was OK to do.
The chambers for the old BP .45 and .50 cal. rifles were done like a .22LR chamber being able to shoot .22shorts,
but not the other way around.

[Lloyd Smale]

In the mid 1960's I bought a 300 Weatherby Magnum. Even then the cartridges were a dollar each. I got one box with the rifle. 300 H&H ammunition fire-forms very nicely to 300 Weatherby, and it is accurate enough to be used for a good Deer load. I got several boxes of 300 H&H and a reloading set-up. I am still using some of those fire-formed cases. They do take a grain or two less powder and I am phasing them out so they will not pass on to my son.

I have a 300 H&H and a weatherby. One day for grins i shot a 5 shot group with my go to H&H load in my weatherby 700 and it shot just under 2 inch so in a pinch its very doable.

[DonHowe]

In a moment of idiotic inattention I once fired a 7x57 round in a .338-06 chamber. My first clue was a funny report. The case fireformed nicely, albeit with a couple of splits in the shoulder area.

[ShooterAZ]

I have a friend who somehow loaded and fired a full 30-06 Garand enblock clip with 308 Winchester rounds. They all fired and ejected, and the spent cases looked like a 45-70 rounds (straight walled). I don't remember if he hit the target or not, this was 35 years ago.

[brstevns]

300 Weatherby and 300 Win Mag both headspace on the cartridge belt by design, based on the 300 H&H. Both 30 cal so not much to cause a problem, case is shorter, so accuracy may not be optimal but not really dangerous, just not a 'best practice', brass simply fireforms to chamber. Shooting short cases in longer chambers is really common practice, 22 Short vs LR, 38 Spcl/357, 44 Russian/44 Spcl/44Mag.

Like he says

[Earl Brasse]

While not .300 Win mag in horsepower, I did get a box of .25-35 Winchester that had 3/4 of the box shot in a .30-30 Winchester.
Only one split, some others had dents from powder grains & generally ugly. Some dim bulbs out there.

[17nut]

Guess?

22-250 fired in a 6,5x55 rifle and the dufus was a shooting instructor from the Danish Home Guard. And he did it 5 times and thought it strange with the mild recoil and odd report.
Just goes to show that you cant fix stupid!

[Harter66]

My best pick up to date wasn't the 7RM with the distinct Weatherby shoulder but a steel 223 formed to 6.8 .

Another that is too frequent is 300 BO in 223 chambers . Fortunately I haven't present for one of these .

[trooperdan]

My best pick up to date wasn't the 7RM with the distinct Weatherby shoulder but a steel 223 formed to 6.8 .

Another that is too frequent is 300 BO in 223 chambers . Fortunately I haven't present for one of these .

That usually results in a RUD, Rapid Unplanned Disassembly

[fixit]

I will confess to my own moment of stupidity..... when arriving at the range with my son one day, I set up to shoot my two 44 magnum single actions. Everything went fine, except accuracy wasn't what I was used to. When I started unloading the empties, they didn't want to come out and some were split. That was the day I learned that the 41 mag
Has nearly the same rim diameter as the 44, and on later research, the 45 Colt. I've been much more conscious of headstamps ever since. It's amazing what you can learn by accident!