BruceB
02-21-2007, 09:59 PM
Many longer-term members are familiar with this story, but I had some requests down on the Handguns Forum to relate the whole story, so here it is again....
Some years back, when we lived in the Northwest Territories, we were hunting moose and Wood Bison south of Great Slave Lake. Our camp had been flown in by helicopter, and we were a long way from any sort of road or other civilization.
I was not on the immediate scene when these events went down, being hunting some distance away.
My wife was hunting with her Browning Safari-Grade Mauser in 7mm Remington Magnum using handloaded 175-grain Bitterroots...a very fine game bullet indeed. Hunting in a willow/spruce swamp with the ground flooded about 6" deep, she jumped a nice bull moose at forty or fifty yards. She fired one round, which was a fatal hit through the chest. Not wanting him to get out of sight, she cycled the bolt and fired another round.
The rifle blew up.
The sides of the mag came out through the stock. The extractor and bolt stop disappeared. The floorplate, follower and mag spring, and the remaining rounds were gone. The shroud at the BACK of the bolt was distorted and the locating pin was driven back into the shroud and the hole SWAGED SHUT in front of it...in fine steel, not aluminum.
The entire casehead had melted, and brass was plated throughout the inside of the bolt and action, and the underside of the scope and forward face of the rear mount were also plated. The boltface counterbore was greatly expanded, and the cartridge headstamp was clearly readable on the bolt face.
Once I got the remains to a heavy bench vise at home, it took a four-foot pipe to lever the bolt open. The third "safety" lug was BEARING HEAVILY in its cut in the receiver floor. Normally this lug makes no contact. On pulling the barrel, the main lugs were found to have set back almost 1/8" into the receiver ring.
The bullet was STILL IN THE BARREL, barely four inches from the chamber. Also, the fired case exhibited a huge shoulder collapse, almost 1/2 the length of the case. These facts indicate that a hangfire occurred for some reason. The load had been thoroughly tested, and over 100 rounds had been fired in pre-hunt practice.
My wife's left hand, wrapped around the front of the mag area, had a sprained wrist, a VERY nasty near-artery cut in the same area, and a couple broken fingers. Her face was full of brass and steel fragments, although her specs had stopped a lot of fragments and were essentially ruined...but they saved her eyes. Fragments were working their way out of her face for many years afterward.
So.... in Karen's words, "I looked at my rifle, and saw it was *******. So, I dropped it in the swamp and pulled the Ruger." Yep, she had the Super Blackhawk along. I'd ragged her a bit about it, asking why she needed it when she had a good rifle. "I want it!", she said. (I don't ask, any more.)
The Ruger carried five max-loaded 429244, in softened linotype alloy. Two rounds were solid neck hits. She actually fired three, but doesn't know where the third one went. She stopped shooting at three rounds, because she was worried about trying to reload the single-action with only one good hand. About that time, the moose fell over dead, 65 yards from where she fired.
The Mauser performed perfectly, just as designed, and contained this disaster in wonderful fashion. I'd say my wife performed equally well.
On the SAME HUNT, just a day or two earlier, the two of us faced a bison stampede which virtually rolled right over us, and she stood with that Browning just as steady as a rock in my peripheral vision. I'd told her that if any animal ran directly at us, we should both shoot it and hope to shelter behind its body. I had the .404, so it was a reasonable expectation (and also the ONLY recourse we could expect in the circumstances). About 200 bison ran out of the bush directly at us, spooked by our hunting partners on the other side of the 1/4-mile of bushland. We could actually SEE them recognize us as an obstacle, and the herd divided and ran by within 5 yards on both sides of us....close enough to feel their body heat.
My wife never flinched or wavered one iota.
She'll "do to ride the river with".
P.S. Forgot to mention that two of the three .44s went completely through the moose's neck, both fatal hits in big vessels, along with the one 7mm bullet in the chest.
Some years back, when we lived in the Northwest Territories, we were hunting moose and Wood Bison south of Great Slave Lake. Our camp had been flown in by helicopter, and we were a long way from any sort of road or other civilization.
I was not on the immediate scene when these events went down, being hunting some distance away.
My wife was hunting with her Browning Safari-Grade Mauser in 7mm Remington Magnum using handloaded 175-grain Bitterroots...a very fine game bullet indeed. Hunting in a willow/spruce swamp with the ground flooded about 6" deep, she jumped a nice bull moose at forty or fifty yards. She fired one round, which was a fatal hit through the chest. Not wanting him to get out of sight, she cycled the bolt and fired another round.
The rifle blew up.
The sides of the mag came out through the stock. The extractor and bolt stop disappeared. The floorplate, follower and mag spring, and the remaining rounds were gone. The shroud at the BACK of the bolt was distorted and the locating pin was driven back into the shroud and the hole SWAGED SHUT in front of it...in fine steel, not aluminum.
The entire casehead had melted, and brass was plated throughout the inside of the bolt and action, and the underside of the scope and forward face of the rear mount were also plated. The boltface counterbore was greatly expanded, and the cartridge headstamp was clearly readable on the bolt face.
Once I got the remains to a heavy bench vise at home, it took a four-foot pipe to lever the bolt open. The third "safety" lug was BEARING HEAVILY in its cut in the receiver floor. Normally this lug makes no contact. On pulling the barrel, the main lugs were found to have set back almost 1/8" into the receiver ring.
The bullet was STILL IN THE BARREL, barely four inches from the chamber. Also, the fired case exhibited a huge shoulder collapse, almost 1/2 the length of the case. These facts indicate that a hangfire occurred for some reason. The load had been thoroughly tested, and over 100 rounds had been fired in pre-hunt practice.
My wife's left hand, wrapped around the front of the mag area, had a sprained wrist, a VERY nasty near-artery cut in the same area, and a couple broken fingers. Her face was full of brass and steel fragments, although her specs had stopped a lot of fragments and were essentially ruined...but they saved her eyes. Fragments were working their way out of her face for many years afterward.
So.... in Karen's words, "I looked at my rifle, and saw it was *******. So, I dropped it in the swamp and pulled the Ruger." Yep, she had the Super Blackhawk along. I'd ragged her a bit about it, asking why she needed it when she had a good rifle. "I want it!", she said. (I don't ask, any more.)
The Ruger carried five max-loaded 429244, in softened linotype alloy. Two rounds were solid neck hits. She actually fired three, but doesn't know where the third one went. She stopped shooting at three rounds, because she was worried about trying to reload the single-action with only one good hand. About that time, the moose fell over dead, 65 yards from where she fired.
The Mauser performed perfectly, just as designed, and contained this disaster in wonderful fashion. I'd say my wife performed equally well.
On the SAME HUNT, just a day or two earlier, the two of us faced a bison stampede which virtually rolled right over us, and she stood with that Browning just as steady as a rock in my peripheral vision. I'd told her that if any animal ran directly at us, we should both shoot it and hope to shelter behind its body. I had the .404, so it was a reasonable expectation (and also the ONLY recourse we could expect in the circumstances). About 200 bison ran out of the bush directly at us, spooked by our hunting partners on the other side of the 1/4-mile of bushland. We could actually SEE them recognize us as an obstacle, and the herd divided and ran by within 5 yards on both sides of us....close enough to feel their body heat.
My wife never flinched or wavered one iota.
She'll "do to ride the river with".
P.S. Forgot to mention that two of the three .44s went completely through the moose's neck, both fatal hits in big vessels, along with the one 7mm bullet in the chest.