PDA

View Full Version : .38 special in .30 Herrett...



kir_kenix
01-17-2013, 05:27 PM
Had a really fun shooting day today. Went out to a muddy field (muddier truck) and blasted off around 2 thousand rounds from various rifles and pistols. Found most of the brass, but lost a few 9mm and .45 ACP. Did have one little hickup as you can see below:

58692

Somehow, my father in law managed to drop a .38 special round (148 button nose wadcutter over a very light load of BE) into my 30 Herrett Contender. He took aim and pfft! The wadcutter made it the whole way down the barrel and even managed to hit our reactive target at 35 yards. I could tell from the sound that something was amiss, and it was confirmed when we opened the action. .38 spc is too small for the extractor to catch the rim, but the case was easily removed with a range rod.

Case split nicely for about 3/4ths of it length. The contender barrel looks fine, and put a few more rounds through her before hanging it up. No damage or inaccuracy that I can percieve, but it was a wakeup call for everyone there. It was my fault for having more than one one type of ammo on the tailgate at once. Luckily that no one was hurt and it didn't ruin our day or gear.

Good thing it was a relatively soft cast boolit, a jacketed round may have been more problematic. Just thought I would share, as a friendly reminder that mistakes can happen to anyone at anytime. Best to mitigate risks whenever possible then risk a KB!

badgeredd
01-17-2013, 09:08 PM
Unfortunately, some folks aren't as savvy about guns and ammo as they should be. Fortunately, it turned out to be a learning experience for every one it appears. I'd imagine a full power +P jacketed round could have been much worse. Thanks for the reminder...we all should heed it.

Edd

stubshaft
01-17-2013, 10:08 PM
A few months ago we had someone load a 308 in a 270. The barrel ended up 85yds downrange! If the person shooting is not too experienced in shooting try to keep only ONE caliber on the bench at a time.

kir_kenix
01-18-2013, 12:37 AM
Yeah, a +p+ jacketed round may have been scary. I guess what amazes me most at this point is that the .38 spc projectile actually hit and rolled the reactive target at 35 ish yards. Guess there was enough ooomph in just a few grains of BE to swage a .359 boolit that has alot of bearing surface (Wadcutter) down a 10 inch 30 caliber barrel and all the way to the target and actually move it. Seems like it should have run out of energy before it even made it out of the barrel.