40-82 hiker
06-30-2013, 12:06 AM
I am posting this in the hope it is a reminder to all how a cartridge mix up can so easily happen. This one with good results! Next time?
Never had an "accident", until the other day (I'm 60). There is a lesson here, so I am printing my Mea Culpa publicly.
I was at the range the other day shooting my .45-70 1884 Trapdoor. Some of my cartridges fell out of the box I had them loosely boxed in, coming to rest in a dishpan full of other shooting stuff (staple gun, shooting glasses, etc.), so I picked up the cartridges and put them back in the box. I fired one shot, okay. I fired the second shot and it sounded much like a firecracker going off in a pipe, with no felt recoil. What the heck? I ejected the casing, and I could not believe what I was looking at. The casing had a small split just behind a "new" shoulder, with the front of the casing being much smaller in diameter than it should have been. It took just a couple of seconds to see the problem, and it really had me mad at myself. I must have had a loose .40-82 that was apparently floating around in the bottom of the pan (no others were present - it must have been a "stray"), and I picked it up with the .45-70s I had retrieved. Without noticing it I had chambered and fired it! The way too long neck was fire formed in the throat and bore, and the bullet had gone downrange and hit the dirt somewhere, but I did not see where it hit. I checked the bore and chamber thoroughly and there were no problems. The remaining shots for the afternoon were as accurate as ever, and it appears the only damage done was to my ego. Argh! The boolit being much smaller than the bore it developed very little pressure. I was using AA5744 in both cartridges, though this has no bearing on this matter.
For those not familiar with these cartridges, they both have the same dimensions up to the point of caliber and length, so the odd cartridge headspaced properly on the rim, with the boolit small enough to easily pass into the throat and bore.
What makes this accident even more unforgivable is that I was not even shooting my .40-82 '86 Win. that day!
So: 1) I'll get a good ammo box for my .45-70s, as I have for my .40-82s. No more loose boolits in a box.
2) Pay attention to each round as I chamber it.
Oh heck, the rest is obvious...
I have heard and read of such, but never thought I would fall for this mistake. I know the rule one gun, one type of boolits on the line at a time, and really was not guilty of such. But, this still happened!
Just food for thought at my expense.
Bob
Never had an "accident", until the other day (I'm 60). There is a lesson here, so I am printing my Mea Culpa publicly.
I was at the range the other day shooting my .45-70 1884 Trapdoor. Some of my cartridges fell out of the box I had them loosely boxed in, coming to rest in a dishpan full of other shooting stuff (staple gun, shooting glasses, etc.), so I picked up the cartridges and put them back in the box. I fired one shot, okay. I fired the second shot and it sounded much like a firecracker going off in a pipe, with no felt recoil. What the heck? I ejected the casing, and I could not believe what I was looking at. The casing had a small split just behind a "new" shoulder, with the front of the casing being much smaller in diameter than it should have been. It took just a couple of seconds to see the problem, and it really had me mad at myself. I must have had a loose .40-82 that was apparently floating around in the bottom of the pan (no others were present - it must have been a "stray"), and I picked it up with the .45-70s I had retrieved. Without noticing it I had chambered and fired it! The way too long neck was fire formed in the throat and bore, and the bullet had gone downrange and hit the dirt somewhere, but I did not see where it hit. I checked the bore and chamber thoroughly and there were no problems. The remaining shots for the afternoon were as accurate as ever, and it appears the only damage done was to my ego. Argh! The boolit being much smaller than the bore it developed very little pressure. I was using AA5744 in both cartridges, though this has no bearing on this matter.
For those not familiar with these cartridges, they both have the same dimensions up to the point of caliber and length, so the odd cartridge headspaced properly on the rim, with the boolit small enough to easily pass into the throat and bore.
What makes this accident even more unforgivable is that I was not even shooting my .40-82 '86 Win. that day!
So: 1) I'll get a good ammo box for my .45-70s, as I have for my .40-82s. No more loose boolits in a box.
2) Pay attention to each round as I chamber it.
Oh heck, the rest is obvious...
I have heard and read of such, but never thought I would fall for this mistake. I know the rule one gun, one type of boolits on the line at a time, and really was not guilty of such. But, this still happened!
Just food for thought at my expense.
Bob