THe old tube magazine debate

[DeanWinchester]

Ohh god, not this again! LOL
:bigsmyl2:


Okay, pointy jacketed bullets are a no no, I believe that because I have tried it and it is easy to set of a primer with one. I don't beleive a soft lead boolit will do it because I have beat a cast boolit flat trying to set off a primer and it wont do it. I DO NOT wanna debate that though.

I do wanna know why a box of factory Remington Corelokt (150g) 35 remington ammo I have has a very sharp pointed bullet loaded in them. They have a dead soft lead tip that would be difficult to set off a primer but HEY anything is possible. SO, if this is such a no no, why does Remington load them?
Its not like theres a plethora of 35 remington rifles out there that are NOT a lever gun.

[fecmech]

:popcorn:

[nekshot]

Maybe its not that important with soft lead? I do know 30-30's really shine taking 165 gr pointy bullets and cut the nose off and if inclined drill a little out of jacket for hollow point and if also inclined put a dab of silicon in there to make your own gummy tips. All mine come out weighing 140gr and at 80 yards make a neat mushoom and shoot very accurate. This is how I solve the tube issue for me.

[alleyoop]

IMO only the stories of mag tube detonations were from a time in the past when primers were softer. I have tried before to find a current example of this happening as in the last 25 years and have failed to find any, I will not believe that nobody is breaking the rules and not using pointed bullets.

[ReloaderFred]

I was there when one occurred at the Oregon State SASS match this past June in a Uberti Model 73. Fortunately, it was a light .38 Special load and no damage was sustained, but it did happen. It was the last round in the magazine and the magazine spring apparently cushioned the bullet enough.

I know the shooter and helped her set up her loads sometime back, and she's a champion class shooter.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Treetop]

I was there when one occurred at the Oregon State SASS match this past June in a Uberti Model 73. Fortunately, it was a light .38 Special load and no damage was sustained, but it did happen. It was the last round in the magazine and the magazine spring apparently cushioned the bullet enough.

I know the shooter and helped her set up her loads sometime back, and she's a champion class shooter.

Hope this helps.

Fred

Fred, can you go into more detail re: the accident? What boolit was she shooting and how could a round fire in the magazine without sustaining any damage? I'm glad that she wasn't injured! Thanks, Tt.

[DeanWinchester]

Yeah, I wanna know what boolit or bullet she was using and what primer, if you please.


I've argued what I believe on this subject in the past but what I believe is possible and what I practice might differ slightly.
I have a 200g round nose gas check lyman mold that is a nice full radius and an rcbs plain base round nose 158g that I'd like to use for my 35 Remington along with all the flat points I have.
What I firmly believe is possible and what I'm leery of dont seem to jive LOL!!!

[ReloaderFred]

She was shooting .38 caliber 125 gr. FP bullets from the Magma mold of that nomenclature. The primers were Federal, and the powder charge was 3.2 gr. of Titegroup, which is listed as 856 fps from a handgun.

As I pointed out, it was her last round in the magazine, so the entire length of the magazine was available to absorb the energy, and the magazine spring and follower were against the bullet. This acted as a cushion, from what we figured. With the case not being in a tight chamber, there wouldn't be near the pressure as when it's fired in the barrel. The case would/did expand, so it didn't hold the bullet tightly when it went off. It's similar to a firecracker going off in the open, versus going off in something resembling a cartridge chamber.

She believed she may have had a high primer, as she was having some trouble with her Dillon 550 not seating primers completely. She cleaned the press out when she got back home and found debris in it that was probably causing the primer seating problem.

I have a .357 Magnum case that fell off a shelf in my shop at about shoulder height that went off when it hit primer first on something on the floor. There is a crescent shape on the primer, which is still in the case. The case ruptured, but the bullet is still seated in the neck.

There was also an article in one of the gun magazines several months ago by Clint Smith, Thunder Ranch Oregon, in which he related that he had been chamber checking .45 acp rounds and then dropping them into a bucket at his side. One of the rounds went off, so he cautioned against that practice. I assumed from the article that he was sitting at his bench doing this, and the bucket was on the floor, so the rounds only fell about 3' at most.

Primers are designed to go off with relatively light hits, taking into consideration all manner of spring tensions on hammers and firing pins. I prefer to err on the side of caution and not load pointed bullets into any of my leveraction rifles, other than my .22's, which of course are rimfires. I've seen pictures of .30-30's that have had a chain fire in the magazine, which totally destroyed the rifle and injured the shooter. It was many years ago, but the images have stayed with me, and I don't intend to be the subject of any photos like that myself.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[DeanWinchester]

Fred, I feel something else is going on there.
ANY tube magazine is safe to use pointy bullets if you only have one in there. Lol
If it was her last shot in the tube, what hit the primer?

[MT Gianni]

IMO only the stories of mag tube detonations were from a time in the past when primers were softer. I have tried before to find a current example of this happening as in the last 25 years and have failed to find any, I will not believe that nobody is breaking the rules and not using pointed bullets.
I was in Doug Wells shop when he moved to Huson, MT getting my 35 W bbl installed. 1999-2003? I should keep better records. He had a rossi 92 in that had blown in the bbl with 38 cast loads. Two rounds fused together and the explosion burst the tube just above the shooters left hand. No injuries reported other than cuts, scratches and bruises. His theory was that the loads had tipped and the edge off the 38 caught against the primer due to the magazine spring being weakened.
Doug was a genius with Savage 99's and should be retired by now but gunsmiths tend to go on. He had the unfortunate experience of shooting Wayne Nance, a Missoula serial killer and rapist when he chose the wrong house for a home invasion.

[ReloaderFred]

DeanWinchester,

I have no idea what hit the primer, other than the carrier. The only way to know for sure what caused it would be to be inside the magazine tube when it happened and see for yourself. :) All I know is it happened, and she was lucky it was the last round. If all ten rounds had gone off when the magazine was full, it would have been a different ending.........

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Slow Elk 45/70]

I know your reluctance to put a pointy boolit in a magazine rifle....Hornady uses their pointy J-bullets in all of the usually used tubelar type bullets. With the

[helice]

If there is anything that seems universally accepted here on this forum, it is that the boolit with the big meplat is the better boolit. I have never desired to use a pointed boolit or bullet in a tube magazine. The WFN or LFN designs have so many advantages that the use of any other seems either unnecessary or unwise. What am I missing here?

[KCSO]

35 Remington like Model 8 they were made for... Lots of different 35 Remingtons still out there M14's , bolt guns and such. It's just to bad that there aren't more different guns but leverguns are not the only venue.

[starmac]

I may be over thinking this, but if a flat point works, why would I want to use anything else, unless it was some sort of emergency???

I do know of guys that would just put one in the chamber and one in the tube, to use pointed bullets, but I have never had the need.