Ka-Boom

[siamese4570]

I was at the range on Tuesday and witnessed a ka-boom. Just two of us on the 100 yd range. The other guy was testing loads in hos 03A3. All of the sudden I heard a boom instead of a bang. I looked down at the other guy and he was wondering around and his rifle appeared to be broken in half. I immediately went over to help. He had small shrapnel cuts on his face and one hand but other than that no serious injuries. It was the first shot out of a new group of reloads. The action was shattered. The barrel was intact and I found the bolt about 10 feet behind and to the right of the bench. Both lugs were intact. He was going home to pull and weigh the charges on the remaining loads. Pretty scary stuff. As bad as it was, it could have been a lot worse. At least he walked away. Let's all be careful out there!
Siamese4570

[Kestrel4k]

He needs to actually identify the powder he used instead of merely weighing the loads IMO.

[TD1886]

More like he should win the award for "I Should Quit Reloading" .

[Txcowboy52]

Wow , that is scary stuff! Would be interesting to know what the problem was .

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Very interesting-- another Springfield. Since it is/was an 03-A3 there's no way it could have been a "low number."

DG

[WILCO]

He needs to actually identify the powder he used instead of merely weighing the loads IMO.

Exactly.

Reloading ammunition is serious business.
It's fun but can get you if you are complacent.

[Hannibal]

I'm always worried I'll make a big mistake one day myself. So far, so good but I check things multiple times and still screw up occasionally. I'd love to be able to say I've never done anything like forgotten to seat new primers before charging cases but I'd be lying if I did.

Gotta be careful and never loose respect for what responsibilities you are accepting when reloading.

[TD1886]

Very interesting-- another Springfield. Since it is/was an 03-A3 there's no way it could have been a "low number."

DG

Yeah on it couldn't have been a low number one. Definitey sounds like an overload and would be interesting if the OP finds out exactly what it was, powder type, grains, and bullet weight so we can punch it into Quickload and find out if it was a blue pill or not.

[TD1886]

I'm always worried I'll make a big mistake one day myself. So far, so good but I check things multiple times and still screw up occasionally. I'd love to be able to say I've never done anything like forgotten to seat new primers before charging cases but I'd be lying if I did.

Gotta be careful and never loose respect for what responsibilities you are accepting when reloading.

That's the best way to do it, double or triple check yourself. I ALWAY check my powder measure weights in my scale or scales and I'll do it often while reloading to make extra sure it didn't change. The one advice about looking at your powder levels in the cartridge as they sit in your loading tray before putting bullets in them is one of the best old advices. As they say better safe then sorry.

[dverna]

Agree with those who think the wrong powder was used. I doubt having two or three grains more powder is not going to blow up a gun like that.

[Hannibal]

Agree with those who think the wrong powder was used. I doubt having two or three grains more powder is not going to blow up a gun like that.

Nevermind. Didn't read the post carefully enough and got confused by the OPs username.

[Kestrel4k]

We'll never know the whole story; "Success has many fathers; failure is an orphan."

[georgerkahn]

I was at the range on Tuesday and witnessed a ka-boom. Just two of us on the 100 yd range. The other guy was testing loads in hos 03A3. All of the sudden I heard a boom instead of a bang. I looked down at the other guy and he was wondering around and his rifle appeared to be broken in half. I immediately went over to help. He had small shrapnel cuts on his face and one hand but other than that no serious injuries. It was the first shot out of a new group of reloads. The action was shattered. The barrel was intact and I found the bolt about 10 feet behind and to the right of the bench. Both lugs were intact. He was going home to pull and weigh the charges on the remaining loads. Pretty scary stuff. As bad as it was, it could have been a lot worse. At least he walked away. Let's all be careful out there!
Siamese4570

I concur happiness that no injuries to note! :) As a point of information, I was privy to three blow-ups -- one Garand and two Springfields -- and the common denominator of all three was pistol powder was used in light loads. I was present/on range for one of the three -- where quite long cast bullets were attempted to be fired in a (beautiful before it blew) Rock Island 1903 -- with the powder employed being Bullseye. Interesting and scary both, the shooter was/is about my age -- perhaps in mid-50s at the time -- who had hand loaded thousands of rounds before, albeit mostly .45acp pistol. Albeit he wears prescription eyeglasses, he still was one lucky camper as a piece of steel got embedded 1/4" above the top of his nose -- dead center between both eyes -- for which we took him to hospital for removal. (He still has the divot/scar).
I reckon it's important to note that H.W. was NOT shooting "normal" rifle (military) loads.
geo

[Rapier]

If you have R-7 and AA-7 on your shelf, be very careful that you do not grab one VS the other. The notorious #7 mixup-up is a real possibility if you get in a hurry and they are near each other.
That I know of, there have been four explosions with cast, and an established R-7 load substituted with AA-7. Usually both were on the powder shelf together. That error will get you.

[firefly1957]

I am also of the belief it would be the wrong powder those are very strong actions .
I forget how high of pressures Hatcher had run in them without results like that . Hearing the bolt was blown out and still had the lugs is bothersome that sounds like the action shatters to me. I have heard of really soft brass from someone annealing the entire case doing things like that did you see where the case head ended up , was there a lot of brass splatter?

[725]

It's no fun being on the line when a ka-boom goes off. I was two stations down from just this very thing. I got splinters (no injury), but others had serious wounds and missing teeth. Glad the injuries were more on the minor side.

[popper]

I had one about a month ago, ar15 223. Wrong ammo. Not my rifle and not my mmo and I didn't load it. Stuns you for a moment. Rifle is trash my SIL said. Went to the house to get some blood cleaned off, I'm thankfully OK.

[country gent]

Many things over a rifles life can lead up to a kaboom. May not have been a big over load but several things over the year that added up to it. Is it possible an out of battery discharge. Or an squib and bore obstruction

[35 Rem]

This why I talk out loud to myself when reaching up to my powder shelf to retrieve a can of powder when starting a loading session. I hold the can and read the powder manufacturer and name, then look down at the load data and read the Powder name, then repeat this a few times. It may seem over cautious but the consequences of being wrong justify it. Once I'm totally convinced that I have the proper powder, ONLY that 1 can of powder is allowed on the bench until I am done with it and then it goes back up on the powder shelf which is high enough that I have to really stretch to reach it.

[1Hawkeye]

I wonder if it was a real 03a3 or a national ordinance receiver parts gun? Finding the bolt with the lugs intact makes me wonder as I've heard the nationals were brittle.

[Hannibal]

I wonder if it was a real 03a3 or a national ordinance receiver parts gun? Finding the bolt with the lugs intact makes me wonder as I've heard the nationals were brittle.

Seriously doubt the bolt blew completely out due to anything apart from a significant overpressure event.

[Rich/WIS]

IIRC proof load was either 70 or 75K psi. The weak point in the 03, 03A3 and even the pre 64 M70 WIn was the coned breech that left some of the case head unsupported. A serious overload and a case head failure would vent a lot of gas under high pressure into the receiver and cause destruction. The bolt being found out of the rifle is puzzling, the rear receiver ring would have to fail as well to release the bolt from the rifle.

[firefly1957]

^^^^ My thought as well case failed for some reason I did not know of the coning of the breech .

I did not know this was a Siamese Mauser back when I intentionally blew it up it was a $18 yard sale find story was it came back from Egypt and WWI . Parts were missing and the .32 caliber bore was terrible . I sized a 7.62X 54 Russian case in the camber the Berdan Primed case was drilled to take a WW-209 shot shell primer , The case was filled with Bullseye and a .32 caliber 230 grain bullet seated . I used my fishing rod from 200 yards away to pull the trigger .
Bolt held just fine I believe the gun would have survived IF the case had held rather then blowing out around the primer.316845

[45workhorse]

I wonder if it was a real 03a3 or a national ordinance receiver parts gun? Finding the bolt with the lugs intact makes me wonder as I've heard the nationals were brittle.

Not trying to hijack the thread but, I shoot one of these.
As a teenager, I don't know how many surplus 30-06 rounds went through my gun, we would walk along the banks of the Ohio river, and have a good time. Would not try that today!
These days I just shoot cast boolits through it!

[john.k]

If the base of the case splits ,then any unsupported head design (1903,pre 98 Mauser,M17) will blow apart .........doesnt matter what they are made of .........this is the whole point of Remington 700 "three rings of steel" design ......the brass case is fully supported by steel.........one blow I saw the result of was caused by annealing the whole case ,softening the base .

[barnetmill]

I wonder if it was a real 03a3 or a national ordinance receiver parts gun? Finding the bolt with the lugs intact makes me wonder as I've heard the nationals were brittle.

I am also wondering how the bolt was more or less intact, and the receiver blow apart.

The action was shattered. The barrel was intact and I found the bolt about 10 feet behind and to the right of the bench. Both lugs were intact.
Your explanation that the receiver was not US military in origin and brittle sounds just like what happened with the original over heat treated burnt 1903 actions that failed. Check Hatcher's note book on it. True the loads may have been hot, but a receiver should not so fail.

[TD1886]

The other guy was testing loads in hos 03A3.

What does the OP mean with "hos"? Has it been established for sure that it was a 03A3 military or not?

As for the bolt there is NO way that it could leave the receiver without busting up the rear receiver ring. Don't forget the third safety lug on the O3's and 03A3. It will contact the rear receiver ring first.

As I'm sitting here thinking the bolt could come out of the receiver IF the bolt was open and the bolt release was in the position to remove the bolt, but that wouldn't be if the action was closed and KABOOM!

[Adam Helmer]

I was at the range on Tuesday and witnessed a ka-boom. Just two of us on the 100 yd range. The other guy was testing loads in hos 03A3. All of the sudden I heard a boom instead of a bang. I looked down at the other guy and he was wondering around and his rifle appeared to be broken in half. I immediately went over to help. He had small shrapnel cuts on his face and one hand but other than that no serious injuries. It was the first shot out of a new group of reloads. The action was shattered. The barrel was intact and I found the bolt about 10 feet behind and to the right of the bench. Both lugs were intact. He was going home to pull and weigh the charges on the remaining loads. Pretty scary stuff. As bad as it was, it could have been a lot worse. At least he walked away. Let's all be careful out there!
Siamese4570

siamese4570,

What is the REST of the story? You say you found the bolt about 10 feet away. With both LUGS still intact? any photos? How did the bolt leave the rifle?

Some things do not add up. What was the gun owner doing when this all occurred? What was his powder and boolit load? What was the charge in the unfired ammo? How many times were the cases reloaded? How did the shooter weigh/measure his powder charges?

Adam

[Hannibal]

If you put enough of the wrong powder in something I'd say about anything is possible during the ensuing catastrophic failure.

[TD1886]

If you put enough of the wrong powder in something I'd say about anything is possible during the ensuing catastrophic failure.

Yup that is certainly true. Me, I want to know how the bolt came out of the gun with it's lugs intact and no mention of the rear receiver ring. Oh yeah, I'm really glad the man didn't get a severe injury. I would make sure that the shrapnel wounds didn't still have little pieces os shrapnel in them.

[littlejack]

Typo, hos = his. Kind of like your os = is. Lol

[TD1886]

Typo, hos = his. Kind of like your os = is. Lol

Thanks, hey I'm old LOL LOL

[littlejack]

Lol, we all make'm.

[lightman]

Too bad that a nice rifle was destroyed but glad the shooter was not more seriously injured. Would be nice to know more about this.

[1Hawkeye]

Just had a thought about a possible way the bolt left the rifle intact. What about a hangfire Just as the handle is raised to the top of its swing. A magazine cut out isn't going to stop the bolt with that kinda pressure behind it.

[Adam Helmer]

Other possibilities are a slam fire on a high primer, or an open bolt on a hangfire. NO WAY BOTH lugs should have been intact, IMHO.

Adam

[45_Colt]

As for intact bolt lugs, from the original post (#1):

The action was shattered.

Likely due to the heat treat of that particular receiver. It varied in the '03s.

I too would like to see a picture, just for educational sake.

45_Colt

[Soundguy]

IIRC proof load was either 70 or 75K psi. The weak point in the 03, 03A3 and even the pre 64 M70 WIn was the coned breech that left some of the case head unsupported. A serious overload and a case head failure would vent a lot of gas under high pressure into the receiver and cause destruction. The bolt being found out of the rifle is puzzling, the rear receiver ring would have to fail as well to release the bolt from the rifle.

That makes me wonder if there is / was a problem with the action.

[kaiser]

I've been loading 5 decades plus and still have 5 finger on each hand; however, I've also made my share of mistakes along the way. Fortunately none have been life threatening. My worse mistake was reloading next to a friend who was using IMR4198, while I was using IMR4350 for my loads (different calibers). In those days both pound cans of powder looked the same; for they were the same color of purple, only the numbers on the cans differed. While I thought I was being careful (checking my weighed powder charge, et al), I must have inadvertently used his faster burning powder for mine. While my first shot with this (explosive) load did not "blow up" the rifle, it locked the action tighter than a "bank vault". Of course "Monday Quarterbacking" being 100% accurate, I learned a very valuable lesson that cost me a valuable (to me) rifle, but no valuable "flesh" lost. Since that time, long ago, only one type of powder would ever "grace" my loading bench at one time.
While powder "mix-ups" can and do occur, to me the most dangerous component overlooked in reloading is the primer. Those little "blasting caps" can cause more damage from misuse than just about any component employed IMO. No, you won't lock up an action or cause a load to go "boom", but you can get seriously burned or damaged from its "wicked pop" at an inopportune time. Protecting the eyes and using precautions when handling them can prevent most surprises. Loose primers are a hazard seldom noticed, and a hard component to identify among the hundreds of spent primers discarded during a reloading season.

[458mag]

Be VERY careful of accepting gifted powder that has been opened. You dont know for sure what is in that can. It always amazes me of the ignorance and sometimes stupidity of some reloaders. DONT ask how I know this.

[45workhorse]

Be VERY careful of accepting gifted powder that has been opened. You dont know for sure what is in that can. It always amazes me of the ignorance and sometimes stupidity of some reloaders. DONT ask how I know this.

You mean I can't fill the case up with any powder I have on hand, or pull boolits and dump the powder into another case?

Buy at least one manual and READ IT!

[WILCO]

Be VERY careful of accepting gifted powder that has been opened. You dont know for sure what is in that can. It always amazes me of the ignorance and sometimes stupidity of some reloaders. DONT ask how I know this.

Very valid point.

[WILCO]

You mean I can't fill the case up with any powder I have on hand, or pull boolits and dump the powder into another case?

Buy at least one manual and READ IT!

And don't use two manuals at once.

Years ago, I had a country bumpkin challenge me on the data for one cartridge between the two books.
I told him to pick one book and load religiously from it.
He was actually using one for start at and one for max grains.
Neither book was close to the other.
Same guy was using his hand to bang the bolt closed, on a jammed reloaded round.
Shoulders weren't back far enough.
Also uses max charge in a .270 to shoot deer in thick brush.

[country gent]

A few years ago a lot of parade riles were sold thru dcm, dewats. These had the barrels tack welded in place. Quite a few bought them ground of the tack cleaned them up and built back to shooters.
Also wondering if at some point a new barrel had been over torqued to time it up and cracked the receiver before the incident

[barnetmill]

A few years ago a lot of parade riles were sold thru dcm, dewats. These had the barrels tack welded in place. Quite a few bought them ground of the tack cleaned them up and built back to shooters.
Also wondering if at some point a new barrel had been over torqued to time it up and cracked the receiver before the incident

On P17 barrels that were often over torque and had extremely thin receiver rings there were such problems. But still if the bolt is closed there is the third locking on a 1903 type action and how did the bolt get blown free of the action.

[john.k]

Back when I was at school ,a friend loaded me some 30-06 ammo that nearly wrecked my rifle ..........his father was a long time reloader who had all the equiptment .......this wasnt common in the 60s due to cost..........the primer pockets came out oval by about 1/4" ,and the fired cases had belts like a magnum.............the last one I fired busted the extractor ,and I suspect if the cases had not been Norma ,the gun would have blown.

[upnorthwis]

Here's what I did with unknown powder. Had bought a box of various powders at an auction (40 lb. for $40). There were two Tupper Ware containers not marked with any identifying notes. Used it to fireform 8mm Lebel into .41 Swiss. Started low and worked my way up.

[barnetmill]

Here's what I did with unknown powder. Had bought a box of various powders at an auction (40 lb. for $40). There were two Tupper Ware containers not marked with any identifying notes. Used it to fireform 8mm Lebel into .41 Swiss. Started low and worked my way up.

You can also use use it for fertilizer. I have a couple of opened containers. If I were ever to used them it would have to be very dire circumstances and i would use a mauser rifle that I could afford to lose that was tied down and fired remotely. I purchased them during the obama scare. Right now I am about to buy some non-american made primers because of similar fear from the man that is now POTUS.

[458mag]

You mean I can't fill the case up with any powder I have on hand, or pull boolits and dump the powder into another case?

Buy at least one manual and READ IT!

I knew a fellow once who thought it would be a great idea to fill a 30-30 case full of bulls eye and seat a heavy bullet, not boolit, on top of it. He found out several things. Such a load will destroy a 336 marlin rifle. You can lose 2 years of work recovering from such a load. And your right big toe makes a usable oposing thumb for the 2 remaining fingers on your right hand. We ALL make mistakes. Sometimes to the point of counting our apendages, all 21 of them, but a prudent man learns and corrects. Inorance is bliss but stuppidity is inexcusable.

[Patrick L]

I was on a skeet squad when one of our shooters had the lower barrel of his Caesar Guerini fail. I was glad he (or anyone else on the squad) wasn't hurt, but it didn't really hit me until later; He was on station 7, so the entire rest of the squad was off to his left, and the left side of the lower barrel was what blew out! One or more of us could have easily caught some steel in a very bad way.

Clearly an obstructed bore, this guy had the gall to contact CG and demand a new set of barrels! He is a known "crap reloader," (any hulls he can pick up off the ground, powder/primers bought secondhand from estate sales, etc.) Up till that point it was always just duds and fart loads, but after that I won't shoot with him.

I am glad there were no serious injuries in your case too!

[kerplode]

Be VERY careful of accepting gifted powder that has been opened. You dont know for sure what is in that can. It always amazes me of the ignorance and sometimes stupidity of some reloaders. DONT ask how I know this.

I know, right! Reloaders are some of the cheapest people on the planet. "Hooray...I found an open half-full jug of mystery powder at a yard sale and it was only $5!"

I ain't about that life...My eyes and fingers are worth too much to me.

Anyway, I think the overarching moral of this thread is this: Reloading is serious and if you F-around long enough, you're gonna find out.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Over my may years of reloading the only mistakes I have made is failure to put powder in the case. The only problem occures if you fail to remove bullet from the barrel and believe me a primer can drive the bullet pretty far up the spout.

[barnetmill]

Over my may years of reloading the only mistakes I have made is failure to put powder in the case. The only problem occures if you fail to remove bullet from the barrel and believe me a primer can drive the bullet pretty far up the spout.

I early on made mistakes when using loads intended for commercial full loads in military 30-06 cases.

[georgerkahn]

Be VERY careful of accepting gifted powder that has been opened. You dont know for sure what is in that can. It always amazes me of the ignorance and sometimes stupidity of some reloaders. DONT ask how I know this.

I had pretty much forgotten (or repressed) a college student who asked for some of my wisdom (he didn't know me very well ;)) (~ 1976 or so) re what I do to keep MY Bullseye powder from bridging in powder measure to enable repeatable, accurate measuring. I said, "No problem, Harold -- are you certain it is Bullseye you are using?" He replied in the affirmative, as he had lucked out (his words) to get a "find" at a garage sale with dies, brass, and powder to enable HIS .38 S&W Special reloading at a most affordable cost He already had primers and a shell holder; a can of cast bullets; so he was all set. I asked him to NOT load any more, and to discretely bring some of the powder -- maybe a bit in a Zip-lock bag -- in, as I'd like to see it. I also brought in an old round Bullseye cardboard bottle which I had emptied -- but I refilled it about 1/2-way from a large bottle of Bullseye I had.
God only knows WHAT powder Harold had bought in the Bullseye container. His -- brought it all in -- was the metal can which resembles that now which, say, mineral spirits, turp, and similar come in. I thanked him profusely for bringing his can in, and in turn -- upon his promise to break down those he had already loaded with powder discard as part of the promise -- I gifted him the genuine Bullseye I had brought in. (The "whatever" powder was tossed on my lawn.)
In 50+ years of reloading, this is the ONLY time I ever transferred powder from its original container to another.
Obviously, the original purchaser of the "Brand ????" powder Harold bought did not think the same way.
YUPPER -- If it does not have a factory seal on it -- I will not buy the powder!!!
geo

[nicholst55]

Be VERY careful of accepting gifted powder that has been opened. You dont know for sure what is in that can. It always amazes me of the ignorance and sometimes stupidity of some reloaders. DONT ask how I know this.

I see a lot of open powder containers for sale on local forums. No way would I ever buy or use such powder!

[charlie b]

I know I've posted this before, but, seems like a good spot to repeat it.

Gunsmith had a customer (local LEO) come in with a Dan Wesson .357mag that he said didn't shoot straight anymore. He brought in some of the ammo he had reloaded for it. Gunsmith got some factory ammo and loaded a couple chambers. He noticed they were VERY loose in the chambers. A chambering reamer wobbled in there. A reload was disassembled and the case was FULL of some flake powder. A call was made to the owner and he verified that it was Bullseye. When asked how much he said he just filled it enough so the bullet would fit. The smith gave the gun back and told him his best bet would be to return it. He did! Wesson sent back a really nice note with a check for the value of the gun and politely said not to buy any of their products again.

Unless I know a person well, I never recommend someone get into reloading. Never know how they will do.

[243winxb]

This reminds me at age 78 to double check everything. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?media/albums/kaboom.24/

[458mag]

Over my may years of reloading the only mistakes I have made is failure to put powder in the case. The only problem occures if you fail to remove bullet from the barrel and believe me a primer can drive the bullet pretty far up the spout.

The progressive press can be problematic with missing powder charges. if it dont sound right when the hammer falls then it aint right.

[john.k]

Two friends were shooting crows ,which wisely kept over 400 yards distant .....one had a new 243,and his buddy took a pair of pliers ,and pulled a bullet,and showed how there was some empty space in the case .............so he pulled another bullet ,and topped up the other case .....so it would shoot further .........the gun locked up ,and the extractor broke when the bolt was hammered open........the gun was taken back to where it was bought ,cause it was "no good".

[pworley1]

Sometimes you only get to be wrong once.

[Scrounge]

I wonder if it was a real 03a3 or a national ordinance receiver parts gun? Finding the bolt with the lugs intact makes me wonder as I've heard the nationals were brittle.

I had never heard that, and would like to hear more discussion on the subject. Got a 1903A3 Frankenfield sitting here waiting for me to get my youngest back to employed independence with an NO action in it. Already wasn't planning on using full-house military rounds in it. Just wanted a nice CB shooter for MilSurp matches.

[WILCO]

I had never heard that, and would like to hear more discussion on the subject. Got a 1903A3 Frankenfield sitting here waiting for me to get my youngest back to employed independence with an NO action in it. Already wasn't planning on using full-house military rounds in it. Just wanted a nice CB shooter for MilSurp matches.

GarandsAndTokarevs · #4 · Jan 3, 2022

“Penney arranged for Rimer Casting to manufacture a test run of cast receivers for research into the feasibility of using them to manufacture National Ordnance 1903A3 rifles in 30-06 caliber. After receiving the test run, machining, and hardening, Penney submitted the receivers for ballistic strength testing to H.P. White Laboratory, Incorporated of Street, MD. White Laboratory determined these cast receivers were more than strong enough to function safely with 30-06 ammunition. [The Springfield 1903 Rifles by Colonel William S. Brophy].”

https://www.gunboards.com/threads/national-ordinance-1903a3-advice-needed.1209334/

[303Guy]

Over my may years of reloading the only mistakes I have made is failure to put powder in the case. The only problem occures if you fail to remove bullet from the barrel and believe me a primer can drive the bullet pretty far up the spout.
I've had this happen. In the heat of the moment, I extracted the case that didn't fire after waiting a full minute only to find it had fired. I thought I hadn't reloaded after the last shot so I chambered a fresh round but the bolt wouldn't close.

At that time, I was using a loading philosophy of using a load density that would prevent a bullet from being pushed back into the case far enough to chamber the round on top of a bullet stuck in the throat. So, that philosophy saved the day. The incident led to a whole rethink of loading and shooting practices. I've never had an unpowdered case again.

Another practice I used was for reduced powder charges. The charge would always be more than half the case volume so a double charge would overflow, or a double charge would still be within the usable range for that powder. Now I also shine a light into every sing case before seating a bullet/boolit. No exceptions. So far so good.

[barnetmill]

I've had this happen. In the heat of the moment, I extracted the case that didn't fire after waiting a full minute only to find it had fired. I thought I hadn't reloaded after the last shot so I chambered a fresh round but the bolt wouldn't close.

At that time, I was using a loading philosophy of using a load density that would prevent a bullet from being pushed back into the case far enough to chamber the round on top of a bullet stuck in the throat. So, that philosophy saved the day. The incident led to a whole rethink of loading and shooting practices. I've never had an unpowdered case again.

Another practice I used was for reduced powder charges. The charge would always be more than half the case volume so a double charge would overflow, or a double charge would still be within the usable range for that powder. Now I also shine a light into every sing case before seating a bullet/boolit. No exceptions. So far so good.

I shoot a lot of .22 rim fire for bullseye pistol shooting. If a shot does not sound right I stick cleaning down the barrel. This is not for safety but to prevent bulging a barrel from a bullet struck in the barrel. .22 rimfire blowback semiautos do not blow up or kaboom from obstructed barrels in my experience, but the bulge does ruin the barrel.

[303Guy]

I shoot a lot of .22 rim fire for bullseye pistol shooting. If a shot does not sound right I stick cleaning down the barrel. This is not for safety but to prevent bulging a barrel from a bullet struck in the barrel. .22 rimfire blowback semiautos do not blow up or kaboom from obstructed barrels in my experience, but the bulge does ruin the barrel.
That reminds of a story I heard. This person had a revolver that fired an anemic lead boolit. Every year, he would fire this thing on New Years Eve. Then for some reason he took it to a gunsmith who discovered that it had years worth of bullets stuck in the barrel, stacked up behind each other!

I have had it that I fired my suppressed rifle and just heard a click. The shot went off normally but the conditions were such that there was no noise reflected back. If I recall, I did actually hear the bullet strike in the distance. But one can see how easily it could happen that a bullet gets lodged in the barrel without notice. In this case I was suspicious but I don't remember what I did about it. I may have checked the bore. In fact, thinking about it, I'm sure I did.

[deces]

This reminds me at age 78 to double check everything. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?media/albums/kaboom.24/

Thank you for posting that, I will forever crimp all my pistol loads now.

[rintinglen]

This why I talk out loud to myself when reaching up to my powder shelf to retrieve a can of powder when starting a loading session. I hold the can and read the powder manufacturer and name, then look down at the load data and read the Powder name, then repeat this a few times. It may seem over cautious but the consequences of being wrong justify it. Once I'm totally convinced that I have the proper powder, ONLY that 1 can of powder is allowed on the bench until I am done with it and then it goes back up on the powder shelf which is high enough that I have to really stretch to reach it.

That is a great idea that I am going to copy. I label my powder measures, but forcing myself to read the label out loud will reduce the chance of a error on my part.:2_high5: