Thread: Casual

Mickey duck your new rifle why wouldn't you run your old ammo through your new toy I would so I'm I to casual how dangerous could that be I'm thinking wet bus ticket

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It usually pays to work up a load in a different rifle. I personally wouldnt try handloads that blew a rifle up in a different rifle

Originally Posted by northdude

It ALWAYS pays to work up a load in a different rifle. I personally wouldnt try handloads that blew a rifle up in a different rifle

For safety and accuracy determination.

my old rifle had loose bore and longthroat...so loads had plenty of room to releave pressure before projectile enguaged rifling.....my reloads for it were at hot end of scale.....
also I partial length resized...so in effect the shoulder COULDVE been up to ????1mm longer than normal......
IF new rifle has tight chamber,they wouldnt fit in.....the case would be too long......and if short throated,a hot load could well become a bomb...nowhere for pressure to go....shorter throat=shorter pressure curve=lower pressure tolerance=lighter loading.......
if you take it to the extreme,look at how Roy Weatherby made his rifles chambers....big long lead into rifling so when primer goes off and powder starts to ignite the projectile starts moving forwards,in effect giving a bigger case...this I believe is the theory behing Remington Hypersonic shot shell loads too....1700fps Vs 1500 in others.
my good mate just around corner also owns a .270 the loads his rifle tolerates are 2-3grns BELOW book maximum before he starts getting pressure signs...my old girl was 2-3 ABOVE .
hope that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

my old rifle had loose bore and longthroat...so loads had plenty of room to releave pressure before projectile enguaged rifling.....my reloads for it were at hot end of scale.....
also I partial length resized...so in effect the shoulder COULDVE been up to ????1mm longer than normal......
IF new rifle has tight chamber,they wouldnt fit in.....the case would be too long......and if short throated,a hot load could well become a bomb...nowhere for pressure to go....shorter throat=shorter pressure curve=lower pressure tolerance=lighter loading.......
if you take it to the extreme,look at how Roy Weatherby made his rifles chambers....big long lead into rifling so when primer goes off and powder starts to ignite the projectile starts moving forwards,in effect giving a bigger case...this I believe is the theory behing Remington Hypersonic shot shell loads too....1700fps Vs 1500 in others.
my good mate just around corner also owns a .270 the loads his rifle tolerates are 2-3grns BELOW book maximum before he starts getting pressure signs...my old girl was 2-3 ABOVE .
hope that makes sense.

Sound thinking Micky,
My experience has been that current production rifles have tighter chambers compared with those of 30 plus years ago especially in sporting cartridges. One .308 I worked with chambered some factory loads tight. Your partially sized cases would be very unlikely to chamber in the new rifle. This is quite apart from the load likely being too hot. 30 years of use likely provided the long throat and reduced pressure. Something I would be interested to know is the make and model of both your old rifle and the replacement. Just curious.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Sound thinking Micky,
My experience has been that current production rifles have tighter chambers compared with those of 30 plus years ago especially in sporting cartridges. One .308 I worked with chambered some factory loads tight. Your partially sized cases would be very unlikely to chamber in the new rifle. This is quite apart from the load likely being too hot. 30 years of use likely provided the long throat and reduced pressure. Something I would be interested to know is the make and model of both your old rifle and the replacement. Just curious.
Regards Grandpamac.

push fed winchester model 70 lightweight 20" barrel from factory,suppressed,bedded,loved. REST HER DEAR SOUL replacement HOWA 1500 22" from factory S/S and Hogue stock.....time will tell how much it becomes loved.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

push fed winchester model 70 lightweight 20" barrel from factory,suppressed,bedded,loved. REST HER DEAR SOUL replacement HOWA 1500 22" from factory S/S and Hogue stock.....time will tell how much it becomes loved.

Greetings Micky,
From your description it sounded as if your rifle was one with a recessed bolt face as is your Howa replacement. They handle the gas from a ruptured case much better and probably saved you from injury. I am sure that your .270 Mk2 will grow on you over time. Some faced with the need to replace a favourite hunting rifle would plump for a newer, flashier or just different cartridge. Please note the lack of the word better. Well done on sticking with what you know to work. Your training as a curmudgeon is coming along nicely.
Regards Grandpamac.

Death or injuries ,from reloading is there many horror stories myself personally one sticky bolt said round went through washing machine should of chucked it but my Scottish ancestry is to thick Win 760 powder Some South Westland drift wood sorted it .

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You don't need to wear a bolt as could happen in the most extreme case but a buggered rifle (recently documented) or a lost eye due to a shower of crap coming back thru some of the poorer gas handling bolts should be enough incentive to take care.

Originally Posted by zimmer

You don't need to wear a bolt as could happen in the most extreme case but a buggered rifle (recently documented) or a lost eye due to a shower of crap coming back thru some of the poorer gas handling bolts should be enough incentive to take care.

Well said Zimmer,
Additional to the case you mentioned two local cases that I know of, although not first hand, resulted in two buggered rifles and two injured shooters, one with damaged sight. I suspect that Micky has been extremely lucky hence my interest in his rifle above. In a rifle with poorer gas handling his outcome could have been quite different. Micky is to be commended for sharing his misfortune with us so that we too may learn from it. Not everyone is that honest.
Regards Grandpamac.

I meet a man wallaby shooting who had a mean scar on his mouth through to cheek caused by a bolt .But it was caused by a gunsmiths error .

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I heard stories from the old days where deer cullers got caught with hang fires while opening the bolt on there 303 's and ended up losing a bunch of teeth.

yip there were a few of those...and many other reports of bolts being siezed shut....Barry Crump had many do this...couldve been from placing entire rifle in stream to shoot trout LOL....
in 40 years of shooting,Ive had 1 case split and seperate in chamber........loaded by sports shop......3 primers so flat they were FLAT....same sports shop...thats when I bought my own gear..another shop loaded some 110s up for me and they were barstards of things to fire...ba-boom they went UNLESS I pointed rifle at sky then lowered and fired.
case life is much better with lighter loads..... its a balancing act,safety is paramount.
before my rifles were suppressed my loads were quite mild.....it suited me and stopped the dreaded "rhymes with grinch"....

Personal experience here. This one ended up with no damage to hunters, but a 5 day walk with a stainless steel walking stick:

Early 90's, did a looong walk through the Ruahines with a couple of other hunters. One had just purchased a brand new SS version of his old favorite: a Rem 22.250.

Took some of his hand loads along as they were 'accurate AF out of the old rifle".

Half way into the journey 3 spikers presented themselves off below us (on the Sawtooth ridge) just before midday. Mate lays the new rifle over his pack as says "watch this boys and weep". Shot was to be a tad over 4 hundy.

Chambers a round and....bolt won't close. As alluded to above, chambers are all different.
Mate gets a tad flustered and bangs bolt closed with fist. Still won't close completely. Then takes to hammering it back open. Finally bolt opens and springs rearward....depositing powder all over the place. Rifle now has a projo stuck in the throat by the lands. Only carrying a pullthrough, so ends up walking the rest of the trip with it as a walking stick.

End note: Spiker #1 ends up wearing a 50 gn Sierra out of well worn Sportco 222 for hanging around too long.

Well fellas tbh my feeling is that if you're even asking a question on a given mystery round , you shouldn't shoot it. It's under $2.... Whats all your other gear and physical attributes worth (eyeballs, teeth, ears etc).
If you weren't there yourself to verify what powder went in, just pull the projectiles and bin the powder. Whats that? Cant be more than a loss of $40 worth of powder on 100 rounds anyway.
Marked up bullets are just as accurate if you do it right. The neck tension is likely needing a touch up as well.

Or just be lazy and roll the dice.... Win tragic prizes