Have you ever wondered what would happen if...

...someone accidentally fired a 300 Win Mag in a 7 RUM chambered rifle? Wonder no more! Customer brought their rifle in after firing a 300 WM out of a 7mm RUM. The rifle survived. The bullet exited the barrel. Customer states that the bullet hit the target(I find this incredible in and of itself). The barrel will be scrapped. It came out of the receiver with a bit of effort. The recoil lug is stuck on the barrel tenon. The bolt had to be beat open with a mallet. QC department checked over the bolt and receiver and have cleared them for future duty as they pass muster with go/no-go thread gages. No noticeable bolt setback. Bolt will be lapped to receiver and await customers instructions for rebarrelling.

View attachment 603514View attachment 603515
What action was it? What bottom medal? What barrel?
 
..I find that hard hard to believe that a .308 dia bullet would travel down a .284 dia bore without causing major catastrophic failure of the barrel and action....I'd have to see it myself..
This being the case, it would probably blow your mind to know a .308 diameter bullet (.300 AAC Blackout) could be fired in a .223/5.56 rifle (usually an AR) and gets swaged down to .224 diameter.

Looks like the longest high BC .22 bullet you've ever seen! Crazy stuff. As you said, you have to see it to believe it but then you do and you just have to shake your head in amazement.

If I can find the post/pictures here (long range hunting site) I'll get it posted here for your viewing pleasure. It was interesting!
 
Last edited:
This being the case, it would probably blow your mind to know a .308 diameter bullet (.300 AAC Blackout) could be fired in a .223/5.56 rifle (usually an AR) and gets swaged down to .224 diameter.

Looks like the highest, longest high BC .22 bullet you've ever seen! Crazy stuff. As you said, you have to see it to believe it but then you do and you just have to shake your head in amazement.

If I can find the post/pictures here (long range hunting site) I'll get it posted here for your viewing pleasure. It was interesting!
Under no condition would I believe that or since the action I'd not solid it would release some of the pressure but I'd need to be there to believe a. 308 could travel in a .224 bore without causing extreme problems...
 
There are other potencially dangerous things that can happen as well.
And one of them is something many people have no knowledge of.
And that is what is known as case weld.
Caused by ammo that sits on a shelf for a long period of time before being fired.
 
There are other potencially dangerous things that can happen as well.
And one of them is something many people have no knowledge of.
And that is what is known as case weld.
Caused by ammo that sits on a shelf for a long period of time before being fired.

Does some form of bullet lube ( graphite, Hornady One Shot, ect.) eliminate "welding"? memtb
 
Does some form of bullet lube ( graphite, Hornady One Shot, ect.) eliminate "welding"? memtb
Well all i can say with regard to that is that i lube my cases,
mostly using the grease type lube.
And ive had it happen to me when firing ammo that had sat for as i recall four years.
If you have old ammo, reseat the bullets about one turn deeper with your seating die, and listen for the sound of a twig being snapped as you do it
 
Well all i can say with regard to that is that i lube my cases,
mostly using the grease type lube.
And ive had it happen to me when firing ammo that had sat for as i recall four years.
If you have old ammo, reseat the bullets about one turn deeper with your seating die, and listen for the sound of a twig being snapped as you do it
From what I've read,wet tumbling with pins, makes cold weld more likely because the neck is so clean. Don't know from personal experience, but it makes sense to me.
 
I believe welding takes a very specific set of conditions to happen. I know it DOES happen, but it is not common. I also don't know exactly what the precise conditions are for bullet/case welding but I assume it has to do more with the exact metallurgy of the bullet and case than environmental conditions. I have shot plenty of commercially made WW2, cold war, and Vietnam era ammo with no issues at all. Same with 223/5.56 that I hand loaded back in the early 90s. I personally don't use any type of "wet" lube in my cases to avoid any kind of contamination of powder and primer. I think it would take an uncommonly severe instance of case welding to build up sufficient pressure to cause a catastrophic failure.
 
Well all i can say with regard to that is that i lube my cases,
mostly using the grease type lube.
And ive had it happen to me when firing ammo that had sat for as i recall four years.
If you have old ammo, reseat the bullets about one turn deeper with your seating die, and listen for the sound of a twig being snapped as you do it

I'm referring to "actually" lubing the bullet or the inside of the cartridge neck!

While I use graphite, yes it's messy", wouldn't something like One Shot provide a "film". …and as it dries, not contaminate the powder while potentially providing a "buffer" against "welding"!

Asking for a very inquisitive friend! 😜 memtb
 
Well in my case the cartridge was a 7x300 WBY, which is the 300 WBY case necked down to 7mm.
The load was 78 gr 7828 with a 162 gr Hornady bullet.
The rifle is a custom build on a Rem 700 action.
Both my sons have the same guns built by the same gunsmith, and we all use the same load.
Smoke came from the gun when i fired the round, and the bolt wouldnt open.
Later we got the bolt open by using the heel of a hand to do so, and also to retract just the head of the case from the gun.
We pulled bullets from other rounds a weighed the charges, which proved to be spot on as for weight.
But all of them needed dikes to get them removed from the case.
A call to a friend informed me about case weld, and reseating the remaining ammo proved that was the issue.
 
I have a yet explained near "catastrophic" overpressure situation that occurred around 1987 with a Remington 700 Heavy Barrel Varmint in .223 Rem…….that certainly ""was not" welding!

I was called, the day before the "EVENT by a friend suggesting that we go "Prairie Dogging" the next day. I cleaned my Remington for tomorrow's shooting.

As I had nothing loaded, I loaded up 50 rounds for the following day.

We arrived at a little "Prairie Poodle" village, where my friend and his wife took out a few. When it was my turn, with a squeeze of the trigger…..all Hell broke loose!

I received a pretty good jolt to the shoulder, remember this is a .223 Rem. fired in a heavy rifle! Smoke erupted from every opening in the action! When I attempted to open the bolt …..it wouldn't budge.

To say I was surprised and bewildered is an understatement.

I went home, pulled and weighed the remaining 49 cartridges and found nothing wrong.

I took the rifle to a 'smith that hammered (glad I didn't witness it) the bolt open. The extractor was destroyed…..but no other damage was found. The .223 Rem case was now a "belted " case.

After all of these years, my only explanation is……after cleaning the rifle, I leaned it in the corner of my basement reloading area and a bug/wasp/something built a nest in the barrel

I still see that as unlikely though…..it was less than 24 hrs. prior to shooting, and in SW Wyoming there just aren't a lot of insects that would plug a hole that quickly for a nest!

The floor is now open for comments! 😉 memtb
 
I have a yet explained near "catastrophic" overpressure situation that occurred around 1987 with a Remington 700 Heavy Barrel Varmint in .223 Rem…….that certainly ""was not" welding!

I was called, the day before the "EVENT by a friend suggesting that we go "Prairie Dogging" the next day. I cleaned my Remington for tomorrow's shooting.

As I had nothing loaded, I loaded up 50 rounds for the following day.

We arrived at a little "Prairie Poodle" village, where my friend and his wife took out a few. When it was my turn, with a squeeze of the trigger…..all Hell broke loose!

I received a pretty good jolt to the shoulder, remember this is a .223 Rem. fired in a heavy rifle! Smoke erupted from every opening in the action! When I attempted to open the bolt …..it wouldn't budge.

To say I was surprised and bewildered is an understatement.

I went home, pulled and weighed the remaining 49 cartridges and found nothing wrong.

I took the rifle to a 'smith that hammered (glad I didn't witness it) the bolt open. The extractor was destroyed…..but no other damage was found. The .223 Rem case was now a "belted " case.

After all of these years, my only explanation is……after cleaning the rifle, I leaned it in the corner of my basement reloading area and a bug/wasp/something built a nest in the barrel

I still see that as unlikely though…..it was less than 24 hrs. prior to shooting, and in SW Wyoming there just aren't a lot of insects that would plug a hole that quickly for a nest!

The floor is now open for comments! 😉 memtb
What was the load? Do you remember?

Just curious, I had a similar experience in the mid 70's. Before Hodgen started with their extreme powders. Had the ammo laying in the sun. Almost burned my fingers when I grabbed it to load it in the gun. Safe load at 70° not so safe at 100° +.
 
Top