Have you ever wondered what would happen if...

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
Perhaps a patch or other remnant of the previous nights cleaning . It would amaze some people just how very little liquid it takes(bore solvent, oil, or rain drops) to radically drive up pressures. Just a guess...
 
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I can see a cup and core 308 swagging down to 284. Especially something soft like a Berger. I think you could do that with the right die by hand. 308 to 224 is another story.

And a solid copper bullet would also be another matter IMO.

In the original incident, A max powder charge in a 300 WM is less than a starting load in 7 RUM. So that helped limit pressure.

In another incident I read about lately, A guy blew up his rifle with 57 grains of Varget behind a 140 gr in 6.5 PRC. I'm not sure how much of an overload that is. But to me that's a more scarry proposition.
 
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° +.

I can look back in my records, but I'm pretty sure it was 22 or 23 grains (just above listed max) of IMR4198 and a 55 grain SP bullet (unsure of manufacturer), using a standard primer which probably was a CCI.

Addendum: Man…..what a memory! 🙀 I didn't trust myself. I was spot on ……and the load was 23.0 grains! I amaze myself at times! 😂 memtb
 
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...
I'm with you - seems highly unlikely a .308 cal bullet could swage down to .224 size in a barrel but since the .300 AAC Blackout came along and gained popularity in the AR platform, a few have found their way into .223 Rem/5.56 chambered guns and shtuff happens!
This link has pics and descriptions:
Here is the ".308 dia bullet swaged to .22 cal":
20240923_223836.jpg
 
@Frank in the Laurels
Here is the thread. I knew it was somewhere on this site!

Here is how a .300 AAC round can "headspace" in a .223/5.56 chamber and be fired:
20230618_014311.jpg
 
Bullet seating depth adjustments are going to be a bit limited🙃 I have a friend that bought some unusual brass at a gun show recently. He was excited to figure out what it was fire formed to. Double radius shoulder, super short neck. I didn't look at the head stamp but when he asked me what I thought I told him 300 win fired in a 300 weatherby. He took one more look at it and put it away and never mentioned it again.
 

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