Mistake: Shot a 308 Cartridge Today in my 06

[LRNut]

A story like this always makes me cringe when I recall it at the range while watching at least one person shoot without eye protection.

Exactly what I was going to say. I did this some years ago - was shooting two rifles in the desert. One was a 300 RUM, the other a 7 STW. I put a 7 STW in the 300 RUM and "boom" - a trip to the ER. An MRI showed an embedded powder kernel in my eye. I visited my optometrist a few days and brought him the gas perm contact lens I was wearing - I wanted to know if it was safe to wear (I took it out right after the incident as my eye was in extreme pain). He started to put it in a device to see it magnified, then took it out and said, "take a look at this yourself - there is a clam shaped divot on the edge." He then said if I wasn't wearing contacts, I might have lost vision in my right eye.

I have loaded the wrong cartridge twice before without incident; both times it simply fire-formed the case. However, in the case (pun intended) above, it had been reloaded numerous times and was probably brittle. It ruptured along the case. One time it occurred when hunting in Africa. I was in Tanzania hunting Cape buff and wearing a cartridge belt filled with .416 ammo - except the last three were .338 WM. I have shot a lot of buff, but this one was tenacious - you could hear air whistling thru his lungs as breathed. He was down, but my PH thought he might get up and charge. We both fired multiple times. One of my shots had noticeably lower recoil. As we skinned the bull my PH handed me a .338 bullet that basically untouched - barely penetrated the skin. The empty case, which i I had pocketed, was now a fire-formed .416-.338.

I now wear safety glasses every time I shoot. I even wear them hunting. Ironically, I did so long before the case rupture incident after I had a branch whip back into my eyes in dim light while on a moose hunt in BC.

 

[Wolf76]

Ran into a guy who was having a tough time at the range. Went over to speak with him and noticed this spent case. This guy was shooting 300 win ammo in a 300 weatherby chamber.

 

[General RE LEE]

Thankfully I was wearing my sunglasses. I will make sure myself and my sons will always have eye protection on at the range.

 

[cornshank]

I read in the Norma website a test they did for Roy on a Weatherby Mk V. Roy wanted to see just how strong his action was.
They put a bullet in the rifle with a live .300WbyMag shell behind it. They fired the rifle. Engineers examined the action and found no damage. The engineers think the action may have had 250,000psi from the obstruction.
True story - was on their web site. I have also seen the story in print.

Didn't know that , thanks

 

[Rick Richard]

This can happen to anyone. I did it. 270 in a 7 mag. It did considerable damage to the receiver (Browning BAR) and stock. I was fortunate also and that I had glasses on because all kinds of stuff flew back into my face. Bad idea to have have two or more rifles on the bench at the same time and same type/brand ammo boxes. I grabbed the wrong box.

 

[Allen Kitts]

Glad to hear you are OK. Crazy how many times you hear about this happening. Scary stuff.

 

[jjmp]

three of us went to the range years ago , last friend was shooting with two rifles on bench 308&270 , you guessed it he put a 308 in his 270 and fired it , gun held up fine Styer bolt action , I beat the bolt open with a sand bag,gunsmith said we just repruffed the rifle, I've still got the case, it's chromed and it's almost straight cased like a 30 carbine,primer pocket truly enlarged primer was a piece of mangled tin. Very lucky no one hurt , Moral of Story one rifle on bench only and it's ammo , cheers

 

[Gene Allen]

I stated on here in the past a similar experience a 300 win mag in an 7STW, it actually spit the bullet out got some powder in the face is all which is amazing since the case was completely gone and rifle was toast, a smith cut the barrel off that's how we know the bullet went though and had to cut the bolt face off also as it was welded in. Learned my lesson also, one rifle at a time!!

 

[General RE LEE]

Considering I fired a 308 in a 30-06, asides from a very fouled chamber and a lost extractor, do you think it did any damage to the bore? I cleaned bore really well and it is shiny and glassy. BTW Ramshot TAC is super dirty when it detonates lol.

 

[19Wyoming]

Yes it can. I did a 25 06 in a 257 Weatherby! Same exact thing as the OP. Extractor gone, floor plate blown open.

 

[baldhunter]

Saw it happen twice.The first time a guy and his daughter was shooting a few rifles he had recently bought.They had all their ammo and rifles laid out together on the bench.I was shooting my rifles about 12ft away and I heard click,what the hell,click,****,same thing,then boom,****,what the hell.I looked over his way and saw some specks of blood on his face and went over to his bench.He was cussing the **** Remington ammo.The walls of case were all blown out and the case was nearly completely separated in two.I looked at the headstamp and asked him what his rifle was chambered for and he said 300 Win Mag.The brass was headstamped 270 Winchester.He was lucky he didn't get hurt worse.The other time a guy was shooting his two rifles a 300 Win Mag and his 7mag.He couldn't figure out what was happening.When he ejected the spent case,the case neck was completely gone.He couldn't figure out where the missing neck went.He shot it several times,same **** thing.I looked at the case headstamp and asked him what rifle he was shooting? He said his 300 Win Mag.I told him this is 7mag brass.The rifles were OK in both cases,hope lessons were learned.Just shows you how important it is to only have the ammo for the rifle on the bench you are shooting at that time.

 

[rcol317]

I witnessed a similar mistake at the rifle range. Gentleman shot a 308 Win in his 270 Win. and he didnt have as nice a learning experience as you had. Blew up his Tika and sent the 270 barrel cart wheeling end over end down the range. Was an amazing accident that no one got hurt. That why I am very careful not to have two kinds of ammo on table at any given tim.

 

[Andrew Massi]

I have 4 rifles on the creedmoor case 22,6,25,6.5.
To further complicate things theyre all tikka acrions. All ammo is properly headstamped but I keep them in color coded ammo boxes for peace of mind.
I also use a paint pen to mark magazines for each rifle that correlates with their ammo box.

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Or ..... how about the guy who was intentionally chambering a 7mm Rem mag cartridge in his Weatherby 7mmWBY rifle because Weatherby ammo is just too expensive.