Mistake: Shot a 308 Cartridge Today in my 06

[TheZigor]

Thank you for sharing it is a great reminder. I shoot the same bullet out of different calibers I think I need to make an SOP for myself so this doesn't happen to me too.

 

[Dolch]

I have done the same thing. We were running late one morning hunting. Had stayed up way too late the night before. grabbed three rounds and stuffed them in the magazine and headed out. Killed a really nice axis that morning with the shot. surprisingly, the point of impact was close to dead on.
Scared the crap out of me once i realized what had happened.

I definitely keep similar rounds marked better now.

 

[General RE LEE]

Here is a pic of the 308 and 30 06 side by side. Definitely will keep the ammo boxes separated at the bench.

 

[hesse]

Thanks for the reminder . It takes a big person to admit when they mess up . Glad no one was hurt.

 

[el pato]

A 270 will fit and fire out of a 30-06. I keep everything separate now.

 

[RidgeTop]

A friend borrowed a 12ga from me for deer hunting. He borrowed some slugs from my sister - yep, she shoots 16ga. Gun went off, he missed the deer and the gun was o.k.. A pump sold by Sears - maybe a Mossberg? Just full of crap we were able to clean out. .

 

[DMP25-06]

I made similar mistake nearly 20 years ago . I was at range sighting-in my .338 Win Mag , and I somehow had placed a 7mm Rem Mag cartridge in my shell box with the .338 Win Mag cartridges .
After several shots to zero the rifle at 2.5" high at 100 yards , I fed the 7mm Rem Mag cartridge into the chamber , took aim , and fired . "Pop" , instead of "BOOM", NO recoil , and the bullet somehow cut dead-center on the target .
I was scratching my head , wondering if I had somehow managed to not fully charge a cartridge case with the full amount of powder (I always visually look into neck of cartridges , to verify powder-fill) , but when I removed the empty cartridge case from the chamber , I saw that it was 7mm Rem Mag , NOT .338 Win Mag .
It made a beautiful replica of the .338 WM cartridge case , but base was stamped 7mm Rem Mag .

That episode made me worry that what IF I had somehow chambered a .338 WM into my 7mm RM , although that COULD NOT be done due to much larger neck diameter of .338 cartridge .

It made me much more observant about checking each cartridge .
And , I had been a reloader for more than 30 years at that point in my life .

DMP25-06

 

[bballard]

Well, here is my one and only in 55 years....took my AR and a bolt action 204 ruger to the range.....long story short, I tried to shoot 2...204 ruger rounds through my AR before I realized my mistake. The rounds chambered fine, but did not fire. The 204 rounds had light primer strikes but no ignition (thank you God).

 

[Baker Alvin]

Like the day I missed 2 deer very frustrating and after I got back I realized I picked up the 308 Winchester instead of my 7mm 08 Remington
twin Remington 700 SS DM rifles.

 

[Moondoggie]

I've seen this happen several times at the range. It is why I only have 1 rifle and 1 box of ammo at the bench. Other guns and ammo stay in the truck until their turn comes.

i have my own range built on my property, so i can do just that. One gun at a time, if I'm shooting more than one.
Also, i get some snide remarks and laughs, but this is why i wear shooting glasses.

Glad you're alright!

 

[Calvin45]

I made similar mistake nearly 20 years ago . I was at range sighting-in my .338 Win Mag , and I somehow had placed a 7mm Rem Mag cartridge in my shell box with the .338 Win Mag cartridges .
After several shots to zero the rifle at 2.5" high at 100 yards , I fed the 7mm Rem Mag cartridge into the chamber , took aim , and fired . "Pop" , instead of "BOOM", NO recoil , and the bullet somehow cut dead-center on the target .
I was scratching my head , wondering if I had somehow managed to not fully charge a cartridge case with the full amount of powder (I always visually look into neck of cartridges , to verify powder-fill) , but when I removed the empty cartridge case from the chamber , I saw that it was 7mm Rem Mag , NOT .338 Win Mag .
It made a beautiful replica of the .338 WM cartridge case , but base was stamped 7mm Rem Mag .

That episode made me worry that what IF I had somehow chambered a .338 WM into my 7mm RM , although that COULD NOT be done due to much larger neck diameter of .338 cartridge .

It made me much more observant about checking each cartridge .
And , I had been a reloader for more than 30 years at that point in my life .

DMP25-06

And this is why hornady made the belt on the .450 marlin longer/deeper than a standard hh case belt. Imagine if they didnt, chambering a 450 marlin in a 7mm rem could be possible!

Or a .350 rem mag. That could get dicey, lots of belted magnums a .350 could chamber in.

 

[WYO300RUM]

Thank God indeed! So glad you were not hurt! Truth: I nearly did the same thing a few years ago. Now I am way anal about taking only 1 bullet to the table at a time and double checking everything before chambering. Ya, over doing it for sure. Thanks for the honest reminder that we ARE playing with fire! DT in MT

I know you do... Me also. Buddy shot I think was a 270 in .06. or a 270 in 7 mag. I can't remember. I looked at him and said what ? Luckily the bolt opened . Case ruptured. So I think was latter. I've had case separations but so far no wrong caliber thank God.

 

[WYO300RUM]

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.

Amen brother. Doesn't take much. Was at buddy's cabin in Montana Thur. thru Sun. There's a private range. Never have seen anybody there. Sat. a dad and two kids show up. I was shooting out to 500. Take side by side to check targets. I thought oh great. The one son was young. Maybe 12. He was just sitting there while Dad and older brother shot. I had a Hammerli 22 LR with me. Asked his dad if it was ok for him to shoot if I watched him .He said yes. I love helping kids shoot. I had three 20 Rd. And one 30 Rd mags loaded for it and a box of 250 rds. I showed him how to work it and said go for it. He was on table to my left.... Shells hitting me all over. I told him hold on. Got my shooting glasses out which I should of had already. Had two hit me on left lense. One case landed on top of ear peice and burned the crp out of temple area. Eyeware. I don't like wearing it when I shoot but it could be an eye saver....

 

[J_V_Berry]

I bought a used 7mm rem mag. Loaded it up with factory ammo shot the first round and I started to think man there is no recoil. I was able to see the hole in the target so I fired again. No recoil. Ejected the round and saw there was no neck. Took it to a local smith and he said someone rechambered it to a 7mm stw. I called where I bought the gun from and was Immediately given a refund plus $100 they took the rifle and put a new barrel on it before they would sell it again but in this case the barrel and the ammo were the Matched, it was just tinkered with before I got it. And that was the last used gun I ever bought from an online broker.