I got the barrel off the action!! I wasn't sure how that was gonna play out. Any way, I'll post pictures of the locking lugs tomorrow. I'm not for certain the chamber swelled... I'm thinking the lugs/ bolt got hammered. Tomorrow.
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Salvage a Savage action
- Thread starter Gregg C
- Start date
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If the abutments were set back you should be able to tell from your fired cases.
Assuming you have fired cases from before the incident, and after, comparing shoulder datum length to base of cases with a comparator should tell you whether that length increased after the overpressure...
Don't forget to put a witness mark across the barrel/receiver before pulling the barrel.
ntsqd
Well-Known Member
Exactly what I was thinking. IF the chamber has grown in OD then the barrel has grown in OD and possibly the action as well. I know of no steel that is considered to be compressible. So if the ID grew, then the OD of the threads, at the least, grew too.
How does the OD of the action at the barrel tenon compare to the OD of the action at the rear compare? The front ring will have grown (if it did at all), while there is nothing that would have caused the rear ring to grow.
I wonder how much change takes place during a rapid-fire session with many rounds.
Aoudad 101
Well-Known Member
Sounds like you need to throw away and quit reloading .
BrentM
Well-Known Member
Me,I'd mic the action and see. Back of the action and front should be the same. There isn't that much of the chamber inside the action so you might be ok. Of course with that much force I'd be look at the bolt head and lugs closely too as you mentioned.
epoletna
Well-Known Member
I don't think putting a mic on the outside of the barrel is really telling you what has happened inside. That's why I agree with the suggestion to cerosafe the chamber. I have an inexpensive alternative to cerosafe, especially now that you have the barrel off. Put a good coat of oil in the chamber and barrel, then plug the barrel about 1/4" below the chamber. Then mix about 3/4 garden sulfur with 1/4 graphite (the kind you get from a hardware store, used to squirt into a lock). Melt the mixture (smelly, but melts well below any dangerous temperature) and pour it into the chamber. When it has cooled, tap it out with a cleaning rod from the muzzle. It will be a very accurate cast of the chamber, which you can then mic to see if it has changed dimensions.
Rflshootr
Well-Known Member
When you fired the over pressure round, did the bolt lock up, or were you able to get it open easily? Did the case head stick to the bolt face? Did the primer blow or remain intact? Some pics may help here.
DMP25-06
Well-Known Member
Gregg C,
I have 2 questions for you :
#1 How could you have possibly overcharged a .338-378 Weatherby cartridge by 20% ?
That would be approximately 20 grains of additional powder "stuffed" into that cartridge case .
#2 Then you said that you did the "remote fire thing" . - Was this done intentionally , trying to perform testing to determine if the barrel and action would be damaged ?
Inquiring minds would like to know ,
villagelightsmith
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 16, 2013
- Messages
- 234
"We had one bolt give way .. (sheared off its locking lugs) .. with a mild 55,000 psi load. That really isn't the whole story though, because it says nothing about the half dozen 100,000+ psi loads which were fired the day before."
[W.L.Godfrey: The 30-06. Pg 21. Elk Mountain Shooters Supply, 1975]
To paraphrase, it's not the last shot that breaks the thing, but that's the one that gets the credit ... or the blame.
To borrow from another, "For the good of the trip, don't chance it." This old man would bet you could probably shoot that receiver and bolt for the next 100 years on the bench with any reasonable load. I'm not a metallurgist, but that would be my SWAG, the ignorant odds I would give. But on the other hand, what are the stakes of my bet? What if I'm wrong, and someone ... a future shooter ... loses my bet? There's a well known gunwriter still walking around with pieces of bolt in his head from an overpressure load. We play with some serious stuff. Find and read the account from the fellow whose SERBU .50 disassembled in his face! The details of that one are amazing!
What is your responsibility to some future owner of the gun? If perchance the gun fails ... or not ... is not your duty the same? I hate to think of the act of placing the strippedbolt and receiver in a chop-saw, but that might be the moral and ethical thing to do. Chopping it would only hurt for a moment, but a detonation in someone's face could last a lifetime.
Just my half-penny thought.
[W.L.Godfrey: The 30-06. Pg 21. Elk Mountain Shooters Supply, 1975]
To paraphrase, it's not the last shot that breaks the thing, but that's the one that gets the credit ... or the blame.
To borrow from another, "For the good of the trip, don't chance it." This old man would bet you could probably shoot that receiver and bolt for the next 100 years on the bench with any reasonable load. I'm not a metallurgist, but that would be my SWAG, the ignorant odds I would give. But on the other hand, what are the stakes of my bet? What if I'm wrong, and someone ... a future shooter ... loses my bet? There's a well known gunwriter still walking around with pieces of bolt in his head from an overpressure load. We play with some serious stuff. Find and read the account from the fellow whose SERBU .50 disassembled in his face! The details of that one are amazing!
What is your responsibility to some future owner of the gun? If perchance the gun fails ... or not ... is not your duty the same? I hate to think of the act of placing the strippedbolt and receiver in a chop-saw, but that might be the moral and ethical thing to do. Chopping it would only hurt for a moment, but a detonation in someone's face could last a lifetime.
Just my half-penny thought.
The belt grew .004 over my datum case. I had to beat the bolt open, then used an aluminum dowel to get the case out.
The belt actually flowed into the junction of the barrel and bolt face. The letters of the headstamp are nearly unreadable. The primer was there, but just fell out. I'll post some pictures of that, too.
The overcharge occurred by using the weight charge for a powder NOT actually being used. The actual, correct, charge should have been 95grs, NOT the 115 grain charge I used. Too many things on a little screen.
No, I did not do this intentially.
There are too many things I don't like about the pictures of the bolt and abutment. They have obviously taken one heck of a beating...
I stated I was thinking of a much milder cartridge in a new build on this action, but looking at the evidence, I've decided, no. For an action I can get for 400 dollars ? Not worth it.
