COLTSFANATIC1
Member
Hello all, I just wanted to post some information on the importance of safety regarding an often asked hypothetical question (what happens if you shoot one caliber out of a different caliber gun?). I was at the range the other week with family shooting a number of different guns, when one of my cousins asked if they could shoot the 30-30 rifle. They loaded up the tube and began to shoot, the third shot in sounded like a light load (possibly a squib) they ejected the brass, stopped shooting took a looked at the brass and said it looked fine, he also put a cleaning rod down the barrel to make sure there was nothing stuck. Everything seemed fine, they finished shooting the ammo in the tube. That one shot had me thinking what could have been wrong with that particular round, I am pretty thorough and methodical when it comes to reloading.
Last night I was starting to resize and prime the 30-30 brass that we shot that day, as i was applying sizing wax and inspecting the cases, I noticed one of the cases was expanded (bulged) from below the shoulder to about half way down the body. The lower portion of the body to the rim was fine. I immediately looked at the head stamp, and it was a 25-35 WFC case, I checked the neck size and it matched the .308 30-30 cases. I wish I would have taken a photo of the brass, I resized it back to 25-35 to see if the brass would show any signs of stress, the brass looks fine, however I don't intend to load it. he rifle was cleaned and inspected after the range day and I didn't find any abnormalities.
How did this happen??? I am assuming there was a 25-35 bullet mixed in with the 30-30 rounds, and because of the slight difference in shape and size my cousin didn't notice when loading the rifle. resulting in the shot sounding like a lower charged round.
Or the only other thing that could have happened, is a piece of 25-35 brass was mixed in the 30-30 brass when I reloaded the batch, and somehow I loaded a .308 bullet into a .258 case mouth, and somehow didn't notice this when inspecting the finished round. Sounds impossible, but sometimes I slightly flare the case mouth for an easier bullet set, especially with flat bottom projectiles, and we all know that sometimes the bullets set like butter.
What was the outcome? Thank God everyone and everything is fine, the only thigs that were noticeable is that the shot when fired sounded like a lower charged round than that of the other 30-30 rounds, partial case body expansion, and case neck expansion to match the chamber. The Rifle seems to be fine, was shot numerous times after this shot was fired, cleaned and inspected with no noticeable issues to report. However, just because there was no severe outcome in my case, doesn't mean that it is safe to fire ammunition made for one gun in a firearm of a different caliber.
I consider myself to be overly cautious when it comes to safety, including only putting out ammo for the particular firearm that is being used at that moment. This just goes to show that you can never be to safe, I'm thankful that I could write about his moment with no bad results, but we all know that this could have been much much worse.
Last night I was starting to resize and prime the 30-30 brass that we shot that day, as i was applying sizing wax and inspecting the cases, I noticed one of the cases was expanded (bulged) from below the shoulder to about half way down the body. The lower portion of the body to the rim was fine. I immediately looked at the head stamp, and it was a 25-35 WFC case, I checked the neck size and it matched the .308 30-30 cases. I wish I would have taken a photo of the brass, I resized it back to 25-35 to see if the brass would show any signs of stress, the brass looks fine, however I don't intend to load it. he rifle was cleaned and inspected after the range day and I didn't find any abnormalities.
How did this happen??? I am assuming there was a 25-35 bullet mixed in with the 30-30 rounds, and because of the slight difference in shape and size my cousin didn't notice when loading the rifle. resulting in the shot sounding like a lower charged round.
Or the only other thing that could have happened, is a piece of 25-35 brass was mixed in the 30-30 brass when I reloaded the batch, and somehow I loaded a .308 bullet into a .258 case mouth, and somehow didn't notice this when inspecting the finished round. Sounds impossible, but sometimes I slightly flare the case mouth for an easier bullet set, especially with flat bottom projectiles, and we all know that sometimes the bullets set like butter.
What was the outcome? Thank God everyone and everything is fine, the only thigs that were noticeable is that the shot when fired sounded like a lower charged round than that of the other 30-30 rounds, partial case body expansion, and case neck expansion to match the chamber. The Rifle seems to be fine, was shot numerous times after this shot was fired, cleaned and inspected with no noticeable issues to report. However, just because there was no severe outcome in my case, doesn't mean that it is safe to fire ammunition made for one gun in a firearm of a different caliber.
I consider myself to be overly cautious when it comes to safety, including only putting out ammo for the particular firearm that is being used at that moment. This just goes to show that you can never be to safe, I'm thankful that I could write about his moment with no bad results, but we all know that this could have been much much worse.
.)
