Varminterror
Member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2016
- Messages
- 14,933
Reiterating here - all of these tricks for color coding brass, mags, rifles, whatever, or using only ONE bullet to identify loads, are procedural safeguards, and are not infallible. It works until it doesn’t, because it CAN fail. Even color coded, anyone without a decoder ring becomes a high risk of failure for that particular safeguard, and INEVITABLE human error, such as simply making a color combination mistake, or loading the wrong box of ammo into a color coded mag even if the right color mag is used in the right rifle, will completely defeat the safeguard.
There’s a simple Genius in SAAMI’s processes and in cartridge design. Even for the Blackout topic, cartridges which meet SAAMI spec SHOULDN’T chamber in a 5.56/223 - but in practice, we know it can and does happen, whether because a different bullet is used which is shorter overall or has a longer, thinner ogive or seated deeper, or because neck tension was insufficient to hold the bullet firm against the force of the action closing.
In general, (common/mainstream) cartridges are properly designed such they simply can’t chamber in another (common) chambers which would result in an oversized bullet being fed to an undersized bore. For example, many shortened cartridges use the same shoulder diameter as their longer parent, meaning they would not fully chamber into their parent chamber, at least not without a LOT of force. For example, 308win family of cartridges share a similar shoulder diameter to 30-06, so they don’t close into 30-06 chambers - so even a short bullet in 308 win can’t be chambered into a 270win, or 338 fed won’t chamber into 30-06. Even relatively SAFE combinations of 243win into a 30-06 won’t chamber. WSM’s have even LARGER shoulders than RUM’s, so 300wsm won’t even remotely close in a 7 RUM. The predominant game of shortening AND blowing out parent cartridges is an absolute fail safe, as is the strategy of shortening AND necking down.
Very, very few mainstream wildcats, let alone fewer commercially standardized cartridges have a “shorten and neck UP” paradigm from their parent or relative without also blowing out the shoulder - frankly, the only one I can think of is the 300 blackout (which in itself was a whithering wildcat for a decade before being pushed to commercialization).
Naturally, bad (human procedural) mistakes like loading grossly undersized rounds into oversized chambers can and does happen, like firing 9mm ammo in 40S&W pistols, or shooting 30-06 in a 300wm - and of course, the 20/12 bang. Certainly, a guy could accidentally chamber and fire something like a 338 federal in a 7mm Rem Mag, and no good will come of it, just as comes from firing a 300blk ammo in a 5.56 rifle - assuming the round holds in the magazine AND manages to connect with the extractor when feeding AND be held properly such the firing pin actually hits the primer… lots of bad luck following a bad mistake, so it just doesn’t happen often…
So by and large, this kind of misidentification in ammo crossing into the wrong rifle which yields functional fit AND catastrophic consequences is exceptionally rare, due to exceptionally intentional design.
EXCEPT… the 300 Blackout… it’s a straight push back and neck up, which introduces an exceptionally rare instance (nearly unique) where the common mechanical failsafes inherent to cartridge design simply don’t exist.
There’s a simple Genius in SAAMI’s processes and in cartridge design. Even for the Blackout topic, cartridges which meet SAAMI spec SHOULDN’T chamber in a 5.56/223 - but in practice, we know it can and does happen, whether because a different bullet is used which is shorter overall or has a longer, thinner ogive or seated deeper, or because neck tension was insufficient to hold the bullet firm against the force of the action closing.
In general, (common/mainstream) cartridges are properly designed such they simply can’t chamber in another (common) chambers which would result in an oversized bullet being fed to an undersized bore. For example, many shortened cartridges use the same shoulder diameter as their longer parent, meaning they would not fully chamber into their parent chamber, at least not without a LOT of force. For example, 308win family of cartridges share a similar shoulder diameter to 30-06, so they don’t close into 30-06 chambers - so even a short bullet in 308 win can’t be chambered into a 270win, or 338 fed won’t chamber into 30-06. Even relatively SAFE combinations of 243win into a 30-06 won’t chamber. WSM’s have even LARGER shoulders than RUM’s, so 300wsm won’t even remotely close in a 7 RUM. The predominant game of shortening AND blowing out parent cartridges is an absolute fail safe, as is the strategy of shortening AND necking down.
Very, very few mainstream wildcats, let alone fewer commercially standardized cartridges have a “shorten and neck UP” paradigm from their parent or relative without also blowing out the shoulder - frankly, the only one I can think of is the 300 blackout (which in itself was a whithering wildcat for a decade before being pushed to commercialization).
Naturally, bad (human procedural) mistakes like loading grossly undersized rounds into oversized chambers can and does happen, like firing 9mm ammo in 40S&W pistols, or shooting 30-06 in a 300wm - and of course, the 20/12 bang. Certainly, a guy could accidentally chamber and fire something like a 338 federal in a 7mm Rem Mag, and no good will come of it, just as comes from firing a 300blk ammo in a 5.56 rifle - assuming the round holds in the magazine AND manages to connect with the extractor when feeding AND be held properly such the firing pin actually hits the primer… lots of bad luck following a bad mistake, so it just doesn’t happen often…
So by and large, this kind of misidentification in ammo crossing into the wrong rifle which yields functional fit AND catastrophic consequences is exceptionally rare, due to exceptionally intentional design.
EXCEPT… the 300 Blackout… it’s a straight push back and neck up, which introduces an exceptionally rare instance (nearly unique) where the common mechanical failsafes inherent to cartridge design simply don’t exist.
