GodGuns&Guitars
Member
Was at the range the other day and noticed a person shooting a 300 Win Mag. He shot 5 rounds and they made a little more noise than what I'm use to out of a 300. After the fifth round he came down and asked my buddies and I if we had a cleaning rod he could borrow. We loaned him one and watched him but couldn't figure out what he was trying to do until we went over and observed the fact he was trying to remove a casing from the chamber that had separated. When questioned we found out he was new to reloading and that he had started out with the max load data in his manual. I must remind those that are new to reloading - "READ YOUR MANUAL!"
If you look at the primers in the first picture you will notice that they are either flat or starting to bulge out. The fifth round separated the belted part of the casing and left the rest of the case in the chamber. This could have been a lot worse. He wanted to remove the stuck casing and continue on firing. Our suggestion was to go home and pull the bullets, read his manual again, and start at the lower load data and work up from there. We also suggested to this gentleman that he have the head spacing on his M77 checked before shooting it any more.
First picture showing bulged primers.
Second picture belted part of the magnum case separated. Rest of it was stuck in the chamber.
If you look at the primers in the first picture you will notice that they are either flat or starting to bulge out. The fifth round separated the belted part of the casing and left the rest of the case in the chamber. This could have been a lot worse. He wanted to remove the stuck casing and continue on firing. Our suggestion was to go home and pull the bullets, read his manual again, and start at the lower load data and work up from there. We also suggested to this gentleman that he have the head spacing on his M77 checked before shooting it any more.
First picture showing bulged primers.
Second picture belted part of the magnum case separated. Rest of it was stuck in the chamber.