Did something stupid
Did something stupid
GOT to tell you about this.
I made a stupid mistake, which ended up okay, but could have gone bad.
I had some old .38 S&W, that was made of cut of .38 special shells, loaded up with black powder and jacketed HP bullets.
Thought that the way to get rid of it was to fire it in the Rossi.
Was okay the first 5 shots. The number 6 and last .38 S&W shot did not make much noise.
But I could see smoke coming out of the muzzle, so I thought it was just a light load.
Then I loaded the gun up with standard .38 special and took a shot. Just a small fzzzzzzzzzz from the gun!!!
THEN I knew that I made a big mistake.
Empty the gun and look through the barrel… sure enough, no hole through the barrel.
Had to get a long drill. Centered with tape, then a lot of violence. Got the 2 bullets out without damage to the gun.
I am 46 years old. I have been shooting since I was 7. I grew careless. Got a wakeup.
Here a picture of what came out of the barrel after 2 hours work:
I made a stupid mistake, which ended up okay, but could have gone bad.
I had some old .38 S&W, that was made of cut of .38 special shells, loaded up with black powder and jacketed HP bullets.
Thought that the way to get rid of it was to fire it in the Rossi.
Was okay the first 5 shots. The number 6 and last .38 S&W shot did not make much noise.
But I could see smoke coming out of the muzzle, so I thought it was just a light load.
Then I loaded the gun up with standard .38 special and took a shot. Just a small fzzzzzzzzzz from the gun!!!
THEN I knew that I made a big mistake.
Empty the gun and look through the barrel… sure enough, no hole through the barrel.
Had to get a long drill. Centered with tape, then a lot of violence. Got the 2 bullets out without damage to the gun.
I am 46 years old. I have been shooting since I was 7. I grew careless. Got a wakeup.
Here a picture of what came out of the barrel after 2 hours work:
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People think that the human brain is in the head. Nothing of the sort; it is carried by the wind from the Caspian Sea.
- akuser47
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Re: Did something stupid
Wow glad your ok, I was told once that no matter the size of your army simple complacency can bring a military action down. Nations have been biult on the remaining ruble of those that were complacent. We all make mistakes. We must learn from them and march on.
Re: Did something stupid
Remember to look through the barrel, if something sounds not normal.
People think that the human brain is in the head. Nothing of the sort; it is carried by the wind from the Caspian Sea.
- rman
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Re: Did something stupid
Good advice! I've been reloading since 1970 and had my first squib load just this past year. All it takes is one moment of inattention to get you in hot water. I'm glad you and your rifle came out OK.Longfield wrote:Remember to look through the barrel, if something sounds not normal.
At my age, there IS nothing better than shooting.
- Ranch Dog
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Re: Did something stupid
Hate to admit it, but been there done it with my colt 357 mag trooper mark 3, glad nobody was hurt.
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Re: Did something stupid
Just curious, any damage, ring, swelling of the barrel, etc, or did you really get lucky?
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Re: Did something stupid
Hope the barrel's ok.
I've been told this exact story two or three times before.
One of my buds bulged the barrel on a .44-40 Winchester years ago in almost exactly the same way.
Saw smoke coming out and assumed it was clear.
Had a customer bring in a Rossi to the shop and my bud who owns it asked me what I advised since there were two jammed bullets in the barrel. We could have driven the bullets out but had to tell the guy that if it was bulged the barrel would have to be replaced. The gun owner wanted to just keep shooting it.
I've been told this exact story two or three times before.
One of my buds bulged the barrel on a .44-40 Winchester years ago in almost exactly the same way.
Saw smoke coming out and assumed it was clear.
Had a customer bring in a Rossi to the shop and my bud who owns it asked me what I advised since there were two jammed bullets in the barrel. We could have driven the bullets out but had to tell the guy that if it was bulged the barrel would have to be replaced. The gun owner wanted to just keep shooting it.
- Missionary
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Re: Did something stupid
Greetings
Thank you for posting this as we all need reminders. How easy it would be to not follow safe procedures.
It would be interesting to rig a barrel with a pressure gauge and deliberately fire a bullet into a lodged one to find out how much PSI gets developed. Have to be into 6 digits to get a barrel to bulge I would think.
But from me also good to read there was no catastrophic results. Loosing chunks of body hurts bad and sure wrecks the day.
Mike in Peru
Thank you for posting this as we all need reminders. How easy it would be to not follow safe procedures.
It would be interesting to rig a barrel with a pressure gauge and deliberately fire a bullet into a lodged one to find out how much PSI gets developed. Have to be into 6 digits to get a barrel to bulge I would think.
But from me also good to read there was no catastrophic results. Loosing chunks of body hurts bad and sure wrecks the day.
Mike in Peru
Way down south in Arequipa, Peru till June 2020.