September 19th 2023Bad things can happen if you don’t match the ammo with your chamber. BigBlack, a Forum member, had an experience on the gun range a while back that reminded us of the importance to be safe when shooting. He found evidence that someone had used the wrong cartridge for a 7mm WSM. This problem is more common that you might think. This Editor has seen first-timers try to fire 9mm ammo into 40 S&W pistols. BigBlack’s tale is similar, but the results were more dramatic. It’s too much of a shame that a knowledgeable shooter wasn’t nearby to “intervene”, before this fellow chambered incorrect ammo.BigBlack writes: I know this has been played a thousand time but I feel that we can never be sufficiently reminded about safety. This weekend, I found a ruptured casing on the ground. I thought it was a hot case, but the neck area pleaded for me to look closer. I took the exploded case home and searched through my old cases to find a match. My investigation revealed that someone had used a 7mm WSM in a case of 7mm-08. Look at the photo. In the photo above, I have assembled a 7mm WSM (top), a ruptured case in the middle (middle), a 7mm 08 (bottom). “The photo shows what happened to the 7mm08 case. The shoulder moved forward in order to match the profile of the 7mm WSM. The case sidewalls expanded outward into the 7mm WSM chamber, until they were unable to contain the charge. The case sides then ruptured. This type of blow-out can be dangerous because the expanding gases may not be contained completely within the action. Think Again.
This type of mistake, chambering the incorrect cartridge, can happen to any gunner who is distracted, places even one wrong round in an ammunition box, or has two types on the bench. Recently, one of our Forum members was comparing two different rifles and picked up the wrong round from the bench. He fired a round of.30-06 in a chamber for.300 Win mag and the case blew. Here is his story. “I took my two hunting rifles, which I haven’t used in over 25 years, to the range yesterday for new scopes. A.30-06 ad a.300 Win Mag. I had four boxes (two of each cartridge) of old Winchester factory ammunition. They were nearly identical. I accidentally chambered the.30-06 round into the Sako.300 win mag rifle. It sprayed powder all over my face and cracked the stock near the pistol grip. If I hadn’t been wearing safety sunglasses, I could have gone blind.
Wear protective eyewear EVERY TIME you shoot. “I am grateful to be alive and I feel lucky. My face is a little funny, but that’s all. I am grateful to have learned a valuable lesson. I will never again put two different cartridges in the same place at the same time.” READ more about this incident in the Shooters’ Forum.Similar posts:Tags: 7mm08 ammo confusion, Eye Protection (Eye Protection), Reloading, safety.WSM
