The recent post about double-charged ammo in a handgun reminded me of this incident:
This guy I know called me up one day about a year ago and asked if I wanted a box of miscellaneous ammo...that he was cleaning out his shop. "Uh...sure...why not?", I replied.
Well, it turns out a lot of that ammo was hundreds of his old reloads...maybe 300 rounds. Looking at some of his ammo I could tell right away he was not very good at it: dented brass, poorly seated bullets, mashed primers, etc. (some people should just leave loading to others...and I think he's one of them)
Then I spied this 300 Win Mag case in the box. He said it was from his rifle, that it just "went BANG!", and the bolt froze...couldn't get the action open, so he took it back home. Somehow he got the case extracted, and here's what it looks like:


Sorry, no pic of the rifle...he said he didn't have it anymore...
This is the very worst "blown primer" example I have ever seen, in any caliber. I don't know what he did, but I suspect he put the wrong powder in, like maybe H4895, instead of H4831.
Well, he had several hundred of his loads in the box, in every conceivable caliber. When I got them home I dismantled ALL OF THEM, threw the powder out, and salvaged only the bullets, and a handful of brass that he hadn't somehow managed to screw up. Some of them had cast bullets that had NO lube on them at all...zilch...nada...zip. Just fresh out of the mould and into the case...
A word to the wise: be careful of whose handloads you use and trust! If you're not absolutely sure, I'd dismantle them...don't use ANY of the powder...toss it!
Marshall/Ak
This guy I know called me up one day about a year ago and asked if I wanted a box of miscellaneous ammo...that he was cleaning out his shop. "Uh...sure...why not?", I replied.
Well, it turns out a lot of that ammo was hundreds of his old reloads...maybe 300 rounds. Looking at some of his ammo I could tell right away he was not very good at it: dented brass, poorly seated bullets, mashed primers, etc. (some people should just leave loading to others...and I think he's one of them)
Then I spied this 300 Win Mag case in the box. He said it was from his rifle, that it just "went BANG!", and the bolt froze...couldn't get the action open, so he took it back home. Somehow he got the case extracted, and here's what it looks like:


Sorry, no pic of the rifle...he said he didn't have it anymore...
This is the very worst "blown primer" example I have ever seen, in any caliber. I don't know what he did, but I suspect he put the wrong powder in, like maybe H4895, instead of H4831.
Well, he had several hundred of his loads in the box, in every conceivable caliber. When I got them home I dismantled ALL OF THEM, threw the powder out, and salvaged only the bullets, and a handful of brass that he hadn't somehow managed to screw up. Some of them had cast bullets that had NO lube on them at all...zilch...nada...zip. Just fresh out of the mould and into the case...

A word to the wise: be careful of whose handloads you use and trust! If you're not absolutely sure, I'd dismantle them...don't use ANY of the powder...toss it!
Marshall/Ak
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