Yesterday I went to the range with a friend to do some shooting. I took my 41 Redhawk and he took his new S&W M29 44.
I also took my S&W M1500 7mm RM (Howa action) to fire some old loads I was shooting out of my Ruger M77 which is out of action at the present. The cartridges were max loads seated to fit just off the lands of the M77 and whem chambered into the M1500, they jammed into the lands about .05 I decided to reseat the bullets about .075 deeper to avoid any pressure issues, which I did. While pulling the handle down, it felt like it was camming over which I didn't think anything of. I did this with three different loads, Nosler 160 Partitions, Nosler 175 Partitons and Nosler 150 BT's.
Well, we get out to the range and I start with the 175's to see how they group. The intent being to check out the accuracy of this rifle as my back up for spring bear season. Some of the 175's seem to be chamber ing a little difficult but ididn't pay much attention to it. I got fairly good results, sub MOA for 3 shots and opened up a little after. Then I tried the 150 BT's just for grins and not a hunting load. I could not get them to chamber and thought what is going on here??? My friend looked over the rifle and cylced the bolt with no cartridge a couple of times and tried to feel for an obstruction in the chamber. Then I looked at the cartridges. Yep, the cases had wrinkled in the shoulder just below the junction of the neck. I then checked the 160's and they looked OK except for a slight buldge in the neck (the necks were turned on all these cases) just below the mouth rim. I tried chambering one and it went in. But not smoothly. I felt safe firing it, so I did along with two more. They fired a 1" almost verticle group.
These rounds were anywhere fom 14 - 10 years old. the different bullets were loaded using differen brass - Win, Rem and Fed. Oddly enough the Fed cases (the 175's) showed the least deformation with just a slight bulge in the neck, followed by the Rem's with a slightbulge in the neck and a slight wrinkle buldge in the case wall where it meets the shoulder. The Win's wrinkled badly in the shoulder just below the neck.
Anyway, the next time I will be much more careful about reseating bullets (if I ever do again), to examine each one very closely. I probably could have used a kinetic bullet puller to the loosen the bullets from the neck first. And no, they were not crimmped.
Thought I would pass along.
-Mark
I also took my S&W M1500 7mm RM (Howa action) to fire some old loads I was shooting out of my Ruger M77 which is out of action at the present. The cartridges were max loads seated to fit just off the lands of the M77 and whem chambered into the M1500, they jammed into the lands about .05 I decided to reseat the bullets about .075 deeper to avoid any pressure issues, which I did. While pulling the handle down, it felt like it was camming over which I didn't think anything of. I did this with three different loads, Nosler 160 Partitions, Nosler 175 Partitons and Nosler 150 BT's.
Well, we get out to the range and I start with the 175's to see how they group. The intent being to check out the accuracy of this rifle as my back up for spring bear season. Some of the 175's seem to be chamber ing a little difficult but ididn't pay much attention to it. I got fairly good results, sub MOA for 3 shots and opened up a little after. Then I tried the 150 BT's just for grins and not a hunting load. I could not get them to chamber and thought what is going on here??? My friend looked over the rifle and cylced the bolt with no cartridge a couple of times and tried to feel for an obstruction in the chamber. Then I looked at the cartridges. Yep, the cases had wrinkled in the shoulder just below the junction of the neck. I then checked the 160's and they looked OK except for a slight buldge in the neck (the necks were turned on all these cases) just below the mouth rim. I tried chambering one and it went in. But not smoothly. I felt safe firing it, so I did along with two more. They fired a 1" almost verticle group.
These rounds were anywhere fom 14 - 10 years old. the different bullets were loaded using differen brass - Win, Rem and Fed. Oddly enough the Fed cases (the 175's) showed the least deformation with just a slight bulge in the neck, followed by the Rem's with a slightbulge in the neck and a slight wrinkle buldge in the case wall where it meets the shoulder. The Win's wrinkled badly in the shoulder just below the neck.
Anyway, the next time I will be much more careful about reseating bullets (if I ever do again), to examine each one very closely. I probably could have used a kinetic bullet puller to the loosen the bullets from the neck first. And no, they were not crimmped.
Thought I would pass along.
-Mark
Comment