Ammo Lesson Learned

[LittleRed]

Just a post to share a lesson learned from personal experience.

Welcoming relief from high ammo prices, I recently acquired a few hundred rounds of reloaded .223 for free. My dad gave them to me since he doesn't even own anything that will shoot them. He bought them at a gun show sometime in the mid 80's in case he ever got anything that would shoot them.

The rounds were stored in a ammo can and none were corroded or showed any obvious signs of deterioration.

Shooting over a 150 rounds or so proved these to be somewhat dirty, slightly less accurate, and different smelling.

All was well and good until after a shot the bolt did not go into battery. A quick tap on the forward assist did nothing (well actually it probably made it worse unbeknownst to me at the time).

No good.

So if the round won't chamber, let's get it out of there! Pull back the charging handle? Nothing. The charging handle won't budge.

Now keep in mind I am at a public rifle range with more rules than the IRS. So that is as far as I go without alerting the range officer. He repeats the steps I just did. Nothing. He then proceeds with the "pull the charging handle, slam the buttstock on the ground" drill. Nothing.

Oh yeah, this is a LIVE ROUND mostly in the chamber.

A few more attempts, pliers, and some slight scarring of my pristine AR, the bolt release. Actually it ripped off part of the case rim. Still have live round in the chamber, mostly.

By this time, there are three range officers and a mix of other experts watching as cleaning rods were inserted to tap out the lodged cartridge. Nothing.

Time to pack up and go home. Went to two gun shops. One only offered advice, most of which had already been followed. The other tried a few things then recommended a machine shop. At this point I am seeing dollar signs and the purchase of a new barrel.

About a week later I got my upper back cartridge gone. The machinist had to use a drill press to drill and thin the brass case so it could be pulled out. The primer was dead by this time as the bullet had been pushed back into the case and the whole thing flooded with oil.

So what happened?

Apparently, the first round fired, split the head, and the next round chambered into the heated headless case, so I ended up with a "broken shell double-feed".

Day at the range: $9
Cost for machinist to fix problem: $100.70
Learning not to use ammo from an unknown source: Priceless

I hope someone else can learn from my mistake  

[Pathfinder]

All's well and all that. At least you were safe, as were the idiot RSOs (see thread about guy blowing his hand off with a .50BMG round/hammer).

And from known sources isn't always that safe. I bought 2 boxes of .44-40 commercial brand (nameless for a reason to be disclosed) to shoot out of a Navy Arms lever action I had. Went to a "modern" cowboy shoot in Bristol WI. My turn comes, I load up 9 rounds as instructed. Timer goes off, I rack the lever - most of the way. Stops cold about 1" from the stock. Will not open, will not close.

I am out of the competition.

1 RSO and 1 gunsmith later, plus about 30 minutes, and they return from the safety hut with my rifle, lever wide open. Cause? Some moron at the big box sporting goods store in Schaumburg, IL had swapped a .44-40 cartridge with a .44 MAGNUM! If I had chambered it, it probably would have blown up the gun. Luckily it stopped part way in.

As near as we can figure, the people in the store were comparing the 2 rounds' sizes, and mixed them up. It just happened to be the 9th cartridge loaded from the new box and therefore the first round to try to be chambered.

[ericire12]

Alteast you were not under fire at the time

[fightingquaker13]

Bugout bag content review:
AR: check
mgs and ammo: check.
patch material and oil bottle: check
multi-tool: check
drill press and lots of extension cord: DOH!
FQ13

[twyacht]

This might have helped:

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/SearchResults.aspx?catid=1512&site=All+Products&num=10&q=shell+extractor

Glad you didn't have a squib that could have been dangerous.

Still questioning the "slamming" buttstock on the ground thingy...

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

This might have helped:

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/SearchResults.aspx?catid=1512&site=All+Products&num=10&q=shell+extractor

Glad you didn't have a squib that could have been dangerous.

Still questioning the "slamming" buttstock on the ground thingy...

I hope he took his Glock out of his sweat pants before doing this. I mean under fire? Hell yeah I'd try it, but at the range when yoou could see a gunsmith on Monday?
FQ13 who is mentally projecting a Gibb's style head slap at the guy. I mean seriously, what if it had gone off? I fired a bullet in the air. Where it landeth.....

[twyacht]

I hope he took his Glock out of his sweat pants before doing this. I mean under fire? Hell yeah I'd try it, but at the range when yoou could see a gunsmith on Monday?
FQ13 who is mentally projecting a Gibb's style head slap at the guy. I mean seriously, what if it had gone off? I fired a bullet in the air. Where it landeth.....

Landeth abundeth Darwinabus Candiditus......

[m25operator]

Very noteworthy Red, can happen to anybody.

As to the butt stock slam, it is the 1st method any smith would do, but not on the concrete, unless you were under fire or something like that, I prefer a padded work bench, shooting bench will do with a phone book for a cushion, as I want the muzzle above my head and face and those around me, the object is to put pressure on the charging handle, bolt, pump forend etc... and slam the butt to get extra leverage and inertia, because until the bolt and cartridge are separated, bad things can happen, and no one has access to the rim of the cartridge, until the bolt is out of the way. Semi auto handguns, the idea is the same, but normally done horizontal to begin with, muzzle downrange, weak hand firmly on the slide about midships, and use your strong hand to jolt the frame, like you were going for the gold medal, against the gripframe, if on the handgun that does not work, and we know it is a live round, in most cases, remove the mainspring, to take any potential pressure that might work to the hammers advantage. Once the bolt is out of the way, you can try to hammer out the cartridge with a range rod, but usually does not work, because, your hammering against a bullet, = soft, and the powder charge = softer, pouring penetrant to disable the powder and primer is my next  move and wait, now you can also pour water = does not compress, into the barrel, not too much, and then use a range rod with a patch around it to get a good seal, and see what happens. Sometimes extreme measures are needed, and you want the cartridge to be inert when tried, I have had to drill through a live primer ( prayed made inert by the penetrating oil ) and use a tap to thread the flash hole, and the use a bolt to screw through the hole to pull it out, kind of like, disabling an explosive, but without wires or batteries.

[tombogan03884]

I learned from your mistake.
I ordered a broken shell extractor today from CTD for $7.97

[ratcatcher55]

This might have helped:

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/SearchResults.aspx?catid=1512&site=All+Products&num=10&q=shell+extractor

Glad you didn't have a squib that could have been dangerous.

Still questioning the "slamming" buttstock on the ground thingy...

A very firm rap on the ground tends to work in most cases.  I have had to pry them out with a Leatherman tool on occasion.
Shell extractors work well.

Never had to do any of those thing under fire thank you.