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Post by jlankford4 on Mar 18, 2019 20:59:32 GMT -5
Hey guys my neighbor was working up a load for his Christianson arms 6.5 creedmore. Wouldn’t call it a heavy barrel but a medium contour barrel. And well it blew up. Blew the barrel off, mushroomed the action cracked the stock. I’m puzzled as to the reason for it. The load he was working up was 42 grains of h4350 and a 140 grain bullet. He says he could have accidentally measured out 42 grains imr 4198 because it was also sitting beside the scales. But I still don’t think that would cause that beins that powder isn’t as hot as 4350. Possibly case head separation? He was using starline brass. I wouldn’t think it was the rifle itself. Just looking for a possible answer cause that was a very scary experience. We always look for pressure signs and go by load data minimum to medium charge and work our way up. He’s gonna be ok. He had some facial trauma and a shard went through his eye but he had surgery today and they think his eye will be ok as long as it doesn’t get infected.
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Post by joelmoney on Mar 18, 2019 21:25:42 GMT -5
This is a reach but was the previous projectile on paper? Had a friend cycle their handgun because the last round didn’t cycle next round blew barrel and slide.
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Post by jlankford4 on Mar 18, 2019 21:30:10 GMT -5
This is a reach but was the previous projectile on paper? Had a friend cycle their handgun because the last round didn’t cycle next round blew barrel and slide. yessir he had shot two previous rounds on paper. |
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Post by Hank on Mar 19, 2019 19:06:11 GMT -5
First thing when hand loading is to never have two can of powder on the loading bench at the same time. 4198 is a lot hotter than 4350 so that could possibly have been the reason the gun blew up.
4198 is # 73 on the burn rate chart and 4350 is # 115, so there is a lot of difference between the two.
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Post by deadeye on Mar 19, 2019 19:57:46 GMT -5
4350 is in the 56k range while 4198 would be in the 120k+range,even though the previous 2 were on paper it could be if (4198) was used it had bulged & weakened the barrel resulting #3 in a blown barrel.
glad he is still alive but the previous post about not having 2 powders or even bullets/components on a bench at the same time is a Big No-No
hope the best for a speedy & full recovery. |
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Post by hillbill on Mar 20, 2019 6:03:51 GMT -5
i'm betting he loaded 4198, pressure would be plenty to blow it up.
4350 would not do it with all you could possibly stuff into the case, blow a primer maybe but not blow it up.
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Post by elkman1310 on Mar 20, 2019 8:29:18 GMT -5
I would have to agree with loading the wrong powder. You can't get enough H4350 in that case to cause the gun to blow up. That said he could definitely blow primers and even lock the action up but not a failure like you describe.
Hey I am guilty of having several different powders out on my reloading bench at one time but I keep them on the shelf above my bench. Any powder I put in any of my powder measures gets marked with masking tape what powder is in the hopper at that time. I load a lot of Varget and H4350 mainly for a 6 mm Dasher and a 300 WSM. The Varget is for the Dasher and the H4350 for the 300WSM If I accidently loaded 62.5grs of Varget and a 210gr VLD in my 300 WSM instead of 62.5 grs of H4350 it would probably would be a bad day for me. You really have to pay attention when loading shells and also when loading your muzzleloader.
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Post by buckdoehunter on Mar 20, 2019 11:37:56 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear the shooter will be ok. I'm new to reloading and plan on doing more in the future, my question is, wouldn't the first two spent brass have shown signs of excess pressure?
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Post by deadeye on Mar 20, 2019 18:48:56 GMT -5
I'm glad to hear the shooter will be ok. I'm new to reloading and plan on doing more in the future, my question is, wouldn't the first two spent brass have shown signs of excess pressure? usually but not always imo- I do some wildcatting & recently w/ 6.5wsm my velocities cross referencing point towards a 77k,never a stiff bolt etc but w/ H20 case & in uncharted waters the approx. pressure is real even though symptons don't show up always on the brass case & primers etc................. |
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Post by elkman1310 on Mar 21, 2019 9:01:07 GMT -5
I use a 300 WSM for 1,000 competition I only use Norma cases. The Norma brass is pretty darn strong But it certainly wouldn't last very long if you tried to run it much over the 65K limit. Also if your using a Rem 700 action you will run into hard bolt lift and possibly locking the bolt up if you try to run much above 65k. A custom Bat action will take more pressure without showing much in the way of hard bolt lift.
Any cartridge that you reload for has a set limit. Measure the base of a new cartridge compare it to a once twice fired case and see how much it has expanded it takes two fires to get a accurate reading. if you have more than .003 expansion your running hot if the bolt makes a slight clicking sound when you reach the top of the bolt lift when you extract the fired case your at the max load. If your primers are crater and flatten or your primer pockets become really loose after one or two firings your above max.
Super hot loads never produce super accuracy at long distances. Find the best load that shoots the smallest consistent groups and make a drop chart for that load and things will be all good. I have killed a lot of big game animals well beyond 1,000 yards with several different calibers 6.5 caliber with a good 140gr long range bullet will kill out to 1,000 yards on deer size game. a 7mm with 168&180 gr bullets is good up to 1200 yards a big 30 cal using 210gr bullets runs out of steam at a max of 1500 yards the 338 with a 300gr bullet will kill game the size of elk all day long at 2,000 yards I have used them all. When you build a .338 that can push a 300gr bullet 3,100 fps you have a real long range gun nothing comes close.
For Ultra long range the 375 Chey-Tac seems to rule but it lacks a good copper jacketed hunting bullet the same goes for the big 50 Cal.
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Post by jlankford4 on Mar 26, 2019 6:10:18 GMT -5
First thing when hand loading is to never have two can of powder on the loading bench at the same time. 4198 is a lot hotter than 4350 so that could possibly have been the reason the gun blew up. 4198 is # 73 on the burn rate chart and 4350 is # 115, so there is a lot of difference between the two. yessir I agree totally and I’m sure he would too. Im sure everybody here is guilty of being careless or to comfortable at some point. But I can assure you it won’t happen around here again. It’s one of those things you hear about but never expect it to happen to you or someone you know. This sport doesn’t have a lot of room for carelessness. We was inspecting the barrel yesterday a little closer and there was indeed some unburned 4198 in the barrel. Thanks everyone. |
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Post by YankeeReb on Apr 19, 2019 8:42:22 GMT -5
I agree with others 42gr of 4198 would have blown it to hell and back. I keep my powders in a cabinet on the other side of my reloading room and only have the jug Im loading for out when reloading.
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