Here's one for you....

[LibertyOptics]

Just got this email today...

"<span style="font-style: italic">Long story short I have a 270 ruger m77 that had a 308 cartridge fired through it. The bullet did exit the barrel, but we had to use a rubber hammer to get the bolt open. I took it to a gunsmith and everything looks okay, but he and another smith said they would recommend not using the gun anymore. They mentioned magnaflux testing, but then went the no-use route. Any thoughts on the usefulness of the gun? It was a borrowed gun so I already ordered a new one, but thought about keeping the other for myself</span>."

I have no idea how this happened. How did the bolt close? How did the gun not blow up? What do you think, hang this one over the mantle?

Scott

 

[LoneWolfUSMC]

Re: Here's one for you....

Wow!

I would hang it on the wall as a reminder that stupid hurts.

The .270 is a long action cartridge. It's quite possible for the .308 to chamber and IIRC since the M77 is a controlled feed the extractor would keep the case head against the bolt face.

 

[jrob300]

Re: Here's one for you....

My guess is that because the COAL of the 308 Win is quite a bit shorter than the 270 Win, the nose of the .30 cal bullet will insert for a ways into the neck of the 270 chamber, but at .308, I think it's too big to go in all the way, so it either fit or was pushed back in the case a little upon bolt close (how hard was THAT?)

The guy is lucky the chamber did not explode.

*I* wouldn't use the rifle again. Not even rebarreled as the chamber probably stretched enough to affect the action threads.

.02

John

 

[SDWhirlwind]

Re: Here's one for you....

An old gunsmith in a small town west of here had built a custom 25-06 on a Mauser 98 for a customer. That customer lent it to a friend to hunt antelope. His hunting partner was shooting a 308. Guy shooting the 25-06 wounded an antelope, was out of ammo and mistakenly grabbed a 308 round.

He chambered and fired ONE round only!!!! The 30 cal bullet exited the 25 cal barrel but had about 8 bulge spots, blew the stock into numerous pieces. Couldn't find extractor but the little 'collar' or whatever it is called had 1 end missing and was straight as a stick.lol Action was intact but lugs were set back roughly .150. Only thing really useable from the mess was the 2 guard screws. The case was mostly intact except a really really large primer pocket and no longer round. Just a small curl at end of case where the 25-06 shoulder started,kinda like a crimp on a revolver round.

Shooter had a couple scratches from flying debris, a bit of powder burn, a bruised ego, a tendency to flinch for a while and a bill for a new rifle to his buddy.

Seen a pic in Rifleman mag yrs back where a dude mistakenly inserted and shot a 250 Savage round in a nice pre 64 243. Depreciated the pre64 down to where anybody could afford it.

As the Ruger receivers are investment cast I would think it would be the worst case as far as serviceabl. Bet it is scretched and if magnufluxed has some cracks etc. Just a guess though, who knows???

 

[ORD]

Re: Here's one for you....

+1.

The 270Win case is based on .30-03 Springfield from which the 30-06 is also based, but with a shorter neck (all are long action cartridges). You can chamber a 308 round into an 30-06 (if you are stupid), so chambering one into a 270 isn't a stretch of the imagination (again...particularly if you are STUPID).

As for not blowing the rifle...that is surprising.

Scott, I think you should respond back to the guy and inform him that he should report for immediate sterilization at which time he should also surrender all firearms in his possession!

 

[LibertyOptics]

Re: Here's one for you....

That's it, the CRF kept the case head against the bolt face, that's how it would go bang. That's the detail I overlooked.

Sounds like the Ruger is a strong action, but I'd be afraid to play with the gun again.

 

[LibertyOptics]

Re: Here's one for you....

Guys, LOL, good stuff. I'll tell him I'd hang the gun over the mantle.

 

[jeo556]

Re: Here's one for you....

I can't lie. On one occasion while shooting a AK variant in
7.62x39mm I accidentally shot a 5.56x45mm out of her. The projectile being smaller it wasn't too much of a problem. The rifle actually cycled but you could tell something was wrong. Now I have a 5.56 case fireformed to a 7.62 chamber as a reminder to pay attention when shooting.

 

[Strickland]

Re: Here's one for you....

I know a guy who has, one a couple of occasions, grabbed ammo from the wrong box and shot 260's through a 308. He realized what he did when there wasn't much recoil!

 

[Dick D]

Re: Here's one for you....

Well,I personally once ended up way out in the middle of nowhere on the first day of the deer hunt with my .308 deer rifle and a box of 7mm-08 handloads for my silhouette rifle of the time. Facing a two hour drive each way to get a proper box of ammo I thought "what the hell", set up a target on a stump at 50 yards and fired a round. It hit about 4" off the X with minor recoil. Two more shots gave me a 3-shot group that was minute of deer with bullet holes that were a bit oblong instead of round so I went hunting with it. Killed a deer with it at about 70 yrds that evening, but never again.

 

[Ebby]

Re: Here's one for you....

I wouldn't use it again for sure. Dick, yours worked because it was the same case, action length and just a barrel that was larger diameter. Can't really go the other way.
Lee

 

[Luvman]

Re: Here's one for you....

I was at a local range shooting. A guy a few tables down was shooting a Weatherby vanguard in .300(might have been .338) weatherby mag. when he got done shooting for the day he policed his brass to take home to reload. The necks of his brass were split. he couldn't figure out why so he asked the RO. I overheard this and asked to see.

He had been shooting win mag in a weatherby mag. the shoulders were blown out to the weatherby chamber (the radius gave it away) and the neck was almost gone. I asked about his groups with the win mag ammo. he showed me his target. worst one was a little over MOA. he said that one was with the ammo he brought with him which was weatherby mag ammo. the win mag ammo he bought at the range actually grouped a little better.

 

[XL Mammal]

Re: Here's one for you....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: SDWhirlwind</div><div class="ubbcode-body">An old gunsmith in a small town west of here had built a custom 25-06 on a Mauser 98 for a customer. That customer lent it to a friend to hunt antelope. His hunting partner was shooting a 308. Guy shooting the 25-06 wounded an antelope, was out of ammo and mistakenly grabbed a 308 round. </div></div>

Had a buddy do the same thing. The bullet exited but they had to take it to a gunsmith to get the brass out. The gunsmith said, amazingly, there was no damage. Not sure if I'd want to shoot it again, though.

 

[meestermurphy]

Re: Here's one for you....

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Jeo556</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I can't lie. On one occasion while shooting a AK variant in
7.62x39mm I accidentally shot a 5.56x45mm out of her. The projectile being smaller it wasn't too much of a problem. The rifle actually cycled but you could tell something was wrong. Now I have a 5.56 case fireformed to a 7.62 chamber as a reminder to pay attention when shooting. </div></div>

I did a similar thing, but fired a 5.45x39 out of a 7.62x39 AK. Weird puff of smoke came out of the action, and it didn't eject.

 

[chpprguy]

Re: Here's one for you....

I have to disagree.....
if the bolt/lugs/action look/measure good,
I would rebarrel it....

It's a beefy action....
I'd throw go/no-go/field gauges in it, as-is... just to see.....

 

[Kells81]

Re: Here's one for you....

Would be interesting to get a full guage on the headspace now to see if it changed. Its not often something like this happens and it should be studied pretty well. It would be RELA interesting if its possible to figure out what kinda pressure was present.

 

[MajKong]

Re: Here's one for you....

I have to disagree.....
if the bolt/lugs/action look/measure good,
I would rebarrel it....

I agree. If the M77 is as rugged as my Security-Six, GP100, Redhawk, and Mini-14, then I wouldn't even worry about it.

 

[Da-Law-Dawg]

Re: Here's one for you....

I personally saw the aftermath of a very similar incident. While visiting a gunsmith, he showed me a Ruger on .25/06 that a .308 punched through it. The Ruger action performed as engineered.

Albeit, it bowed the sides of the receiver, it stayed together. It split the stock and the exiting gas vented through the bolt and out through the mag blowing the floorplate open. The bullet did evac out the bore.

After talking with the 'smith, he told me who the shooter was. After speaking with the guy, he stated he picked the .308 up by accident. The round loaded from the mag and chambered fine according to the shooter. He went on to state, upon yoking the trigger, he thought a young mule had kicked him 'tween the eyes.

Afterwards, he stated that it took him "a while" to figure out what had come off when he pulled the trigger and why his rifle was $hit up.

Needless to say, he double checks his ammo after that episode.

 

[Beepy]

Re: Here's one for you....

Wanna talk about a beefy action... my brother ran a 7mm mag down a Mosin Nagant by accident. Had to beat like hell on the bolt to get it open..... That mosin kept running (albeit with correct ammo) without any problems for years afterward. I'm hoping that now he's married with several kids, his 'common sense' meter has improved a bit...

 

[threewood]

Re: Here's one for you....

Luckily the shooter was not injured.

I found a 7mm rm case in a lot of 300 wm once fired brass I bought a few years ago. It was fire formed to the 300 wm chamber, looked fine except for the fact that the neck was almost non-existant.

 

[john2000]

Re: Here's one for you....

Where I come from, some oldtimers have been known to deliberately shoot .308 from 30-06 M98 rifles to save a few when practicing for hunting season...resulting in a round commonly known around these parts as caliber .308-Idiot...
This has been witnessed at the local range during the annual preparations in the fall...
New record in freeflight?

John - out

 

[gstaylorg]

Re: Here's one for you....

Can you get CCI "shot shells" in .270? Could maybe still use it as a scattergun.

 

[LibertyOptics]

Re: Here's one for you....

Thanks for the feedback, fellas. The party involved read this thread and is going to play it safe. He said "tell the crew thanks for the advice".

You guys rock, the good members here make this place what it is.

Scott

 

[debubba]

Re: Here's one for you....

A few years ago I got got a can of what I thought was AA 3100,loaded up 50 of my favorite hunting loads for my .270 MK II.It turned out to be misslabled pistol powder.The first round I touched off went kaboom instead of bang.The bolt was a mess,the extractor band was a curlycue sticking up.The floor plate bowed out so far that it would not latch,and I believe that if it had been wooden stocked.It would have been blown apart.The strength of that action saved me from being injured more than I was.Any rifle that has seen such abuse should,in my opinion,not be rebarreld.

 

[mexicanmatch]

Re: Here's one for you....

Some time one of the locals took a 10 ga and 12 ga apart and put the 10 ga works in the 12 ga. Said he wanted to shoot further. Went duck hunting and pulled down on one when the whole world came and smacked him in the face. Damage- Barrel split from chamber up abt 18 inches, receiver had many cracks in it, it was a single barrel h+r never found the fore end and stock was in many many peaces. Broke ken left wrist, part of stock in right shoulder right side of face all messes up,black eye and hearing was gone. Think you enough dynamite Butch.