Real answer, this is the first rifle I have assembled from parts. I would prefer not to have my face blown off.
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Gunsmithing Not blowing your face off testing a rifle.
- Thread starter Jscb1b
- Start date
- Nov 3, 2010
- 9,704
- 20,406
She married me for my looks. I don't have any money.@Jscb1b - honestly bro, losing 1/2 of your face might make your wife happier.
Now, if you lost the ability to talk too!!!!
No opinions on the test firing.
Just wanna show you how much I like you!!
She got hosed.
Best wishes.
Lookin forward to the update that all is well and the thing is a hammer!
It wasn't for my dick either, so much for the getting hosed.She got hosed.
Best wishes.
Lookin forward to the update that all is well and the thing is a hammer!
Agree with most. Only time I did a fear proof was a Lithgow SMLE III* I found as a box of rusty parts and refinished, put together myself. Long before the internet etc so I did it with random mechanical knowhow, not actual info. Bungee to tire, align to backstop, cord to trigger. I know of failure modes, so did IIRC 3 rounds. Not 1 though.
And I never got the "qualified gunsmith" one for these. They don't have x-ray and MPI and eddy testers so are hardly better than my eyeballs at that point.
For modern materials, new or in clearly lightly used condition, designed to be mated together, firing proven factory ammo, etc. etc. Never a moment's hesitation regarding safety like that.
Oh, and I guess a handful of guns I haven't even tried to test fire, discouraged others from also. Old, fire damaged, visible crack in odd place, etc. Discard the part (barrel, bolt) or make it all a wall hangar and at least lightly disabled to help future generations not blow themselves up either.
And I never got the "qualified gunsmith" one for these. They don't have x-ray and MPI and eddy testers so are hardly better than my eyeballs at that point.
For modern materials, new or in clearly lightly used condition, designed to be mated together, firing proven factory ammo, etc. etc. Never a moment's hesitation regarding safety like that.
Oh, and I guess a handful of guns I haven't even tried to test fire, discouraged others from also. Old, fire damaged, visible crack in odd place, etc. Discard the part (barrel, bolt) or make it all a wall hangar and at least lightly disabled to help future generations not blow themselves up either.
Jeez Louise, instead of wasting your time with all the replies you posted you could of built a half ass fixture and been done already.
But nooooo.
You need to watch the 50 BMG blow up video, that will inspire confidence and help you get through your fear.
But nooooo.
You need to watch the 50 BMG blow up video, that will inspire confidence and help you get through your fear.
It's not a trivial concern I can promise you that. This goes back around 8 or so years ago.
The Perfect Storm:
PRS gun for a client that happened to kill his barrel right at the season opener. He "reds" the gun to me and we hang a new stick on it. No big deal. The barreled action goes together before ceracoat so we can send one through it just to be sure. One guy barrels it, goes to lunch. Another runs a patch through it quick and tells me its ready to fire. I toss a round in it and send it.
Smile, wait for flash.
This was an older Bighorn action. The bolt body shot out the back of the thing, shearing the handle off at the Tig weld joint. The bolt head and breech block stayed in the receiver. The cocking piece sheared off at the cheek piece causing the bolt to rotate skyward. After it shattered my Orbital socket and tore my retina it continued upward and blasted a perfect silhouette through my ceiling almost 20' away. The shroud ricochets off of the cheekpiece and puts a fist-size hole through a pelican case behind me on the floor. Small parts scattered across the shop and killed 2 fluorescent lights.
Then the fun starts. I go to the ER because blood is filling up my eyeball. (imagine looking through an aquarium as you fill it and seeing a red line form. That was weird) The nurse hears "gun" and immediately the coppers show up. Explaining this as an industrial accident vs a "gun incident" turns into a YouTube video but eventually cooler heads prevail.
How it happened:
The jag came off the cleaning rod and I didn't take a peek down the hole prior to sending that first round. It was all best intentions so I had a hard time holding anyone (other than myself) to the fire over it. Just glad it was me and not a staff member. Needless to say, I have a strict policy now. "You rig it, you ride it." Simply to mean its one set of hands handling all of this now. You throw enough people at a problem and someone will get hurt eventually.
I called AJ at Bighorn and talked to him about it. If anyone who owns a BH action you may remember a recall going out about the pin that captures the bolt head. That is what ultimately failed. It sheared and the pressure basically turned the bolt body into a piston. -Squirting it out the back of the receiver. One-piece bolt bodies/handles soon followed. (Experience is never cheap) The replacement pins had a small circle machined on one end of em. You can thank my face for that, lol.
OP:
If this were me I'd vise the barreled action by the barrel and put a string on the trigger. We do this with certified proof loads for some of the R/D work we do for OEM's.
Be careful. The pressures are not trivial.
-FWIW. We hung a new stick on it and it went a few days later once AJ had us the parts. -Client still made his match.
Good luck.
C.
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@LongRifles Inc. - just how many of the 9 lives have you used? 
Appreciate you weighing in. Hope you are doing well!
I remember a couple stories several years back you told from your time training Iraqis. Seems that was the kinda work that uses about 2 a day just to stay alive.....
Appreciate you weighing in. Hope you are doing well!I remember a couple stories several years back you told from your time training Iraqis. Seems that was the kinda work that uses about 2 a day just to stay alive.....
Someone's been watching Kentucky Ballistics' videos... Just don't try to use .50 BMG SLAP rounds with a muzzle brake and you'll be alright.
Sure you don’t mean 300 H&H in 300 Weatherby chambers? 300 Win Mag is almost 0.2 inches shorter than the H&H. Assuming you could force the H&H to chamber, part of the brass would be forced into the rifling.
Yep. I’m sure.
Sure you don’t mean 300 H&H in 300 Weatherby chambers? 300 Win Mag is almost 0.2 inches shorter than the H&H. Assuming you could force the H&H to chamber, part of the brass would be forced into the rifling.
Sure you don’t mean 300 H&H in 300 Weatherby chambers? 300 Win Mag is almost 0.2 inches shorter than the H&H. Assuming you could force the H&H to chamber, part of the brass would be forced into the rifling.
I’m with Larryh128. We used to built safari caliber rifles on old Mauser 98 actions. We hand loaded proof loads , strapped to an old tire. Attached a long string to the trigger and got way back. Worked perfectly. Afterwards you check the action for damage and recheck headspace.
You should try a factory HH in a 300 win mag chamber sometime, let us know what you needed to get the bolt to close.
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A good ten pound sledge should do the trick, assuming one is in good enough shape to swing it properly and the rifle is sufficiently held by a good vice to withstand the effort necessary. (Might want to remove the scope if already mounted. Glass based, aluminum framed optics just don’t appreciate or do well when struck by a sledge at full song but which missed the intended target)
I built a flintlock rifle once and proofed it by loading twice the powder and ball. Then tied it to a tire and some string…worked fine. Did the same with a brown Bess I got.
It's been a long week...but I ain't getting the picture.
Bolt in battery, lugs locked against abutments.
Jag left in the bore, I'm guessing it didn't exit the muzzle followed by the bullet?
Pressure was such that the bolt let go before the barrel banana'd?
I don't understand how the bolthead/lugs remain intact and in battery- and escaping gas shears a retaining pin "piston" the bolt body down the raceway. Absent a failure of lugs or abutments, how can this happen?
^^^^^^^^I read it as……The bolt body and firing pin etc came backwards..the locking lugs held and the bolt head stayed put leaving the bolt head in the chamber area( kinda like a savage bolt assyJ..kinda like a brass cartridge ripping off at the bottom of the neck and the rest of the case being pulled out when unlocking and extraction….seems like the receiver would be scrapped too.
Obviously factory brass needs trimmed to chamber…. I thought that was comm…. NVM.
Yes you are right. Don’t load factor 300 Bn imma 300 win. The bolt not closing would be the first hint…..
Obviously factory brass needs trimmed to chamber…. I thought that was comm…. NVM.
Yes you are both right. Don’t load factor 300 HH ammunition into a 300 win. The bolt not closing would be the first hint…..
It was relevant to the 60-70 percent charge being sufficient to “proof” the gun….
Didn’t mean to attract all the reloading “gotcha” wizards here to go read in their manuals to prove someone wrong….
I love 2021
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