Anybody have a rifle malfunction that made them say what!

[memtb]

The most important rule. My FAther's 300 Wby Mk 5 fired as he was cycling the bolt - twice. That old habit of muzzle awareness prevented something much worse than a scare.

A friend of mine killed a friend's Chevy truck "twice" with a Model 70 Winchester in .338 WM. fired from inside the cab. Not recommended, especially with a late '60's with a nearly all metal cab interior.

The trigger had been adjusted, apparently the "jam nut" was not sufficiently "jammed"! A note here: I always "jam" and Locktite mine after adjusting.

He chambered a round, the rifle fired. He was so "freaked-out", he quickly ejected the empty brass, and slammed home another round….an instant replay of the previous event.

One of the 210 Nosler Partions went through the frame rail taking out the brake line. The other went through the bell housing, taking out the pressure plate! The friend was not impressed with his truck being damaged, and…….the friend's wife, who was also in the cab was not impressed either.

I don't know if either of them completely regained their hearing! memtb

 

[memtb]

Not my malfunction, but SOMEBODY! 1816/1822 Musket

I bought this as a piece of History and the story that went with it. I paid $175 shipped and worth it to me! Call me a hopeless romantic. It hangs in my living room with the story attached.

From what I've researched, this is a Model 1816 I doubt the hammer is original to the conversion, as it seems homemade. Somebody made a Shotgun out of this gun and used it up. The stock is badly cracked and repaired with nails, a testament to the will somebody had to keep this thing together, and hopefully they got good use out it. This is a neat relic of American History. Probably converted by hand either in this person's own shop, or by a local smith. Beaten to absolute hell and back and repaired to keep it functional. Probably so they could harvest wild game so their family could eat. This is a gun of necessity. Not some safe-queen like so many of us have today, with our multiple firearms. It must have been a one-gun for a frontier family.

Something they probably cursed because it "never worked quite right", but that they relied on to keep their family safe and fed. Maybe nailed it back together because they had a misfire on a big fat racoon and swung it against a tree in frustration because they couldn't feed their family that night. This is pure American ingenuity and "get stuff done with what you got" spirit at it's finest. Call me a hopeless romantic, but this is the most beautiful rifle I've seen.

Looks like a shooter! memtb

 

[memtb]

Well that would be spooky. I'm glad you and the rifle were ultimately okay. I like your theory of something making a 'home' in the barrel. Another thought would be if you were reloading something else before the .223 Rem, and some of that powder got left behind (just a little bit of it would be enough if it were a pistol powder) and that very first .223 round you threw powder for got a 'duplex' load of sorts. Obviously I don't know what happened; I'm just tossing out another possibility. All the other rounds you pulled would look normal and measure out correctly in a case like that. Guns and ammo intrigue me; so many variables involved.

The only other thing that I had been previously loading was 300 grain Sierra's for my .375 H&H. Talk about a transition…..I had difficulty picking up those 55 grain .223's after loading those 300's.

I really don't think that there was any residual powder left in the dispenser. I'm "super cheap" and am meticulous about getting the hopper completely empty at the completion of loading!

As I said……it was many years ago and still has me perplexed! memtb

 

[memtb]

A friend of mine killed a friend's Chevy truck "twice" with a Model 70 Winchester in .338 WM. fired from inside the cab. Not recommended, especially with a late '60's with a nearly all metal cab interior.

The trigger had been adjusted, apparently the "jam nut" was not sufficiently "jammed"! A note here: I always "jam" and Locktite mine after adjusting.

He chambered a round, the rifle fired. He was so "freaked-out", he quickly ejected the empty brass, and slammed home another round….an instant replay of the previous event.

One of the 210 Nosler Partions went through the frame rail taking out the brake line. The other went through the bell housing, taking out the pressure plate! The friend was not impressed with his truck being damaged, and…….the friend's wife, who was also in the cab was not impressed either.

I don't know if either of them completely regained their hearing! memtb

I owe everyone an apology for having to endure this story again!

I knew that it's been told before, but not on this forum……especially earlier in this thread! memtb

 

[milo-2]

I had the cocking lugs, or one of them on the bottom of a Rem 700 bolt break. Locked it up tight. Luckily I was shooting on a gunsmiths range and he had it fixed within the hour.

Another time, same range, the smiths grandson was shooting my Henry Big Boy Steel 357, when the bronze feeding tube plunger fell out. It wasn't turned and locked in. I stood the rifle upright to reinstall the tube, and when I went to rack a rd, lever locked up, somehow. Smith took the lever out, back to work, if I had been all alone, prob would have gotten a hammer out, lol
Wasn't long after this, I tried to run 38 spec loads in the thing, 110gr seated to 38 spec lengths, no go.