How to blowup your rifle

[elkaholic]

I had rums for several years and also wold agree that the powder charge itself would not have been the problem.

 

[Marble]

I had a similar experience shooting 200 ABs in my RUM. I'm not near my notes but the load is about 93 grains of retumbo. It was probably in the high teens the day mine happened. Broke the bolt off the gun and eventually took it to a Smith. They unscrewed the barrel and everything was just fine. I did not know what the actual cause of the issue was, but thought it was probably debris that got into the beach causing the lugs to get hung up.

We had been crawling through snow after a herd of Elk. My dad had wounded a bull, long story short, we got the bull. Rifle handle broke and was welded back on.

It doesn't seem like debris would be the issue here. I am curious to get the bullet pulled, barrel inspected and some type of diagnosis given.

Is it possible there was some type of weakness in the case, letting the explosion go through the shell and welding it to the chamber?

 

[J E Custom]

[QUOTE="bigngreen,
I would gladly take it apart and borescoped the barrel and see if it may have a bore related issue!![/QUOTE]

This would be great !!! BG.
We can all learn something if this is done and maybe you can diagnose the cause to.

It would have been nice if the rifle was still intact to look at all aspects and possibilities. I have taken several rifles apart that had stuck cases
and saved the rifle and was able to diagnose the problem because we could look at every part.

Mistakes can/do happen to all of us, and we normally learn from them with careful inspection and diagnoses.

That's what I like about this site, there are many people willing to help out a fellow shooter.

J E CUSTOM

 

[HARPERC]

Nothing I can offer technically.

Glad you aren't hurt.

I've done it also, mine hangs over the load bench.

It sucks, over time it sucks less.

 

[Bowfishn]

I had a similar experience shooting 200 ABs in my RUM. I'm not near my notes but the load is about 93 grains of retumbo. It was probably in the high teens the day mine happened. Broke the bolt off the gun and eventually took it to a Smith. They unscrewed the barrel and everything was just fine. I did not know what the actual cause of the issue was, but thought it was probably debris that got into the beach causing the lugs to get hung up.

We had been crawling through snow after a herd of Elk. My dad had wounded a bull, long story short, we got the bull. Rifle handle broke and was welded back on.

It doesn't seem like debris would be the issue here. I am curious to get the bullet pulled, barrel inspected and some type of diagnosis given.

Is it possible there was some type of weakness in the case, letting the explosion go through the shell and welding it to the chamber?

It's possible but I would think if that was the case it would not have shown the high velocity that it did, it takes almost 100K pressure to reach that velocity. So it would appear that something caused the spike, it's the something that would be nice to know so as to try and prevent future issues.

 

[LongBomber]

A relatively mild load of retumbo and the cold temps can be an issue. Building a bit of a hangfire and some pressure. What primer are you using?

I run 91gr of retumbo with the 230 and a cci 250 primer, and 95gr with the 200 AB and have never had issues in the cold (and I am a snowmexican...)

Even if the barrel couldnt be unscrewed it could be chucked in a lathe and cut off right infront of the recoil lug and possibly save the action.

 

[mtmuley]

I hope somehow we can find out how this happened. To me, the fouling issue with the two bullets makes zero sense. Both gilding metal jackets. The OP even stated running the two through his rifle without issue, 50 rounds fired. As far as powder, Retumbo has been touted as temp insensitive. I've used it some. Take it for what it is worth, I've used a .300 RUM for 17 years. Used both Berger and Nosler. One right after the other at the range, no cleaning in between use of bullets. Hot and cold temps. BUT, with RL-25, for 17 years. mtmuley

 

[Griffith187]

Interesting thread just tagging in to watch

 

[Winkfish]

BignGreen I will send you a PM and let's see what you find.

I will try and answer a few of the questions that have been posted.
190gr Accubond load: Winchester primers, 91.5 gr Retumbo COL of 3.6"
This round shot just fine regardless of temp.

210Gr Berger load: Federal 215 Primers 91.5gr Retumbo at 3.6"
No issues here either.

230Gr Berger (the one in question): Federal 215 primers, 86.8 gr, 3.6"

I pulled the bullets from the 230 gr loads and they were within .1 gr of what I initially measured. I used two different scales to measure the power and they both provided the same results.

I only had one power out at the time so I am confident that it is Retumbo. All the loads I have for the RUM have come from the same 8 lb container of Retumbo.

I did look into each case while loading and they visually had same amount of powder. The charge sits just below the shoulder visually.

I have about 350-400 rounds in total down the barrel.

I have been getting some good feedback on thing I should have done differently after the incident. Maybe if I would have reached out to a few folks I may have been able to save the receiver.


I told my wife today that I need to observe a moment of silence for the rifle that is no longer with us. She said is it really that bad. I said yes. Her response was well why don't you go buy a new rifle? I don't think I am going to ask twice. I guess the search will be on.

This is quite the learning experience. I hate to learn the hard way. A guy takes pride in his work and I try to pay attention to what I am doing. I had six friends harvest game this year on safe loads I worked up. It is a tough pill to swallow when your rifle is damaged with ammo you load. If any good comes of this it may point out points where I made mistakes and hopefully I and other can learn from it.

 

[elkaholic]

This has been a good thread! Don't beat yourself up too badly. Sometimes things happen that are difficult to explain, and maybe even difficult to prevent. The good news is that you are unscathed and you have a supportive wife!....rich

 

[MudRunner2005]

That sucks man... Glad you're not hurt.

 

[Magnumdude]

I have a 30-378 Imp. It'll hold about 137 grains of water, or I think about 10% more than a standard 30-378. I shot my first 230 grain Berger over 103 grains of Retumbo. I got 3250 FPS on an Oehler 33 P chronograph. The temp outside was in the 70s. The velocity surprised me...a LOT. I had a sticky bolt handle, cratered primer and a print of the ejector on the brass base. I had 5 rounds loaded with 103 grains of Retumbo which I packed back up, and pulled when I got home. I'm really sorry you wrecked your rifle, but at least you weren't injured physically. Emotionally I'd be a wreck having to cut up a custom rifle. I was going to do some load development this week, but it was 4 degrees when I got up this morning. If I don't get some better temps, like at least 20-something, I may test some other powders and bullets, but not the Retumbo. Copper fouling isn't a problem as I shoot all moly coated bullets and I burnished the bore with moly before firing any rounds. That Retumbo officially scares me to death now.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I have never experienced the copper fouling of two different alloy bullets. After hearing about it I have been carful to never let the possibility to happen. We get customer rifles to do custom ammuniton for, and the first thing we always do is clean all the copper out of the barrel. Sometimes I am amazed at how much copper we get. . I am leaning toward a copper fouling issue. I also am looking forward to what bng finds in this barrel.

Steve

 

[Bucklowery]

BignGreen I will send you a PM and let's see what you find.

I will try and answer a few of the questions that have been posted.
190gr Accubond load: Winchester primers, 91.5 gr Retumbo COL of 3.6"
This round shot just fine regardless of temp.

210Gr Berger load: Federal 215 Primers 91.5gr Retumbo at 3.6"
No issues here either.

230Gr Berger (the one in question): Federal 215 primers, 86.8 gr, 3.6"

I pulled the bullets from the 230 gr loads and they were within .1 gr of what I initially measured. I used two different scales to measure the power and they both provided the same results.

I only had one power out at the time so I am confident that it is Retumbo. All the loads I have for the RUM have come from the same 8 lb container of Retumbo.

I did look into each case while loading and they visually had same amount of powder. The charge sits just below the shoulder visually.

I have about 350-400 rounds in total down the barrel.

I have been getting some good feedback on thing I should have done differently after the incident. Maybe if I would have reached out to a few folks I may have been able to save the receiver.


I told my wife today that I need to observe a moment of silence for the rifle that is no longer with us. She said is it really that bad. I said yes. Her response was well why don't you go buy a new rifle? I don't think I am going to ask twice. I guess the search will be on.

This is quite the learning experience. I hate to learn the hard way. A guy takes pride in his work and I try to pay attention to what I am doing. I had six friends harvest game this year on safe loads I worked up. It is a tough pill to swallow when your rifle is damaged with ammo you load. If any good comes of this it may point out points where I made mistakes and hopefully I and other can learn from it.

This is why this forum is great. The open minded group of members supporting each other. On other forum he would probably have had mixed reply and comments from encouraging to ridicule. this group is supportive and encouraging no matter what and that makes people comfortable to post and ask questions even when things go wrong. Winkfish thanks for taking the time to post this information. Most people would have been embarrassed and never mentioned this publicly but you have possibly prevented someone else from being injured.

Thank you very much

best regards

buck