Really didn't want to share.

[Hunterjones]

I agree that you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. A very good lesson for certain.
A friend who volunteers as an RSO at a range in Utah was there shooting one day at the 200/300 yard line. A guy next to him had a brand new Weatherby custom rifle with a fluted barrel and was shooting a shot and cleaning after each shot for barrel break in. Somewhere around 15 shots my friend looks over and barrel of Weatherby has split like a blooming flower/blunderbuss. Apparently the cleaning jag was unscrewing as guy was cleaning and he loaded and touched one off with jag and patch stuck in barrel.....

 

[Hard rock]

I agree that you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. A very good lesson for certain.
A friend who volunteers as an RSO at a range in Utah was there shooting one day at the 200/300 yard line. A guy next to him had a brand new Weatherby custom rifle with a fluted barrel and was shooting a shot and cleaning after each shot for barrel break in. Somewhere around 15 shots my friend looks over and barrel of Weatherby has split like a blooming flower/blunderbuss. Apparently the cleaning jag was unscrewing as guy was cleaning and he loaded and touched one off with jag and patch stuck in barrel.....

That aint good

 

[Hunterjones]

Yeah. How about it. Another instance where miraculously no one was injured

 

[Hunterjones]

After hearing THAT story about 10 years ago I have become ULTRA careful when cleaning and shooting and returning to bench after checking targets and such. It takes all of about 10 seconds to look thru breach to make sure barrel is unobstructed

 

[DartonJager]

I never gave any thought to what caliber ammo I had out on the bench until one day 20+ years ago I was at my favorite public range and two guys the bench next to me were sharing the bench sighting in their rifles for deer season. One guy was shooting a 270 Winchester the other a 7mm Remington magnum, except for caliber both riles were identical M700 bolt guns, they even had the same Leupold VX-III scopes.
I was shooting my 338wm and had my 7mm STW sitting patiently waiting his turn. Both rifles' have only fired my reloads never a round of factory ammo. Other than I felt it made good sense safety wise I used Green MTM loading boxes for my 338wm and Red MTM boxes for my 7mm STW and never in my entire shooting life had I ever had more than one caliber be it rife HG or even rimfire on a bench at a time while at the range.

I couldn't help but notice a considerable commotion occurring among the two friends and as I always bring a very sizable tool tackle box kit as well as a complete cleaning kit to the range with me I walked over and offered my assistance if they needed it. They asked me if I knew what if any consequences were of accidentally firing a single round of 270 Winchester out of a 7mm RM? Totally caught of guard and utterly unprepared to be asked such a question I replied the truth that I had no idea what so ever. They then told me they could open the bolt but were unable to extract the shell. They also told me when the one guy shot the round he was hit in the face with a blast of hot gas and that what was lead then to suspect something went very wrong.
I went and got my 1/4" x 30" stainless steel rod I kept in my truck because when I first started reloading I one time somehow loaded a round of 7mm STW with the 162 grain bullet way to long (still to this day over 20 years later do not know how I did it) and when I cambered the round it took more effort than any other round I ever felt and immediately realized my bullet was most likely jammed into the lands and firing might not be a great idea. I extracted the brass casing but alas no bullet, as it was still jammed into the lands. I ended up having to go home go to my local hardware store and buy a 1/4"x30" piece of stainless steel rod and used it to gently tap out the stuck bullet. That rod along with a few others still sits in the back of my truck to this day.

I used it to remove the stuck case and advised them since the 270 is actually a .277 and the 7mm is actually a .284 a difference of 0.007" smaller one shot might not have done much if any damage but I honestly never had given any thought what the consequences were/are of such a mistaken discharge and checked the bolt face, chamber and receiver for any damage and found besides noticeable carbon fouling essentially no damage. The case neck and shoulder had a single split in it.

After that day I NEVER EVER allow not just more than one caliber on the bench at any given time but never two different reloads for the same caliber at the same time. I use different color ammo boxes for each caliber and when I run out of colors as I have I started using painters tape to label the top of every box of my reloads for caliber and load data. I even stopped putting different loads of the same caliber in the same ammo box after that.

First thing I noticed after they told me what had happened was they had MULTIPLE boxes of similar looking factory ammo for BOTH calibers but with different bullet weights open and in use on the bench with them all at the same time which undoubtedly caused the mistake.
I have no doubt what so ever If I ever allow myself to get distracted or deviate from my decades old and established normal shooting safety protocol SOP or in a hurry or the worst distracted while in a hurry and then deviate from my safety protocol SOP I will be setting in motion the conditions for a shooting related mistake with possibly serious consequences.
And I know no matter how careful I am I as all humans are capable of making a mistake. So my range rules are as fallows:
>Only one rifle and one type/caliber of ammo on the bench at any time.
>All rifles' unless being used remain cased
>Once that rifle is done its remaining ammo if any gets put back in its case and put back in my truck and the rifle gets re-cased and put back in my truck prior to the next different rifle even gets uncased.
Very few very simple rules that have served my very well.

I belong to a private rifle club now for the last 6 years and they thankfully don't have to many range rules and firearm etiquette rules and are ones of clearly common sense but strictly enforce the ones they have and they are clearly posted all over the range area.
Thankfully I have never had to call out a fellow member for poor behavior and I go an average of 2x a week year round.

It is rather scary how easily once distracted we can make single and or multiple mistakes that alone would me little but when strung together in a series of events results in a mistake we would have sworn beforehand we could never make in a 100 lifetimes, but then we find ourselves having done exactly that. We are all human and we are ALL capable of and WILL make mistakes.
We just all hope and pray they are mistakes free from serious consequences for anyone.

Wanted to add did have one interesting event happen last summer at my private range. A guy next to me with his teen age sons were shooting Just Right Carbines in 45acp and Ruger PC's in 9mm. I watched the one boy about 15-16 having GREAT difficulty using a Uplula loader load 45acp into a Glock OEM mag. I asked him if he needed help, he was a very nice and polite young man and he said sure he couldn't figure it out he never had any issue before loading the mags with their Uplula mag loaders. I asked him could I look at the mag and sure enough he had succeeded in loading three rounds of 230 grain FMJ into a 9mm Glock OEM mag.

 

[V7750212K]

I have been reloading for at least 48 years and STILL make STUPID mistakes, concentrate, check and re-check. Glad it didn't go the other way. Reloading is a NEVER ENDING learning experience. Like nding I only shoot 1 rifle at a time, then clear everything.

 

[HNDLDR]

When I was 12 or 13 I learned, the hard way, about playing with my 30-30 and bullets in my room. Fortunately I was on the second floor and it went through the roof.

Someone I considered a mentor (He's passed now.) Was cleaning guns and somehow managed to send a bullet through the wall and into one of his wife's butt checks. I never did get the exact details but she did eventually forgive him.

It's unfortunate that these things happen sometimes. It is fortunate that we can all share our stories and experiences to help avoid them in the future.

I find myself way too often relating stories to my kids, of my youth, that express how they need to be smarter then I was. Sometimes I think I was kept alive for a reason so I could teach them what not to do.

 

[Hard rock]

After hearing THAT story about 10 years ago I have become ULTRA careful when cleaning and shooting and returning to bench after checking targets and such. It takes all of about 10 seconds to look thru breach to make sure barrel is unobstructed

Ive seen some crazy things I worked in gun sales years back before becoming a professional fire fighter antook a rifle in for repair with a obstruction in the barrel and tag it so with a live round behind the obtrtuction lve round in chamber 3006 98 mauser the gunsmith couldnt get the barrel broke loose so decided to put heat on it to help the process when the round went off the case came backwards no bolt in action hit the ejector turned ti sharpenel and the case head went through his belt and in his guts he lukily survived it it wasn't pretty think first safety

 

[Deleted member 107796]

Thanks for the OP. I have yet to meet a perfect man and every safety reminder is a good one. I think it takes honest, critical evaluations of everything we do to be great at that endeavor.

 

[nmbarta]

You just proved that mistakes could happen anywhere and anytime.

@nmbarta is NOT looking for an excuse but rather man up on the mistake and share it for all of us to learn from.

Cheers!

That is the point. I'm actually really surprised I haven't been beat up over it, the internet can be a mean place. (That's why this site is the only "social media" I am a part of, my wife calls it my "facebook")
I'm glad the purpose of the post seems to be getting across. Also glad it's sparked another conversation about safety, I don't think we have these conversations enough. This site has really taken off lately, with new members joining all the time. Lots of new people getting into reloading, probably for several reasons, but I'm sure the ammo shortage is inspiring quite few to start rolling their own. Hopefully they're taking the time to learn it right.

I find myself way too often relating stories to my kids, of my youth, that express how they need to be smarter then I was. Sometimes I think I was kept alive for a reason so I could teach them what not to do.

Learning what not to do is equally important to learning what to do. That's why a chose to embarrass myself on a public forum, I've done plenty of teaching on what to do, but thought this was a pretty good teachable moment on what not to do. It'd just be selfish to keep it to myself.

 

[jarnold37]

Wow nmbarta you really are being hard on yourself!! Mistakes are mistakes and oftentimes are avoidable, however that's what they are "mistakes" and not intentional actions. When I hear people call themselves stupid, I ask them how they would like it if I called them stupid because there's really not difference. Anyway...........I did something quite similar as your mistake, something that I am, and was not to happy to have done. I was shooting five-stand with my Remington 1100 20 gauge with a bunch of friends. I was using an ammo bag to hold for my ammo and to hold my hulls. One of the guys who I was shooting with had a Remington 1100 in 12 gauge. While we were shooting the course I was talking with this guy about his 12 gauge 1100 and how it shot and recoil. After we had shot the course he asked me if I would like to try shooting a few rounds with his gun, and I said yes. He gave me a couple of rounds to shoot, I put them into my range bag, set my shotgun in the rack, all this time we were BSing and I was not really paying attention to business. I took his gun, reached into m range back, pulled out a round and threw the round into the chamber, BSed some more, called pull. I raised the gun up and "CLICK", so "Oh" I must have forgotten to put a round in the chamber so I reach into the range bag, pulled out another shotgun shell, put it into the chamber making sure there was a round inside of the gun this time. At this point I was getting ready to say pull when one of the other, more experienced shooters, told me to hold up and to check the barrel of the shotgun, which I did. I still thank Frank for paying attention because there was a very nice 20 gauge shotgun shell lodged inside of the barrel. Apparently there was still a 20 gauge round inside of that range bag and when I reached into the bag to get one of the 12 gauge rounds I pulled that 20 gauge shell out first. Had I pulled that trigger it would have been catastrophic for everyone on that shooting field. Had I been paying attention instead of BSing I would have realized when the gun went "click" that there was something seriously wrong or I would have caught it when I heard the round fall down the barrel!! When something like this happens it can be a blessing in disguise because it gives us a real "wake-up" call and keeps us on our toes. Sometimes after shooting for many years we become callous. Right now as I am writing this reply my butt cheeks slammed together and everything between them slammed up tight!! Thanks for sharing this with the group, by doing so you probably helped people to pay more attention and prevented something serious from happening to them!!

Things happen. A good friend was sighting in two rifles prior to deer season. One was a 7mm Remington magnum, the other was a 280 Remington. Both were loaded with 140 Ballistic tips. Both boxes of cartridges were on the bench. First 7mm shot was good. Second shot was an explosion. Bottom of stock splintered and the shooter had burned cheek and eye. He discovered he had chambered the 280 cartridge in the 7mm gun. Somehow, it actually fired. He said it was an accident and that both cartridges had same red tip bullet and he didnt notice difference.

 

[orifdoc]

I've been reloading about 30 years now. As dumb as I was at first it's a miracle I never did anything too stupid.

Last year I was shooting a custom .300 Win Mag. I decided to shoot one last round before calling it a day. I have a habit of shaking each shell to listen to the powder inside. Obviously this doesn't work with compressed loads, but for some reason luck was with me that day. Shook the round, no sound. Got home, pulled the bullet and no powder. I'm pretty careful at the bench, but obviously somehow I missed that one. That one really messed with my psyche. Getting a bullet stuck is bad, but not the end of the world if you recognize it.

Rapid-fire, things could get Western real quick.

The second near-disaster happened when I loaded up some ammo for a new Kimber 22-250. I looked up the starting load in a well-known and highly regarded manual. The first shot, I couldn't get the bolt open. Eventually I did, but only with great effort.

I went home and compared the manual to 3 others. The one I used was 5 (five!!!) grains hotter than all the others. Thank goodness I didn't eat the bolt that day. Obviously there was a typo somewhere. Now I'm paranoid and check every reference I can find before starting with a new rifle.

 

[LRNut]

I wrote about a similar experience in which I shot a 7STW in a 300 RUM. The case ruptured and blew gas into my face. My eye doctor said my hard gas perm contact lens saved my right eye.

In 2015 I was hunting in the Kigosi Reserve in Tanzania. I shot a Cape buffalo with my 416 Rem Mag. He ended up being the toughest buffalo I have ever shot. I was pouring rounds into him and you could hear the air sucking into his lungs as he struggled to get up. My mag was empty, so I reached for another in my cartridge belt. I noticed at the shot it sounded distinctly different and didn't have nearly the same recoil.

When we skinned the buffalo one of the trackers pulled out a bullet that had no rifling marks and no expansion. One of them said it was a poacher's bullet; I recognized it as a 225 gr 338 bullet. I had inserted three .338 WM rounds in my cartridge belt on one side, the rest being .416. I had accidentally loaded a 338 WM round in my .416; it fire-formed in the chamber and obviously produced far less velocity.

 

[Hard rock]

I wrote about a similar experience in which I shot a 7STW in a 300 RUM. The case ruptured and blew gas into my face. My eye doctor said my hard gas perm contact lens saved my right eye.

In 2015 I was hunting in the Kigosi Reserve in Tanzania. I shot a Cape buffalo with my 416 Rem Mag. He ended up being the toughest buffalo I have ever shot. I was pouring rounds into him and you could hear the air sucking into his lungs as he struggled to get up. My mag was empty, so I reached for another in my cartridge belt. I noticed at the shot it sounded distinctly different and didn't have nearly the same recoil.

When we skinned the buffalo one of the trackers pulled out a bullet that had no rifling marks and no expansion. One of them said it was a poacher's bullet; I recognized it as a 225 gr 338 bullet. I had inserted three .338 WM rounds in my cartridge belt on one side, the rest being .416. I had accidentally loaded a 338 WM round in my .416; it fire-formed in the chamber and obviously produced far less velocity.

When you mess up loading or hunting you can consider yourself lucky when the bolt dont close