Kevin, do you mind sharing your observations regarding seeing blown up Weatherbys? Any detail you could provide on the circumstances of this would be appreciated. Thanks!
No problem at all. Case I was involved in some years back, involving a guy who should have been a poster child for factory ammo. The case revolved around his purportedly getting a 7mm/.284" bullet in a box of .277" bullets. The rifle in question was a Weatherby chambered in their 270 Wby Mag. We purchased a 270 Wby Mag identical to his and tried to reproduce his loads; 7mm bullet seated in a 270 Wby Mag. Surprise, they actually would chamber, though I'm sure there wasn't much in the way of neck clearance. We then fired this combination over 20 times, and got nothing but stiff bolt lift. At the end of the testing the rifle was, according to magnaflux examination, undamaged. The customer/plaintiff's rifle was completely shredded. Literally, the only usable parts that survived off that gun were the sling swivels and the recoil pad. The rest was junk. Six of the nine locking lugs were sheared off as though it was done in a mill, the action opened up completely, the barrel split at the chamber area and extended about a quarter down its length . . . you get the idea. The guy had used this same ammo the year before to take an elk. When he went up to finish it off, he found that the bolt wouldn't open. Wound up taking it to a gunsmith to get it unlocked, gunsmith told him that his ammo was WAAAY too hot. So what's he do? Continues to use that same ammo for the next years hunt. This time he wound up with a bolt through the face. Since we'd tried (unsucessfully) to recreate the situation, clearly there was more to the story that we weren't hearing from him. The total in his little comedy of errors that we demonstrated were; He was using an outdated reloading manual dating from prior to the introduction of the IMR 4831 which he supposedly loaded the ammo with; he was using data for H4831, a significantly slower and not interchangeable powder. He failed to notice the distinct difference in force taken to seat a .284" bullet in a case sized to accept a .277". He also failed to heed the pretty clear warnings that both the rifle itself and then his gunsmith gave him that the ammo was too hot. My own supposition here was based on the fact that the guy only reloaded a box (as in 20 rounds) every other year or so, nothing more. He also had a can of IMR 3031 on the bench (Red lable on the can) and a can of IMR 4831 (Orange label on then can, Red, Orange, they're close so what's the difference?). While we didn't try the charge weight he reported using in his original affidavit while substituting IMR 3031 for the IMR 4831, I still suspect that's precisely what he did. Since the sample ammo of 4831 we tried didn't damage the gun, that was the only logical explanation. That said, I expect that such a combination would deliver the catastrophic failure I saw in this customers rifle, no problem at all.
Never said the Weatherby's weren't strong, just that when you try to make something idiot proof, you breed a better grade of idiot down the road. This clown never should have been allowed anywhere near a reloading bench, but he did leave me with a few lessons and impressions that I've never forgotten. He wound up suing the bullet company, Weatherby, IMR powder company, the sporting goods store where he bought the bullets, and probably whoever made the cereal he ate fro breakfast that morning. The companies involved (not Lapua, who I'm with now) settled the case out of court rather than waste time with a trial. I've always had a problem with paying people for being stupid, but that part of it wasn't my call.
Kevin Thomas
Lapua USA
