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Primer's capability?
Bergtreffer
Member Posts: 629 ✭✭✭✭
What is the capability of a primer to propel a bullet out of a rifled barrel? Today I received the following from my brother:
"A few years ago while hunting at our land, I shot at a nice buck and all I got from the ammo that Dad had reloaded in 1965 was just a pop, like a cap going off. Of course the deer turned around and looked at me and ran away. Had a nice set of horns. I was concerned that the bullet was still lodged in the barrel, so I went back to the cabin and checked the barrel. The bullet had gone out of the barrel about 10 feet and dropped to the ground. That was the last time I used the old ammo reload from Dad. Don't know what I will do with all the reloads Dad had for the .270 and .243. Now when I go hunting, I'm pretty much using new ammo."
I responded to my brother with the following:
"That is interesting, what you said about the bullet just popping out of the barrel. I used to reload with Dad, and he was always very careful. I do not think that it is because the ammo is old, and thereby the powder degraded. Dad probably missed putting powder into that casing you are talking about. He would never have overcharged a case, because that is really impossible in this case because a double-charge, in either a .243 or .270 would have overflowed the case capacity. And I doubt that he made an under-charged load, because I know how he operated. More than likely he just plain missed putting powder into the case at all. He probably was reloading and got interrupted, returned to the work, moved the loading funnel from one case to the next, thereby skipping a charge. If that is the case, then the pop you heard was simply the primer."
So, forum members, your comments are invited. Please, no snarky remarks about my deceased father and his reloading abilities, because you will totally be off-base.
"A few years ago while hunting at our land, I shot at a nice buck and all I got from the ammo that Dad had reloaded in 1965 was just a pop, like a cap going off. Of course the deer turned around and looked at me and ran away. Had a nice set of horns. I was concerned that the bullet was still lodged in the barrel, so I went back to the cabin and checked the barrel. The bullet had gone out of the barrel about 10 feet and dropped to the ground. That was the last time I used the old ammo reload from Dad. Don't know what I will do with all the reloads Dad had for the .270 and .243. Now when I go hunting, I'm pretty much using new ammo."
I responded to my brother with the following:
"That is interesting, what you said about the bullet just popping out of the barrel. I used to reload with Dad, and he was always very careful. I do not think that it is because the ammo is old, and thereby the powder degraded. Dad probably missed putting powder into that casing you are talking about. He would never have overcharged a case, because that is really impossible in this case because a double-charge, in either a .243 or .270 would have overflowed the case capacity. And I doubt that he made an under-charged load, because I know how he operated. More than likely he just plain missed putting powder into the case at all. He probably was reloading and got interrupted, returned to the work, moved the loading funnel from one case to the next, thereby skipping a charge. If that is the case, then the pop you heard was simply the primer."
So, forum members, your comments are invited. Please, no snarky remarks about my deceased father and his reloading abilities, because you will totally be off-base.
Comments
If the bore was clean and the bullet a bit undersized, it might. It might also be that there was some powder in the round. Conceivably, only a few kernels could do it. Of course, it could have been bad powder, degraded by oil or storage conditions.
It's way too late to learn the answers now.
I've never seen a primer that would expel
a bullet from a rifle barrel...not even
"MAGNUM" primers.
Not in a rifle but a 38 special, I had a squib load from bridging powder flakes on an automatic dispenser. Near as I can guess, maybe 1/3 of 1 grain of red dot. Spit the bullet out, hit the sand about 15 feet out.
Ergo I vote squib as well.
The original poster didn't mention anything about the empty being blown out (which it would be) or most of a charge of unburnt powder (which there would also be) but he got it second hand and years later, so ...
Once again, thank you all very much. Bergtreffer.
I've also had a magnum primer (no powder) drive a hard-cast lead bullet just far enough into the forcing cone of my S&W 28 to lock up the cylinder. Thank God it didn't go completely into the barrel.
I'm certainly not going to cast aspersions on anybody's loading practices. My theory is that, over the course of loading tens of thousands of rounds, mistakes can certainly occur. Even to the most seasoned hand loader.