Signs of a problem

F

Fred J

Active member
Ever have a round sound bad, or like it was a dud, only to open the bolt and find a spent case? And then without thinking, you fire another round at the target, only to have it go a stray and not even hit the target. No problem, must have been a bad bullet, after all, every mfg'r puts them in the box. Most of the rest of the rounds score fair, but not like the last lot and the final score was sort of down. Well here's the rest of the story. The action was cleaned, and there were no empty cases around to chamber, so it had to be a live round. The round likely had little to no powder, and failed to make it out of the barrel. What one should have been done, would be to run a cleaning rod thru the barrel to see if the bullet did indeed leave the bore and it was just a bad bullet that didn't even hit the target. Instead, another round was chambered and it collided with the stuck bullet and cause a bulge in the bore, pushing both out of the barrel in an unknown direction. End result, was a badly damaged barrel which amounted to a bad day at the office. Word of warning, if a round sounds like it may have been low on powder, and failed to show up on the target, take the time to check the bore. You just might save yourself some grief and the cost of installing a new barrel.
 
Fred,
I've ahd that happen 3 times over the past few years. Luckily, it was in practice and I noticed the sound was low and so was the recoil. Each time, the bullet had made it's way down the barrel to the choke, and I pushed it out with a cleaning rod. If I had been shooting beside someone else, I might not have noticed the sound and ruined a barrel myself. I've seen guys warming up their rifles shooting off the target and never even look at where the bullets were hitting. I always shoot at a spot and watch to see if the bullet gets there since I had those dud rounds.
 
Fred, Had it happen to me, many years ago. Was in a shoot out, shot 6 in my S&W and went to my back up .380. The third round was a dud, no powder.(factory rounds) Had no choice fired the next round to clear the barrel. After it was over checked the barrel no damaged, but sent it back to Walters for a new barrel.

Joe T
 
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We had a squid round in a 17HMR at the silhouette match last Saturday. Fortunately the bullet was in the throat and the next cartridge wouldn't chamber.
 
seen it happen a long time ago and forgot, thanks for the reminder..will be looking out for it again.....hope it wasn't on your favorite 52 !
 
Has anyone actually seen any damage to the barrel due to this problem?

We are using well lubricated soft lead bullets at low velocity in very hard barrels.

I would think that the first bullet would move out due the the air pressure behind it before the next bullet hit it in the bore.

Please, don't get me wrong, I would not try this on a bet. I am just asking if anyone has seen damage to a barrel due to this situation?

Concho Bill
 
Yes

Davit Schmidt said he did it to a brand new calfee turbo a few years back it was killer and it bulged the barrel and ruined it never shot again had to rebarrel it.
 
Yes

This happened to a fellow shooter in Tennesse 2 season's ago. He owned a Calfee Turbo that had this happen to it. Had to have a new barrel installed on it. :eek::mad:
 
Third times a charm

I had seen it on two other barrels at a BR match. Dorothy's was the third. Not only can you see the damage with bore scope, you feel it when you run a patch or slug thru the bore. Scores drop dramatically.
 
It's even more exciting on a semiautomatic. I had an Eley Match round with no powder. For some reason my spotting scope was to the right of me. The bolt really flew back, the case came out, hit the spotting scope and landed on my bare arm. The case was split and the bullet was lodged 13 inches down my Lilja barrel. A 3/16 inch dowel rod took care of it easily.
 
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