.243 backfired

[miffy]

I Went out lamping on thursday night and an hour or so into things i spotted a fox at about 150 yards, i got the .243 out and loaded a bullet into the chamber. I took aim at the fox and squeezed a shot off, as i fired i felt something hit me in the face and my vision was a bit blurry I looked down at the rifle and i could see what appeared to be blood and bits of meat on my sound moderator cover and rifle at first i thought ohhh my god what has just happened. I felt my face and evrything seemed to be ok Turns out that the blood and stuff on my moderator cover was just rabbit blood and head contents B)

 

My eye was watering quite badly and i realised that i had been hit in the face by hot gas from the fired shot. I've had the rifle into the rifle smith tonight and it turns out that i had a case failure, quite why it happened i don,t know but when we got the case out of the rifle you could see it was slightly out of shape. the primer pocket is well over sized now and a primer just drops straight in

 

The head space of the rifle was checked and everything was found to be ok, the only damage was to the extractor claw which came away from the bolt when i tried to eject the cartridge. i found the little bit of pin that operates the extractor claw and the extractor claw, the spring was missing. :( everything was cleaned up and a new spring was put in now everything seems to be working fine. I haven't fired the rifle yet and i think for the first few shots i'll be using a workmate and a bit of string ...my only hope is that it doesn't affect my shooting as i feel very lucky that i wasn't seriously hurt.

 

I missed the fox that i fired at but i'd already shot 2 with the .243 and i'd shot 17 rabbits. I saw 3 more foxes after that one and could have shot alot more rabbits but my shooting seemed to suffer slightly after the incident so we decided to pack up and go home....oh well they'll be there another night

 

I will definately be wearing some safety goggles from now on and so should you if you shoot a centrefire rifle

[markbivvy]

bloody hell mate, glad your ok.

[JohnGalway]

****** hell Miffy, you had a narrow escape there! I'm happy to hear you escaped without serious injury, you'll be back knocking foxes in no time at all

[miffy]

****** hell Miffy, you had a narrow escape there! I'm happy to hear you escaped without serious injury, you'll be back knocking foxes in no time at all

 

 

Hope so John.... trouble is i could have gone to try the rifle this evening when i left the rifle smiths but i came home and put it away B) I'll take it out some time tomorrow and see how i feel. Am gonna get a mate to do some shooting for me in the next day or so, so it's a bonus for him and i just hope he don't miss

[miffy]

bloody hell mate, glad your ok.

Cheers mark

[miffy]

good god what make of ammo was it you were lucky hope you have put the lotto on mate

 

Homeloads mate and i stopped waisting money on the lotto along time ago

[JohnGalway]

Hope so John.... trouble is i could have gone to try the rifle this evening when i left the rifle smiths but i came home and put it away B) I'll take it out some time tomorrow and see how i feel. Am gonna get a mate to do some shooting for me in the next day or so, so it's a bonus for him and i just hope he don't miss

 

Ah I wouldn't worry too much about that reaction. I know if it happened to me I'd be looking at it sideways for a while. I'd put money down that you'll fire her tomorrow If not, then just start small, if you've got a .22 or HMR go messing with them, or the shotgun for a while. Then the .243 will start talking to ya again

[Frank]

Just goes to show you, allways ware your gogles.

 

Hope you get sorted soon Miffy and are back out their, shootng more foxes.

 

Frank.

[Sako7mm]

Scary.

What was the bullet and load?

[miffy]

Scary.

What was the bullet and load?

 

 

It was

 

47 grain H4895 behind a 65 grain vmax

[Devilishdave]

Any Idea what caused the failure?

 

Dave

[JohnGalway]

Any Idea what caused the failure?

 

Dave

 

I'm thinking that there were two foxes working as a pair, as Miffy was squeezing off the shot fox number 2 stuck his paw in the end of the barrel and well... We've all seen what happens to Elmer Fudd

[Dougy]

Miffy as you know i havn't been using centrefire for that long at all in comparrison, has it got anything to do with the amount of use the cases get, as you gave me indepth lessons in home loading, ie; taking care to check cases for any damage ect just wondering would new cases have prevented this or was it a one off ?

 

Just a question certianly not having a dig

 

i even went and bought a magnifying glass to inspect the case rims for damage

[Hodmedod.one]

Scary.

What was the bullet and load?

 

 

It was

 

47 grain H4895 behind a 65 grain vmax

 

Thats a fairly hot load Miffy. What make was the case and how many times had it been used?

My reloading tables are showing-

60gn Bullet, Max charge 42gns H4895.

70gn Bullet, Max charge 40gns H4895.

 

Glad to hear that you and the rifle survived fairly unscathed.

[miffy]

Miffy as you know i havn't been using centrefire for that long at all in comparrison, has it got anything to do with the amount of use the cases get, as you gave me indepth lessons in home loading, ie; taking care to check cases for any damage ect just wondering would new cases have prevented this or was it a one off ?

 

Just a question certianly not having a dig

 

i even went and bought a magnifying glass to inspect the case rims for damage

 

 

It was case head failure

 

Cases haven't been reloaded more than 4 or 5 times and externally there is no sign of any defects at all. I guess it is just one of them things

 

Oh and the powder used was H414 and not H4895, not sure why i said H4895 as i don't even have any at home.....i put it down to amount of alcohol consumed last night

[Dougy]

"It was case head failure"

 

me being a dumb *** will regret the question i know but.#.#.#.#.#.#.#.

 

 

is that the closed end

 

i guess it is .

 

so wouldn't have noticed however big the magnifying glass.

 

 

hope it doesn't affect your confidence too much

 

anyway off to bed now nite nite all miss this lovely day poo

[Sako7mm]

That's a stiff charge of H414.

I prefer N140 for light bullets in 243. I'd leave the 414 for slightly heavier bullets if I were you.

Don't tempt fate, develop a new load, please!

[mry716]

65 GR. HDY V-MAX 65 H4895 .243" 2.600"

Start 38.0 3522 44,500 CUP

Max 41.0 3677 49,200 CUP

 

If you are actually loading the charge you quoted I would suggest you are loading PROOF loads and that is the reason for the problem

 

The above is Hodgdon guide suggestions and you are so far above their max I consider that to be very reckless even with years of experience.

 

You may well have your reasons so I cannot really criticise but I would certainly look at your reloading and reassess your charges.

 

Also ensure the cases are trimmed to min length less another 5 thou and discard them after 3 reloads.

[miffy]

65 GR. HDY V-MAX 65 H4895 .243" 2.600"

Start 38.0 3522 44,500 CUP

Max 41.0 3677 49,200 CUP

 

I wasn't using H4895 i was using H414 Made a slight mistake in my post when i stated that i was using H4895. see post #16

 

The loads were developed correctly with pressure signs at all. i have been using this load for a while now. Max load with H414 and 65 grain Vmax is 48 grains so i was under the max

[Graham M]

Hodgdon’s only show a top load of 45grns of H414 for a 65grn bullet and I think you are sailing very close to the wind using 47grns. It seems that your case separation was caused by too much pressure in the breech and nothing to do with case failure.

I would download your cases to 45grains and stick with that:; the foxes won’t know any difference.

G.M.

[miffy]

Hodgdon’s only show a top load of 45grns of H414 for a 65grn bullet and I think you are sailing very close to the wind using 47grns. It seems that your case separation was caused by too much pressure in the breech and nothing to do with case failure.

I would download your cases to 45grains and stick with that:; the foxes won’t know any difference.

G.M.

 

According to their website i am 1 grain under the max load, i have not had any pressure signs apart from the one the other night and i have shot a fair few rounds through it using that load with no problems at all.....so if it is the load and not the case why would it fail now and not with the first shot ?

 

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp this is where i got the load data from using 65 grain Vmax using H414. Is everybody sure it is overloading or have hodgdon got it wrong?

[mry716]

Thats OK then

 

Sorry I didnt see the other post - perhaps crossed whilst I was double checking H4895.

 

You seem ok at that load as I see the site as showing

65 GR. HDY V-MAX 65 H414 .243" 2.600"

45.0 3521 41,400 CUP START

48.0 3746 49,400 CUP MAX

 

I still wonder if an odd case got through without trimming - classic signs of case being too long and being compressed by forcing it into the chamber by the camming action of the bot and so crimping the bullet far too much as the top of the neck is forced into the bullet sides as it hits the lands and therefore creating significant pressure overload.

 

Always double check the length of your cases JUST before reloading them.

[miffy]

Thats OK then

 

Sorry I didnt see the other post - perhaps crossed whilst I was double checking H4895.

 

You seem ok at that load as I see the site as showing

65 GR. HDY V-MAX 65 H414 .243" 2.600"

45.0 3521 41,400 CUP START

48.0 3746 49,400 CUP MAX

 

I still wonder if an odd case got through without trimming - classic signs of case being too long and being compressed by forcing it into the chamber by the camming action of the bot and so crimping the bullet far too much as the top of the neck is forced into the bullet sides as it hits the lands and therefore creating significant pressure overload.

 

Always double check the length of your cases JUST before reloading them.

 

I suppose it is possible that i missed one but i do it in such a way that it shouldn't be possible. I have the case so i will check it for any signs of damage in the neck area. I will be changing my complete batch of cases for new ones before i try any more.

[Graham M]

My apologies Miffy, I had looked at that but had only read it as far as the starting load of 45grns and it does state 48grns as the max.

Should have known really as I use 45grns of H414 in my .243 using a 75grn bullet.

Shouldn’t have though 47grns would have therefore caused a blow-up though, even if it was a top-end load.

Mry I have loaded up .243 cases 3-4 times without noticing any cases getting noticeably longer and wondered if this could cause any massive amount of excess pressure, especially with the T3, as this has a very long leade into the rifling.

Sounds like you just had a bad case.

G.M.

[mry716]

I am sure you check and double check but sometimes, just sometimes it is as if someone has been along and done something without you knowing. Its happened to me in various ways over the years but fortunately never in a way that has caused a serious problem.

 

I doubt you will ever really know the specific cause because the stress the case has gone through may well hide the actual problem. Just try to put it into your 'book of experience' and carry on as if it never happened or you could well end up with a flinching problem.

All the best

M