I'm an IDIOT!!

D

deerslayer303

New member
Went to the range today to shoot the ole Enfield No. 4 Mk1. I had my cartridge box sitting on the table and I was just loading them one by one while shooting. Well after about 20 rounds fired I grabbed another one, put it in the chamber, all while the rifle is laying on the bag and im behind it. Well the bolt seemed a little tight to lock the handle down, well in my mind I was thinking I had already fired a good bit and maybe the bolt is just getting sticky. So I slapped the bolt handle down, aimed, and pulled the bang button. I hit what I was aiming at, so nothing out of the ordinary YET. I pulled the bolt handle open the casing ejected and hit the table, like normal. So I picked up another one, this time I caught a glimpse of a red tip on the bullet. I took a closer look :eek: I was holding a 30-30 WIN Leverevolution projectiled reload!! Some how three of them got in the .303 British box. So reached over and picked up the last fired round :eek: HOLY CRAP I FIRED A 30 30 ROUND OUT OF MY BELOVED ENFIELD :mad:!! After calling myself every name in the book and thanking the man upstairs that nothing happened. I took the rifle down and inspected it with the bore light, I see no damage. Thank god that was a .308 bullet going down a .311 bore. The 30 30 case sort of fire formed to the Enfield's chamber. I guess the cold weather was freezing my brain cells. I learned a VALUABLE LESSON TODAY!!!

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it happens to the best of us. in my navy days a buddy and I went to the range at Camp Allen VA and he rented a glock 22(no idea why he is so enamored with that gun) and proceeded to shoot most of a box of ammo out of it beofre complaining that he wasn't hitting anything with it and the ammo was inconsistent. I looked down and saw all of his casings were split from neck to head. I looked at his ammo and the range accidentally gave him 9mm ammo with a 40 cal gun. talk about a scary thought.
 
Did the same thing with a 9mm round that found it's way into the chamber of my .40 S&W. Wondered why the round-key holed and then saw the split casing on the ground. Not the smartest day of my life.
 
I bought a used barrel for my Browning HP, first range session, wondered why accuracy was so poor..yes, it was a 40 S&W barrel.
I can see how a 30-30 could be mistaken for 303 British, a reminder to us to label our ammunition boxes carefully when the factory boxes wear out and to check the headstamp before loading.
 
Violation of rule 8.
The 12 Golden rules for Safe Gun Handling

1. Always treat the gun as loaded.
2. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
3. Always keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to shoot.
4. Always keep the gun unloaded until you are ready to use it.
5. Never point the gun at anything you don't intend to destroy.
6. Be sure of your target and what is beyond it.
7. Learn the mechanical and handling characteristics of the gun you are using.
8. Always use proper Ammunition.
9. Be sure the barrel is clear of obstructions before loading and shooting.
10. If your gun fails to fire when the trigger is pulled, hold your shooting position for several seconds; then with the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, carefully unload the gun.
11. Don't rely on the gun's safety to keep it from firing.
12. Be aware of your surroundings when handling guns so you don't trip or lose your balance and accidentally point and/or fire the gun at anyone or anything.
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Guilty as charged! :( I went through all my cartridge boxes and double checked. I've found some 270 in 30 06 boxes. I have to rethink my reloading organization! The only thing I can gather is We relocated to TN back in August and while I was packing up the reloading room I probably stuck cartridges everywhere just to get it all packed. Whew boy I was ate up with some dumb dumb yesterday!
 
The 30-30 Win Cartridge is probably the most dangerous one to misplace.
Here is a K-98 action Parker-Hale in .270Win that had a 30-30Win chambered by accident!
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Years back I would put more than one cal. in my reload box of 100 and was shooting with my then 13YO daughter. She was shooting a .257Roberts and i was shooting a 30-30 and we were both taking cartridges out of the same box. She had 3 rows and then took one out of the wrong row. luckily, the bolt didn't close but i sure did learn a lesson just thinking what could have happened if it was my .270Win she or anyone else was shooting!
And mistakes will always be made,we only lessen the odds by double and triple checking everything we do.
a couple weeks ago i was resizeing .270 brass and after i took a few back upstairs to run them through one of my .270's, the very first one didn't chamber!
I had resized a 20 lot of .280Rem in with the 100 .270's cases!
I have to get a new eye glass prescription!!! :confused:
One of the possible contributing factors and this can happen to all of us.
I had a number of years ago tossed all my yellow brass into a storage bin and bought a couple batches of nickle brass for my .270's and now i have given one of the .270's to a grandson and i keep the nickle brass for me and took out the yellow for an upcoming shoot. I checked the boxes of .270 and found where I had over-written the .270 with .280 and it was faded out.
I did resize the .280 back but they are not reloaded at this time.
And I was going to keep this one under my hat. :cool:
 

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I know, but I would have been heartbroken if my ole girl got damaged. I've had it since I was 14 and she has seen some of the best hunts I've been on! At 69 years of age she's still a tack driver!!
 
I'm not trying to pick on you. It's just a good idea to remind everybody of these "commandments" every time one gets violated in the hope it makes someone else think about them thus preventing another accident, or worse KABOOM!
The more these are in the front of our minds the less accidents there will be.:cool:
 
The shooter of that rifle did get hurt and seems to have a flinch to this day, Says he has a hard time keeping his eyes open when the trigger breaks.
Anyway here is the old thread I posted and all the mistakes and forgotten details as is evident by the cob webs in my memory of what I even posted in this thread. Starting with the daughter was like 12 then ;)
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=389535

ETA, thanks to Brian P as in the fishing reel last name(and Pizza Killa) :) for assisting me in finding this old thread.
 
I'm not trying to pick on you. It's just a good idea to remind everybody of these "commandments" every time one gets violated in the hope it makes someone else think about them thus preventing another accident, or worse KABOOM!
The more these are in the front of our minds the less accidents there will be.
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No offense taken, I need a good tongue lashing!! :cool: And at 35 years of age, sometimes I still need a good swift kick in the rear!!
 
Uhm, how about some .380 down a 9mm pipe.:rolleyes: I must have grabbed the wrong box of my reloads when packing the range bag. Happened to look at one of the ejected cartridges and thought hmm, that looks bit bulged. Worst part was I didn't have anything else to shoot.
 
^^^ I was gathering up brass in my driveway one day and also found a 380 casing mixed in. I do not own a 380, nobody I know owns a 380. I had 3 9mms at the time and most of what I had been shooting were remans... needless to say I was a little spooked for a while.
 
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