dbarron
posted this
19 August 2018
Well, maybe. Something happened to me a few years ago. I touched off a load of 22 grs of 4198. The following event blew my 210 pound butt off the bench and four feet back to the wall of my shed. I've seen a couple of rifles blow but nothing like that. The bolt looked like a trumpet bell. I took it to the smith and offered NO opinion as to what had happened. Just the facts, ma'am. He called me a few days later and told me I'd had a SEE. No barrel damage but action ruined. I'm capable of screwing up that badly, but... God bless Remington. No damaged body parts. Not the powder one thinks of in connection with that kind of thing. Again, but...
Addendum: 21 Aug
Returned home and have access to my records. From notes made at the time:
44 grains of 4198 will not fit in the .308 case I was using. An obvious overflow.
All charges were dispensed using a Lyman 1200 DPS 3. Charges were check weighed on a known-accurate electronic scale until 5 matching readings were obtained. Each fifth charge was check weighed. All were visually verified.
Number of charges dispensed (recorded by the Lyman 1200) was verified against the number of rounds loaded.
Sized and primed cases were stored upside down. A charge was dumped and the bullet (185 gr. LBT) immediately seated.
All shots were chronographed--there were no spurious velocities recorded and all shots registered except the offending round, which came up an error.
Approximately 600 rounds (barrel warmers and foulers had not been recorded) had been fired with this load with no problems.
There was no damage to the barrel. There was no leading. The barrel was only normally dirty.
The action did not come apart and nothing broke. The action was stretched some unreported (by Remington) amount and the bolt head was belled like a trumpet.
The shooter was undamaged except for a cut where the scope slammed the shooter's glasses rather forcefully into his forehead.
Conclusion? None, as yet. SEE seems likely, but I keep thinking about other options. Specifically, did I screw up somewhere? How? Can it be prevented in the future?
Additional information for anyone interested. Theories welcome.