I made a mistake...

I took two of my hunting rifles I have not used for over 25 years to the range yesterday to get new scopes on paper, a 30-06 and 300 Win Mag. I had four boxes of old Winchester factory ammo (two of each cartridge), which had near identical appearances. I accidentally chambered a 30-06 round in the Sako 300 Win Mag. It sprayed powder on my face and cracked the stock at the pistol grip. if I had not been wearing safety glasses I might be blind right now.

I feel lucky and am very thankful for being ok (other than my face looks funny right now) and also grateful for learning a valuable lesson...I will never put two different cartridges on the bench at the same time again.

I wonder about the state of the action and barrel. The bolt cycles fine and the bolt face is not burnt or damaged. Using a Lyman borescope I can not see any obvious damage in the chamber, throat or barrel. Is there anything I should look for specifically? Should I have the action and barrel magnafluxed to make sure it is not harboring a crack somewhere?

I suppose I could find a clamping type rifle rest and test fire it several times with a long string.

I welcome inputs from the gunsmiths here.

 

Show us a pic of the case. Magaflux will do nothing. I would put the right ammo in it and shoot it

 

Beautiful response to your "freebie"...... Live Long And Prosper

 

Here are pics of the case. The mouth of the case has a peculiar raggedy look, not sure why. Does anyone understand the dynamics of this scenario? Did the bullet enter the throat cockeyed thus creating an initial pressure spike in the chamber that could only escape out the bleed holes in the action?

 

Images

 

Thanks Alin.

Phil

 

Glad you’re okay— was that gas in your face or actual powder? How hard was the bolt to open?

 

You're not hurt, that's good. Could have been much worse. Makes me want to look for safety
glasses now.

 

Eye protection
Ear protection
We all make mistakes. Yours, it is evident, was forgiven.
Glad you are ok.

 

I would have the head space checked. I am not a gun smith.

 

Send that rifle to a rifle builder to check out independently even if you are or have a gunsmith friend. It helps to have a non bias third party look at it that don’t care if it’s ok or not. Then search for a stock and be glad it wasn’t a 7mm mag.

 

Good idea Dusty.

 

Powder... my face was bleeding and I now have lots of little scabs on my nose and under my eyes.

 

Face-

I would go to the hospital emergency. The wounds need cleaning. Powder and brass may be embeddeld.

Scrubing with Hydrogen Peroxide may help?

Not a doctor.

 

The case had no support and couldn't hold the pressure created . Gas takes the easiest route . Glad your ok .
If gun shy about your face next to the gun that had the wrong ammo , mount it in a big tire , string on trigger and aim at Berm . It should be ok I don't think pressure spikes happened but 50,000 psi of gas jet can cut or distribute brass particles everywhere.
Disassemble your bolt , clean and go for it .
Glad your safe .

 

Not to argue but a 7 mag would PROBABLY just seal the breech and blow the shoulder foward .

 

The .308 bullet trying to squeeze down a .284 bore is probably a bigger issue that the brass...

 

I meant a 7 mag in a 300 win mag . A 300 win mag is too long to even chamber .
I see now , a 30-06 in a 7 mag would be much worse . Sorry COFFEE makes everything a little more clear !

 

Mabie that was pieces of brass?

 

it never developed pressure it all went out the back, I mean it developed enough to move the bullet through the bore but not enough to hurt anything imho, it did hurt you a little I'm very glad your ok safety glasses are a must mine are RX I wear them all the time.... I would clean it from bolt to crown and shoot it, maybe headspace it... but I think it's fine that's what common sense tells me, like one of the other guys said tie it to a tire and fire it but you should be fine, maybe look over the bolt well with a mag glass for anything out of place