Twice in a million

[divingin]

I wrote a while back about an "instructor" who, while showing his client how to operate his new AK-47 clone, managed to fire a 223 round from the 7.62x39 rifle. Figured that was a one-in-a-million thing. Yesterday proved otherwise.

Couple of guys showed up at the range; maybe 30-year old guy and an older guy (may have been his father; not sure.) Younger guy was shooting a M1A1, not particularly well, but at least mostly keeping it on paper at 100 yds (21" x 24" paper target.) Swaps places with the older guy who loads up what turns out to be an AR-15 platform rifle in 7.62 x 39. Gets a double feed off the bat, and due to the Calif compliant locked magazine, has no clue what to do. End up having him hold the bolt back, and I work the second round back into the mag, and get the bolt to close. Make sure that the bolt has gone into battery and the guy takes a shot. Rifle says "Phffft.", and a little smoke wafts up from the muzzle. "Stop," I say. "That didn't sound right." Pull the bolt back a bit; no case comes with it. That's odd; I didn't see the action cycle. Break the rifle down and check the bore, and there's a case in the chamber. Except it's a 223. The older guy apparently saw the round on the bench when he sat down, topped off his mag, and chambered it. And fired it. On reassembly the rifle worked OK.

The day before two guys were trying out new rifles: a .30-06 and a 300 WinMag. They shot a box of ammo or so from the 06, and moved to the WinMag. After about 10 minutes of them waving the rifle around, they got a shot off, but the case wouldn't extract. A friend of mine had a cleaning rod and tapped the stuck case out, nothing that there was no neck on the fired case. Closer inspection also showed the case body blown out and split. Turns out they had been trying to load 300WSM into the 300 Winmag, but it wouldn't fit, so they used the 30-06 ammo. Case head diameter was small enough that the extractor wouldn't pull it back out. One of the pair asked why the other stuff wouldn't fit. "Wrong ammo; pretty straightforward. Your rifle is a 300 Winchester Magnum; that ammo is for a 300 Winchester Short Magnum. Different cartridge." "But they're both 30 caliber aren't they?" Long story short, I convinced them they couldn't use the WSM ammo in the WinMag (wouldn't fit anyway), and they replied "Well, the .30-06 ammo worked, we can just shoot that." No, actually you can't. Had to get the RSO to convince them that chambering a wrong caliber more than once, accidentally, is not allowed.

This new shooter stuff is entertaining. At least until it isn't.

 

[1CTShooter]

I run into the same thing with new "kayakers" (I use the term loosely)
It would seem the new norm is covid turned everyone into an expert in everything over night. And even when people die doing stupid sh!t, they make an excuse for themselves.

 

[457ciSBC]

I wrote a while back about an "instructor" who, while showing his client how to operate his new AK-47 clone, managed to fire a 223 round from the 7.62x39 rifle. Figured that was a one-in-a-million thing. Yesterday proved otherwise.

Couple of guys showed up at the range; maybe 30-year old guy and an older guy (may have been his father; not sure.) Younger guy was shooting a M1A1, not particularly well, but at least mostly keeping it on paper at 100 yds (21" x 24" paper target.) Swaps places with the older guy who loads up what turns out to be an AR-15 platform rifle in 7.62 x 39. Gets a double feed off the bat, and due to the Calif compliant locked magazine, has no clue what to do. End up having him hold the bolt back, and I work the second round back into the mag, and get the bolt to close. Make sure that the bolt has gone into battery and the guy takes a shot. Rifle says "Phffft.", and a little smoke wafts up from the muzzle. "Stop," I say. "That didn't sound right." Pull the bolt back a bit; no case comes with it. That's odd; I didn't see the action cycle. Break the rifle down and check the bore, and there's a case in the chamber. Except it's a 223. The older guy apparently saw the round on the bench when he sat down, topped off his mag, and chambered it. And fired it. On reassembly the rifle worked OK.

The day before two guys were trying out new rifles: a .30-06 and a 300 WinMag. They shot a box of ammo or so from the 06, and moved to the WinMag. After about 10 minutes of them waving the rifle around, they got a shot off, but the case wouldn't extract. A friend of mine had a cleaning rod and tapped the stuck case out, nothing that there was no neck on the fired case. Closer inspection also showed the case body blown out and split. Turns out they had been trying to load 300WSM into the 300 Winmag, but it wouldn't fit, so they used the 30-06 ammo. Case head diameter was small enough that the extractor wouldn't pull it back out. One of the pair asked why the other stuff wouldn't fit. "Wrong ammo; pretty straightforward. Your rifle is a 300 Winchester Magnum; that ammo is for a 300 Winchester Short Magnum. Different cartridge." "But they're both 30 caliber aren't they?" Long story short, I convinced them they couldn't use the WSM ammo in the WinMag (wouldn't fit anyway), and they replied "Well, the .30-06 ammo worked, we can just shoot that." No, actually you can't. Had to get the RSO to convince them that chambering a wrong caliber more than once, accidentally, is not allowed.

This new shooter stuff is entertaining. At least until it isn't.

I wrote a while back about an "instructor" who, while showing his client how to operate his new AK-47 clone, managed to fire a 223 round from the 7.62x39 rifle. Figured that was a one-in-a-million thing. Yesterday proved otherwise.

Couple of guys showed up at the range; maybe 30-year old guy and an older guy (may have been his father; not sure.) Younger guy was shooting a M1A1, not particularly well, but at least mostly keeping it on paper at 100 yds (21" x 24" paper target.) Swaps places with the older guy who loads up what turns out to be an AR-15 platform rifle in 7.62 x 39. Gets a double feed off the bat, and due to the Calif compliant locked magazine, has no clue what to do. End up having him hold the bolt back, and I work the second round back into the mag, and get the bolt to close. Make sure that the bolt has gone into battery and the guy takes a shot. Rifle says "Phffft.", and a little smoke wafts up from the muzzle. "Stop," I say. "That didn't sound right." Pull the bolt back a bit; no case comes with it. That's odd; I didn't see the action cycle. Break the rifle down and check the bore, and there's a case in the chamber. Except it's a 223. The older guy apparently saw the round on the bench when he sat down, topped off his mag, and chambered it. And fired it. On reassembly the rifle worked OK.

The day before two guys were trying out new rifles: a .30-06 and a 300 WinMag. They shot a box of ammo or so from the 06, and moved to the WinMag. After about 10 minutes of them waving the rifle around, they got a shot off, but the case wouldn't extract. A friend of mine had a cleaning rod and tapped the stuck case out, nothing that there was no neck on the fired case. Closer inspection also showed the case body blown out and split. Turns out they had been trying to load 300WSM into the 300 Winmag, but it wouldn't fit, so they used the 30-06 ammo. Case head diameter was small enough that the extractor wouldn't pull it back out. One of the pair asked why the other stuff wouldn't fit. "Wrong ammo; pretty straightforward. Your rifle is a 300 Winchester Magnum; that ammo is for a 300 Winchester Short Magnum. Different cartridge." "But they're both 30 caliber aren't they?" Long story short, I convinced them they couldn't use the WSM ammo in the WinMag (wouldn't fit anyway), and they replied "Well, the .30-06 ammo worked, we can just shoot that." No, actually you can't. Had to get the RSO to convince them that chambering a wrong caliber more than once, accidentally, is not allowed.

This new shooter stuff is entertaining. At least until it isn't.

Excessive headspace between the ears or lack thereof!, especially chambering the 30-06 rounds.

 

[Nick Caprinolo]

Seems like Darwin is out for lunch.

Why are people so stupid when their lives may depend on what they are doing. Bet they weren't wearing safety glasses either.

 

[riflewoman]

The idiocy is strong in these...

 

[Downhill]

I saw a shooter firing a M1 Garand at our range. Happened to notice six straight wall cases with a rebated rim. What the hell is that? I thought. Upon closer inspection it was 308 apparently fired from a 30 06 chamber. Checked the M1 guy's ammo and it was 308. Inspected rifle and yep, 30 06. Was surprised it fired and ejected. The shooter said he noticed it was hitting lower than normal.

 

[Ccrider]

I wrote a while back about an "instructor" who, while showing his client how to operate his new AK-47 clone, managed to fire a 223 round from the 7.62x39 rifle. Figured that was a one-in-a-million thing. Yesterday proved otherwise.

Couple of guys showed up at the range; maybe 30-year old guy and an older guy (may have been his father; not sure.) Younger guy was shooting a M1A1, not particularly well, but at least mostly keeping it on paper at 100 yds (21" x 24" paper target.) Swaps places with the older guy who loads up what turns out to be an AR-15 platform rifle in 7.62 x 39. Gets a double feed off the bat, and due to the Calif compliant locked magazine, has no clue what to do. End up having him hold the bolt back, and I work the second round back into the mag, and get the bolt to close. Make sure that the bolt has gone into battery and the guy takes a shot. Rifle says "Phffft.", and a little smoke wafts up from the muzzle. "Stop," I say. "That didn't sound right." Pull the bolt back a bit; no case comes with it. That's odd; I didn't see the action cycle. Break the rifle down and check the bore, and there's a case in the chamber. Except it's a 223. The older guy apparently saw the round on the bench when he sat down, topped off his mag, and chambered it. And fired it. On reassembly the rifle worked OK.

The day before two guys were trying out new rifles: a .30-06 and a 300 WinMag. They shot a box of ammo or so from the 06, and moved to the WinMag. After about 10 minutes of them waving the rifle around, they got a shot off, but the case wouldn't extract. A friend of mine had a cleaning rod and tapped the stuck case out, nothing that there was no neck on the fired case. Closer inspection also showed the case body blown out and split. Turns out they had been trying to load 300WSM into the 300 Winmag, but it wouldn't fit, so they used the 30-06 ammo. Case head diameter was small enough that the extractor wouldn't pull it back out. One of the pair asked why the other stuff wouldn't fit. "Wrong ammo; pretty straightforward. Your rifle is a 300 Winchester Magnum; that ammo is for a 300 Winchester Short Magnum. Different cartridge." "But they're both 30 caliber aren't they?" Long story short, I convinced them they couldn't use the WSM ammo in the WinMag (wouldn't fit anyway), and they replied "Well, the .30-06 ammo worked, we can just shoot that." No, actually you can't. Had to get the RSO to convince them that chambering a wrong caliber more than once, accidentally, is not allowed.

This new shooter stuff is entertaining. At least until it isn't.

Time to take up a new sport.

 

[M-61]

Happened to notice six straight wall cases with a rebated rim.

Rebated rim from?
I can see how he wound up with straight walls but how did the rim become rebated? I'm missing something??

 

[Shooter13]

And even when people die doing stupid sh!t, they make an excuse for themselves.

Except the dead one

 

[SecondsCount]

I accidentally shot a 9mm in a 40S&W Sig P226 once. It stripped it off the mag and fed but didn't eject, and fireformed the brass to fit the chamber. The extractor must have held the cartridge tight enough to get a good firing pin strike.

 

[K22]

I witnessed a guy fire a 9mm cartridge in a 10 mm pistol - the round discharged but belled the case so badly that it jam the pistol.

Be on high alert at the range.

 

[Toolbreaker]

As much as I honestly like to hear about new shooters & reloaders joining the sport, they also scare the living crap out of me sometimes.

 

[DiffEQ]

I guess it's time to put your old steel spikegolf shoes on and go play 18 in a Midwest lightening storm....

 

[Tokay444]

God bless America for giving people the freedom to blow themselves up with their own stupidity.

 

[wkdickinson]

There is no cure for stupid!

 

[NateHaler]

I've seen some reckless and silly and just plain puzzling behavior at the range, but unless the perpetrator is a jackass, I really try to use it as a teaching moment, because the shooting sports are persecuted by the lefty politicians like no other group in the country. So it's worth some effort, IMO, to try to educate and help new shooters get going in the right direction.

In San Leandro, CA one evening, during my regular twice-weekly practice sessions, I saw a couple of guys come in with a brand new pistol. They unboxed it, figured out how to load it (small semi-auto), and the first guy up stepped to the line, worked the slide, aimed and fired. (When I see new shooters or people I don't know at the range, I almost always spend a moment to observe before I get down to my own business...)

He then racked the slide again, and a live round ejected, and then he aimed and fired. Repeat until the gun was empty. His buddy said "what's with the ammo on the floor?" and the shooter said "I don't know, I thought I was doing it right". He glanced over at me, because I was still watching, and he said "Do you know about this stuff?", and he smiled. Hello new friend. My brother in arms!

So, it turns out that he was basically just imitating what he had seen so often in TV and the movies, where it seems that the gun-toters are always racking the slide. We both grinned at that realization, and I showed him and his friend how the gun would fire all the rounds in the magazine (hopefully!) after chambering the first round. Then we worked a bit on sight-picture and trigger squeeze, and then I went over to my lane. Yay!

Another time at that range a guy uncased a blackpowder pistol that he had bought as a kit from Cabela's. I got a chuckle out of the huge puff of smoke when he fired it, and he may have missed the target because he reeled it back in pretty close (electric switch at each lane, string holds the target clip, etc.). He reloaded, fired again, big smoke. Shot number three really caught my attention, because the target caught fire, and the flames went up to the string, and caught that on fire and the target fell to the concrete floor. The RO came rushing in with a fire extinguisher and quickly put out the small blaze. Good times!

 

[Downhill]

Rebated rim from?
I can see how he wound up with straight walls but how did the rim become rebated? I'm missing something??

My apologies, should have typed in rimless. Sometimes my typing and A.D.D. get crossed in this internet age of perfection .

 

[55fairlane]

New shooter 1 bounced a 223 off the top of a concrete bench top....muzzle just inches from where the bullet impacted.....lots of concrete "spray" ....I had him removed quickly.
At a cmp match a guy with an 03 Springfield hate use his fist to close the bolt and used a screwdriver to pry it open...I suggested he "retire " for the day

 

[Reddog58]

I wrote a while back about an "instructor" who, while showing his client how to operate his new AK-47 clone, managed to fire a 223 round from the 7.62x39 rifle. Figured that was a one-in-a-million thing. Yesterday proved otherwise.

Couple of guys showed up at the range; maybe 30-year old guy and an older guy (may have been his father; not sure.) Younger guy was shooting a M1A1, not particularly well, but at least mostly keeping it on paper at 100 yds (21" x 24" paper target.) Swaps places with the older guy who loads up what turns out to be an AR-15 platform rifle in 7.62 x 39. Gets a double feed off the bat, and due to the Calif compliant locked magazine, has no clue what to do. End up having him hold the bolt back, and I work the second round back into the mag, and get the bolt to close. Make sure that the bolt has gone into battery and the guy takes a shot. Rifle says "Phffft.", and a little smoke wafts up from the muzzle. "Stop," I say. "That didn't sound right." Pull the bolt back a bit; no case comes with it. That's odd; I didn't see the action cycle. Break the rifle down and check the bore, and there's a case in the chamber. Except it's a 223. The older guy apparently saw the round on the bench when he sat down, topped off his mag, and chambered it. And fired it. On reassembly the rifle worked OK.

The day before two guys were trying out new rifles: a .30-06 and a 300 WinMag. They shot a box of ammo or so from the 06, and moved to the WinMag. After about 10 minutes of them waving the rifle around, they got a shot off, but the case wouldn't extract. A friend of mine had a cleaning rod and tapped the stuck case out, nothing that there was no neck on the fired case. Closer inspection also showed the case body blown out and split. Turns out they had been trying to load 300WSM into the 300 Winmag, but it wouldn't fit, so they used the 30-06 ammo. Case head diameter was small enough that the extractor wouldn't pull it back out. One of the pair asked why the other stuff wouldn't fit. "Wrong ammo; pretty straightforward. Your rifle is a 300 Winchester Magnum; that ammo is for a 300 Winchester Short Magnum. Different cartridge." "But they're both 30 caliber aren't they?" Long story short, I convinced them they couldn't use the WSM ammo in the WinMag (wouldn't fit anyway), and they replied "Well, the .30-06 ammo worked, we can just shoot that." No, actually you can't. Had to get the RSO to convince them that chambering a wrong caliber more than once, accidentally, is not allowed.

This new shooter stuff is entertaining. At least until it isn't.

I think I would have picked up and left, wouldn't want to have to explain to the medical examiner how they died !!

 

[PopCharlie]

I watched a guy shoot a beautiful Remington semi-auto 30-06 rifle at a range in Ca. He fired it once, then it jammed. I helped him clear the jamb. Turns out he had loaded a 7mm of some flavor in it. IMS, it was a 7mm Remington magnum. His comment was, "no wonder this thing never worked".