Fools Gold on the range

[RLP]

My buddy and I were able to go to the range today and he arrived before I did. I got there about a half hr later and he was quite excited finding around 80+ 30-06 cases. After inspecting a few I told him that they were not good to reload. We put them in a bag and waited till home to inspect them. Here is what I found. I have never owned an M1 Grand but I suspect that these were fired from one...Way too hot. Complete head space separation to stretched cases over .030. I am no expert and would like to know what semi rifle would hold together with such abuse. All the Hornady SST were the worse and the Remington cases were stretched around .020 with no flat primers like the Hornady. Whoever shot these has a lot more b#lls than I have. Any ideas on what fired them ?? Thanks Bob

I am going to add a 2nd thread with 3 more pics.

 

[RLP]

Here are the other 3 pics

 

[mmcu]

If those were fired from an M1 Garand, I'd hate to see the condition of the op-rod.....

 

[jonbearman]

They may have been fired in a FN-49 which is a robust action. They are not plentiful but most of the ones I have seen were junkers.

 

[dryhumor]

You'll figure out what and who shot them when the catastrophic failure occurs.....

 

[Minesweeper3433]

On a similar note when my dad took me to my first SASS match as a kid I happened to look down in the gravel that covered the range and there was a piece of gravel the size of kiwi with a large piece of fools gold in it. Still have it sitting around in one of my range boxes.

 

[RLP]

From the deep torn extractor marks I knew was a semi but the only 06 that popped in my my mind was the M1. I know that hornady brass is a little softer but getting pulled .030 takes a lot of pressure. Some of the worse that I have seen. Wouldn't thought so much about it if only 2 or 3 cases....but 80+ in that condition really caught my eye. Hope he was wearing glasses !!

 

[XTR]

Look for the guy trying to get a new op rod for an M1.

I've seen someone shoot an M1 loaded to hot once, but he shot one round and had to get a gunsmith to open the action.

 

[jhord]

I have doubts those were fired from an M1. If they were, it had the sloppiest chamber in the world. Assuming you are using the 400 insert, you should see readings more like 2.000. At least that's where my M1 fired cases come out at, give or take a thou or so. 2.074" is a bit of a stretch for sure!! ;D

 

[lightman]

I would guess they were fired in a machinegun, maybe something like a 1919 Browning.

 

[jwink]

I came across something like this many moons ago in a M1. The cause was a neck from a previous case broken of in the chamber, keeping the new shell from going in all the way and yes it still fired.

 

[cdparker]

As fugly as those cases look in the photo's, It appears as the cases could be sticking/obdurated in the corroded chamber when the extractor attempted to pull them out. This would account for the exceptional length and the distorted rims. The strength of the case would depend upon the composition of the brass. I notice that these cases all have a brass colored primer in them. Could they be handloads? If you load a gas gun with a slow burning powder,(notice the evidence of escaped gas on the sides of the brass before the case expands to fit the chamber?) ugly things also happen as you are overloading the gas port and making the op-rod on an M1 slam back at enough speed to bend or break it while it tries to rip the rim off of the case. If they were handloads, could they have been sized way too short in an oversized chamber? Too much there to give an accurate answer.

The good news is---take those cases and throw them into a 5 gallon bucket. Add in all of your worn out brass and the other range pick-up that you come across. When you get the bucket full, take it to the scrap yard. They will give you green cash for it.

JMHOFWIW
Craig

 

[RLP]

Oh believe me , they are all in the trash. I would not consider reloading something like that. The Hornady were superformance 150 Gr SST and had 64.8 gr of powder that resembled H335 in texture. There were 6 rounds with light primer strikes that I broke down and were new ....not reloads. There were 30 new Hornady and all the rest were Remington cases that appeared to be reloads. Those all stretched over .020 and still hard extraction but the primers were not as flat. Machine guns are not allowed at the range but that doesn't mean someone can't follow the rules. Thanks for all the input....Bob