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Bonehead Range Report

CaddmannQ

CaddmannQ

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Boy do I feel like a bonehead!

I figured out why it is not a good idea to put shot shells in your pocket.

I was out the other day with my 16 gauge shotgun, and my 12ga too.

When my pocket was empty of 16 gauge shells, I put that gun down picked up the 12 gauge and stuffed my pocket with 12 gauge shells.

Wouldn't you know it?

My pocket had not been empty at all. I carelessly stuffed a 16 gauge round in the chamber of a 12 gauge shotgun, pulled the trigger and plastered #6 birdshot on a steel plate at 25yds. It split the brass wide open.
20161230_234449.jpg

Don't do this at home kids!
 
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Thanks Archer,
Yes the colors seem all mixed up, except 20ga.

This wasn't a matter of conflicting color codes. And the full story is that I actually stuffed two new 16 ga rounds up the tube, along with three 12ga reloads.

I had no idea that a 16ga shell would even stay in the tube, but they latched right in.

I shot 3 12ga and 1 16ga, but I'm not sure in what order. I didn't note any difference between that 16ga, probably because I was shooting a mixed bag of odd 12ga reloads, and each one was a little different.

Plus the gun changes weight with each shell fired, and the center of gravity moves too, so the gun bucks more with each shot until empty.

Anyhow I never noticed the one which blew out at all, until I picked it up from the ground.

Now the last shell I loaded was a 16ga too, and I know this because it didn't "catch" in the chamber enough for the primer to get a good strike.

I pulled it out and ran it in the sxs, and it shot fine.

So I was lucky and I learned something vital (that you can accidently mix the shells and shoot one!) and the only issue I had was a very dirty gun to clean.
 
Yeah, luckily the 16 ga shell ejected. I doubt it could slide down the chamber far enough for a 12 ga shell to be pushed in behind it, though. That would definitely suck.

I've got to clean my JM after an morning of skeet shooting this past Sunday as well. They do get dirty.
 
I don't know how far it might go down the chamber, but the second one did go in far enough that the firing pin would not strike it off.

When I re-examined my blown out shell, I discovered this double strike.
1483467916904-1115057123.jpg
This one didn't go off on the 1st click, but it went off on the second one.

My first feeling was that I had made a faulty reload, and I was already blaming the primer, because I knew I had weighed and checked every load carefully, but I had in the past however gotten a random bad primer.

I didn't discover the truth until I removed the 16 gauge shell (un-spent) from the chamber, and then started picking up the empties.

So anyhow, now faced with the question of whether or not I could have double-stacked 16 gauge shells into the barrel, I had to check it out.

First off, a 16 gauge shell will slip right into a 12 gauge barrel with no problem, until you hit the flange.
1483468613830-1696775251.jpg
This is a cylinder bore gun so I was able to stick it right in the muzzle. It fits right in with no pressure at all.

So what happens when you start putting shells in the chamber? I dug out my cheapie depth gauge and stuffed in a 12gauge round.

1483468941326-217999886.jpg

The 12 gauge round only drops into the barrel a total of 3/32 or 0.094" (not measured to the chamber head but to the dead end of the barrel as shown. This represents the minimum amount that the Bolt & Barrel overlap each other when in battery.)

Next I dropped in a 16 gauge Remington STS. The flange caught almost perfectly, and it only dropped in another 1/32" so it's measured depth was 0.125" This one would certainly fire.

Next I tried a Federal game load #8.
It did not catch at the breech, and I continued pushing it in with my finger until it stopped. FInger tapping would not move it further. It bottomed out down 0.5". At that point the flange had wedged into the gradually tapering cylinder.

I tried a Winchester Super X #6, and it went in 0.82". That seemed like an awful lot so I tried a second one but it only went in 0.4".

Last up was the Fiocchi #8 game and target load. I knew these were El Cheapos, and I'd only bought one box of them. I tried in 8 hulls, and they measured:

0.82
0.88(2 samples)
1.12
1.22 (2 samples)
1.25 (3 samples)

Then I measured my remaining live fiocchi ammunition and found exactly the same variation. 13/16" to 1-1/4" into the chamber.

In every case this was achieved with no pressure more than gentle finger tapping. If the bolt had rammed in another one behind it, it might have gone considerably further, due to the gentle nature of the tapered chamber.

Fiocchi 16 gauge shells, Double Stacked:
1483479440082-214192309.jpg
 
Yup, glad you and the gun escaped unscathed! :eek: Talk about fire-forming your brass! ;) I think you need to wrap the 16s with electrical tape next time... ;) (jk!)
 
Yeah, that poor Winchester brass got resized, but that tough plastic didn't split open.

Anyhow, I won't mix them up again.
 
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