Range Mishap Today!

[tarawa]

Went to the range today to shoot a couple of 6.5 Carcano carbines that I gave my buddy. I told him that I would shoot them first. Never had a problem with a Carcano before. We brought a box of older 156 gr. Norma ammo and a new box of 160 gr. Hornady ammo. Loaded a stripper up and I fired three rounds from the first rifle, which had the worse of the two bores. Everything went well. My friend fired a few clips through it and all was well.
Loaded up a stripper (Norma ammo also) and fired the second carbine. All went well. We were about out of Norma ammo and my friend wanted to try the Hornady ammo, so we put three rounds of Norma and two rounds of Hornady. Fired the first round two rounds which were Norma and gun functioned flawlessly. He squeezed the trigger with the Hornady in the chamber and the gun went KABOOM! The receiver held but the stock cracked and the crap flew. There was a guy at the range who did gunsmith work who beat the gun open and verified that it was a Hornady cartridge. He measured the diameters of the remaining Norma bullets and a couple of the Hornady bullets and found that the Hornady was 8-12 thousandths larger than the Norma....not good.
I took my friend to the ER and they cleaned out the crap from his eye, but luckily he had his glasses on. I was next to him and was unharmed. My other buddy behind him got a small laceration on his chin. All in all very lucky.
Attached is a poor quality cellphone pic of the spent cartidge that we removed from the gun. Notice the size of the primer pocket!

I guess there is something to slugging these old barrels!

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[three0three]

oh, I know that feeling.... red hot sandblast to the face!!!!

[jmoore]

Imagine the surprise when I found a Carcano that was secretly rebarreled to 6.5 mannlicher w/ a 0.264" barrel rather than the usual Carcano 0.267-0.278" bore. It would fire the Prvi 6.5 carcano, but, fortunately, would not accept a round of the Hornady. The Hornady has been great in everything else though! Fire a whole pile of rounds not long ago. Some old theads in the Ammo forum about all this stuff.

More 6.5 Carcano fun coming! - Military Surplus Collectors Forums
6.5 carcano - Military Surplus Collectors Forums
Reloading the Carcano - Military Surplus Collectors Forums
Carcano Loads - Military Surplus Collectors Forums

[Badger]

As a somewhat associated point of disucssion about Carcano rifles and wiith thanks to Andy, there's an interesting article in the Technical Articles for Milsurp Collectors and Re-loaders(click here)

"Myth Busted" - Proof Testing an Eaton Carcano Rifle (click here)

Regards,
Badger

[tarawa]

I am glad I found this sight when I did!

[JBS]

I am glad only the old rifle was permanently damaged. Good that all three of you are alright. Now you have a war story.

[jon_norstog]

too bad something like that didn't happen to Lee Harvey Oswald!

jn

[Buntlineguy]

Here is a lesson to be learned and remembered! Always slug your barrel before firing a gun. You just never know.