Over the years I've seen a bunch of stuff happen. Things like squib loads, an occasional hang fire and at least one other case separation. Because of this I always try to pay attention to the sound of the shot being fired both when I'm shooting and when others with me are shooting. All of my main shooting friends reload and even though it doesn't happen often a squib does happen every now & then.
Because of this I always carry a three-piece wooden cleaning rod in my shooting bag to dislodge stuck wads & so-on. The thing that surprised me with this one was how the case was like Kevin mentioned, it was welded to the bore wall, in all my years of shooting, I've never seen anything quite like this.
Due to some of the stuff encountered over the years I've adopted some simple safety procedures for myself. One is always look down the bores when you step-up to shoot before dropping a load in. Two, when trapping or scoring, I try to position myself slightly behind & off to the side of the shooter so if a barrel burst were to happen, I might not be in the line of fire from the shrapnel. The main thing is to keep your head in the game all the time when you're shooting or close to the firing line.
An item I didn't mention in my original post was something my buddy said when we were dealing with the stuck case. My friend is in his mid-seventies and is a very experienced shooter & I was shocked when he out of the blue said "Maybe I could shoot the stuck case-out" I immediately told him no-way is he going to try that and I won't let you do it! I flashed back to all of the burst barrel threads I've seen over the years and now I know how one can happen.
This incident caught my attention and reenforced how important safety is all the time when shooting.
|