Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bullets that destroy rifles

Don't care what you do or don't believe. I trust that particular gunsmith.

I'm glad you do, have at it.

Considering brass is softer than steel, what would give first?

Start at the top champ.

Secondary Pressure Spikes



Course I don't expect a guy like you to get it - after basically calling out Ken H. I'm not one of his largest fans but the guy was generally considered an expert on the matter - given the books he's written and published on the topic and his time as an editor. Fact remains - Charlie had the equipment and ran the tests - went hot enough to blow the end of the barrel off the gun and ZERO typical indicators on the brass.

IMO - brass condition isn't a guarantee that you're under max.

4 year old account that wakes up and posts 12 times in a day on an old thread?

Did Larry find one of his old accounts?

Folks can say what they want about Ken Howell so far as his faith and his irascibility, but the man knew more about internal and external ballistics than you will ever hope to know. Studying under the tutelage of Homer Powley and his peers gave Ken Howell a leg up in a very complicated area.
He had his own gunpowder pressure testing equipment for checking individual lots of powder, and enough other test equipment to put a lot of ballistics labs to shame, including computers and software.
You come across as a very defensive, immature person who has a little bit of knowledge and no idea of the capabilities of the people on this site.

You would be much better served to ask questions and listen, not pontificate on things you only have a glimmer of knowledge about.

Ed

Wise guy: I have had it happen so I am "experienced" but not stupid because it happened once.

Yes pressures went out of site.

And I took precautions by reducing the load by 3 grains before the switch in bullets....it was not enough.

The case gave way, blew the primer,which of course is a case failure.

If I had not reduced the load by three grains do you suppose the action could have let go? I will leave that to you to speculate since you are such an expert. It certainly is not impossible.

BTW the perps were the 338 Win Mag, H205, 225 Hornady, Bitterroot and Nosler Partition in this particular case.

Not sure what your point is anyway.

There is a certain aroma wafting about.

Dang, it seems Anothergun just came on here to argue,piss, and moan.

Gee I guess If I'm all alone in my squabble, I must be wrong.

Happy hunting. Oh don't forget to debate about who has the right cartridge round yer fire.

That's the oldest post I have seen

All of these in-depth comments are important as to handloading and shooter safety. I have a number of different weights of Hawk bullets in 348 WCF caliber.
The 348 case is a strong one, but the Winchester Model 71 and later versions are lever actions. Lever actions have no sense of humor and handle adverse pressure spikes poorly.

The factory warning is not to be taken lightly. That being said, it would help Hawk to close up the base of their bullets as much as possible, within their design
and jacket material. The older original Barnes bullets were made similarly. One could see where the copper tubibin was reduced at the base, leaving a very fine hole-
sometimes the core lead was visible.

This type of thread should be repeated regularly as a safety precaution-old school or not. Keep resurrecting................

I have a full box of 35 cal. 225 grain Hawk bullets. I had bought two boxes of them and tried to get them to shoot in my 350 RM. That rifle is accurate with several bullets and loads. But with those Hawk bullets the best group was in the order of 4.5 MOA. I didn't have issues with pressures though. The diameter of these Hawk bullets were similar to the Hornadys that shot very well. I had believed that the accuracy problem was the soft jacket material and that perhaps I had pushed them too hard??? I understood that these bullets had a soft copper jacket and that might have caused the problem??? If they shot well, I'd think they would be outstanding on game. I didn't think I had pushed them hard, but I was at loss to why the problem.

If someone wants to experiment with these bullets, I'd let them go fairly cheap. I have 35 Rem's and a 358 Win and "WAS" - - considering trying that bullet in one of those. Now I don't think I'll be using them in my rifles. If no one wants to try these, they will be on a table at the Sioux Falls Gun Show in a couple of weeks.

I have been reloading for over 20 years, and reload for 5 different calibers and have never had a rifle blow up on me. What gives?

sometime a case, sometimes a action. what some fail to consider is the stress fatigue caused by overloads.one can never tell when a action/barrel might come apart. i had a small shop in california and around the display cases i had firearms,mainly revolvers that people blew up. it was stunning to listen to some that claimed to be expert reloaders tell their tails.

BU-
I may take you up on that box of 35 bullets.....have an old Model 70 in 35 Whelen.....

I talked to Andy Hill-of Hawk Bullets-this week. They have been filling DoD sniper bullet requests, which is interesting.
He stated that on a custom order, he could close the base jacket opening a bit over the core.
I have used some of their bullets, mainly in 348 WCF, which operates at lower velocity/ pressure with 225-250 grain bullets.
Have killed one large moose with one shot-270 gr bullet in the 348 Ack Imp.-probably 2300 FPS.

No problems so far. But it may be like the 10th floor bldg jumper at the 6th floor-" So far- so good". My last 348 Bullets were bonded North Fork, Alaska Bullet Works bonded-
and some original Barnes : all 230-250 grain.

One item. Hawk recommends 5-10% reduction in powder charge. Also single based powders. Bolt actions generally develop more pressure
than lever action rifles, and the latter have less room for error or pressure excursions. Food for thought.