SmallCaliberCentral

It jammed the bolt closed nice and tight, and proceed to bellow smoke out of the receiver for a good minute or so. Never had this happen before, what would cause it? It was a factory Hornady 32grn load.



On a better note, shot my 35 Berger loads for the first time. Many were in the 1/2" or better area, will post all results and pictures of that in a bit.




Mr Pillow

Just a guess. Dirty chamber?

What is the length of the empty case? The case itself shows signs of case head separation. The extractor groove seems deformed. Does the head stamp say .204? Give us all the information you can.

I can't see the neck and shoulder but it looks like the base grew. Can you take a picture of it next to another empty from the same box? The overall length measurement of the case may tell a story. Did the others shoot O.K.?

I opened a box of .204 ammo one time and found a .223 in the box. I'm just wondering if the same thing happened to you.

I can see it says '204 Ruger', and because it's a factory round, I'd be calling Hornady customer service, and plan on sending it to them. If the rifle was clean and in good order, that should never happen with a factory loaded round.

Were all the other rounds in that box okay when fired? Save the box for the lot number, as the factory will ask for it.

Something just ain't right there bud!

Every other round functioned fine from that box. However, I no longer have the original factory box so I can't get the lot #

The casing is visibly shorter than the other fired cases from that box, and measures at 1.8355"

The round was a .204, it shot fine and grouped with 2 others at around 3/4". It wasn't until I noticed smoke coming out of the action that I realized something was wrong.

Just be glad it didn't look like this.......

You would be looking for a new rifle.Don

huntsman22 wrote:Just be glad it didn't look like this.......

You would be looking for a new rifle.Don

And a clean pair of shorts.

I'm wondering if there were several shots fired relatively quickly prior to chambering that round. Then the bolt was closed on that round & not shot for a minute or two allowing it to cook in there increasing the pressure upon firing. Or just a bad piece of brass.

I'm glad nobody got hurt in either of the above instances!!

Just a reminder of how much we NEED TO WEAR SAFETY GLASSES AND HEARING PROTECTION AT THE RANGE!!

Amen, to the use of safety equipment.

Glen wrote:I'm wondering if there were several shots fired relatively quickly prior to chambering that round. Then the bolt was closed on that round & not shot for a minute or two allowing it to cook in there increasing the pressure upon firing.

This is what happened when I blew up my gun , and the case looked the same.