Just kidding.

A guy I know made a test at Norma, Sweden, of the Varberger rifle (www.varberger.com) which again is being produced in Sweden. The test aimed to go for catastrophic pressures to see what first gave away in the rifle...

They filled a .30-06 case with Norma R123 to the rim (pistol powder, roughly equivalent to Vihtavouri N110 or Alliant 2400) and put a 180 gr Oryx bullet in! They blew the primer of course, got a ruptured case too, but the gun didn't break.

So.... They HAMMERED ANOTHER 180GR BULLET INTO THE BARREL AND THEN FIRED THIS LOAD AGAIN!!!

The case, well, you can see it here. Notice the elegant fire-formed belt (!!!) on the case. At least the primer stayed put.

But mind you, both bullets came out the barrel and the gun was still shootable. Must feel kind of nice for the Varberger owners who reload.

Regards,
/HerrBerg

Do Swedish owners have a habit of firing two bullets at once?

Major Caliber,

if it is, I guess that is a habit one gets rid of the hard way, cold turkey.

Hot Core,
have a look at the rifles at www.varberger.com. The bullet was indeed hammered in from the chamber side, I dont know how far into the barrel though.

Thank you!



Just tried the link and couldn't get in. I wrote it down and I'll try later.

Now, HOTCORE, there's a pressure ring than can be measured! Please do so and let us know what the pressure was.....

Looks like some gas cutting on the brass.

What happened to the rifle?

Anything besides brass deposits?

The guy who did the test described the gun as "fully usable", though I haven't seen the gun myself. But I've seen the brass, it's my fingers on the picture

Anybody who would like to try that load with a Blaser R93, raise your hands!

Best Regards,
/HerrBerg

I read once that Remington, when developing the 721 and 722 actions, did a similar thing. If I recall correctly, they not only tried it with one bullet lodged in the barrel but with three bullets lodged in the barrel!

Over built is a good thing...

Notice the bright brass exposed in the break, that is not consistant with a blow out case, it should be blackened and that has been torn off my hand or pliers perhaps. Also the primer should be missing or at the very least sat back to some degree or at the very least flattened more with some black leakage apparant.....It is an unusual damage to say the least...

I have the video on the tests and they used a full case of Norma R1 not R123. The things that happened to the rifle was a damaged extractor, a little crack in the bolt face and a ring in the barrel where the bullet was placed. They did about 20 tests with different loads to blow the rifle before the one on the image.

In this case, Senor, I'd be more interested in the VELOCITY of the two bullets......