I routinely weigh my reloads, to give me a good idea if I've somehow loaded a light charge (.470 brass varies 3-5 grains, empty). so I thought I'd weigh a box of new Hornady .470 ammo to see how consistent factory ammo might be. I opened a factory fresh box and weighed each one, 19 rounds averaged 956.4 grains, with a variance of 2-4 grains. The odd round weighed 1008.6 grains, which of course made me wonder why it weighed so much...overload? No overload, it was a brand new 500 NE round in my new box of .470 NE. I don't even own a .500 NE so there is no way I could have mistakenly put the round in the box. Anyone have anything similar happen?

That is scary.

The rim diameter loos different. I just hope it will not chamber in the 470NE rifle.

AFAIK the .470 is a necked down .500, so rims should be the sane. No chance of getting a .500 into a .470 yhoigh.

Yup

I just checked. The 500 neck will not go into the 470 shoulder & neck.

Rim is the same 0.655 inch.

quote:

Originally posted by Aussie steve:
AFAIK the .470 is a necked down .500, so rims should be the sane. No chance of getting a .500 into a .470 yhoigh.

quote:

Originally posted by Nakihunter:
Yup

I just checked. The 500 neck will not go into the 470 shoulder & neck.

Rim is the same 0.655 inch.

quote:

Originally posted by Aussie steve:
AFAIK the .470 is a necked down .500, so rims should be the sane. No chance of getting a .500 into a .470 yhoigh.

Right, but a 470 will definitely chamber in a 500. I use 470 snap caps in my 500 for practice all the time.

Mixing calibre in a pack occasionally happens. Never to me but happened to 3 or 4 hunters of my acquaintence. In each case it involved American manufactured ammo - Hornady and Federal I believe. Never heard of it occuring with European brands but maybe that's due to relative ratio of each in the market.

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
I routinely weigh my reloads, to give me a good idea if I've somehow loaded a light charge (.470 brass varies 3-5 grains, empty). so I thought I'd weigh a box of new Hornady .470 ammo to see how consistent factory ammo might be. I opened a factory fresh box and weighed each one, 19 rounds averaged 956.4 grains, with a variance of 2-4 grains. The odd round weighed 1008.6 grains, which of course made me wonder why it weighed so much...overload? No overload, it was a brand new 500 NE round in my new box of .470 NE. I don't even own a .500 NE so there is no way I could have mistakenly put the round in the box. Anyone have anything similar happen?

I would definitely give hornady a call and let them know of the problem!

Does your store leave ammo out where Bubba can examine it? Or did you get it by mail?

Karl, approach this like any good rifle addict would . . . consider this a sign from above that you need to get a .500 double . . . the hunting gods are speaking to you . . .

Quality control at it's finest.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Karl, approach this like any good rifle addict would . . . consider this a sign from above that you need to get a .500 double . . . the hunting gods are speaking to you . . .

This! The only logical course of action at this point is to buy a 500N. That lonely single round uselessly sitting by itself on your reloading bench is going to keep you awake until you do.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Karl, approach this like any good rifle addict would . . . consider this a sign from above that you need to get a .500 double . . . the hunting gods are speaking to you . . .

I wouldn't be opposed to doing just that, but the household accountant might use it on me if I did.
Someone asked if the box might have been accessible to others in the store, no, I'm sure I was the first to open the box. I bought the ammo (5 boxes minus 4 rounds) from a gentleman who won a Kreighoff .470 in a raffle. The prize also included 5 boxes of Hornady ammo, he shot 4 rounds and decided to sell the rifle and placed it up for sale at a local gun shop and sold the ammo to me at a very reasonable price. It appeared to be "promotional" ammo, new, but maybe blemished or otherwise imperfect appearance wise. Shoots fine, though.

I use 470 snao caps in my 500NE and they fit perfectly but a loaded 500 cannot fit in the 470 one because the bullet is .510 and secondly if you try to chamber a 500 NE into a 470 it won't fit due to the case mouth is much bigger

My claim to fame I ran a couple of 243 Winchester through my 30-06 BAR and it wound not eject the case, after 3 shots I stopped to figure what was wrong that is when I found the mix up. It banged each time and never gave me no idea of what I had done Here is what they looked like

Off topic, but I had a 450/400 3" and passed on several 3.25" guns as I said I wouldn't own both at the same time. Until I saw one I couldn't refuse. Fortunately I was able to successfully keep .411"and .408" bullets separated for the time I had them. These days I have an AR in 300 AAC so got rid of all of my 223 stuff as they can chamber and fire in the smaller bore.

One of my two claim to fames in over 30 years of reloading/shooting is loading a round of 9mm in a magazine of 7.62 Tok. I've got a bunch of extra barrels for my Sten, all in 9mm except one. I painted a red ring on it and on the converted magazine to make the difference obvious, but that doesn't help if you mix up the ammo! Round fired, bullet swaged down and exited (using plain lead bullets thankfully), case head ripped off, but the gun and I survived unscathed.

Bob

Having been involved with millions of rounds.

Strange stuff does happen even in the best factories.

OMG

I wonder if you gas cut the chamber? Worth checking with bore scope.

quote:

Originally posted by raamw:
I use 470 snao caps in my 500NE and they fit perfectly but a loaded 500 cannot fit in the 470 one because the bullet is .510 and secondly if you try to chamber a 500 NE into a 470 it won't fit due to the case mouth is much bigger

My claim to fame I ran a couple of 243 Winchester through my 30-06 BAR and it wound not eject the case, after 3 shots I stopped to figure what was wrong that is when I found the mix up. It banged each time and never gave me no idea of what I had done Here is what they looked like

quote:

Originally posted by raamw:

My claim to fame I ran a couple of 243 Winchester through my 30-06 BAR and it wound not eject the case, after 3 shots I stopped to figure what was wrong that is when I found the mix up. It banged each time and never gave me no idea of what I had done Here is what they looked like

A guy loaded a 308 cartridge in his 270 Win rifle. The cartridge chambered and fired, it broke the front ring of the action, split his barrel like a banana peel, destroyed his scope and stock. He came out of it with multiple lacerations of his hands and forearm but luckily nothing serious.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:

quote:

Originally posted by raamw:

My claim to fame I ran a couple of 243 Winchester through my 30-06 BAR and it wound not eject the case, after 3 shots I stopped to figure what was wrong that is when I found the mix up. It banged each time and never gave me no idea of what I had done Here is what they looked like

A guy loaded a 308 cartridge in his 270 Win rifle. The cartridge chambered and fired, it broke the front ring of the action, split his barrel like a banana peel, destroyed his scope and stock. He came out of it with multiple lacerations of his hands and forearm but luckily nothing serious.

A guy came into my buddy’s shop with a cheap little savage in a plastic stock. The bolt was fused shut! I spent some time beating on the bolt handle and got it open. The guy had done the same thing as you describe; he fired a 308 in his 270 Winchester! The case head expanded all out of proportion and the primer had vaporized. Amazingly, nothing had ruptured. The extractor and ejector mechanisms were melded into the distorted casehead. It took some serious undercutting to get the barrel nut off of the action. Amazingly, the lugs had not set back into the action and the bolt head wasn’t cracked! All I can say is those cheap Savages are strong as the hubs of hell!

RC

Wow! Amazingly strong

I saw a rifle with the late gunsmith Din Connings here in NZ.

It was a Brno 600 in 25'06 and the guy had fired a 308 in it.

The action was cracked, the bolt was cracked and the stock was splintered. The primer was gone and the brass had expanded to the shoulder of the chamber.

Another one was a Sako 7mm Mag and the hunter had mixed a 308 in his ammo bag. The damage to the rifle was not as bad but still some damage and the brass was exactly the same.

quote:

Originally posted by Wildcatter:

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:

quote:

Originally posted by raamw:

My claim to fame I ran a couple of 243 Winchester through my 30-06 BAR and it wound not eject the case, after 3 shots I stopped to figure what was wrong that is when I found the mix up. It banged each time and never gave me no idea of what I had done Here is what they looked like

A guy loaded a 308 cartridge in his 270 Win rifle. The cartridge chambered and fired, it broke the front ring of the action, split his barrel like a banana peel, destroyed his scope and stock. He came out of it with multiple lacerations of his hands and forearm but luckily nothing serious.

A guy came into my buddy’s shop with a cheap little savage in a plastic stock. The bolt was fused shut! I spent some time beating on the bolt handle and got it open. The guy had done the same thing as you describe; he fired a 308 in his 270 Winchester! The case head expanded all out of proportion and the primer had vaporized. Amazingly, nothing had ruptured. The extractor and ejector mechanisms were melded into the distorted casehead. It took some serious undercutting to get the barrel nut off of the action. Amazingly, the lugs had not set back into the action and the bolt head wasn’t cracked! All I can say is those cheap Savages are strong as the hubs of hell!

RC