hi all...

i picked up a few rounds of old headstamped "Holland's 375 Magnum" ammo (luckily only 3 rounds, silver projectile and a tiny bit of lead showing at the tip with a copper capstan running through) i tried them out in my Cogswell & Harrison .375 an the first two rounds went off with well but the case splitting slightly at the neck...and after touching off the third!! the floorplate flew open and the follower and spring popped out...dazed me for a bit coz i felt part of the gases deflecting!!.. the looks like someone cut it open with a gas torch...its split right from the rim throught the belt and the primer blew out too..I WILL POST PICTURES OF THIS SOON AND ITS PRETTY SCARY....i ended up seeing stars for a while not to mention a cracked original stock and a boltface with the word "magnum" imprinted on it in brass!! (no joke) .. this is possibly due to the old rounds "sweating" creating dangerously high pressures..I got the rifle checked, its perfectly fine...an im finally gonna put dat nice piece of black walnut to use...i will put up them pics real soon..

Zubin

Holly sh*t!!! Glad you weren't hurt and the rifle is OK. You probably needed an excuse to put new wood on there anyhow!!

What's up with this .375 ammo anyway????

It's good to hear you are ok after such an unfortunate thing to have happen.
Makes one think about accepting old ammo, no matter who offers it or what they say about it.
I think I'll make it my practice if some one offers me some old ammo, I'll say thank you, then later pull it apart and dispose of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Lowrider 49:
Holly sh*t!!! Glad you weren't hurt and the rifle is OK. You probably needed an excuse to put new wood on there anyhow!!

What's up with this .375 ammo anyway????

i really dont know...but my best guess is the "sweating" that is the cause of this...there's a place here in India called Kanpur...where they make crude hand-made pistols chambered for caliber like the 8x50 R Austrian Mannlicher (.315) and a long list of other guns too....i've heard that they reload some of the obsolete calibers and have heard horror stories about ammo from there...i think they use peg-measures to load their rounds!! yeah..now i've got an excuse to make a new stock...

Zubin

quote:

Originally posted by oldun:
It's good to hear you are ok after such an unfortunate thing to have happen.
Makes one think about accepting old ammo, no matter who offers it or what they say about it.
I think I'll make it my practice if some one offers me some old ammo, I'll say thank you, then later pull it apart and dispose of it.

ure absolutely right...i think its best to pull apart suspect ammo and load up to your own specifications...it more fun that way plus you know exactly what you're doing and no fear of a bolt flying through your head in case something goes wrong....i was offered to shoot a friend's 280 Ross the other day at the range..but i politely declined ....im not too keen on having a bolt handle, wing safety et all sticking outta my forehead!!


zubin