As the title states I have a question about Hornady's outstanding 350 grain roundnose bullet. I use an older Marlin with ballard cut rifling and it absolutely loves these bullets. I used them for two years of deer hunting until I read an article that stated rather empahtically "Don't use these, chain reaction can occur!"

True or false?

I am planning on hog hunting this winter in my newly adopted state of MO and would love to be able to use these again.

Obviously I never had a chain reaction and I didn't think they were "pointy" enough to do this.

I don't know if the Hornady 350 grain round nose will cause a "chain reaction" or not as I never used them in my Marlin, but have shot several elk with them in my Mauser and liked them. If it were me, I'd either pick up a box of the Hornady 350 grain flat point that is made for the Marlin or file a very slight flat point on the round nose and continue killing game with them.

Hmm...hadn't thought about flattening the tip.

I might try that and see if it affects accuracy.

Right now it's pouring rain and the only thing I'll take out for deer hunting is the ole Savage bolt in 30/30.

False, use them and don't worry. Due to the angle of the cartridges in a Marlin 1895 tube magazine, a large meplat hard cast bullet is more likely to cause a tube magazine detonation than a round nose Hornady and that would be an extremely rare event.

I have been struggling with the same question for the .33 WCF and .338 round-nose bullets. Has anyone here actually known of a chain reaction with RN bullets?

quote:

Originally posted by reverenddan:
I read an article that stated rather empahtically "Don't use these, chain reaction can occur!"

IIRC until Hornady started making the 350 gr flatnose soft they expressed no concerns about using their 350 gr roundnose soft in tubular magazines.

Jackfish or others who know like maybe NFMike,

What about a round-nose in a Win 1886? Specifically a .33 WCF??? Concern there?

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
Jackfish or others who know like maybe NFMike,

What about a round-nose in a Win 1886? Specifically a .33 WCF??? Concern there?

If you were to find information on old factory ammunition for the 33 WCF you would find there were many round nose loads over the years.

quote:

you would find there were many round nose loads over the years.

Thank you sir!

I have used them in my Marlin when I had one.

No problems.

My brother uses the 350 FN in his Marlin.

It shoots just as good as the RN and kills game just as well.

Well the issue here for me is that I have several thousand of the 350 Hornady round nose boolits... jealous?

Anyway, I was thinking about this some more after I posted and I went digging through some of the older manuals, lo and behold! No one mentions flat nose bullets until a certain year and yes I did find plenty of loads for the round nose for the older Marlins rifles and such.

Guess I'm being paranoid. Anyway I don't load anything for my Marlin to an extreme, just a lot warmer than loads for the old Trapdoors.

Thanks for all the input folks.

quote:

Originally posted by reverenddan:
Well the issue here for me is that I have several thousand of the 350 Hornady round nose boolits...

Yeah, it's a good problem to have. I bought a mess of them in bulk a year or two back myself.

quote:

Anyway I don't load anything for my Marlin to an extreme, just a lot warmer than loads for the old Trapdoors.

I've had good luck with stiff charges of IMR3031 from the Marlin data section of the usual manuals, as well as Ken Water's Pet Loads and his subsequent articles.

Somehow or other I missed the pic by Jackfish when looking at this post earlier.

Doing a little internet research it seems that Jack is the man! The cartridges lay in the tube nose down just as the pic shows.

Phew! Now I can go worry about something else...

I've been shooting the 350 grain roundnose for 35 years in a marlin 45/70. No problems!

Good enough for me!

I was just looking at the Hodgdon loading data website and I noticed that there are a lot of loads for the 45-70 with the 350 grain roundnose. I can't imagine them showing loads with this bullet if there were a problem in lever actions.

Primers are inherently difficult to detonate and need a good blow from a firing pin of the right shape to crush the small explosive charge between the built in anvil and the primer 'cap' (As any one knows who has had a weak firing pin spring or a misshapen pin). You have used these bullets for 2 years so why would they suddenly present a danger of a chain reaction.

Next time you are firing a few rounds off, eject the last unfired round from the magazine and have a look at the primer. I'll bet it will look as just as you seated it.

Good point eagle27.

My problem is I listened to someone rather than trusting experience.

I still have one deer left to get, I think I'll take out ole' Trusty and make sure she's still on target and do just what you say.

Sometimes I think I'm Chicken Little the way I listen to others and get worked up about something.

Further in the marlin 1895, there is a kind of turn or cutout that keeps you from pushing the bullet into the primer when pushing it in the loading gate. This also offsets the round feeding from tube to carrier. So really, the exposure is limited to just the rounds in the tube itself. Like I mentioned before, I bought the 1895 in 1972 when it was first introduced and I have loaded the 350 RN from day one. I've never had anything but good performance from it.

Hey Rev,

I've thought about this some myself but I don't see an issue with using the roundnose bullets you speak of. Here's something else to ponder upon, I just haven't had either the intestinal fortitude (or been stupid enough to try this...) or the means to attempt to chain off bullets in a magazine type rifle -- but in theory it makes sense.

Lets say you had some "pointy" bullets in the mag chamber and one of them did set off a primer. Due to the fact the bullet/cartridge isn't confined inside a chamber IN THEORY all that would happen is a "snap" and "whoosh" from the bullet being pushed out of the case and the powder burning off.

In order to protect my old butt and farm though, don't use anything but flat nose bullets that are made for stacked magazine use. Ain't liability something???

Regards,

Art

quote:

Originally posted by Tazman1602:
Lets say you had some "pointy" bullets in the mag chamber and one of them did set off a primer. Due to the fact the bullet/cartridge isn't confined inside a chamber IN THEORY all that would happen is a "snap" and "whoosh" from the bullet being pushed out of the case and the powder burning off.

Wish it were so but the few photos of chain fires in tubular magazines I've seen make it look a little more violent than that; ruptured mag tube, splintered fore ends, misplaced magazine caps, etc.

Yeah, I've seen the photos and they look a little more violent than anything I desire to be holding on to when it happens.

I'm confident the roundnose won't hurt ever. Experimenting a little (and I won't go into any detail in case your kids read this) I don't see any way they could start a chain reaction.

quote:

Wish it were so but the few photos of chain fires in tubular magazines I've seen make it look a little more violent than that

Can you post any?

quote:

Originally posted by nordrseta:

quote:

Originally posted by Tazman1602:
Lets say you had some "pointy" bullets in the mag chamber and one of them did set off a primer. Due to the fact the bullet/cartridge isn't confined inside a chamber IN THEORY all that would happen is a "snap" and "whoosh" from the bullet being pushed out of the case and the powder burning off.

Wish it were so but the few photos of chain fires in tubular magazines I've seen make it look a little more violent than that; ruptured mag tube, splintered fore ends, misplaced magazine caps, etc.

Thanks Nord, never seen those and replies were being sent to my spam folder, sorry to take so long in answering -- do you have any links to these??? Just curious and always wanting to learn.

Thanks,

Art

I'm certain I've seen pics before of an exploded magazine tube on a lever action rifle before but am not having any luck at the moment finding same.

Here is Marlin's warning about bullets.

•WARNING Regarding Ammunition: Some pointed and full metal jacket round nose bullets which are on the market can chainfire other cartridges in a tubular magazine during recoil causing severe injury and damage. Hornady Lever Revolution ammunition has a soft pointed plastic tip, and can be used safely in your rifle. If you are uncertain about the safety of using a particular cartridge in your Marlin, contact the ammunition or bullet manufacturer.

Seems that their language "full metal jacketed roundnose bullets" would exempt my 350 roundnose as they have a pretty soft core.

I have been shooting the 350RN hornady bullets at 2100fps in my 1895s for 20 years with no issues and mine have a pretty stiff recoil.
JM2CW

Besides all of this, every 30-30, 32 Special and 35 Remington cartridge regardless of manufacturer I ever seen was a round nose bullet and 99% of these are used in lever action rifles with tubular magazines. I doubt if a round nose lead tipped bullet would cause a chain reaction.

Maybe someone can test this in a safe manner, using proper shields and protection from a flying primer.

Put a primed case upside down in a shop vise, rim resting against the jaws. Using pliers, hold the bullet nose against the primer. Hit the bullet base with a hammer. See if you can set off the primer.

Bruce

Bruce, let us know the results of your test. It was your idea.

quote:

Originally posted by bcp:
Maybe someone can test this in a safe manner, using proper shields and protection from a flying primer.

Put a primed case upside down in a shop vise, rim resting against the jaws. Using pliers, hold the bullet nose against the primer. Hit the bullet base with a hammer. See if you can set off the primer.



Bruce

Go for it, dude!

quote:

Originally posted by bcp:
Maybe someone can test this in a safe manner, using proper shields and protection from a flying primer.

Put a primed case upside down in a shop vise, rim resting against the jaws. Using pliers, hold the bullet nose against the primer. Hit the bullet base with a hammer. See if you can set off the primer.

Bruce

Don't do that. If you do you'll end up like me when I was about nine. I found some of dad's blank .22 shells and thought it would be "fun" to set them on concrete and whack them with a hammer and hear them go "bang". It was great fun till one of my buddies hit the blank, it went "bang" and all we heard was him screaming. I was laughing, didn't know what his problem was...until I saw that blank case sticking out of his bleeding leg.

My butt had blisters for a week............

quote:

Originally posted by bcp:
Maybe someone can test this in a safe manner, using proper shields and protection from a flying primer.

A fella would probably be safer testing this idea in a real rifle using primed but not charged cartridges. Load the magazine with the primer only rounds and shoot live ones loaded to the power level you have in mind. If anything goes wrong at least you have the cartridge case, magazine tube, and action to protect you from flying primers and other ejecta.

Lay a few of them nose to butt on the coffee table open a cold one and then just ponder the situation!?! Bernie

quote:

Originally posted by reverenddan:
Well the issue here for me is that I have several thousand of the 350 Hornady round nose boolits... jealous?

Anyway, I was thinking about this some more after I posted and I went digging through some of the older manuals, lo and behold! No one mentions flat nose bullets until a certain year and yes I did find plenty of loads for the round nose for the older Marlins rifles and such.

Guess I'm being paranoid. Anyway I don't load anything for my Marlin to an extreme, just a lot warmer than loads for the old Trapdoors.

Thanks for all the input folks.

I would venture to say the reason it was not addressed earlier is that there are more lever action shooters out there due to CAS. I have seen rifles KB because of RN bullets in smaller calibers. This did certainly get my attention & I won't use a true RN in my lever guns. Running the 350grRN over a flat file would be enough to keep that from being an issue & the flattened nose will not affect accuracy.