Just before hunting season is a good time for a lesson in carrying two types of ammo in the field, this is a true story.
40 years ago if you wanted a special rifle people made up custom rifles out of the best actions they could salvage, my friend Al’s father had a 300 H&H made up from a 98 action it was lengthened and the bolt opened up to accept the magnum case head, the stock was a breathtaking piece of walnut with hand checkering around the grip and foreend. One day Al and his buddy Harv went out deer hunting Al took his father’s prized gun and Harv had a lee Enfield .303. Al bagged his deer at first light and about an hour later they spotted another deer about 300 yds. out in the pasture nose down and not concerned about anything. Harv opened the door and just as he was getting out Al said “ he’s a long way out there, better take the 300” harv readily accepted the offer and laid down to get a steady rest, squeezed the trigger and bang , the deer was still there nose down and not even spooked harv chambered another round and bang this time the shock rolled him over and he instantly felt pain in right hand, after he regained his composer, he looked at the prize rifle, the top half of the barrel was gone from the front of the action to the end of the barrel, the foreend was a mess of splinters, the bottom of the barrel was bent downward in a sharp arc, the top of the barrel was never found and could be still orbiting the earth..
Here is what happend, when harv got out of the truck he put a .303 British in the pipe and a 300 H&H in the mag. As luck would have it the .303 has roughly the same diameter rim as a magnum round, the .311 bullet was found lodged about 10 inches in front of the action and without the top half of the barrel it was easy to spot. Al had the unpleasant task of first telling his dad he borrowed the gun and then about its untimely demise.
40 years ago if you wanted a special rifle people made up custom rifles out of the best actions they could salvage, my friend Al’s father had a 300 H&H made up from a 98 action it was lengthened and the bolt opened up to accept the magnum case head, the stock was a breathtaking piece of walnut with hand checkering around the grip and foreend. One day Al and his buddy Harv went out deer hunting Al took his father’s prized gun and Harv had a lee Enfield .303. Al bagged his deer at first light and about an hour later they spotted another deer about 300 yds. out in the pasture nose down and not concerned about anything. Harv opened the door and just as he was getting out Al said “ he’s a long way out there, better take the 300” harv readily accepted the offer and laid down to get a steady rest, squeezed the trigger and bang , the deer was still there nose down and not even spooked harv chambered another round and bang this time the shock rolled him over and he instantly felt pain in right hand, after he regained his composer, he looked at the prize rifle, the top half of the barrel was gone from the front of the action to the end of the barrel, the foreend was a mess of splinters, the bottom of the barrel was bent downward in a sharp arc, the top of the barrel was never found and could be still orbiting the earth..
Here is what happend, when harv got out of the truck he put a .303 British in the pipe and a 300 H&H in the mag. As luck would have it the .303 has roughly the same diameter rim as a magnum round, the .311 bullet was found lodged about 10 inches in front of the action and without the top half of the barrel it was easy to spot. Al had the unpleasant task of first telling his dad he borrowed the gun and then about its untimely demise.
