I had a
Lithgow .303 rifle a long time ago when I was 19/20. I 'experimented' with removing more and more
powder from the cartridges, until it would just come out. It seems the slugs are normally quite tight in the
rifled barrel, and one stuck half way. I forgot about it, and ages later I fired a
full cartridge into it!!
![Scared :scared:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/scared.gif)
Now they were '
really' stuck!! At the time, I thought it miss-fired, but pulling the bolt back released the gas
pressure!! And nope, the barrel didn't explode...
![Tongue :P](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/tongue.gif)
I pulled it apart, and melted the lead out of the barrel
on the gas stove. It was fine after that!!
![Face Palm :palm:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/facepalm.gif)
(I was young & ignorant then. Not now...)
P.S. Out of interest to people, many years later, my (educated) older brother was President of the Northern
Territory Gun Club. (Post Army). He demonstrated to me a
'sawn-off' shotgun, using specialized home loaded
cartridges, that was actually '
Tuned' lengthwise, (the pellets somehow 'resonate' down the barrel), so that it
could put all pellets in a 2" diameter circle, at about 40-50 feet!! (
No scattering?). Seeing was believing!!
P.P.S. He also showed me how most 'movies' were fake, showing '
Silencers' on
snub-nosed Pistols. Due to
the fact that the 'powder' is generally still burning after the end of the silencer, so it's still noisy. You need a
long barrel pistol, and fast burning lower power cartridges... Again, seeing & hearing was believing.
![Cheesy :D](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/cheesy.gif)
My
Ruger .22 semi had telescopic sights, and a silencer for quiet rabbiting. Nothing 'sinister'. I remember being
amazed how there was
NO other sound heard, except the clicks of the trigger!! All history now. Not needed.