fire from the barrel

[Mogua]

my brother just started reloading and he used the secound to max charge amount of powder for a 7mm... when firing it had fire "plum" of about 12" out of the barrel... is this bad? any idea's?? thanks..

 

[wgaynor]

The only rifle I've seen do that was my Mosin 91/30...oh how I love my Mosin!

 

[DesmoDucRob]

Welcome to THR, Mogua. Published data is your dearest companion when reloading. If you're new to reloading, and participating in your brothers operation, Modern Reloading by Richard Lee (among other books) contains good information regarding starting loads and incremental load adjustment. A "Plume" may or may not be reason for concern.

 

[Steve C]

Fire out the end of the barrel is normal for shooting any load, reload or factory, its called muzzle flash. How visible it is depends upon the general lighting you are shooting in. Shoot at dusk or in any low light condition and you will see it. How much there is depends upon the powder used and length of barrel.

Things that should give rise to concern when shooting hand loads is if the case causes difficult extraction, the primers are blown, pierced or excessively flattened. As Desmo wrote, loading manuals are a must and all have a section with pictures on how to determine if the loads have too high a pressure for safe use.

 

[bullseye308]

he used the secound to max charge amount of powder for a 7mm

Sounds to me like maybe he has a manual. Now, which rifle and which powder was used? What time of day and what conditions was the testing conducted in? By that I mean was it bright and sunny, or overcast/cloudy, or was it at dusk? I have been known to be at the range till I can barely see the targets just to watch the fireball from my 6" 357.

 

[Ranger J]

Muzzle flash is normal under dim lighting conditions. My daughter almost dropped my scoped 1894 marlin when she fired a heavyload of H119 on a cloudy day. It seemed the flash completely filled ghe field of view of the scope. Once I explained what it was it didn't stop her from running through the rest of my loads. That same load on a bright day is not even noticeable. Still it would be nice to know what powder and how much your brother was using.

RJ

 

[Slamfire]

A friend gave me his .223 handgun to shoot. Huge fireballs.

I have watched guys rapid fire M38 Mosin Carbines. Huge fireballs.

I have seen some fireballs coming out of Garands. The guys were shooting military surplus and one heck of a lot of powder was burning outside the barrel.

You could see the grass move too.

Rarely, in low light conditions, you will see fire come from the breech of a M1a as the action opens.

 

[banjoman2255]

My 300 RUM throws a large blast as well.

 

[RandyP]

My CZ52 tends to illuminate the range pretty well too - lol

 

[donald150]

Lots of fire from a revolver could be very bad. Could lead to top strap cutting

 

[Dave P]

"it had fire "plum" of about 12" out of the barrel... is this bad?"


Very bad! Anytime I see plums coming out my barrel, I stop immediately. What kind of powder did you use?

 

[rcmodel]

my brother just started reloading and he used the secound to max charge amount of powder for a 7mm...

Your brothers approach to working up a safe load concerns me.

How about posting the powder / charge / bullet combination he picked out for his first reloading attempt.

rc

 

[ants]

Dave P, I'm still trying to picture that 12" plum flying out of a 7mm barrel.
Wouldn't it already be a prune by the time it reaches the muzzle?

 

[snuffy]

PlumE? Just about any firearm that's loaded to a good working load will have a muzzle flash. I ignore it if I happen to be shooting on a heavily overcast day. It's neat/cool to see the four pronged flash from an AR type rifle. Especially when fired with a powder that does NOT contain a flash suppressant.

Whoa, what did I just say? Flash suppressant? Yeah if the powder he was using did NOT have that, he would see a lot more of a plume! Some surplus powders don't have the suppressant. The WC 820 I load my CZ-52 with is real colorful! Makes it a fun gun to shoot!

 

[Mogua]

the rifle is ruger stainless 7MM
the powder was R19 using 63 grains
the bullet was a 139 grain hornady

 

[snuffy]

the rifle is ruger stainless 7MM
the powder was R19 using 63 grains
the bullet was a 139 grain hornady

Well now, there's your answer. An overbore cartridge with a slow burning powder and a light-for-caliber bullet. Perfect for starting brush fires with muzzle flash, plumE.

 

[orrwdd]

Tell your brother that he needs to reduce the Max load by a full 10% and work up from there. Starting near maximum is asking for trouble and may ruin your gun and hurt you very badly.

Reloading is nothing to take casually!

Bill

 

[ranger335v]

"fire from the barrel"

Well, no matter the powder and charge amount, when it goes off there's a pretty good fire in there under some signficant pressure with no place to go but out.