I Think I Broke my Winchester 43

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C

CAR-AR

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My wife presented to me a 25 pass to the local gun range last Sunday so I wanted to load up so a run of 218Bee and a short run of some 308s. I also brought plenty of .22s and 223s for the AR. When I got to the range I pulled out the Winchester 43 and box of reloads and got a spot on the rifle range. First round fired hit the 9 ring. The second round was in the 10 ring. After that I shot around 30 rounds at 5 rounds intervals letting the barrel cool.
When I got down to the last three rounds I loaded the magazine and I shot the first round and I heard a strange sound and I stopped shooting. When I went to eject the casing I noticed that the casing had fully separated from the rest of the casing. I removed all of the last two rounds and I removed the bolt from the rifle.

At this point I dumped all of the rounds that I reloaded to check the rest of the casings. I found one other casing that was cracked.

I checked the bore and it seemed okay. Then I inserted a round in the chamber, well I tried to insert in the chamber. When trying to insert a round in the chamber the round would not fully insert in the chamber. There is obstruction that I can see.

After this I decided to put up the Model 43 up for the day. I shot the PSS and the 10/22 and I still had fun.

Can anyone tell me what happened to my barrel?
 
Use a chamber brush and see what is left there. Did you get the neck out or just the back half of the case? Inspect the lug, locking slot, bolt face for small pieces of brass. A cleaning rod will tell you if there is a bore restriction, like a bullet.
 
Sounds like a broken case still in the chamber.

Run a new .243 bronze bore brush in the chamber about half-way, and then jerk it back out.

The bent-over brush bristles should snag onto the broken case mouth and pull it out.

rc
 
I have that happen with my .22 hornet once in a while also. Just the perils of using brass that has been fired previously. It will happen and it is an easy remedy. No big problem IMHO.:cool:
 
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