[KegRiver]

For the guys that think starting with a mid data load is a good idea.

My BIL brought me his 270 to see if I thought it was still safe to use.

Story he told me was his buddy had given him some handlaods that had been worked up for buddies 270. Safe in one safe in all thinking.

Turns out it wasn't safe. First round he had difficulty opening the bolt.
Second round it locked the bolt.
He hammered the bolt open and tried a third round. When it locked up the third time he decided to ask me for my thoughts.

I asked if he had any of that ammo left. He did, and he had the load data used.

So I pulled a couple of bullets and weighed the charges, all were mid data loads, well under max. And they varied by 4 grains. I don't know what the spent catridges had in them but I'm guessing two were more then 4 gains over the other.

Next I ran a couple of the spent cartridges through my resizing die. They run through much easier then I expected.
I did notice the primers were flatter then any I had seen before and one was blown open. All three were set back.

At that point there wasn't anything more I could check. So I gave the rifle back to him and suggested he hang it on the wall as a reminder of what not to do.

I told him that I wouldn't trust that rifle no matter what was fed into it.
I told him there could be microscopic cracks in the lock lugs or the action or both and I had no way of testing for that.

I figure his rifle had a much tighter chamber then his buddies rifle. But I had no way to test for that I hadn't already done

That was the end of my involvement with that rifle. I don't know what he did with it.

The lesson I learned is that even a mid data load can be dangerous.
And to never use ammo worked up in someone else's rifle.

I never start anywhere other then at minimum load. And even then I look for flattened primers.

I have a chorny and use it on every load when working up a load, but the data it produces is not used to calculate over pressure.
I only use it to gauge consistency, for accuracy purposes.

I load for accuracy. An extra 100 fps does nothing if you miss the bulls eye.