7mm stw

[hogan]

Stopped through the local gunsmiths shop this evening. He was busy with a customer so I was looking through the new guns and reloading stuff. Happened to notice some shell casings that had no necks and the shoulders were cracked that were sitting on the counter.
When the smith finished with the customer he proceeded to tell me that the damaged cases were brought in by a customer that had recently purchased a 700 Remington from a big box store. The store gave him a box of 7mm Rem Magnum ammunition for his 7mm stw. OOOOPS!
This guy fired 5 rounds before he realiased something was wrong as his new rifle was shooting all over the place, thought he had a defective scope.
The guy was lucky that he got by with a barrel replacement.

 

[contender]

All too often,,, people put the wrong ammo in a gun. It may fire, it may hit the target, and fortunately,,, not a lot of injuries due to this. Usually it's a smaller caliber placed in a bigger chamber.
Still people SHOULD know what ammo their gun takes.

 

[smoke-eater]

I't really shameful, how clueless some employees of big box stores (spelled D-I-C-K-S) can be. And that's where a lot of novices will go first for their shooting gear. I once stopped in on a Sunday (local gun shops were all closed, it was my only day off, and the Mrs. wanted to try out her new RAR), and asked for a box of 7mm-08. The sales associate told me he had never heard of such a thing.

 

[SAJohn]

My main Christmas present at age 16 was a sporterized .303 Enfield. Included was a box of Savage .303 ammunition. Actually, the Savage ammo cycled and fired through the rifle with good accuracy. It did an impressive job of fire forming the cases but the brass did not split.

 

[Dan in MI]

The guy was lucky that he got by with a barrel replacement.

Please tell me the big box store paid for it. I'm sure the receipt would show what happened.

 

[coach]

While the store employee should know better, it's up to the user to know what he's loading the gun with. It seems that somebody buying a 7mm STW may not be a novice. If the store reimbursed the buyer for the barrel,good for them. I wouldn't expect it though. That price point doesn't look so good now.

 

[hogan]

The guy was lucky that he got by with a barrel replacement.

Please tell me the big box store paid for it. I'm sure the receipt would show what happened.

The big box store did not. They had no knowledge of any employee giving the customer the wrong ammunition and stated they cannot be responsible for an individual using the wrong ammunition.
The individual also tried to get help from Remington and they would not take responsibility. (rightfully so)

 

[Mtneer]

I't really shameful, how clueless some employees of big box stores (spelled D-I-C-K-S) can be. And that's where a lot of novices will go first for their shooting gear. I once stopped in on a Sunday (local gun shops were all closed, it was my only day off, and the Mrs. wanted to try out her new RAR), and asked for a box of 7mm-08. The sales associate told me he had never heard of such a thing.

Close to the same thing happened to me a number of years ago. I'd bought my wife a new Winchester M-70, Featherweight 7mm-08 for her birthday. We didn't have any factory 7mm-08 ammo around, so I stopped in a "big box" store (the one you mentioned) to pick up a couple of boxes on our way out to shoot my wife's new rifle. The sales associate asked me what the "difference" is between a 7mm-08 and a "regular" 7mm. :shock: I just didn't know what to say, so I walked out without saying a word. :x We went to a different "big box" store, one where we could just grab a couple of boxes of 7mm-08 ammo off the shelf without having to asked a sales associate for "help."

On the other hand, I have an ex-buddy who bought a "never been fired" Weatherby, 7mm Weatherby Magnum from an acquaintance where he worked. The "acquaintance" threw in a 5 boxes of 7mm Remington Magnum ammo as part of the deal. Luckily, my ex-buddy was showing off his newly acquired 7mm Magnum to another buddy of his before he tried to shoot it. The other buddy told him that he had 5 boxes of the wrong 7mm Magnum ammo, so he never tried to fire his 7mm Weatherby Magnum using 7mm Remington Magnum ammo.

That tells me that not all "know-nothings" work in big box stores. My ex-buddy and the acquaintance he bought that 7mm Weatherby Magnum from both worked at the local University. He's an "ex-buddy" because I won't go hunting with him anymore. Because of the 7mm Weatherby Magnum incident, combined with a couple of other could have been fatal incidents, I decided I no longer even wanted to be in the same county anytime he had a gun in his hands. :shock:

 

[gtxmonte]

I don't know why anybody would expect some kid, or anybody for that matter to be well versed in all things gun and ammo related. There are thousands of rounds out there. I have been doing this 40+ years and still run across rounds I have never heard of, so why people expect some guy behind the counter of a store to be a all knowing expert is beyond me.

It's YOUR gun, YOU should know what ammo it takes.

I have related this story before, but it kinda fits here. LGS that I deal with very often, took an older rifle in on trade. I glanced at it, asked what caliber it was, the guy said 300 Mag and I paid no more attention, because I was not in need of a 300 Win Mag. They sold the rifle, but it appeared back a month or so later. I inquired to why and they said something must be stuck in the chamber, or something else was wrong. My "why is that" question was met with the story. The rifle had 300 Magnum plainly stamped on the barrel and the buyer assumed, as did the LGS guys that it was a Win mag. Guy goes to buy some ammo, it won't chamber, so he brings rifle back. Once I DID look closely at the rifle, it was an older custom on a Mauser action, with an aftermarket barrel and a Bishop stock. It was indeed marked 300 magnum on the barrel, but when I informed the guys, that this rifle was probably built before the Win Mag ever came into existence and that back then the 300 Mag was of the H&H variety............well lets just say that was not something that had ever crossed ANY of their minds..........LOL!!!.........So I picked up a VERY nice older custom rifle for a few hundred bucks