I need some info

Tristate

Long Time Member
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8,703
Howdy,

My kid and I went bench shooting on Friday. We were both shooting .243 Winchester caliber rifles. After we were done shooting I told my son to pic up all the brass. When he picked up the brass we realized that we had fired one round of .260 Remington through one of the weapons. Not sure which. The ammo we were shooting was brand new boxes of Hornady 100 gr. .243 Win. I think someone at the store probably did some mix and match either intentional or unintentional.

Anyway I am trying to figure out how much damage yall thought could have been done to the weapon which fired it and problems I should look out for.

Much Thanks
 
I am not sure a 260 will chamber in a 243.
Could there have been a stray 260 on the ground, or maybe the factory stamped the head wrong?
I have shot a 243 in a 308.....accuracy is not great.
 
someone probably resized the 260 down to 243. I do this with 308 Lapua brass back in the days when 260 brass wasn't available.
 
Do you have a good gunsmith or a machine shop nearby? If you did fire a 6.5 bullet through a 6mm bore,get both rifle barrels Magnafluxed. You might have cracked a barrel. Simple check with caliper might reveal a bulge.
 
I'm pretty sure the brass came from me. Our shooting range is on private property and we moved it the weekend before. The few family members that have access to it have all stated they don't own a .260 Remington.

Honestly I don't see why the. 260 won't chamber. I held the cartridges next to each other and they are dang near identical. Obviously the neck is a tiny bit larger diameter but I'm wondering if the throat of my old BLR is opened up with ware and tare.

I don't know. Whole thing is just really jacking with my head.
 
Agree with above. If you tried to chamber a 260 round in a 243 chamber the neck diameter would more than likely stop it from chambering. Also if you did get it to fire the case would probably rupture or there would be a bulge in the barrel and possibly a stuck bullet in the rifling.
More than likely at the factory a 260Rem case got either mixed in or resized to 243 and loaded in the box. Does the fired 260 case neck outside diameter measure the same as a fired 243?
Check both rifles to make sure a bullet isn’t lodged/stuck in the rifling but I’d suspect you are ok.
 
Agree with above. If you tried to chamber a 260 round in a 243 chamber the neck diameter would more than likely stop it from chambering. Also if you did get it to fire the case would probably rupture or there would be a bulge in the barrel and possibly a stuck bullet in the rifling.
More than likely at the factory a 260Rem case got either mixed in or resized to 243 and loaded in the box. Does the fired 260 case neck outside diameter measure the same as a fired 243?
Check both rifles to make sure a bullet isn’t lodged/stuck in the rifling but I’d suspect you are ok.
Bingo! NO you cannot chamber a live .260 round in a .243chamber. WILL NOT GO! Easy enough to measure the outside Diameter of the fired, ".260" case and compare it against any fired, .243 CASE. Do you have calipers to check therse diameters?
 
I don't have calipers. I'll have to get the case when I go back to my mom's this weekend.

Thanks for the info guys.
I wouldn’t even worry about measuring it. I highly doubt it was loaded with a 6.5mm bullet. You would’ve ran into problems immediately and it would’ve been noticeable IMO.
 
And whatever it started out as, its now a fire-formed 243. I would check case length if for no other reason than curiosity.
 
I also highly doubt that you fired a 260 in a 243. If you did, the 260 case and the gun would likely be destroyed by the pressure spike that would ensue as the big bullet was forced down the small hole. If the 260 case looks fine, its not from your 243.------SS
 
Could be a super slim chance that piece of brass had gotten mixed in at the factory and sized and loaded with the 6mm .243 bullet.
But it certainly couldn't have been a .260 loaded cartridge in a .243 chamber.
Nothing to get worried about.

Except quality control at that factory of course.
What brand ammo?
 
Tristate,
It won’t chamber if it was actually a 260.
Might have been stamped 260 (maybe) but there’s zero chance that you could chamber a 260 in a 243 if it had a .264 bullet and accompanying neck diameter. Zero!
Zeke
 

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