Hmmm, I’ve heard a lot of things but often my mind brain takes me back to Edger Allen Poe's writing of a popular adage of the early 1800’s,
“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”
While it may have happened much as you heard it, the probability of a Heym 89B action locking up so bad a gunsmith had to use a drill to open it is, well please refer to the above listed adage.
Having loaded my own ammunition for 50 years, I have occasionally had to use a rubber mallet to open a bolt during load development. Also, on SxS shotguns, I’ve had to use my thigh as a pivot point to open an action or two. The preceding abuses of long guns were totally my fault.
I have however NEVER locked up an action due to a bullet, a tip, a point, or projectile. Never. I’ve had a squib load where the bullet was stuck halfway down the barrel of a 1911 pistol. That’s what a primer without powder will do! It should not have happened but loading 4 grains of Bullseye powder in a .45 ACP cartridge on a progressive press, well shxt happens very occasionally. Competitive pistol shooters know that if the action doesn’t cycle to check for the results of a squib load.
Now, if by improperly using the term bullet for cartridge, then improperly loaded cartridges can lock up an action. But the shooter would have had to force the action closed. For that, the old “Break open the gun against the thigh”, trick is called for.
So maybe a Heym 89B locked up so hard that a drill had to be used to open the action. Perhaps a handful of sand somehow got between the barrel and action and it was closed hard on that. Or a cartridge loaded so hot that the brass when fires was forced into the firing pin hole on the standing breach. Whatever the case, that was not the fault of the rifle. More likely it was operator error being the cause.
Here is what a Heym will do. This is my 88B in .458 Winchester Magnum, made in 1986 can still do. I’ve been her caretaker for the past four years and put 600 full power loads through her. I do not know how many times the late original caretaker shot her but over 35 years, perhaps 500 to 1000. The caretaker's son provided that he accompanied his father hunting all over sub-Saharan Africa. He stated his father took several elephant, numerous buffalo, a couple lions, and a rhino with this Heym, For me, she is like a Timex watch, takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Further, she has never ever even come close to being hard to open.
50 yard groups shot from standing bench. Trijicon SRO with 1 MOA dot for the sight. Aim small, miss small...
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Low right group less than 1.5". Moved sight up and to the right.
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Close up of two Right & Left barrel groups
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Another sight adjustment and a clean target results in 1.25" groups at 50 yards.
Considering the center to center of the bores is .86" the divergence from the center is .39". Let's call it 4/10 of an inch, or 10mm for my foreign friends. That's pretty close to parallel! In theory, this should be less than a 2" group at 100 yards. I've never shot her that well but I have shot many 4-shot 100 yard groups that I can cover with my fist.
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My Trusty Heym on the standing bench. The bench is a surveyor tripod and a MTM standing bench top. The surveyor tripod is much more steady than the flimsy metal tripod that came with the top.
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Heym on bench close up
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