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Reloading Accidents?

22K views 301 replies 116 participants last post by  Uncle Don 
#1 ·
Just wondering if anyone has had a mishap while Reloading.

I'm thinking any stories might be useful to those of us who are still pretty new at it....
 
#275 · (Edited)
UB says the 550 can be fitted with powder check, so maybe we are both wrong and right. ;)

Lots of good reasons for 650's and 1050's.
It involves seating and crimping in one operation and doing that in station 4. You drill a 5/16" hole in toolhead between 2 and 3; closer to 3 for Dillon powder check rod in station 3. Uniquetek has a pdf tip online. I you like seating and crimping in one operation it may be worthwhile. I'd rather eyeball my charges and manually index.
 
#276 ·
I am a reloading equipment nutt. I have 9 presses set up in my cave. I have presses in a closet. I go to gun shows and just cannot resist reloading equipment deals.
And it is amazing how often I use a little LEE Turret? Go figure?:(
For short runs, hard to beat the efficiency of the LCT. Caliber change in 15 seconds, away you go.
 
#278 ·
What 10or45 said or you can put a Hornady or RCBS powder check instead of the Dillon.
What I have been doing on my Dillon 450 that has no way to prime or any place for spent primers to go. I switch over my 650 for large priming. And size and prime only. I do 1000 or more at a time. Then when I load on the 450 station one has a Lee Auto Drum powder measure. Station two has a Hornady powder check and 3 has a Redding competition bullet seater, 4 is a Dillon crimp die. I also have a UFO on the 450 and 650 and SS press. But what do you do if you can’t look inside the case?
If I want to do some testing. Something I have been doing a lot lately. By having already sized and primed brass already to go makes testing a lot easier. I use the SS to dispense the powder,Lee Auto drum. then either just put the charged case in station 3 or station 4 depending on the press, seat a bullet manual or auto index. Repeat. Also using the Redding competition bullet seat makes it easier to change the COL if need be and put it back to the normal setting when done.


http://www.uniquetek.com/store/696296/uploaded/Using_a_Dillon_Powder_Check_on_an_RL_550B_Press.pdf
 
#279 ·
Thought I would share this story about Wayne Mayes. I think this falls into the saddest, most catastrophic reloading accident imaginable. The indications are that he was burning some unused powder in his driveway when the wind blew the burning powder onto his clothes. I used to burn some old powder too, but no more, I just throw it out on the grass. This happened a few years back.

His obituary:

"A Cleveland, Tn., man who was widely regarded as the “greatest skeet shooter of all time" has died of complications from burn injuries he sustained in an accident three months ago.

Wayne Mayes had been a machinist, and brick mason early in his working career, then became a garment cutter at Mayes Manufacturing Corporation in Cleveland.

He began his skeet career in the early 1970s in his hometown of Attalla, Ala. His first world championship was at the Forest City Gun Club in Savannah in 1973, where he won the 28 gauge event. From that point, he amassed a long list of accomplishments and included 42 World Championship titles, 42 All-American Teams and six world records."
 
#285 ·
I don’t remember what powder it was, but I do remember that I was using 14 grains with a 158 grain bullet. Probably the max charge as I load 357 pretty hot.

Loaded them into a Marlin 1894 and lit one off. BOOM!, as they say. The Marlin shrugged it off but the case was blown in half. I had to cut a hook from a scrap of oak to reach into the chamber and pull out the front of the case.

Broke apart the remaining rounds and measured 17 grains. Every round was three grains over max charge.

I have no idea if I failed to calibrate the scale, misread the data or what. But it hasn’t happened again.

The Marlin is fine and still in service.
 
#286 · (Edited)
I don’t remember what powder it was, but I do remember that I was using 14 grains with a 158 grain bullet. Probably the max charge as I load 357 pretty hot.

Loaded them into a Marlin 1894 and lit one off. BOOM!, as they say. The Marlin shrugged it off but the case was blown in half. I had to cut a hook from a scrap of oak to reach into the chamber and pull out the front of the case.

Broke apart the remaining rounds and measured 17 grains. Every round was three grains over max charge.

I have no idea if I failed to calibrate the scale, misread the data or what. But it hasn’t happened again.

The Marlin is fine and still in service.
Maybe AA9 or 2400 with a mag primer? AA9 most likely since it is denser? H110 or W296 should have been overly stout but ok.
 
#287 ·
Double charged a G37 case once. That was pretty spectacular. I was like, damn that was pretty hot, and then I was counting my fingers. Stupid mistake - I measured the charge in the scale, dumped it into the case, and put the round back into the press. It can happen to anyone.

They had a saying back in my aviation days, those that have landed gear up, and those that will. Just a reminder to anyone that thinks it can't happen to them. Be careful, follow a routine, don't get distracted. Myself, I use powders now where if I double charge, it will be very apparent (spilled powder).
 
#288 ·
Double charged a G37 case once. That was pretty spectacular. I was like, damn that was pretty hot, and then I was counting my fingers. Stupid mistake - I measured the charge in the scale, dumped it into the case, and put the round back into the press. It can happen to anyone.
Actually, if you stick to lower density powders, you can make a mistake like that nearly impossible or at least highly unlikely.
 
#292 ·
Not a reloading accident, but an accident unlikely to be encountered by non-reloaders:
I took a large quantity of ammo to the range yesterday and shot less of it than planned. When loading things back in the car, I foolishly placed an Extreme bullets box full of 9mm coated reloads inside an open CCI 5k primers box that had loose rounds of a slightly different load in it on top of 2 .50cal ammo cans of other ammo. During the drive home, the boxes had fallen off the cans. As I opened the rear hatch, the boxes fell out and the Xtreme box opened up either on the way down or on impact with the concrete garage floor. I had a couple hundred loose rounds to pick up off the floor.

I haven't inspected them yet to see if any bullets were damaged in the fall. Had I given it an instant of thought before cleaning them up, I would have kept those that had stayed in the box separate from the ones that did not. Now, I'm going to have to either inspect them all or just relegate the entire batch to practice use. Fortunately, the loads are similar enough, that for my purposes, they're interchangeable (same 147gr coated bullet, loaded to about 900fps)...because they're all mixed up now.
 
#295 ·
When I stepped up from a single stage to a 550, I obviously wasn't good at paying attention... somewhere in the middle of loading several 100 .40s, I skipped charging a case...

The next sunday, on stage 4 of our local USPSA match, the 7th time I pulled the trigger I felt a distinct "pop," but no "BOOM..." and no real recoil.

Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to stop, call a cease fire, unloaded, showed the RO my gun was cleared, and went off to one of the safety areas to assess the problem... sure enough, SQUIB, with the 180grain projectile stuck about 2" into my 5" barrel.

This event scared me. I think I was EXTREMELY lucky to have caught the squib- especially because it was the first of what was supposed to be a double-tap.

Although it's possible that even if I'd pulled the trigger a 2nd time it might not have caused a horrific outcome (heavy bull barrel in my SVI 2011), I was still freaked out enough that I ordered a Dillon 650 that night... for high volume reloading I think an automatic powder charge, followed by a powder check station, is the BEST way to avoid a squib.

I now only use the 550 on low volume rounds that I both visually check before seating a projectile, and weigh each and every one after reloading to ensure that there is a powder charge present.
 
#296 ·
When I stepped up from a single stage to a 550, I obviously wasn't good at paying attention... somewhere in the middle of loading several 100 .40s, I skipped charging a case...

The next sunday, on stage 4 of our local USPSA match, the 7th time I pulled the trigger I felt a distinct "pop," but no "BOOM..." and no real recoil.

Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to stop, call a cease fire, unloaded, showed the RO my gun was cleared, and went off to one of the safety areas to assess the problem... sure enough, SQUIB, with the 180grain projectile stuck about 2" into my 5" barrel.

This event scared me. I think I was EXTREMELY lucky to have caught the squib- especially because it was the first of what was supposed to be a double-tap.

Although it's possible that even if I'd pulled the trigger a 2nd time it might not have caused a horrific outcome (heavy bull barrel in my SVI 2011), I was still freaked out enough that I ordered a Dillon 650 that night... for high volume reloading I think an automatic powder charge, followed by a powder check station, is the BEST way to avoid a squib.

I now only use the 550 on low volume rounds that I both visually check before seating a projectile, and weigh each and every one after reloading to ensure that there is a powder charge present.
I agree to most of what you wrote until you said you weighed the loaded rounds.No need there is to much verinious in bullet weight,case weight. As long as you look inside every case and use the powder check, If something goes wrong and you need to pull cases pull all cases that do not have a bullet seated and dump the powder and start over.If you for some reason glance away from the press when loading just stop no matter what until you can put your full attention back on reloading..
 
#300 ·
What UncleBob said is true. Doesn’t matter how good your scale is. The variance of the case and bullet could easily exceed the weight of the powder charge. For instance a case could be 5grains heavier that another similar case and hide the fact that you have a squib.

It is far more important to catch the issue before you set the bullet. That is why it is so critical to have a consistent process and also good lighting.
He was talking about weighing precision rifle rounds though...and I suppose for those, being off by a few %, regardless of whether it's a light charge, case, or bullet could make a difference in the accuracy of the round. When you're loading 20-50gr of powder, you may very well be able to identify a squib...but for pistol rounds with 3-6gr of powder, the case/bullet to case/bullet variation will likely keep you from positively identifying a non-charged cartridge, and you'll incorrectly identify possible squib loads (because they came in light, but have a proper powder charge). Been there, done it (searching the remainder of a batch of 230gr .45acp loads that had multiple squibs at the range.
 
#301 ·
I would suggest a better Idea than weighting loaded rounds is to use a powder check die. Even a Dillon powder check in a 550, or RCBS or Hornady. Or you can use a wooden dowel about 6” long that will fit in the case mouth. Mark the dowel at the case mouth were a weighted charge in the case.
 
#302 ·
I would suggest a better Idea than weighting loaded rounds is to use a powder check die. Even a Dillon powder check in a 550, or RCBS or Hornady. Or you can use a wooden dowel about 6” long that will fit in the case mouth. Mark the dowel at the case mouth were a weighted charge in the case.
While I agree with you - if he wants to do that, let him do it. It's not up to anyone to prevent him from it. Like most who have done it in the past, they will get over it realizing the effort doesn't provide benefit.
 
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