[Jeeper]

I figured this might help a few people out if we all listed common errors by new reloaders or mistakes we used to make.

My 2 cents - I have been guilty of all of these

1. Over expanding for pistol calibers
2. Over crimping(If brass is being shaved off you crimp way too much)
3. Not lubing brass

[Standing Wolf]

Failing to remove finger from top of cartridge case before pushing case into die.

[Watchman]

It STILL happens...:fire:

Ill be rockin and rollin on my Dillon550b and a dadgummed military crimped peice of brass gets in there somehow and when I prime the case, it just smashes the heck out of it...

MAN I HATE THAT....

or this...

Im tearing a bone out reloading 500-600 pieces an hour and a &X@$*! piece of BERDAN primed brass snaps off my decapping pin.

Nothing...and I mean NOTHING...ticks me off more than that...:scrutiny:

[tomr8368]

Great thread.
I'll add not checking powder weight thrown by the powder measure or zeroing the scale again between reloading sessions. I have a single stage press.
Got a box of "hot" loads that way... stopped after the first one (a real boomer) and discovered the scale wasn't at zero but out of balance a little below. Can't be lazy doing this...
Tom:banghead:

[VOD]

Tom,

Been there, done that, but with opposite results. I managed to load about 50 rounds that were almost squibs. Caught all but 1 before going out and shooting. When that 1 was shot, it apparently had just enough powder to get it out of the barrel, but no hole in the target and the slide didn't fully cycle. I got religion REAL QUICK once that happened.

[Desert Dog]

Getting the crimp and bullet seating procedure down without screwing up too many cases. There for awhile I was working with boxes that had 48 or 49 (sometimes 47) shells in them because I would invariably screw up the first one trying to get the crimp/seat setup right...

Watchman, you don't sort your cases very well do you? :D

Forgetting to lube the first shouldered case.... ARRGH... :scrutiny:

Forgetting to change shell holders and going to a smaller round. I used to do this all the time, going from .45 LC to .45 ACP.... :banghead: and get the very first case stuck in the sizing die... :banghead:

Mike

[Bronson7]

Vacuuming spilled primers from a shag carpet.:rolleyes:
Bronson7

[Archie]

Loading up too many "exploratory" rounds.

[swifter]

Being in a hurry, trying to make as much ammo as possible in as short a time as possible...:p

Take your time, double check everything until it becomes second nature, then triple check.
Beware overconfidence, it can cause damage.:what:
Tom

[Jeeper]

ONe more

Not checking that the dies on your progressive are all locked down before reloading. I had a sizing die back out ruining about 200 rounds

[C. H. Luke]

Not to run-down Dillon..........

Not keeping the powder slide bar clean enough for smooth operation.

Those @$$}{()|_{ primer tubes not fully emptying then flipping a couple of primers. They do seat perfectly though!

"Adjusting" the "paper-clip" on the 550.

Not gauging ea. & every round for IDPA, etc. Matches!

Don't get me wrong, I REALLY like my 550 a lot!

[Clark]

When I started I thought that "Speer 12" loads, ordered with highest velocity fisrt and decending, were all at the same pressure.

I drove me nuts that powders seem to change properties from page to page.


"Speer 3" 1959 44mag 240 gr JSPoooooo23.0 gr 2400 1564 fps
"Speer 6" 1964 44mag 240 gr JSPoooooo23.0 gr 2400 1564 fps
"Speer 7" 1966 44mag 240 gr JSPoooooo23.0 gr 2400 1564 fps
"Speer 8" 1970 44mag 240 gr JSPoooooo24.0 gr 2400 1574 fps
"Speer 9" 1974 44mag 240 gr JSPoooooo19.5 gr 2400 1344 fps
"Speer 10" 1979 44mag 240 gr JSP&MSP 22.2 gr 2400 1392 fps.
"Speer 11" 1987 44mag 240 gr JSP&MSP 22.2 gr 2400 1452 fps
"Speer 12" 1994 44mag 240 gr JSP&MSP 17.7 gr 2400 1271 fps
"Speer 13" 1998 44mag 240 gr JSP&MSP 21.0 gr 2400 1434 fps

[Sisco]

Biggest mistake I ever saw anyone make was a co-worker.
He decided to get into reloading, did a bunch of research before buying equipment.
He bought a top of the line Dillonwith all the bells & whistles. He got digital scales, digital caliper and dies for all his calibers. Bought powder, primers & all new brass. Bought the best of everything and bought everything! In short he spent a small fortune up front.
He got all this stuff set up and then decided he really didn't like reloading all that much and didn't have time for it.
Sold all the stuff for less than half of what he had in it.

[yankytrash]

"Hmmm.... faster is better, right?"

I still remember those first thousand rounds like it was yesterday. Untested, looked through all the books to find which one told me what the extreme hottest load was for 308, no concerns of pressure, twist rate, bullet type, seating depth ("...after all, the book tells you the seating depth, right?"), primer type, ...and the list goes on.

"Well, these 168gr bullets are almost the same as 147gr, right?" :eek: Yeouch!


Ahhh, those were the days.:D

Reloading was much "easier" those days.:uhoh: :scrutiny:

Caution to the wind....

[Unisaw]

These aren't safety issues, but they definitely made reloading harder than it needed to be:

Deferring the purchase of a vibratory case cleaner.
Deferring the purchase of a good dial caliper.

[Timothy]

1. Failing to clear my mind of everything else (how work went that day, the fact that I should really be cleaning out the garage, etc.)prior to starting to load.
2. Becoming complacent.

[Selfdfenz]

Not using magnum primers when the book clearly said to use magnum primers.
Shoulda used magnum primers!
S-

[craigz]

Size your rifle cases before you trim them, not after.

[goon]

Priming the casing backwards.
Not realizing that you have to slow down with the .45 LC, because the rim is small and it will pop out of the shell holder.
Loading to the MAX !!!! I now avoid maximum loads.
Trying to use stick powder through a powder measure. Talk about frustration... :cuss:

[JohnK]

I wouldn't say that #3 is a mistake, if you're using carbide dies you don't have to lube at all. Sure it makes things easier and I almost always do it, but it's not required.

C. H. Luke's suggestion of not being sure the powder bar is clean got me just this last weekend. I ended up pulling about 40 rounds apart because of a sticking powder bar.

I think tomr8368's suggestion about not rezeroing the scale is an even bigger issue. I think it needs to be zeroed more often than just between loading sessions though. Unless your bench is 100% flat and level balance scales should be re-zeroed every time the scale is moved. On my bench just turning it a few degrees will throw it off.

[redneck2]

not keeping good records. Now I put info on 3x5 index cards and keep them on the reloading table. I have all my info on the card so I don't forget and have to look it up all the time.

buying "gadgets" not really needed. Then again, some of the stuff I put off buying, I should have gotten sooner. As noted above, a vibratory cleaner should be mandatory, along with calipers. A rotary case media separator should also be in this category.

Maybe we should add...stuff you DIDN't get at first but should have.

I got some of those little mesh bags from Lyman. I can put different calibers of cases in the cleaner and not have to sort them by hand.

Buy those clear plastic cases from Midway by the dozen. Use different colors for different calibers. And be sure to get extra labels.

[HerbG]

Thinking that reloading is all about getting some really FAST loads that will put those factory loads in the shade!

[dodgestdshift]

Buying equipment before buying a manual and reading it.

[HSMITH]

I started my reloading career in earnest loading shotgun shells, I got the press home and I cranked off a couple thousand HAMMER TIME MEGA BLASTERS for trap, skeet and sporting clays. 3 3/4+ dram 1 1/8th oz, brand new progressive press and a car load of components. Yup, you guessed it, I loaded every hull I had and went to the range before I found out those loads were NASTY biters. I could not even give them away, so I suffered through it while trying to reclaim my hulls for sane loads. I learned to load up some exploratory rounds to test before going crazy after that, enthusiasm is good but needs tempered.

[ocabj]

Buy a few books. There are a lot of good reloading manuals. But sometimes, publishers/authors make mistakes on load data. Get two or three. They make good reading, anyway.

Maximize online resources. Lots of manufacturers have information online. Winchester has their reloading manual in PDF format with pistol/rifle/shotgun load data as a free download off their site.

Get good calipers. Definitely not plastic. I wanted a Mitutoyo dial caliper with .100/rotation so I ended up getting a second hand set from eBay (brand new is $100+). A good set of calipers can last a lifetime.

Get a kinetic bullet puller. Don't take the risk on suspicious ammo. Pull the bullet and check. You can reuse the components, anyway, for the most part.

Get a bench rest. Helps to check accuracy of rounds with minimal user error factor. Chronos are fun, too. Be sure to use a rest so you don't shoot yours.

[griz]

I can't prove it, but I think the most common newbie mistake is inconsistent primer seating. I suspect that most of my misfires were from primers that were not fully seated. "Dud" primers are very rare.

[C. H. Luke]

This is not a "new to" mistake but often forget to check the Dillon's powder die and funnel for Spider nests when changing
tool heads...............

"...not keeping good records. Now I put info on 3x5 index cards and keep them on the reloading table. I have all my info on the card so I don't forget and have to look it up all the time."

Great Tip!