[lord1234]

OK, so I admit it. I'm one of those guys that has taken up reloading because of the current ridiculous prices and shortage of ammo. I probably would have done it at some point regardless, but I decided to do it now.

Before anyone jumps down my throat, I have not 1, but 3 reloading books as well as a bunch of scanned PDF's and other such things that I have read thoroughly.

But here's a question. Everyone talks about the dangers of reloading. Exploding guns and the such. I'll admit, I'm scared of it, and as such have been very cautious(hell I've only loaded 100 rounds so far). So care to tell me? What's the biggest mistake you've made in your reloading experience?

[massmatt]

I've had a squib load. I'm fairly new at it too and this happened out of the 3rd batch I had made.

The terrible thing was, I was letting someone else try my 1911 when it happened. Luckily I noticed it and asked them to hand me the gun.

I now have 3 rules:

Rule 1# Always adhere to the published load data

Rule #2Double check powder is in the case. I installed a small LED light in between the dies.

Rule #2: Don't let other people shoot your reloads. Bring some Factory ammo if you want someone else to shoot your guns.

Don't be intimidated. I had the same feelings you had when I first started. Once I became more comfortable with the operation those feelings went away.

Massmatt (Ricochet from NES)

[Evnldr]

I ONCE forgot powder.. but bullet went 10 feet... just do not double charge. there are some powders that you can get that a double charge wont fit in a pistol case. My first 50 was scary lol.. now i feel better have loaded 500 .45 so far. Take your time and be safe.

[jcwit]

Years and years ago very happily and merrily reloading really getting into it wiith a powder measure that went empty somewhere along the line.

Had to pull all the rounds and start over. Learned very quickly after that to use a loading block and do a visual check to see what the cases looked like.

Two words of advice to all reloaders

STAY FOCUSED

[jacob.elliott]

when i first started I was using my grandpa's components including some of his 30 year old powder!

A little rust in the powder won't hurt anything right?
Wrong, it won't fire.

About three years later now and i am a lot more cautious

[rcmodel]

Changing power lots without backing off and working up again.

In 1962-63 I was buying H-4895 from a large drum of WWII surplus powder my gun dealer had. It was sold in brown paper lunch sacks for $1.25 a pound.

Then he ran out, and started selling "new" H-4895 in real Hodgdon cans for $2.00, if memory serves me. (Talk about the high cost of powder! Dang!)

First shot blew a primer and stuck the bolt really shut on my 03A3 Springfield.

No big deal now days when you change lot #'s.

But when you change from Brown Paper Bags to Cans, or something?

Back off 10%! :D

rc

[atvalaska]

44 MAG "full house loads" using imr4227...... in 44 special case's:eek: (got a bag of 50 miss marked pkg brass back in the early 80's)... Never did fire any .....something was not rite...rounds to short...ETC...that was a eye opener...

[ChefJeff1]

I'm new too and I got a bullet stuck in the barrel of a Model 38. that's right a 2" barrel. I do check for powder. S&W fixed it for free and shipped it back to me free too.

[Steve H]

I posted this the other day. I picked up some range brass thinking it was 9mm Luger, it turnedout to be 9mm Markov (sp?). Only 1mm difference in case length but, IMHO, enough that might cause a big problem. I mixed it into a 3 lb. coffee can full of Luger brass. Glad it didn't get to the powder stage of the process.

Moral of the story: BE CAREFUL when you pick up range brass

[SSN Vet]

failed to trim a .223 rem case and had it jam up in my AR.

Two words of advice to all reloaders

STAY FOCUSED

"a man's got to know his limitations"

[jjohnson]

Okay, I'll fess up.

I was reloading for 9mm Largo some years ago, and somewhere along the line I must have misread the powder charge.

I was loading 135gr RN cast bullets made for 38 Super, and my guess is I loaded a faster powder (like Bullesye or something) than what I thought I had in the powder measure (like Unique).:eek:

The first round stuck a little on extraction.

I fired another round. It stuck a lot on extraction.:what:

On the third round, it stuck hard enough it took a whack with a 2x4 to open the bolt. Only then did I notice the signs of high pressure (very flattened primers).

The soft Spanish steel of the bolt or receiver had peened to where you couldn't easily cycle the bolt :fire:

That was years and years ago. I had to junk the little Destroyer, which really was a fun little carbine. I also junked the rest of the ammo. Damage was already done.

I have since then had maybe a double charge in a .45 which put a bulgein my M1911A1's barrel. I say "maybe" because I can't verify it. The rest of the ammo checked out okay. :(

That one was a long while ago, too. I certainly remember both of those.

I have since changed several loading practices, not the least being using bulkier powders that won't let you double charge, keeping only one powder open at a time, never allowing distractions while reloading, and things like that. I've been lucky so far - but it's downright stupid to rely on luck.

[rdhood]

Not my errors, but the biggest mistakes are:

1) light load... squib
2) no load.... squib
3) heavy or double load
4) loading the wrong powder
5) magnum primers instead of regular primers
6) seating bullet to deeply... creating to high a pressure

I have endeavored to not make any of these mistakes.

[dagger dog]

I had this little routine that was infallable, I color coded the primers with felt tip markers and then recorded the info in my handy dandy pocket note book. This was to save $ on the labels .

LOST THE NOTE BOOK !!!

I've still got calluses on my right hand from impact hammering about 150 rnds of .223 and another 100 of 38 special.

[Floppy_D]

Biggest mistake reloading? Not buying powder back when rcmodel found it for $2 a lb.

I had some H4895 clog up in the Dillon 223 powder funnel, and half-charged a case. I caught it because it overcharged the next case. At that point I pulled all of the bullets I had loaded, and started back over, watching every case for proper powder drop. Gotta watch every one.

[kanook]

got set up to reload 38 special and grabbed a 357 mag brass and crammed it in really good

[Ben Shepherd]

Forgot to set the powder measure. ONCE. I was loading 22 grains of 2400 in a 44 case. Then I switched over to load 357 mag. Changed everything out except the powder measure setting.

Want to know how 22 grains of 2400 fits in a 357 magnum case? So do I, because as near as I can tell, it doesn't. At least that's what I think the spilled powder all over the bench was trying to tell me.:banghead::scrutiny:

[Dark Skies]

I've only made one mistake in eleven years of reloading - accidentally putting small pistol primers in .223 cases instead of small rifle primers. Technically I guess you could say I made a hundred mistakes - that was how many cases I'd loaded before I twigged my mistake. :)

[RugerOldArmy]

Not starting sooner!

[~z]

Many many years ago I deprimed, resized, and belled my thumb, twice. You can really get into a zone cranking out ammo on a 650 the night before a shoot. I learned my lesson as the course had several weak hand stages of fire with a reload. Ever mash the mag button on a 1911 with a bloody stump of cauliflower, it does NOT help your time or accuracy
~z

[_N4Z_]

My biggest boo-boo so far was no powder in the case.

Primer provided just enough umphhhh to get a 158gr sp about one inch into my gp100's six inch barrel.

Ooops! :o

[EMC45]

Not buying thousands of primers when they were 17 a thou!

[Muley]

I used to load for my ar-15 for hunting. The load I used was a compressed load, and somewhere along the line my charge was a hair heavy which caused my case to buldge a little. I made the mistake of not inspecting each round close enough to catch the buldge. When that round got fed through my bushmaster it fired fine but did not eject. It was lodged so tight in the chamber I had to COMPLETELY disasemble the firearm to get the spent round out, and even then I had to use a tool to extract!!!
big dummy,,,,won't do that again!

[Little Mo]

When I first started to reload (about 25 years ago) I set up the powder scale wrong and loaded 100 rounds of .357 with 10.5 gr of W231, mag. primer and 158 gr. swc. Two shots unscrewed my 6 inch python barrell one fourth turn but somehow did not blow up the gun. :banghead:

[SquirrelNuts]

I am with RugerOldArmy...not starting sooner!

[MifflinKid]

got set up to reload 38 special and grabbed a 357 mag brass and crammed it in really good

Oh, yes. Cruuuunch.

[adrenalyn]

I loaded my 500 with large magnum pistol primers not knowing they changed the pocket depth to accept large rifle in the newer brass. Lucky for me I caught the high primers after a couple. I would have been in a bind had I loaded these cases. Newer brass has an "R" stamped in it, but dont take my word for it. Good lesson though. Now I check EVERY case for high primers as I seat them.

[paintballdude902]

ive made 2 mistakes in the year ive been loading

i load alot (about 200 per wk) in many different cals

first one i made was loading a 110gr bullet on a .30-30 (intentional) out of the 10 i loaded i forgot to charge one so it was primer only caused a squib i watched it carefuly so i knew right away that nothing came out

second mistake was i loaded some .45colt with greendot instead of unique doh! i was loading 10% below the unique starting load so it ended up fine after i did some research on a green dot load

[ArchAngelCD]

Thank God I haven't made any mistakes to speak of. I'm not saying it will never happen but I will never take safety for granted. (but mistakes do, and will happen)

I guess the biggest mistake I've made was not buying enough powder before this latest scare happened. I did buy primers but only because the prices were climbing and I wanted to save money. Who knew the shortage would happen and how bad it was going to be? I'm very short on 30-06 rifle powder.

[AirplaneDoc]

Oops please remove

[lgbloader]

Letting one of the guys on this forum get me pissed off enough to get a week in the hole. (No Access to THR)

LGB

[GotCoffee]

Forgetting to lube a case and get it stuck in the die (RCBS). I also was reloading 45 acp (auto) had all 100 of them powdered up and realized I was using 45 revolver balistics. Just dumped and redid them. I read where several members have had squibs, my dad showed me a trick I still use and have never had one! When I get done putting powder in the cases and while they are still in the loading block(s) I use a flashlight and look down inside them, any empties show up in a hurry. Also any that look lower or higher than the others gets dumped and redone! Ive caught a few potential squibs this way and so far have never had one get beyond the loading blocks! KNOCK ON WOOD!!!

[cliffy]

Reloading is step-by-step simple, so what's to error? Double-charge - No charge? Lots of recoil boot or a jammed barrel? Wrong powder selection or bullet WAY to deeply-set. These are all possible, yet HIGHLY unlikely. Reloading is basically SAFE. No FEAR should accompany reloading. I've loaded many thousands of SAFE rounds, and I cannot foresee a problem that could possibly harm me. I load and unload thousands of rounds yearly. I FEAR FISH HOOKS, since I've had them pierce my fingers, ears, and feet. I've also cut myself on countless pocket knives. Yet, I've never had a serious encounter with reloading, ever. cliffy

[rondog]

I'm not sure what happened, but apparently I had two rounds with no powder in them. The bullets stuck in the barrels, and I didn't notice, then fired another round into the stuck bullets. Cost me two 1911 barrels, in the same day! Boy, was I pissed.

I'll never know if it was my mistake, or if the grandson was dinking with my stuff and loaded up a couple rounds with no powder. But when I get the press setup again, it's going to have good lighting overhead, and I'm going to rig a padlock so I can lock the handle to the press to keep little fingers from dinking with it. I've also picked up a safe to put by the loading bench, so I can lock up my powders and primers. Don't need him and his friends "experimenting".

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b150/rinselman/guns/DSCN1784.jpg

[GotCoffee]

Im glad you are still here to tell us about it! Did the rounds fired behind the squibs split the barrel at all. It looks like it just bulged your barrels?
Bulges look like they are almost in the same location. Again Id say you were lucky twice to walk away from this day in one piece!

[rondog]

Nope, no splits, but the slides on both pistols locked up tight when the bushings hit the bulged spots! I had to knock the slides loose with a plastic mallet. Up to that point, I had NO idea what had happened. When I got the guns apart and saw the bulges, then it became obvious.

[ranger335v]

"Worst mistake you've made reloading? "

Buying an RCBS RockChucker II press instead of a Forster Co-Ax.

[Thingster]

Worst I've done is not sorting brass absolutely correctly.

Was loading up a batch of .38's and there was apparently a piece of .357 brass mixed in.

Beyond that, i have to agree with the poster that said it's a step by step process with little to go wrong (at least on a single stage) so long as you are dilligent in your process.

[Afy]

Rondog...
Are those barrels with a single squib or two squibs in succession each?

Why did the barrel bulge?
I have had a couple of squibs in rifles but the barrel showed no bulge.

[rcmodel]

Sure a lot of Squibs going on here.

I have never had one so far, in 47 years of reloading.

Course, I always have used loading blocks, and I look at every charge, while comparing them to the other 49 in the block.

Only then do they get bullets put in them (All 50) and seated one at a time.

rc

[alfack]

Worst mistake I've made is not buying a whole bunch of primers when you could still find some... :uhoh:

[shaggy430]

I mistook my .44 crimp die for the bullet seater die. When I lowered the arm all the way down on the first bullet it locked up tighter than you could imagine. It ripped the case in half when I raised it back up. I had to take the die apart and knock the bullet and case out with a hammer and screwdriver. Felt like an idiot.

[Husker_Fan]

I just started and shot my first hundred .38's today. 6 had high primers that locked up the revolver.

I just have to pull them and reset. I was a bit timid about setting a live primer with the Lee auto prime. 5 of the 6 were in the first 50 I loaded.

[10 Spot Terminator]

Got in a fast paced decapping operation when the lights went out and ran the decapping pin through the middle of my left index fingernail into the bone ,,, Does that count ? ( thought about priming it afterwards but that might have been a bit much ) the tetnus booster shot was kind of like double jeapordy as it was ,,,

[Randy1911]

The worst mistake that I have ever made was not that big a deal I had a few rounds with no powder when I was first learnig on my new progressive press (which I instantly stopped shooting and cleared the barrel) after having loaded on a single stage press of 25 years.:uhoh: Havn't had that problem since.:)

[gandog56]

Double charge that trashed my barrel on my .45.

Although it actually benefited me. I replaced the barrel with a Wilson Combat match grade barrel, and my group sizes about halved.

[schmeky]

Double charge of Bullseye. Supposed to be 5.0 gns - wound up being 10.0 in a Ruger .45 Blackhawk. Had the pistol butt resting on top of a car when I squeezed off the round; pistol slipped out of my hands and flipped over my head, landed in the gravel. Holy Moly!!

Gun was fine, pride was messed up pretty badly.

[daboone]

Reloading should be a Schedule 1 drug.... it too addictive. Just say no! the honey do list, wife and family become secondary to this addiction. Ya just can't stop....till the primer/powder runs out.:rolleyes:

[rogn]

Long ago and far away, not to mention young and stupid, managed to put together some concoction of buckshot half jackets and bullseye that converted my K38 into a three shooter. Cant fault he revolver, cant fault the component manufacturers, sure can fault the #@%%^(me). Really liked that Smith

[Steve H]

I forgot one of my bigger mistakes...........a few months ago I should have doubled my primer order.

[SPW1]

Years ago when I was new to reloading I destroyed the bolt of a sporter 30-06 03A3 springfield. When I touched it off the gun kicked like a mule and the action was locked up tight as a drum. When I finally got the action open the primer was blown, the rearmost lugs on the bolt had been sheared off, and the bolt face was shattered. Way.... way... overpressure. I was obviously scared so I pulled all my other loads and double checked everything to see what was wrong. I was trying to load a max book load but after checking everything it turned out that I hadn't calibrated my pacific balance beam scale correctly and was three or four grains over max in one of those old reloading manuals that was pushing the safety factor to the limit anyway. I wasn't hurt, there wasn't any shrapnel, with a new bolt the gun was fine, but I learned my lesson, became a wiser reloader I haven't had another dangerous mistake since.

Scared now? ;) Don't be, just be smart and careful.

[raxafarian]

I've loaded close to 10k pistol rounds in my dillon 550. Only mistake I've found was one time a shot sounded like a squib. I ejected the round and the bullet was still fully seated in the brass. Scratched my head for a bit and then noticed the primer looked funny. Took a closer look and found that it was seated backwards. I guess that's better than having an actual squib with the bullet stuck in the barrel :)

[mallc]

I bought an ice cream container of lead bullets (about 1200 rounds) from a shop when they were out of boxed stuff and loaded the whole lot on my well tuned XL650.

Turns out the lead must have been swept up off the floor. The bucket contained odd lots of lead. After some major problems at the range, I discovered the OAL length varied as much as 0.025". Needless say, I had to re-seat the whole lot on a single stage and ended up with a lot more rounds 0.027" under than 0.002" under. Wife and I shot up the lot over the next couple of weeks to get them out of the safe.

Cheap price doesn't necessarily mean good value.

Scott

[RustyFN]

I had a squib load in the first month. Learned why and eliminated that problem.
Rusty

[HKIWB]

My worst mistake was shooting reloads bought at a gunshow. I got a squib within my first 400 rounds.

I've fired just over 2,000 of my own reloads without any problems. Someday, I'll get around to buying a kinetic hammer to pull the four rounds I assembled with flipped or missing primers.

[Clarence]

This was a mistake made by my uncle. He bought a bunch of reloading supplies from a guy he worked with. He had loaded some .257 Roberts ammunition with some of the .25 caliber bullets he bought. He fired a couple of rounds and then when he went to load the 3rd round he had trouble chambering it, but when he forced the bolt handle down it went. When he fired the round he said the recoil was like a .300 Win Mag. and it locked up the bolt. He finally got the bolt open and the primer was blown and the case ruptured.

Went back inside and began trying to figure out what was up. Looked through the bullets remaining in the box and noticed a couple of bullets that looked different. He miked em and they were .264

BTW - the rifle was a M-70 and it checked out just fine afterwards.

[stana]

Can I go to heaven if I confess? probably not. Before Dillon and the other progressive reloaders there was only Star. I was a very expensive and magnifcent reloader. One that I could never afford.

CH came out with one that "looked" good. I found a used one in a gun shop. And traded for it. It only loaded 38 spec, 2.8 grs of bullseye and a wc bullet, but thats what I needed lots of target 38's.

I was continually adjusting it. I would pump the handel , check the adjustment, then dump the powder out of the case under the powder drop tube.

The reloads shot fine untill one day when the top of the cylinder of my department issued S&W mod.27's buldged and bent the top strap. (they didn't even ask me what happened, they just gave another brand new 27, that was as big a shock as the over load)

I had no idea what had happened until, while reloading and adjusting I noticed that no powder came out of the case as I dumped it. When I looked into the case I saw that the dump tube had compressed the powded. It took more than a double charge to bent the big 27.

It just NOW dawned on me that the department probably thought that I was shooting dept. ammo. I had thought they "REALLY" liked me. The CH went in the junk pile where it belonged.

[cliffy]

Reloading is safer than driving a car by far. Primers are SAFE. I've never witnessed a primer detonating a load on its own., and I've reloaded many thousands of handloads. Recently my wife was involved in a horrendous traffic accident, not of her making. Whilst I sat home reloading, she encountered a near death experience on a local road she travelled regularily. Cars kill more people than bullets ever can. Starvation kills more people worldwide than bullets do. Shooting game to feed America's hungry is the most noble act on earth. Percentagewise, guns SAVE lives, or at least preserve them. cliffy

[rondog]

Gawd Cliffy, is your wife OK?

[RoostRider]

1 squib load in about 20 years of reloading.... just the other day.... it kinda shakes your confidence...

In all that time I have never had an accident that caused any damage or injury...

[cliffy]

It happened in October 2008, a day before our daughter's wedding. Therapy and great doctors seem to help. She may never be up to "pare" but she can walk unaided, if in extreme agony. She rarely complains, but that's just her positive demeaner. I bought her a newer, solid car (a 2006 Mercury Milan V-6), and she seems happy with it, but she now believes she will die in a traffic accident. I can't shake her from her feeling. cliffy

[Wildyams]

The worst mistake i've made had to be on my single stage shotgun press, a couple times i forgot to advance the shell forward.. and dumped powder all over my table, then another time i forgot to pull the lever down before i moved the charge bar, resulting in the same thing.

but i've only reloaded about 600 rounds and maybe done that 4 times.

[Kragman71]

Hello
In my first year of reloading,twice,I failed to put powder in the round. Must have been too worried about over filling.
Worst since then is filling cases with powder before inserting the primer.I did about 30 cases before I investigated the mess on the bench.
Frank

[herohog]

I have had a hot round in my 9mm once but it didn't hurt me or the HI-Point I was shooting. :what:

The WORST was a Squib in my AutoMag 9mm Magnum (9x29). I heard it and new what it was right away. Examined the gun and there it was, sticking out the end of the barrel!

http://herohog.com/images/guns/squib.jpg

[Historian]

Not running 100 pieces of brand new brass through the sizing die before loading it. Not life threatening but a stupid mistake that jammed my gun several times before if figured out what the deal was. Duh.

Historian

[moooose102]

NOT READING THE RELOADING DATA CORRECTLY! it did get ugly, and certainly could have been much worse. i was looking for a reduced load for my 300 win mag. in one of the books, there were 3 consecutive pages with reduced loads, the first 2 were using the same powder, but the third (of course, the one i picked) used a different powder. and i did not catch it until after i touched off one seriously overloaded round! (there were actually 3, but i was working up the load, thankfully) long story short, no one got hurt, the rifle is fine, but i learned a very valuable lesson!

[Waskawood]

The worse mistake I ever made in reloading was thinking that my shooting days were over so I sold (more like gave away) all my stuff to a young lad who wanted to get into the hobby. Biiiiiiig mistake. I started reloading in '67. Now buying new and discovering how much prices have gone up. Oh well, too soon olt, too late schmardt!!!! It still feels good to be back making ammo and smelling burnt powder.

[theotherwaldo]

Biggest reloading error was using some gun show reloads. Supposed to be low flash, turned out to be low power.

Pitiful.

[bigione]

One my son made. Loaded slightly over length. When he ejected unfired round he left bullet in barrel. Luckily, he got it out and didn't ruin his hunt. I suggested if it ever happened again, clean out spilled powder, pull bullet from unfired rounmd. Keep rifle pointed up, insert case without bullet into dhamber and fire bullet out of barrel.

[putteral]

Worst mistake I have made so far was not stocking up on Primers!
:banghead:

[rondog]

One my son made. Loaded slightly over length. When he ejected unfired round he left bullet in barrel. Luckily, he got it out and didn't ruin his hunt. I suggested if it ever happened again, clean out spilled powder, pull bullet from unfired rounmd. Keep rifle pointed up, insert case without bullet into dhamber and fire bullet out of barrel.

BAD idea, IMO!!! I can't believe you'd suggest such a thing to your own son! His personal safety is far more important than "saving" a stupid hunt, for chrissake! Bagging a deer is NOT so important to justify taking stupid risks with firearms.

[sublimaze41]

I was filling my Lymann powder dispenser and the powder just kept going in.

I forgot to close the trap door that empties the powder tube when done.

I had a whole lotta AA2230 on the floor.

[shaggy430]

One my son made. Loaded slightly over length. When he ejected unfired round he left bullet in barrel. Luckily, he got it out and didn't ruin his hunt. I suggested if it ever happened again, clean out spilled powder, pull bullet from unfired rounmd. Keep rifle pointed up, insert case without bullet into dhamber and fire bullet out of barrel.

WHOA!!!! The biggest mistake here is not loading over length, but your advice.

[Noxx]

So far my worst has been having a primer seat sideways, and not catching it during inspection. I found it the hard way while doing speed drills.

BANGBANGBANGPfffftttt...


"Wait a sec, "Pfffft?"" That's not a good gun sound...

[TAB]

let the shot run low in a progressive press, loaded about 5 shells with no shot.

[freakshow10mm]

I've seated a .40 cal bullet on a 9mm case when I forgot to switch out the brass in the bin (RL550).

When I first got the RL550 (previously loaded with LCT) I forgot to load the primers in the tube. Powder everywhere in station 2.

[Walkalong]

Not buying even more supplies several months ago....:D

Belled a .357 case with a .38 expander the other day. Looks like an umbrella. :o

[The Bushmaster]

Becoming adicted to this web site...:D

[ants]

Got that right, Bush


Probably the biggest mistake commonly made by everyone is not starting earlier in life.
Just imagine if you had started at 5 years old and began accumulating equipment and manuals back then.

[Walkalong]

Yea, it's been expensive, but fun......:D

[lgbloader]

When I first got the RL550 I forgot to load the primers in the tube. Powder everywhere in station 2.

I've done that too.


Belled a .357 case with a .38 expander the other day. Looks like an umbrella.

I did that yesterday. My first thought is - Damn, how am I going to save that primer??!!!


Becoming adicted to this web site...

Yup

LGB

[The Bushmaster]

Just think walkalong...Right now an umbrella is not a bad thing...

[Valkman]

I loaded a tube of small rifle primers with the Vibra Prime to find the tube didn't have the clip on the other end. 100 primers all over the floor! :)

[esheato]

Loading .45 ACP on a Dillon 650.

I was on the up stroke and noticed something fell from the bench. I bent over to pick it up and accidentally let go of the handle. Said handle returned to the upright position right quick! Seated that primer with enough force to set it off along with about 5-6 others in the system.

Luckily, the detonation didn't extend to the primer tube where the remaining hundred were sitting.

Learned my lesson and I let things lie where they fall until done loading.

Speaking of lessons...I still have yet to retain this one: close the door on the electronic powder measure! Must be monthly that I clean a pile of powder from my bench.

Ed

[psyop]

Took the tip off my thumb going tooo fast on a RCBS RC
Loading .380 of all calibers...
I could feal and hear the flesh shear.
Brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it.

Sort of a bonding moment tween me and my press

[herohog]

Did you remove the flesh from the case or go ahead and leave it in as filler?

[StuntHeavy]

I'm new to reloading, only reload 2 calibers, and heres some things I've ran into on my Lee Classic Turret:

Stuck a .223 die in the resizing die when I forgot to swap out the .40 shell holder, and pulled the extractor ring off the case. Took about 10minutes to get it out of the die, but I wont soon forget.

Somehow got a primer sideways in the lee safety prime, and tried to seat it sideways. Ruining two cases in the same week put a tear in my eye, with the way things are.

Buying pulldown projectiles, and not knowing the difference between light pull marks, and heavy ones. Locked my AR up twice before I realized what was going on, and then 3 more times in the same day, before I decided to through all 1000 projectiles and inspect them each one by one. Thankfully nothing bad happened, Just a little embarassing having to tug on the charging handle for all I was worth.

[Linear Thinker]

Made a few mistakes over 30 years of handloading, here are a few thoughts:

1. Don't even think of doing anything else while handloading. Lock the door so that the kids, the dog, the spouse, whatever don't disturb you. Double-charges, squibs and other exciting mistakes will happen if you multitask.

2. Don't clean guns where you reload. Most gun chemicals are harmful to reloading components. I use WD40 to loosen the dirt on the guns before cleaning them, the fine mist will kill primers and powder. Haven't had a dud handload since I moved my gun cleaning elsewhere.

3. Label everything, record your work. I had to toss a pound of powder that I left in a measure for a year, I couldn't figure out which it was. Many Olin/Winchester/St. Marks/military WC powders look same.
LT

[sniper5]

The worst:

Getting into it to save money on ammo! :rolleyes:

Like everyone else, I just shoot more.

[evan price]

I have multiple powder measures- usually that way I can have for example Magnum powder in one and Rifle in another and general pistol in a third.

One day I was running .44 Mag and finished the powder. Changed the press over to .38 specials and then remounted the wrong powder measure- was charging .38 special cases with a .44 magnum volume of powder. I had been loading both with Titegroup so a triple charge was not overflowing a .38. Luckily I noticed before I ran more than three.

[lgbloader]

Evan,

Thank GOD you noticed. That could have gotten ugly real quick.

LGB

[chevyguyss350]

I filled a primer pick up tube and turned it over to fill the press. After about 75 primers hit the floor I realized I forgot to put the little clip in the open end of the tube. Those little buggers roll everywhere!

[Seedtick]

chevyguyss350 - I filled a primer pick up tube and turned it over to fill the press. After about 75 primers hit the floor I realized I forgot to put the little clip in the open end of the tube. Those little buggers roll everywhere!

If you were to do that now, considering the current primer market, you could easily get somebody to pick them up for you on the halves.:rolleyes:

ST

[FlyinBryan]

i got paranoid when i first started about a batch of 45acp and pulled 100 bullets because i was worried i double charged one.

i hadnt.

the mistake was not paying attention enough to know i was ok with them.

[freakshow10mm]

Truth is your first handloads are probably the safest.

[ar10]

I read a book and bought a press. Now I never get the "honey-do" stuff done. :o:D

[BK]

Worst mistakes were not begining sooner and not reloading enough.

Other than that, I haven't had any accidents at all.

[Nighthawk0083]

When I first started loading, in fact the first batch I was going for super cheap fun. I went too cheap and didnt load enough powder in the 38's i was loading. When we shot them you could see them traveling down range. They worked ok in the 4 inch revolver but one with too light of a charge got stuck in the 6 inch barrel 38 and the person that was shooting them didnt notice and got 3 stuck in a row. It didnt buldge the barrel because the charge was way to light but the person that tried to remove the stuck bullets ended up ruining the barrel. Plus to top it off the brass was the crapy RP brass and some of the bullets would spin after they were seated. What a nightmare all that was and it almost made me stop reloading. After that all of my reloads have had a healthy load of powder and none have let me down since.

[1SOW]

jcwit: Two words of advice to all reloaders

STAY FOCUSED

I wish I could say this happened YEEEaaars ago, but it didn't.

I deprimed a 9mm, seated the new primer, got sidetracked and then pushed a 124gr bullet completely into the case with no powder. That Lee deprimer is tough.

[EMC45]

Didn't start sooner (2003) the other Evan.

[1858rem]

reloading a 45 colt case to the point of failure....or leaving a high primer....keep track of loadings on your cases and take your time!



http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo345/1858rem/100_0593.jpg

[MMCSRET]

looking back; I should have started sooner. I was a slow starter and didn't get into it until I was 11 years old in 1956. I missed a lot!!!!!!!

[Borg]

Bet that left a mark.
Borg

[MMCSRET]

BORG: you are right, I have been traumatically reloading challenged since I didn't start young enough. I've been struggling to catch up for 53 years. As it goes today, I am working on lessons better learned in 1991.

[ForneyRider]

Double-charged W231 load of 45 ACP.

[10s&Xs]

I've had three squibs out of 40k +/- loads. No bulged barrels, each one was caught quickly. (knock on wood)

Worst mistake happened one time loading .45 ACP and switching from LSWC to FMJ in the same session (I use Clays for the SWC loads and Universal Clays for FMJ.)

Finished and boxed the SWC loads, switched the plug around in the seating die, adjusted the powder measure for the FMJ load, refilled the primer tubes, and made 200 rounds.

When I went to put the unused powder back in the container, I realized the Clays jug was still on the bench. Aw hell. Looked in the manuals and found Clays at that load wasn't going to be good. Had to pull the whole lot.

[SlamFire1]

Loaded my 30-06 Garand match ammo with Federal primers. I was a new shooter.

Last round in 200 yard sitting rapid fire, fired from an eight round clip, the rifle slamfired out of battery. Split stock, damaged receiver, tore the ring off the elevation knob. Pits in my glasses showed me that a big particle would have gone straight in my eye.

Sent rifle and ammo to gunsmith. Shells were a bit oversized, and some primers were flush with case head. The cases had been primed on a Dillon 550B.

Conventional wisdom was that only high primers cause slamfires. However, based on advice from the gunsmith I started using a small based die, checking sizing length with a cartridge headspace die, reaming all primer pockets and seating all primers by hand, checking to see that all primers were below the case head.

Second mistake was to use brass in a Garand that had not been small base sized but the pockets had been reamed to depth with hand seated federal primers.

I had that brass in a can for at least ten years, then I decided to load it and use it in sighting in a new rear lugged 30-06 Garand. I thought I would be safe, after all conventional wisdom was that only high primers caused problems, and all of the federal primers were well below the case head.

Somewhere into an eight round clip the Garand slamfired out of battery and blew the back end of the receiver off. This shattered my shooting glasses and cut me under my eye. I bled all the way to the truck. I was not certain what was left on my head until I got a visual look in a rear view mirror. I cannot tell you what a relief it was to see that I still had a face.

When I sent the rifle and cartridges back to the gunsmith, he said some of the cartridges were a little fat and a little long. That probably caused a delay in bolt closure. Maybe if they were sized properly I would have had an in battery slamfire with those federal primers.

Anyway, I decided conventional wisdom was all bunk and I have never used sensitive federal primers in a gas gun since then.

[OrangePwrx9]

Interesting thread. Hope y'all don't mind if I bring it back from the dead. My goof was kinda subtle but the results sure weren't.

Bought some classy new .223 dies several years ago. Liked the seater, but bought the set. My old Lee dies were looking dowdy.

Ran a batch of .223 through them after setting the size die same as I did with the Lee, RCBS, and Lyman dies I'd always used for bottle-neck cartridges. Cases came out looking a little 'different' but figured the classy new die was probably doing it 'right' for a change...so loaded them anyway. Was planning to use light loads, so wasn't expecting trouble.

At the range I was surprised to see the spent primers suddenly protruding from my fired brass. Then I blew a primer that wrecked the magazine in my Mini-14. Not smart enough to leave well enough alone, I picked up my TC carbine in .223, promptly blew two more primers, and about had a fit getting the gun open. I then wised up and quit.

The ammo I'd fired had been loaded in the new die sometime earlier and was being shot with other ammo I'd reloaded in my old dies. The older stuff was fine. It was the new stuff that had problems.

I was at a loss as to what was happening for nearly a month. But, thanks to decent reloading records and constant re-reading of my reloading manuals, I realized I had a headspace problem and traced it to the new die. The die was pushing the case shoulder back too far.

To confirm this I ordered a .223 case gauge from Dillon and about had a coronary when I saw how far the case dropped into the gauge. There was over a sixteenth of an inch of headspace as I recall.

I then set about finding all the bad cases on unfired rounds, pulling the bullets, salvaging powder and primers and crushing the cases. Think there was nearly 150 rounds in all. That really took the fun out of reloading.

One good thing came of it. It made me a believer in case gauges. I now have either a case gauge or an RCBS Precision Mic or both for every rifle caliber I load....and I use them religiously.
Bob

[herohog]

Eh, you were just fire-forming the brass back into the proper fit! :-)