reloading mental errors

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taliv

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i sorta have a rule that i never reload past 10pm to avoid stupid mistakes. guess in my old age i'm going to have to move that to 9pm...

my 300nm load is 86.00 grains. i decided that was a wee bit too much, so i decided to drop it to 85.70g. i loaded ten. then something made me think wait... i think i put 86.70 in the last one. so i checked it and sure enough, there was an extra grain of powder. and when i was working up, 86.5 was too hot. so i'm glad i checked.

then, thinking i'm occasionally a complete retard, i checked the one before that. yep, 86.70. so i kept checking. turns out, i loaded only the first round with 85.70, and the next nine rounds with 86.70!!

geez.
 
I assume this is a digital scale? I dont have one, but I could see it being much easier to make a mistake
 
I did exactly the same thing a few weeks ago. I'd tried a 308 load at 45 gr and decided to load a few at 44.5 to see if it improved accuracy. I use a beam scale and moved the weight in the wrong direction to 46.5. By the book 47 gr is max, but the bullets I was using are pretty long, take up powder space, and I didn't feel comfortable with that load. I noticed the error after loading 6-8 and stopped. I set the scale correctly at 44.5 gr and finished. I set the others aside and pulled the bullets later.
 
One time I was trying to load 3.8gr for a pistol load. I'd looked at the scale probably 4-6 times (confirming the correct setting) while charging 20-30 cases. Upon looking at the scale the next time I saw it was set for 2.8gr! The fact it was below my target was of little solace. The big wakeup was that I was "SURE" I'd confirmed it was set correctly. It could have just as easily been too high.

I'll sometimes count scale lines out loud to myself and point to them with something like a pen.
 
After coffee I'm too excited.

I quit drinking coffee on the way to the range... the jitters get to my trigger finger.

I'll sometimes count scale lines out loud to myself

I actually do that a lot, even with work and such. I'll point to things and call it off, sort of like a checklist. People probably think I'm looney, talking to myself, but it works.
 
I quit drinking coffee on the way to the range... the jitters get to my trigger finger.



I actually do that a lot, even with work and such. I'll point to things and call it off, sort of like a checklist. People probably think I'm looney, talking to myself, but it works.

Me too, pretty much anytime I'm:
Measuring nearly anything
Clearing a firearm
Hooking up a trailer
Doing maths
Trying to remember somebody's name

Seems like the more senses (visual, auditory, tactile) you get involved, the better the chance you have of catching a mistake.
 
Mine is switching 9mm bullets. I have 2 identical loads, 1 with 115gr ACME coated cast, the other with Rem 115gr FMJ bullets. All else is same, but requires a small adjustment to seating die to swap. Never fails, I always forget and end up with a batch .007 short/long thinking "the dies are set up". Once or twice maybe a mistake. As many times as I've done it, just stupid.

Unless I come across the Rem bullets for $65/k again, self-correcting problem as I'm down to under 1,000 of those remaining so will just be the ACME projectiles left....
 
i've done that before... switching from round nose to hollow point and back, and forgetting to flip the seater in the dillon die. ugh.
 
I haven't had a powder slip up yet, or if I did it was minuscule enough not to notice!

I do however have a "wall of shame" with about 9 or 10 examples of my goof ups. Smashed case mouths, excessively flared out or bulged necks from negligence adjusting the dies, cases with primers flipped backwards and bullets that have terrible neck tension or are seated poorly/too deep etc. There's a primer swaging rod that I bent from a bad adjustment, a revolver cartridge with a hairline crack in the side that I loaded up, then saw the crack... stuff like that. I keep them there a little above eye level as a reminder to pay attention! Most of these happened on a single stage early on, when adjustments had to be made every time you put a new die in. Progressives and Turrets I think minimize the die related errors for me because of the 'set it and leave it alone' nature.

Mistakes happen, Just hope that they're caught before its too late or they are minor enough to not cause something undesirable!
 
Equipment could solve this problem. Usually I'm opposed to hardware solutions, but a Chargemaster would eliminate this type of error.
 
Back when I was very serious about competition, I used my reloading sessions as mental practice for shooting. I tried to maintain a level of concentration to reload 100 shells without a mistake.
I used the same technique to keep my grades up in hs and college. You can call it "in the zone" or "focused" or whatever. It's just a matter of knoei g when to turn it on, and keep it on.
Yeah, I know. It sounds stupid.....
Of course, that was back when I was 18 or 20 so......hey look! There's a bunny!
 
I have my load recipes in an old recipe box, on 3x5 cards. When I start processing a cartridge, the 3x5 comes out and stays where I can see it. Because memories are pretty tricky and fallible, I never want to guess, no matter how sure I am.
 
You are not alone, I save other mundane, less critical tasks for when I am not as sharp. I also prefer set once and repeat devices a lot more than manually operated ones that rely on a human to remain consistent.
 
I do however have a "wall of shame" with about 9 or 10 examples of my goof ups.

I love this idea. Constant reminder of the need to be vigilant.

There are multiple things that keep me fascinated by reloading. One whole category of things is on this thread's topic. I think there's a really fascinating fine line between relying on memory....but not relying TOO much on memory. Maybe a way to describe this is, for any given situation, asking one's self "Does this make sense?".

I always write down on a piece of paper what I'm about to load (caliber, bullet, powder, charge, COL).and then I post it prominently above the bench. Then I verify that info either at the powder manufacturer's website or in my manuals. One day when doing that verification in a manual the numbers weren't meeting my expectations. I wanted to load <x>gr of powder but the manual was saying it should be <y>gr. I'd loaded this load many times. Something wasn't right. Finally I saw it: I was on the page for 9mm LARGO, not 9mm Luger. I ended up putting stickies on the non-9mm Luger pages that say in big block letters "NOT 9mm LUGER!".

While these mental "errors" could be scary if not handled correctly, there is something about establishing processes and "getting in the zone" (which was mentioned in an earlier reply in this thread) that I really find both fascinating mentally and satisfying to deal with.
 
I was using my dial calipers to measure crimp. Zeroed the calipers on my desired diameter. I think that was 9mm. Later I was checking OAL on some .308. Blew my mind how short they were. I set them aside to pull later. A day or two later I realized what had happened.
 
fear of this type of mistake is why I weigh on a beam scale to double check the digital reading. I don't weigh every one both ways, but spot check and it would be hard to have an error that represented as the same weight with the two different mechanisms, and if the measurement isn't exact, well - that's an immediate indicator something is wrong.
 
fear of this type of mistake is why I weigh on a beam scale to double check the digital reading. I don't weigh every one both ways, but spot check and it would be hard to have an error that represented as the same weight with the two different mechanisms, and if the measurement isn't exact, well - that's an immediate indicator something is wrong.

Here's my story of being stupid and learning a lesson that I think will stick.

I'm new to reloading and made the mistake of not zeroing my balance scale for too long. It was the only scale I was using at the time. By the time I noticed it was not zeroed and I was loading way too heavy I wasn't sure exactly when the problem started. In order to be on the safe side I then pulled over 2k rounds of 9mm I had made up.

Now I have both a balance and digital scale. Every time I start loading a new batch I first check the balance scale for zero, then weigh a few charges with it and double check that the weight is the same on the digital. Once satisfied that both scales are reading the same I proceed to weigh every 5th charge with the digital scale since it's easier to use. I'm loading on a single stage so I can keep a close eye on this.

Pulling those 2k rounds took a while so I don't think I'll forget that lesson anytime soon.
 
yep, digital.
This is why I have a 505, and constantly check that the weights are in the correct notch. Sometimes I will bump the .1 gr. weight out of the 0 notch with the pan, taking it out or putting it in, but .1 on most of what I load isn't a tragedy.

I always write down on a piece of paper what I'm about to load (caliber, bullet, powder, charge, COL).

I have a dry erase board that serves the same function, plus I write out my tags (the little round 'garage sale' tags) beforehand. I'd actually like to be able to load late at night, it's when I'm mentally sharpest. Scored a perfect score on Buzztime Trivia last night at midnight. (The bar trivia that, since Covid-19, is currently available as an app. You play through the bar you usually played at, and your score contributes to the bar's overall score.)

I've had to take down a few rounds here and there over the years because I wasn't 100% confident of my process. They might have been fine, but better safe than sorry. Components are cheap; my face, hands, and eyesight kinda mean something to me.
 
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