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Dumbest reloading mistake

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K

KB0VSO

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Feb 24, 2015
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Location
northern Minnesota USA
I think I have made every mistake you may have read or heard of.
To this day I do not know how I loaded 100 rounds and when I got to the range I found there was not a primer in a single one of them.
What is the dumbest reloading mistake you have made?

Larry
Northern Minnesota USA
 
It happens to the best of them once in a while. Good thing the error did not make the ammunition hazardous.

Work out a routine or process where you cannot get unprimed cases into the loading process without being primed. Do not vary from the routine. Do not stop mid process. Check and double check.

Store primed and un-primed differently, label the storage boxes or put a note in with the cases, do not store the cases primed and prime them just before use.

Figure out what works for you.

Personally, I do not store cases primed and prime them just before they get loaded. One reason is to make sure they have been properly primed, but also, I do not tie up primers that I may need for a different cartridge at another time.
 
I always put my primed cases in zip loc bags. I know they have been sized, cleaned and trimmed and ready to load. I buy primers well ahead of the time I might use them.
 
My dumbest mistake so far (I just started about 6 months ago) was when I was watching TV while checking case lengths. I had two bins in front of me- one for those not needing trimming and one for those needing trimming. I had a case in hand that needed trimming but right after throwing it I realized I put it in the "no trim" bin. I had to re-check all the brass in that bin.

Per the above - I keep all my brass in bulk, non-counted chunks based on where they are in the process. I have plastic bins that are labeled documenting what has been done to get to that stage and what yet needs to be done.

My priming process is when I break up the batches into 50 case lots. The yogurt I eat, which has a plastic lid, is the perfect size for 50 empty .223 cases. So when I prime I put the primed piece into a loading block. When that is full I put the primed cases into a covered yogurt container. It's the only time I put cases in yogurt containers. So if I have a container with shells in it - they're primed. That way I can sit down and get my scale and powder all set up - grab a yogurt container - and know I'm working with 50 cases that will then fill up a reusable ammo box after they're charged and have bullets seated.

OR
 
Did the no-primer thing once but caught it before putting the bullet on.
Have loaded squibs in a .303Brit, when the powder measure ran dry and I failed to notice. Pulled down nine rounds, five were empty of powder.
Stupidest mistake was when loading .38Special, I accidentally used the data in my looseleaf notebook for .38Super! OOPS!!
But I tended to load light, as it was for a modified Star Modelo Super in 9mm Largo (yes, they CAN shoot .38Super!). So with careful checking I determined the load was safe in my Ruger SecuritySix revolver, and they shot fine. Made very sure after that use the correct data!
 
Loaded 200 rounds of 40 S&W with Unique. Only had one manual with Unique listed. Took them to the range and man did they buck. Chrono'd at 1150 fps. Don't remember the bullet, but this load was hot and you could barely keep them on a 8X11" piece of paper at 20 yards. Went home, loaded 6 rounds with some Universal and shot them through the Chrono in the back yard. 950 FPS and shot great. Now I load a few rounds and ring them out before I get carried away and load a years supply.
 
cfullgraf said:
It happens to the best of them once in a while. Good thing the error did not make the ammunition hazardous.

Work out a routine or process where you cannot get unprimed cases into the loading process without being primed. Do not vary from the routine. Do not stop mid process. Check and double check.

Store primed and un-primed differently, label the storage boxes or put a note in with the cases, do not store the cases primed and prime them just before use.

Figure out what works for you.

Personally, I do not store cases primed and prime them just before they get loaded. One reason is to make sure they have been properly primed, but also, I do not tie up primers that I may need for a different cartridge at another time.
Click to expand...

Is my check list that I have used since then.

Remove the primers without resizing..
Clean the brass in a ultra sonic cleaner.
Rinse the brass in clean water.
Blows dry the brass with an air compressor
Lubricate the out side of the brass with Hornady one shot
Resize the brass
Put the brass in a vibrating tumbler with sandblasting sand
Remove and shake the sand out
Blow from the primer end with air compressor
Check the brass with a LYMAN LENGTH/HEADSPACE GAUGE


Install the primers and check them to make sure the primer is below the base of the cartage
Place the primed cartage primer up in holder
Charge the primed cartage with powder and place back in the holder neck up
Set a bullet upside-down in the neck of the charged brass
Now one by one you can seat the bullets..
 
Mine so far involve debates about crimping. Not so much the high standard THR accuracy debate. But more along the lines of what pistol rounds get crimped and what style of crimp. Example: by the book 10mm spaces by the case mouth, so crimp should be minimal. A certain builder of guns tells me they should be crimped tight to prevent feeding issues. Lee says use their factory taper crimp.
 
Oh and there is the time I used orange citrus cleaner in my wet tumbler before I deprimed. What an awful mess. Black goo everywhere. Just took time to clean my tumbler and all the brass.
 
My dumbest mistake was made this past week. I've had a RCBS 505 scale for around 3 years. I've never had check weights until this past week...come to find out my scale from 30-49.9 gr is off anywhere from .2-1gr depends on which day I loaded them...I borrowed a friends scale which my check weights prove to be 100% accurate and the .308 loads I pulled showed a .4-.9 gr difference. If I set my scale to 45.5 gr loaded, just say 10 rds all of them had a .4gr discrepency. I zero my scale to all zeros and then set the weights to 45.5gr again load ten more they have a different amount of discrepency. So not only is my scale off in those weight ranges its not even consistent in the amount its off :mad:

I have already sent it back to RCBS and haven't heard anything yet...I'm 100% sure they will take care of me.

All that to say the dumbest thing I've ever done is not having a set of check weights from day 1
 
I made up a series of test rounds and they worked great.

While making up 200 I thought the bullets were a little hard to seat (flat base) and added a tiny bell to the mouth. Forgot to adjust the crimp to remove the bell, not a single one would chamber.
 
Some days I think starting the addiction of reloading was my biggest mistake.
Then the range with my son some buddys. No mistake, no worrie about running out, how much it cost just shooting till you cant shoot no more.
Thank the good lord no mistakes that I haven't caught at the mistake moment. Well I did reload some 303 brit. Junk brass had two case head seperation, moved on to other hs and pulled the S&B no more seperation.
 
I had a squib in a .44spl, no powder in the case. I heard the odd sound right away and didn't fire another round, thankfully.

I also starting throwing powder into unprimed cases. Caught it right away due to powder all over the place.

Guess there are different degrees of error, those on the bench that are caught, and those at the range which are often far more serious.
 
I can't believe I'm going to admit this....

When I was 12, I was loading 243Win.. Well, I was using a recipe for 60gr Sierra bullets with an IMR powder, but... I grabbed the Unique by mistake... That's not the worst part...
The worst part is that I actually fired two of them. Let's just say the Rem700 is a tough action. The first one, of course, had pressure signs, but I didn't understand what the problem was since I knew I hadn't messed with the powder measure. The second one was when I realized what I had done. I've never made that mistake again!

The good Lord takes care of children and fools, and Jesus loves Hamp.
 
About six or 8 months back I was loading 45 auto on my Dillon Super 1050. Powder got down to low level so..Since I was using HP-38..went and got a new can..filled 'er up. Kept on loading..Maybe another 200(not long) stopped for a bit and checked the powder weight..HOLY CRAPO! instead of loading 5.2 gr..the darn thing was loading 6.6 gr. I had done the boneheaded thing of using another lot of HP-38 and not checking the weight as I should have...I only had about 700 in the loaded round bin..so I have to pull the bullets on ALL of them..so annoyed at the stupid move I Haven't loaded on that machine since. Haven't taken them apart yet either..In a box marked over loads. Never seen a powder have that much difference in lots. volumetrically they are the same..
 
My dumbest mistake was to charge a full loading block of pistol cases that weren't flared. Even dumber, I have done that 4-5 times.
 
CarJunkieLS1 said:
My dumbest mistake was made this past week. I've had a RCBS 505 scale for around 3 years. I've never had check weights until this past week...come to find out my scale from 30-49.9 gr is off anywhere from .2-1gr depends on which day I loaded them...I borrowed a friends scale which my check weights prove to be 100% accurate and the .308 loads I pulled showed a .4-.9 gr difference. If I set my scale to 45.5 gr loaded, just say 10 rds all of them had a .4gr discrepency. I zero my scale to all zeros and then set the weights to 45.5gr again load ten more they have a different amount of discrepency. So not only is my scale off in those weight ranges its not even consistent in the amount its off :mad:

I have already sent it back to RCBS and haven't heard anything yet...I'm 100% sure they will take care of me.

All that to say the dumbest thing I've ever done is not having a set of check weights from day 1
Click to expand...
I hope every one that does not have a check weight set reads this and orders one
 
GLOOB said:
My dumbest mistake was to charge a full loading block of pistol cases that weren't flared. Even dumber, I have done that 4-5 times.
Click to expand...

I can see this happening in my flow. Hmm.....What would happen is you slightly bell mouthed a charged case?
 
hamp sandwich said:
I can't believe I'm going to admit this....

When I was 12, I was loading 243Win.. Well, I was using a recipe for 60gr Sierra bullets with an IMR powder, but... I grabbed the Unique by mistake... That's not the worst part...
The worst part is that I actually fired two of them. Let's just say the Rem700 is a tough action. The first one, of course, had pressure signs, but I didn't understand what the problem was since I knew I hadn't messed with the powder measure. The second one was when I realized what I had done. I've never made that mistake again!

The good Lord takes care of children and fools, and Jesus loves Hamp.
Click to expand...

Wow. Glad you made it out of that with everything you were born with. Just ran that through Quickload. Assuming 4064 or similar, loading by volume puts you at about 103,000 psi (60,000 max). Yep, the Rem700 should be your good luck charm.
 
Got distracted once after reloading a batch of something. Later after I had been in the hospital for a week and a brief recovery afterwards I went to reload some ammo and found a powder measure 3/4 full of SOMETHING??? No label or anything indicating what it was. Also the propellant ate into the side of the plastic hopper so I had to get a new one. Now I put a sticky on the side of hopper with what is in it and the drop weight it is supposed to be. Works much better than tossing propellant on your lawn.
 
I use a tag I printed with my computer, 6 tags per sheet, to keep up with where I am in my reloading. Whether the brass is in a plastic bag, boxes, or in bulk cans, it keeps me aware and safe. I just circle the steps as I complete them and fill in the info with primer manufacturer and lot number, powder type, charge, and lot number, bullet weight and type, and quantity of brass or loaded ammo, and my own lot number, usually yr/mo/day and sequential number if I load more than one lot that day. Looks like this:

CLEANED
LUBED
DEPRIMED
SWAGED
SIZED
TRIMMED
DEBURRED
CLEANED
PRIMED________
POWDER_______
CHARGED_____GR_____
LOADED____________
CRIMPED
CLEANED


QUANTITY________
CALIBER_________
LOT #___________
 
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