Unintentional Discovery

Been there. Same issue but got 115s instead of 124s.

To date, luckily, that has not happened to me but then again I always check the weight of the bullets. I'm not checking them because I think overnight be wrong, only st see if the manufacturer us sending me a good and consistent product.

I'm guessing you shot 900 rounds fairly hot 9mm ammo. I'm glad nothing broke on you.

ArchAngelCD said:

I'm guessing you shot 900 rounds fairly hot 9mm ammo. I'm glad nothing broke on you.

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If he was loading for 115s and using 124s, wouldn't that mean they were light?

AZAndy said:

If he was loading for 115s and using 124s, wouldn't that mean they were light?

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Higher pressure, bigger bullet, smaller charges. Bigger bullet, equal charges=pow!

That's a great point SC Dave. Like you, I haven't been checking the weight of bullets before loading them up. That's changing today! Thanks for sharing.

I've always checked; weight, length, width, ogive. But even doing that has come up short. Ordered 230 gr round nose. Order came in, grabbed a sample size (half a handful or so), everything checked fine. Halfway thru loading the thousand I noticed the bullet in my hand that I was about to place on case seemed different. It was a 200 grain. The order had mixed projectiles. Of course with my luck I grabbed only 230 gr out of a box that was mixed 40/60. My sample size now is a lot larger and careful attention to bullet appearance as I load. Released most my anger swinging impact bullet puller. Still mad about that one, though. To make it worse. Checked powder load for 200 gr and the load I was using for 230 was safe for 200. Had to laugh that one off.

Trust but verify.

AZAndy said:

If he was loading for 115s and using 124s, wouldn't that mean they were light?

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No, it's the other way around. Heavier bullets use less powder than lighter ones. If he were using a 115gr bullet charge weight and loading a 147gr bullet things would have probably gotten very interesting very quickly... Luckily there isn't a wide margin between the 115gr and 124gr bullet loads.

Thanks for the reminder to check. I used to be pretty diligent, but have gotten lax lately. A great reminder for all of us.

Everyone's is human, and mistakes like this are probably more common that we would all like to admit.

I hadn't thought of the need to confirm that contents match packaging label.

Loading process revised!

Thanks!

OR

SC_Dave said:

IMO in an industry/sport/hobby where we try to be precise and go to extra lengths for safety this is unacceptable from vendors. Has my experience hurt anything or anyone? No, thank the lord. I have a multi step process as most of us do to insure safe and accurate reloads and to be honest the more I've thought about this the more it chaps my a**. I'm going to call Precision Delta tomorrow and have a conversation.
SCD

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I agree, they should have better QC in place. Like I said above, I check weights of new bullet shipments but not to check the vendor. They should have gotten it right.

Sure we can blame ourselves for not catching the mistake but we already have so much to check that we can mess up on we shouldn't have to worry about other mistakes. (but obviously we have to)

At least with bullets we can check them. But with primers and powder we're really relying on accurate labeling by the manufacturer.

ArchAngelCD said:

No, it's the other way around. Heavier bullets use less powder than lighter ones. If he were using a 115gr bullet charge weight and loading a 147gr bullet things would have probably gotten very interesting very quickly... Luckily there isn't a wide margin between the 115gr and 124gr bullet loads.

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This is of course very true. Unless the handloader is charging at the top limit, the 9 grain weight difference is not the end of the world. I say this as one who fully understands personal safety and the value of consistency with respect to accuracy. Yes we should weigh and measure every box of bullets before loading and yes we should check and double check our charge weights often.

SC_Dave said:

IMO in an industry/sport/hobby where we try to be precise and go to extra lengths for safety this is unacceptable from vendors.

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IMO opinion you need to find another supplier for your bullets. Let us know who that is.

SC_Dave said:

I'm going to call Precision Delta tomorrow and have a conversation

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Can you make it a conference call?

I know the OP said that he threw the box away, but I would be curious if the box was labeled correctly or not. It might just be an invoice mix up, but if the bullets are going into the wrong boxes (labeled incorrectly) that's a big problem.

This is actually pretty common. I've sold tens of millions of bullets from manufacturers such as Montana Gold, Xtreme, Powerbond, Berry's, Armscor, etc. When dealing in millions of bullets, eventually a mistake will be made. It's unfortunate, but it is bound to happen. We rarely have similar mistakes, but they do happen. We've tried to eliminate the risk of sending someone the wrong item or at least letting them know what item they are being sent by writing in sharpie on the bag what is inside of it. That way, if the person printing off the shipping label accidentally puts the wrong product on the label, at least when the customer receives their order, they can see if it was right or wrong. But even then, we're dealing with human beings and they aren't perfect. I've been around enough bullets to be able to visually tell what grain a 9mm is but if you can't, I always suggest checking the weight before you start loading. That goes for all manufacturers. Including myself.

BTW, what load did you use?

SC_Dave said:

thomas 15 I've already decided to change vendors regardless of what they say tomorrow. I'll report back here with the feedback.

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Perfect.

Now if you could share with us the cure for your chapped a** our lives will be complete. Consider it a gift to humanity.

Another check to add to my list, never thought about weight bullets.

I weigh bullets frequently, to at least check. Not a huge batch of them, just a few singles. I'll than take their cousins, bigger or smaller, and visually compare them to know what to watch for. Then the incorrect sizes get put away and I press on.

I had a 50 round box recently of Remington UMC 147 gr 9 mm that had 9 random rounds loaded with 115 gr instead of the 147. The 115s were noticeable because they were not slightly flat on the tip compared to the 147. The box was sealed so I assume it was a factory mistake.

I always weigh my bullets, but since I often repackage smaller quantities to bulk or bulk to smaller quantities when supplies drop to low volumes I am doing so to verify what I'm dealing with. I can tell weights by sight in .284 and .277 diameters pretty well, but I still verify on a scale. It also tells me that my scale is set right because it is easy to accidentally get it set to reading in other units.

124-115=9. 9.27% I don't know if a max 115 load with a 115 witha 124 bullet would be a kaboom or not but definitely not good.
Some 115s are easier to tell from 124/125 than others, but it never hurts to weigh to be safe.

Edited. Can't type and can't see what I typed.

My very first box of .357 caliber bullets (Speer 125 grain JHP) had the canneleurs in two different locations. How the [redacted] did that happen?

I took a picture of them, meaning to send Speer an irate email and hoping for a box of free bullets, but I was too lazy to follow through...