Distractions

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HowieG

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This is how these things work. I missed my early meds so I wasn't feeling too good. Then I had to make a 30 mile trip to the airport I didn't really feel like making, but was obligated to go. When I got back, I thought I would go ahead and take care of the reloading task I had planned to do. I was just getting started when my wife came out and interrupted me as they sometimes do, and we had a discussion about distractions while I was handling explosives. After that, a couple of flying type insects decided it was really fun to persistently buzz around my head just out of reach, thereby driving me the rest of the way crazy. I still proceeded on even though I should have walked away. Ten rounds into a forty round batch, with bullets seated, the dim light bulb that is my brain finally caught up to the fact that the powder can I had pulled was the wrong shape and the label was the wrong color and had the wrong numbers. Oops!! Out came the bullet puller and the bullets were removed and returned to their container. Then, finally, I closed up shop and walked the heck away, living once again to load another day.

And, once again, I relearned that vital lesson: DON'T HANDLOAD UNLESS YOU ARE UNDISTRACTED AND COMPLETELY INTO THE TASK AT HAND!!!! Once again, I relearned that lesson and STILL had all my body parts.
 
Every new reloader should read this and then read it again. One of the many safety aspects of reloading that can't be talked about enough.

Early in my reloading career (ive been reloading for about year and a half) i got excited about putting together a bunch of 40 sw and went to town one night loading up about 400 rnds on my rockchucker.

I had my music blasting and it got to be real late. Like 2 or 3 am. At some point i bumped the 505 didn't realize why it wasn't jiving with my F/A scale. Thought it was just piece of junk. Which i had read abunch of stuff about it not being very accurate. Finished up and went to bed.

I had terrible dream my gun blewup in my face. Woke up in the morning with that dream still on my mind and went and started weighing my reloads compared to a box of factory jhp i had for self defense. Mine were obviously heavy comparatively.

When i took them apart the powder(Titegroup) was weighing at like 5.6. I was aiming for like 3.9. Not sure how i screwed that up so bad and thank God for that dream.

I spent the rest of the week taking apart 400rnds and then reloading them again.

So no distractions and load in small batches. Thanks to OP for refreshing this safety topic!
 
Once I was showing a couple of friends about reloading as they had asked about it. Went through the steps of selecting a propellant and made about 50 243 rounds. They left and I went to bed. Woke up in the middle of the night with a start. I had used the propellant we had looked up in the manual with my data I had developed with a different one. looked and it was about 30% more than max load so had to pull bullets and reload propperly using my established load. There again that voice in your head saved me.
 
HowieG said:
This is how these things work. I missed my early meds so I wasn't feeling too good. Then I had to make a 30 mile trip to the airport I didn't really feel like making, but was obligated to go. When I got back, I thought I would go ahead and take care of the reloading task I had planned to do. I was just getting started when my wife came out and interrupted me as they sometimes do, and we had a discussion about distractions while I was handling explosives. After that, a couple of flying type insects decided it was really fun to persistently buzz around my head just out of reach, thereby driving me the rest of the way crazy. I still proceeded on even though I should have walked away. Ten rounds into a forty round batch, with bullets seated, the dim light bulb that is my brain finally caught up to the fact that the powder can I had pulled was the wrong shape and the label was the wrong color and had the wrong numbers. Oops!! Out came the bullet puller and the bullets were removed and returned to their container. Then, finally, I closed up shop and walked the heck away, living once again to load another day.

And, once again, I relearned that vital lesson: DON'T HANDLOAD UNLESS YOU ARE UNDISTRACTED AND COMPLETELY INTO THE TASK AT HAND!!!! Once again, I relearned that lesson and STILL had all my body parts.
Click to expand...

We've all had days like this. You were wise to close up shop and walk away. Glad you caught your mistake and corrected it.
 
FROGO207 said:
Once I was showing a couple of friends about reloading as they had asked about it. Went through the steps of selecting a propellant and made about 50 243 rounds. They left and I went to bed. Woke up in the middle of the night with a start. I had used the propellant we had looked up in the manual with my data I had developed with a different one. looked and it was about 30% more than max load so had to pull bullets and reload propperly using my established load. There again that voice in your head saved me.
Click to expand...
you get nightmares too… can so relate
 
Juiceking said:
Every new reloader should read this and then read it again. One of the many safety aspects of reloading that can't be talked about enough.

Early in my reloading career (ive been reloading for about year and a half) i got excited about putting together a bunch of 40 sw and went to town one night loading up about 400 rnds on my rockchucker.

I had my music blasting and it got to be real late. Like 2 or 3 am. At some point i bumped the 505 didn't realize why it wasn't jiving with my F/A scale. Thought it was just piece of junk. Which i had read abunch of stuff about it not being very accurate. Finished up and went to bed.

I had terrible dream my gun blewup in my face. Woke up in the morning with that dream still on my mind and went and started weighing my reloads compared to a box of factory jhp i had for self defense. Mine were obviously heavy comparatively.

When i took them apart the powder(Titegroup) was weighing at like 5.6. I was aiming for like 3.9. Not sure how i screwed that up so bad and thank God for that dream.

I spent the rest of the week taking apart 400rnds and then reloading them again.

So no distractions and load in small batches. Thanks to OP for refreshing this safety topic!
Click to expand...

I avoid those 2 AM sessions like the plague. Biorhythms are off that time of night. If I can't sleep, I'll do research, or get a snack, or anything other than doing something dangerous. When I was young, I worked on airplanes on the midnight shift. That bothered me all the time. What did I miss? After a certain point in my career, I didn't have to do that anymore.

I also like quiet when taking care of loading business. Quiet let's the 'something's wrong' warning thoughts in when they can maybe do some good. Maybe some talk radio or a little light calming zen type music. Anything else, and I start finding those rounds with no powder in them. It really drives home a lesson when you get that click and have to walk half a mile to your cleaning rod so you can clear the bullet out of the barrel.
 
35 years reloading and I have some stories too, Just walk away is the best advice a newbie should remember when all things do not align properly. Listen to the old-timers, we are still here, and keep distractions away from the reloading bench.
 
I have been participating in this hobby for 49 years now. 'Just walk away' is the best advice and the hardest to follow. It has taken me many, many years to get to where I mostly walk away at mostly the right time. Maybe another 20 years and I'll have it down pat....if I can still walk.
Sir, back your walker up AWAY from the loading bench...:rofl:
 
HowieG said:
I have been participating in this hobby for 49 years now. 'Just walk away' is the best advice and the hardest to follow. It has taken me many, many years to get to where I mostly walk away at mostly the right time. Maybe another 20 years and I'll have it down pat....if I can still walk.
Sir, back your walker up AWAY from the loading bench...:rofl:
Click to expand...
I’m 43 yo, and I don’t walk away from nothing! I rather wreak it than have a bolt stuck or a case stuck. That being said, my ego wins and my wallet loses. I got up at 4am and looked online for parts, did some polishing and felt better. But now I’m running on 3 hours of broken sleep
 
Mark_Mark said:
I’m 43 yo, and I don’t walk away from nothing! I rather wreak it than have a bolt stuck or a case stuck. That being said, my ego wins and my wallet loses. I got up at 4am and looked online for parts, did some polishing and felt better. But now I’m running on 3 hours of broken sleep
Click to expand...

Obsessive Compulsive. Been there, still fighting that. The more you fight, the more tired you get, and the more you eff it up. I feel your pain. Seek any help you can. Seriously, if you can get even a little past that, life is so much better.
 
merlynski said:
I like to have music playing while I reload. It keeps the ADD part of my brain busy, so I can pay proper attention to the reloading process with the rest of my (OCD) brain and my hands. If I don't have the music going I get distracted by thinking about other things than the reloading process.
Click to expand...

There is that. There certainly is a 'this is boring, but I still have to pay attention to it' component. For god's sake don't try to watch TV though. Ballgames and such are fatal to the process. Also, if you have a cocktail going when you start, make that is your ONLY one and/or limit your activities to throwing brass in the tumbler, etc. Alcohol and twiddly math/measurements don't play well together.
 
Last edited:
I'm glad to see others feel the same way
I do. If you're not giving the loading chore
your total attention, you might as well find
suitable ammunition and buy it by the case.
JMHO- I want my guns and ammunition to
work flawlessly when I pick them up and
without having to fiddle around with details
and the same with my vehicles. If need be
I want to be able to turn the key and go
and if need be to be able to drive for hours
if there is a situation that requires me to.
There's many that just want to pull the
press handle and not double check any
details, then they can't figure why they
have squib loads, or other malfunctions,
or they get poor accuracy
 
Ranger99 said:
I'm glad to see others feel the same way
I do. If you're not giving the loading chore
your total attention, you might as well find
suitable ammunition and buy it by the case.
JMHO- I want my guns and ammunition to
work flawlessly when I pick them up and
without having to fiddle around with details
and the same with my vehicles. If need be
I want to be able to turn the key and go
and if need be to be able to drive for hours
if there is a situation that requires me to.
There's many that just want to pull the
press handle and not double check any
details, then they can't figure why they
have squib loads, or other malfunctions,
or they get poor accuracy
Click to expand...

Can you actually find suitable ammo and buy it by the case right now?
 
FROGO207 said:
The last time I ate a 16 inch peperoni pizza by myself and went to bed it was awful! Dreamed the pizza was rolling after me like the big ball in the Indiana Jones movie and shooting pepperonies at me like buzz saw blades!LOL
Click to expand...
you sure that was Pizza???
 
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