First Accident Reloading...

[Olympus]

I guess it was bound to happen, but I had an accidental primer discharge when reloading. It scared the hell out of me and caused some hearing problems in my left ear the rest of the day. But it looks like I'm back to normal. Needless to say, I was a little skiddish as my finished my run of rounds.

Everything was going along great loading some nice plinking .38 Special loads. I pulled the handle and......BANG! Instant ringing in my left ear. I immediately started feeling my face, neck, arms, and chest. Then I looked in the press and all of the rounds that had bullets originally, still had them. So I knew it was just a primer that discharged, and not an actual live round. I began taking all of the rounds out of the shell plate and inspecting them. Found the culprit when I could not remove the case from station two, the priming station. I took the shellplate off and the case had a deformed primer smached in the hole of the shellplate which wouldn't let the case slide out of the shellplate. I was able to get the case and deformed primer out and began troubleshooting to see what the cause was.

I finally figured out that the case retainer pin for station two had worked its way out and wasn't holding the case firmly in the shellplate. The case must have been partially out of the shellplate which is why the primer pocket and the hole in the shellplate didn't line up. I had to tighten the screw on the retainer pin for station two as it was a little loose. This is going to be something that I'm going to have to pay special attention to I think and make sure I check that it's tight every so often.

It was quite a scare though. Anyone else experience this?

 

[Josh45]

Wow! I'm glad your ok! I have yet to start but am always looking for things to be cautious of. I don't mean this in a bad way but now at least I know to pay even more attention to detail.

Seriously tho, It could have been worse but thankfully it wasn't.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Yep, it happens...Fortunately, in 20 years of loading it has not happened to me, yet.

 

[snuffy]

Machine? Sounds like a dillon 650, but the 650 doesn't have a case locator "PIN" It has a spring loaded lever that HAS to be adjusted for every different case that's loaded after a caliber change.

Then, technique comes into question. Are you jabbing at the re-prime stroke? The priming movement should be a gentle push.

There I go getting critical right away, glad you didn't suffer any injury.

 

[Olympus]

I was using a Lee Loadmaster.

 

[rfwobbly]

Sorry to hear about that. Glad you're OK.

Look deeper. It usually takes more than one issue to cause this event.

• Are you using soft Federal primers? If so switch to Winchester or CCI.

• Was the entrance to the primer pocket rounded? Had the primer pocket ever been crimped?

 

[wally]

That's the main problem with the Lee Loadmaster it primes on the top of the stroke which means the primer is balancing on the seating punch the entire way up and it doens't take much to get it off center enough to hang. Usually you just end up with a sideways crushed primer (or an upside down primer), but when they pop just hope you've got the "blast shield" they sell in place, and you've kept the area free of powder dust and other flammables.

Lee really needs to do something to fix the priming system on the Loadmaster.

 

[Olympus]

I was using CCI primers. I only use CCI and Winchester with my Loadmaster.

I did a lot of looking at the primer pocket and it looked completely normal. If I hadn't buggered up the rim of the case, I'm confident that I could have reused the case. My theory of what happened was that the case was not completely in the shell plate and the primer pocket was off centered from the hole in the shellplate. When I went to insert the primer, part of it hit the head of the case instead of the pocket, and as force was applied to seat the primer, the pressure set the primer off rather than seating it because there was no pocket for part of the primer to be set in. That's what I was able to come up with at least.

One thing that I didn't realize was how loud they were! I have T/C Enore muzzleloader and they recommend that you set of a primer in an empty barrel after you've cleaned the barrel. It uses regular 209 shotgun primers, but it just makes a little "pack" sound when they go off. This was definitely louder than a little "pack"...

 

[gamestalker]

Over 25 years of doing this and never had this happen. Super glad you didn't get hurt. I use a single stage press so things are a little bit more simplistic, but I suppose it could still happen. I had a close call hand loading shotshells on my 600 Jr. when a 7 1/2 dropped into the priming station. I noticed it didn't feel right and stopped before possibly setting it off. Hand loading is inherently dangerous.

 

[levsmith]

Wow, glad to hear you are OK. I'm afraid that this is going to happen to me someday when I'm reloading in my apartment. I can just imagine the building being evacuated because of a "gun shot". Once I get a house, I wont be quite as worried about it. Well anyways, here I got rambling again. Again, glad to hear no one was hurt

 

[250-3000]

I have a Loadmaster and read somewhere that it was a good idea to put the sizing die in that station, with a universal depriming die in the first station. The theory was the sizing die would keep everything in alignment during the priming process. I do this with pistol cartridges and haven't run a primer in sideways. On 223, I size offline and tumble to remove lube, no sizing die in the press, and have put a primer in sideway sideways now and then, guess I have been lucky not to pop one!

 

[Olympus]

On mine, the sizing die and depriming die are the same thing. It wouldn't work if I moved it to station two because it would be trying to deprime at the same time it's trying to reprime...

 

[1SOW]

I use a turret press so I 'see' every step in the loading cycle. I've still had a couple of primers seat sideways.

I did "purposely" set off a Fed SPP in my garage to know what will happen. It's a SURPRISINGLY strong bang!

I'm glad nothing serious happened other than an experience to remember.

 

[W.E.G.]

I won't say I don't trust progressive presses.

I just don't trust me to run one.

I loaded some .45 ACP on a Lee turret press - the Lee powder measure "stuck," and I had a bunch of primer-only squibs.
I loaded some 9mm ammo on a Dillon, and while I really can't fault the press, the soft-lead bullets all were seated not quite square, and accuracy was more like a pattern than a group.

From now on:
All my brass will be primed separately using the Lee priming tool.
All my cases will be charged in a case tray, and visually inspected TWICE before seating bullets.

Yes, she's the one for me.

 

[Hondo 60]

Yup,
I had it happen too.
Scared the gronk outta me too.
Had to go check my underwear.

It ripped the case right outta the holder.

 

[Olympus]

Well after hearing all these comments about it never happening to people loading for 20+ years, I was beginning to think that it was just my usual luck. I don't feel so alone now.

 

[Otto]

I stopped priming on the press a few years back, I figured why push my luck.
I use Federal primers as well.
Yes, hand priming sort of defeats the purpose of a progressive press but it allows me to prime at my own leisure while drinking a beer and watching the game.

 

[243winxb]

The Lee Classic "Hammer" Loader is great for setting off primers. Here is a photos that was posted a while ago using a progressive loader. . Makes you think. Click for larger view.

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[Foto Joe]

Yup, been there done that thirty years ago and I probably need hearing aids because of it. Loud little buggers aren't they?

If it's any consolation, the first time you do it will probably be the last time it happens. We tend to learn from our errors when it involves stuff that can blow us up.

 

[SuperNaut]

I hand prime, 'cause I'm paranoid that way.

 

[bkhosken]

I think I have had 3 go off over the last 20+ years like that. Seems like if I miss a crimped primer pocket, and the crimp is off center, and the primer catches it JUST right and turns sideways, they can go off. Scared me all 3 times, but nothing else happened. Eye protection...good idea.

 

[amlevin]

I too am familiar with LEE Progressive presses and primer explosions.

A full tray of primers went off (first one and then the whole darn mess) and hearing issues weren't the largest of my worries. The blood that was leaking out of my left hand was a bigger issue. 6 stitches to stop the leakage and today the only LEE equipment I use are their dies and case trimmer.

 

[James2]

Scary. Glad you were hot hurt. I primed many rounds with the single stage press. I have had them go in sideways and upside down. Never had one go off. Now I prime with the RCBS hand priming tool. That is nice.

 

[Olympus]

A full tray of primers went off (first one and then the whole darn mess) and hearing issues weren't the largest of my worries. The blood that was leaking out of my left hand was a bigger issue. 6 stitches to stop the leakage and today the only LEE equipment I use are their dies and case trimmer.

That's enough to make a guy even more skiddish! Geez...

 

[brickeyee]

You might want to actually watch what is happening as you load.

It really requires ALL your attention.

A case not fully in the shell plate should have been easily seen.