Over the past few days working out of town, I was able to pick up a few boxes of bullets, some bags of new brass, and a couple pounds of powder, and tonight after work I decided to head to the garage to load up some 9 mm. Wife is at work, kids in bed, no rush, no work tomorrow, not tired, just want to load! Grabbed my dies, where is my shell holder? I went through my reloading area 3 times looking for my #8 shell holder. Nowhere to be found. Until the fourth time I picked up my hand priming tool, and there she be. Stood there for a minute, and realized it was just a bad idea tonight to reload. Especially with 9mm, one little brain fart and it’s blammo! For you guys that are new to reloading, sometimes take a step back and realize when it’s just a bad idea to try for the night. Take the time you were going to use loading, and go pick a section and read the front half of whichever manual you have. Do a quick refresher instead of making another boneheaded mistake!
Knowing when it’s a bad idea
- Thread starter Wyo82
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When that happens to me. I still do something reloading related like. Pop primers out of brass and tumble. Casting lead bullets. Or powder coating. Maybe organizing my brass looking for cracks or inspecting them. Trimming rifle brass is pretty mundane. But still needs to be done. When it comes time charge and prime cases you need to be focused. But there's a lot you can do to save your self time down the road. Internet shopping for components is very fun time vampire. The more calibers you have the less time you have.
AzShooter1
Member
Good advice. I don't have any distractions when I reload. No one is allowed in the room, no radio or T.V. It's better to be concentrating on the job at hand.
GeoDudeFlorida
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Good call! I’ve been home with the “head cold whose parent virus is not to be named” all week. Bored is an understatement. Haven’t actually loaded anything. Won’t for exactly the reason stated: my heads not up to it. I have been counting, reading, organizing, poking around the store room, but not reloading. Nope. Not gonna take a stupid chance.
Yeah I figured better safe than sorry. If I couldn’t pay enough attention to see the shell holder the first 3 times I grabbed my hand primer, I figured I better shut her down for the night. Tomorrow is a new day and maybe I’ll do it then.
Agree with everything except casting bullets. I am not messing around with molten metal if I am not all there.
OrangePwrx9
Member
Shoot, guess my threshold is higher. My normal loading session starts like that. Potential chimney fires have been known to pull me away.
Strongly agree on the casting. Won't do that unless everything's right. Molten lead scares me.
Strongly agree on the casting. Won't do that unless everything's right. Molten lead scares me.
FROGO207
Member
Yep there are always some case prep duties to take your time when not at your sharpest moments. Actual reloading always happens when I am in my most alert state. Safety first and knowing when to stop are important.
AJC1
Member
I have had ADHD my entire life, and when this happens I drink a few cups of coffee. Knowing yourself is important, and when to walk away is smart. I walk away when things aren't going right and I start getting frustrated. Always another day to be in the right mindset.
Exactly! I know I am no mechanic nor a plumber, that’s why I’m contemplating walking away from fixing my airbag suspension leak on my work pickup this morning in favor of going shooting or loading up some ammo!
Riomouse911
Member
I have limited time between work and kids school activities, weekend motorcycle races, etc. so when I dedicate a day or so to work on reloading I get pretty focused.
I won’t reload in a rush. That’s when I feel I am most likely to make a mistake. I avoid powder-primer related loading tasks when I only have a bit of time, instead I do the other prep-work things the guys mentioned above.
Stay safe.
I won’t reload in a rush. That’s when I feel I am most likely to make a mistake. I avoid powder-primer related loading tasks when I only have a bit of time, instead I do the other prep-work things the guys mentioned above.
Stay safe.
someguy2800
Member
I have an extremely busy brain, but the one thing I cannot do while reloading is reload with someone else in the room with me. I am better off coaching someone else to do it than trying to reload which someone chats about the weather.
Spare Parts
Member
BTDT. 9mm (especially self-defense clones) are twitchy. It's good to have "self-tests". Congratulations on your sense of self-preservation.
Spare Parts
Member
Was also home with "Voldemort" (that which must not be named) during Christmas Break. Totally avoided the reloading bench.
Discretion is the better part of valor. A Hornady cam-lock puller can erase Really Big Mistakes - kind of like morning-after reconsiderations - but I'd rather not talk about it.
I am finding that my cam lock puller doesn't really erase all of the mistake in some cases anymore. Some of the 22 match bullets I use now are delicate and they go out of round when pulled, so they have to go to scrap. The tougher bullets can be reused.
Been there done that, last time was about 2 hours ago.
Was making nots from a Sierra page for loads tomorrow morning when
I was almost finished I realized I was in the single shot pistol section
not the rifle section.
I just tossed the notes and went to a hunting channel.
Was making nots from a Sierra page for loads tomorrow morning when
I was almost finished I realized I was in the single shot pistol section
not the rifle section.
I just tossed the notes and went to a hunting channel.
horsemen61
Member
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- 6,756
Great points OP! I couldn’t agree more!
I try to keep my reloading bench organized to the point that I could close my eyes & still know where everything is. No I don't reload with my eyes closed. LOL
I reload with the Lee 3 hole turrets & have made holders for the turrets to keep them off the table & keep the shell holders together.
I reload with the Lee 3 hole turrets & have made holders for the turrets to keep them off the table & keep the shell holders together.
Mine is pretty organized, and I keep my shell holders (usually) in the die boxes that they go with. I just couldn’t for the life of me figure out where I had put it. After reorganizing, now it’s really organized and clean! Not the first time I’ve done something stupid, like searching for a tool at work that I’m holding in my hand……..
Demi-human
maybe likes firearms a little bit…
Where the heck is my pencil?
I follow my intuition. If it feels wrong, it is, check it out. But I also misplace tools often. If I had to stop every time I found a tool…
But as @AJC1 stated, Know Thy Self.
Even trimming brass can be eventful with “medicine head”. It’s missing trimming the one and killing the bullet with a resulting massive over crimp, or killing the case with a head separation sticking the case neck into the throat.
Just recently I mistakenly charged a case with no primer. (Gremlins stole it!
Fair warning…)A double charge is much less funny than pile of spilled powder.
Where the heck is my pencil?
I follow my intuition. If it feels wrong, it is, check it out. But I also misplace tools often. If I had to stop every time I found a tool…
But as @AJC1 stated, Know Thy Self.
Even trimming brass can be eventful with “medicine head”. It’s missing trimming the one and killing the bullet with a resulting massive over crimp, or killing the case with a head separation sticking the case neck into the throat.
Just recently I mistakenly charged a case with no primer. (Gremlins stole it!
A double charge is much less funny than pile of spilled powder.
Just the other day, I was loading a ten round ladder. Had the brass standing in the block and charged them all up. Picked up the first one for bullet seating and there were a few grains of powder in the block. Hmmmm?? Checked the rest with the same result. Poured the powder out of the cases and the block and started over, with priming. Nice thing about it was it as stick powder. Ball makes more of a mess. Just one of those days.
Armored farmer
Member
This may sound silly, but im going to post it anyway.
I learned to reload when my father and I were shooting competitive trap. We would often shoot 600rds per week. I was in charge of loading the hulls.
You may already know that half of trapshooting is 90% concentration. I learned to take the same concentration level required on the trapfield, and apply it to the loading bench.
I'm serious when I say that reloading was good practice for trapshooting, because I was working on concentration level.
I learned to reload when my father and I were shooting competitive trap. We would often shoot 600rds per week. I was in charge of loading the hulls.
You may already know that half of trapshooting is 90% concentration. I learned to take the same concentration level required on the trapfield, and apply it to the loading bench.
I'm serious when I say that reloading was good practice for trapshooting, because I was working on concentration level.
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