Learned a lesson...

[Fanky]

I'm putting this out there for everyone else's sake. Luckily I caught my error before it could have been overlooked or possibly harmed me. I preach and harp to everyone that I teach how to load just how important paying attention is, but it can and does happen to the best of us. There is no place for complacency on the loading bench.


I was loading up some .260 after a day at the range working on some load development (140 grain Sierra Gamekings, 42-45 grain increments of Reloader 19, a new powder to me). I had decided that I was getting the best results with the 45 grain charge. I proceeded to load up thirty rounds. All was going good until I got to my last round. I verified my charge on a scale, lo and behold it was at 35 grains. This is the normal charge I use with Varget and 140 grain projectiles, but I had to get Reloader 19 due to shortages. I had inadvertently set up my powder dispenser for my usual Varget charge and overlooked it until I took another look at my load development data. This charge is 6 grains under Alliant's starting load (45.5 grain max reduced by 10%). Looking at a burn rate chart, Re-19 is much slower than Varget, and my research has turned up reducing slow powders is usually frowned upon past a certain point. I may still be in the safe margin with these, but just think what would happen if I had grabbed a vastly different powder, like 2400...

Just some food for thought for everyone else. Luckily I didn't learn the hard way, and I'm hoping this will make others take the time to double and triple-check before loading.

 

[Motownfire]

Good catch. This is where patients, attention to detail & experience comes into play. Two thumbs up to you for having all 3.

I've caught myself a few times loading the wrong charge after weighing a random round. It's no fun pulling bullets:banghead:


Oh ya, I'm glad you didn't find out the hard way

 

[rfwobbly]

The best safety methods have overlapping layers of checks. Unfortunately, these can't all be done "before the bullet goes in", but that wasn't the object anyway. All safety checks are valid when done before the trigger is pulled.

Congrats on a successful safety program.

 

[Hondo 60]

I too, am glad you didn't find out the hard way.

Don't be too hard on yourself, I've done it too.

 

[twofifty]

Thank you. Your post will cause me to make a change to my practice.

From now on, when a reloading session ends I will reset the beam scale poises to their zero position. This will prevent me from forgetting to reset the scale to a different charge when my next session begins.

 

[twofifty]

Thank you Fanky. Your post will cause me to make a change to my practice.

From now on, when a reloading session ends I will reset the beam scale poises to their zero position. This will prevent me from forgetting to reset the scale to a different charge when my next session begins.

 

[gamestalker]

It's always refreshing to hear of someone catching their mistake because they displayed the proper degree of respect for this hobby. Good job! And I hope some of the new reloaders will take it to heart.

Most who have experienced a serious event that was the result of their complacency will respect the advice of those who preach safety. And those who don't, will likely, and eventually, eat their thoughts and pride, along with some metal to wash it down.

GS

 

[PsychoKnight]

Thanks for the safety reminder. Another example of why its important to participate in a community if one becomes a reloader. Most reloading books make mention about avoiding confusion when switching powders, but its here that you get real life examples of how mistakes happen, and ideas people have to modify the safety routine.
I sure would like to know what happened at the Hawthorn army depot. That was one very serious mistake and accident, impacting 15 lives.

 

[beatledog7]

One clear advantage of electronic scales (the ones I've used at least) is that they zero when they're turned off. And if you tare between rounds, the actual charge weight is in digits on the readout. Hard to miss that.

 

[788Ham]

Good eye! I'd loaded some 125 gr. XTP's for my .357, about 110 rounds. Someone on a THR thread has asked about using a particular powder, it escapes my mind right now, anyway, as I looked at the box of loads in my hand, something didn't look right !! I'd inadvertently written, on the load portion of the sticker, how many grains I'd used. I checked my reload book, sure enough, wrong load. I sat for over an hour, using an inertia bullet puller, to rectify that error, NEVER again ! I've reloaded for over 40 years, just screwed up, luckily I caught this error before I blew up my revolver. :banghead:

 

[splattergun]

I love learning, but I hate 'learning a lesson'.