Powder handling mistakes

[DukeConnor]

I routinely forget to close the drain on my chargemaster

 

[Caplock]

I once was charging cases and carefully placing them in the reloading tray. Just about had a full tray and somehow my hand caught the lip on the edge of the tray flipping over the whole lot.
Called myself every name in the book.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I've done most over the years but have not spilled bottles or mix powders. The latest being to forget to close the drain on the CM1500, soon after I got it.

I forgot about that one. I did that with my Auto charge more than once. Very irritating.
I only mixed powders one time. That was one time to many.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I once was charging cases and carefully placing them in the reloading tray. Just about had a full tray and somehow my hand caught the lip on the edge of the tray flipping over the whole lot.
Called myself every name in the book.

Yup, done that one too. Did it outside once when a stray wasp took an interest in my being there. Portable reloading has its ups and downs - I got up and my trays went down.

 

[kerreckt]

In addition to only having the container of powder I am using on the bench. I also write the name of the powder I am using on blue painters tape and attach it to the powder hopper. This is especially useful if you have multiple powder dispensers on your bench. Best wishes!

 

[JDeere]

I'm a member of the putting powder in unprimed cases on more than one occasion club. I usually catch it before I load the whole tray. I now have a routine of checking the brass in my trays before dumping powder.

 

[Remington1911]

The way I load there is little margin for "mistakes". I have a turret press but use it like a single stage. Everything is done as a single step. De-prime and resize one step, nothing else happens till that is all done. Prime a single step, nothing else happens....on and on.

I could "fat finger" the funnel, but I don't remember that happening.

 

[AJC1]

I routinely forget to close the drain on my chargemaster

I've done that once, I can only imagine it just as terrible every time

 

[doubleh]

I have done the powder in a unprimed case a couple of times and learned from that. I also grew tired enough of holding the powder funnel "just right" to prevent a little powder escaping with 223 and 22-250 to machine caliber specific funnels from aluminum for only that case with just enough clearance to cause no sticking in place problems. I have also double charged a case a few times and solved that by using two loading blocks, one with primed cases next to the powder measure and looking into them after charging while moving them to the block beside the press. Reloads go from the press into MTM plastic cartridge boxes. One powder only on the bench during reloading.

 

[ballman6711]

I've done the "fumble finger" thing and knocked over a case full of powder, but that's about it. Truth be told I've done it several times.

chris

 

[Kaldor]

I've done most over the years but have not spilled bottles or mix powders. The latest being to forget to close the drain on the CM1500, soon after I got it.

I put a label on the front and lid of my CM1500 that said:
"Did you close the drain?"

Also had the tube pop off my Hornady drop with about a 1/4# of W296 in it. That was a huge mess requiring a full cleaning on my LnL and lots of sweeping while muttering many 4 letter words. Needless to say I added a piece of packing tape around the tube to stop that from ever happening again!

 

[gifbohane]

I had about an inch of HP 38 in the bottom of the Harrel's powder measure. I was confident that I would use all the powder in the hopper. But I did not. I ran out of Primed brass, so I needed to put it back in the jug. I reached under the bench and pulled out an almost full container of H335 and proceeded to dump the 38 into 335. Finished the job, went to put the container away, very pleased with myself that I do not spill any.

Then the lightbulb came on. I have not run a string of cuss words like that together since military service. Hopping around.

 

[TEXASJD]

What did you learn from your powder handling mistakes? Have you thrown powder with no primers in the case? Have you fumbled your funnel and dumped powder all over? Have you dropped your canister of powder? Have you forgotten which primers you loaded into the tube?

Having fumbled my funnel last night, I wonder what others have learned from their mishaps. Care to share?

All the above lol

 

[e3mrk1]

I think the dumbest thing I ever did was forget to turn the powder measure on and didnt realize it untill I loaded fifty rounds that I had to pull and do over again.

 

[kcofohio]

I have done it all more than once, I am a slow leaner.

I cringe inside when I read someone spilling their hopper. I have never done it, but I could see myself doing it.

 

[jmorris]

Over the years, I have helped lots of people find and fix problems because I have had to do so myself. My Brother and I started loading when he was 17 and I was 13 and had no one to teach us anything about it, no Internet, forums, or youtube videos, just two kids reading a couple of books and getting after it. If it could go wrong, it did. Learned all sorts of things. For example, if your the bullet feeder and the press operator crushes your fingers for the second time, a request for a position swap, will slow them down, long enough for you to get your fingers out of the way, for the remainder of the session.

We never hurt ourselves badly though and learned a lot. I know many ways to fail but did eventually learn to avoid most of the problems.

If I had one rule for reloading, I would make it, ‘only one set of components on the bench at a time’. I keep a lot of my powder containers on the wall next to my bench, only the one currently in use is allowed on the bench.

Our local gun store had a number of examples of customer kabooms and squibs, Frank, the owner, was a gunsmith and kept destroyed parts on display. Made us cautious enough, there were a number of years we loaded for 4 different calibers using 4.5 grains of W231, just different calibers and projectiles. It makes it much easier to keep things straight, when it’s the same for everything. Even if it’s a jack of all trades, master of none solution.

 

[Blue68f100]

Also had the tube pop off my Hornady drop with about a 1/4# of W296 in it. That was a huge mess requiring a full cleaning on my LnL and lots of sweeping while muttering many 4 letter words. Needless to say I added a piece of packing tape around the tube to stop that from ever happening again!

I had mine get loose a couple of times. I've been lucky enough to catch it before I spilled any powder. Hornady use a type of plastic that is soft and can/does deform. The first thing I did was to flip it over. The second time it got loose I called Hornady and they sent me a new hopper. I don't know if the newer is of a different plastic but it has not suffered the failure. May be because it's in a climate controlled room now.

 

[Kaldor]

I had mine get loose a couple of times. I've been lucky enough to catch it before I spilled any powder. Hornady use a type of plastic that is soft and can/does deform. The first thing I did was to flip it over. The second time it got loose I called Hornady and they sent me a new hopper. I don't know if the newer is of a different plastic but it has not suffered the failure. May be because it's in a climate controlled room now.

I keep telling myself "Dramworx" but I just never do it...

 

[bbqncigars]

I had some foreign primers that would occasionally misfeed in my LNL AP, so I drilled a hole in the shell plate carrier for a super bright LED after Googling on the problem. Seeing that blue light coming from the case interior has saved me some powder messes since then.

 

[deadeye dick]

I've never done that (as best as I can remember), but I feel your pain because I've sure done similar things.

Never is a long time. Never say never. say, have not done that YET. Like us bikers say, it's not if you go down but when it happens.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Over the years, I have helped lots of people find and fix problems because I have had to do so myself. My Brother and I started loading when he was 17 and I was 13 and had no one to teach us anything about it, no Internet, forums, or youtube videos, just two kids reading a couple of books and getting after it. If it could go wrong, it did. Learned all sorts of things. For example, if your the bullet feeder and the press operator crushes your fingers for the second time, a request for a position swap, will slow them down, long enough for you to get your fingers out of the way, for the remainder of the session.

We never hurt ourselves badly though and learned a lot. I know many ways to fail but did eventually learn to avoid most of the problems.

If I had one rule for reloading, I would make it, ‘only one set of components on the bench at a time’. I keep a lot of my powder containers on the wall next to my bench, only the one currently in use is allowed on the bench.

Our local gun store had a number of examples of customer kabooms and squibs, Frank, the owner, was a gunsmith and kept destroyed parts on display. Made us cautious enough, there were a number of years we loaded for 4 different calibers using 4.5 grains of W231, just different calibers and projectiles. It makes it much easier to keep things straight, when it’s the same for everything. Even if it’s a jack of all trades, master of none solution.

I have another rule—never let two teenagers reload by themselves.

Heck, never let ‘em do anything by themselves. I retired early to ensure ongoing supervision of two sons.

But all that’s another story

 

[Lee Q. Loader]

I use the Lee expander/powder through die. My favorite trick is to dump powder without a case in place.

 

[lightman]

What did you learn from your powder handling mistakes?

All of my powder handling mishaps have been in the handling stages. I've turned the trickeler over, fumble fingered the powder funnel, had powder bridge in the funnel and spill all over everything when I picked it up, ect. The main thing that I learned is to slow down. The other thing I learned is to place the trickeler where I won't be reaching around or over it. As to the powder bridging in the funnel I learned to either tap the rim of the funnel with something or to thump it with my fingers. And to be more deliberate in my motions. Did I mention slow down?

Ever since day one I have used the rule of one powder, and only one powder on the bench at a time. I double check bullet weights, charge weights and powder type when selecting loads and components. And I never leave powder in the hopper except for very short periods of time. Bathroom breaks, coffee breaks, ect.

I once dumped powder into my ChargeMaster with the dump gate open! But after that one time I make it a point to close it after emptying it and also to visually check it before filling. I'm not the smartest guy in the world but I do learn!

 

[Mk VII]

Emptying a hopper full of Nobel's Pistol No.2 back into a can of Rifle No.2 (I think), was what caused the overpressure result.

 

[barnfrog]

On my very first batch of rifle ammo with my brand new Lee Classic Loader I learned to pour extruded powder slowly from the pan into the funnel and then tap the funnel a couple times with pan, because when I didn't the powder could bridge and then let go after I took the funnel off the case I was intending to charge. Astoundingly enough, it only had to happen once for me to learn the lesson.