Reloading accidents

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Soundtrackzz

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Hey there everybody. Im new to reloading and I'm a little unsure of myself, but the real problem is that I'm a college student and still live with my parents. My mother is absolutely positive that im going to blow my face off. I wondered if anyone knew of any statistics or studies showing how few reloading accidents actually take place every year. That would put her somewhat at ease and make my life easier. Thanks.

Zach
 
I've had a few reloading accidents:
- a few primers inserted up-side-down. No injuries.
- A few primers inserted sideways & crushed. No injuries (did not go off).
- A few squib (no powder) loads. No injuries.
- A few buckled case necks. No injuries.
- A few mashed bullets. No injuries.

The real danger is a double charge, which I have never experienced. I recommend using a powder that fills more than half the case whenever possible.

Follow the basic safety rules and there is virtually NO danger of anything blowing up or catching fire.

The only "injury" was from a failed case I had reloaded; one of thousands of 9mm Luger reloads, and there was no damage to the gun. My hands got a bit dirty and they stung a bit, though.
 
I'll ne honest, after scouring miles of pages looking for the same myself, the only risk seems to be a double charge, will damage the firearm. The next worry is making sure your fingers are out of the way of the press (it'll mash your fingers should you be forgetful and leave them there). Aside from that, follow the recipe like you were in a chemistry class, and you're golden.
 
Tell your mom that an old poop told you that he's been reloading since '65 and has never even heard of any injury worse than a pinched finger while reloading. I think moving furniture is more risky, and women LOVE to do that! :)
 
i had a primer go off trying to seat a large pistol into a nt45acp case (takes small primers.)

i pre-prime in my progressive with a case feeder and the die turret out so it just fired straight up.

it was very loud (seemed louder than a black cat) and a little fire shot out the top of the press, which made me almost crap in my pants, but no injury.
 
I had a friend blow himself up with an 8 pound keg of Bullseye pistol powder stored with the lid off.
Well, blown-up is really too strong a word.
Burnt-up would be a more accurate description, although he did survive the fire, but was crispy-critter critical for months in a burn unit and lost most of his fingers, nose, and ears.

Lesson to be learned = Don't store open kegs of powder under your power bench-grinder!

Heard of a fatality where a guy dumped all his primers in a glass fruit jar, then later dropped it on the floor and they all exploded at once.

Lesson to be learned = Keep primers in the factory containers / trays until ready to use them.

That's the extent of my personal knowledge of actual really serious injuries from handloading.

In the grand scheme of things, any number of other hobbies & interests are far more dangerous then reloading.

Like:
Hanging out in bars.
Skydiving.
Motorcycle racing.
Bedding married women.
Fishing. (I've had two personal friends killed while fishing, and know of many others!)

rcmodel
 
The process of reloading can seem frightening to the uninitiated.

One thing she'll need to understand is that the powder with which you're working is not explosive. It burns...and different powders burn at different rates. There's no way it can "blow up" while you're working with it.

And of course, you'll always wear safety glasses when reloading, so if a primer does pop or a powder charge burns (I've been reloading since I was a college student, 25 years ago, and never had that happen) your eyes are protected.

When it comes to using reloaded ammunition, three things can hurt you:
1. A double-charge, causing a catastrophic failure of the case, the gun, or both. These are usually only possible with handgun rounds.
2. A no-charge or "squib", which will usually lodge a bullet in the bore and cause a catastrophic failure when the next round is fired.
3. A single charge that exceeds the maximum pressure for the cartridge.

You can show her the things you do to make sure none of these three ever happen to you:
1. Use the bulkiest powder you can find that will do the job, so that a double-charge either overflows the case or gets so close to the top you can't miss it. This will also make a no-charge more obvious, as well.
2. Visually inspect each and ever powder charge to make sure every case is charged and that the charges are all the same.
3. Staying within the maximum charge weights shown in your reloading manual.
 
Other than a couple missing primers (opps), I've never had an issue.
Have a friend who has worn out parts on his press (well over 100K rounds) who has had a couple of hot rounds in a 1911 style 45acp where the case failed and damaged the magazine. All he did was pop in a new mag and continue shooting. He recently admitted to me that in the last couple years he's backed off from loading max loads.

rcmodel said:
Lesson to be learned = Don't store open kegs of powder under your power bench-grinder!
Click to expand...
Sounds like he could have been a potential Darwin Award winner.
 
I had one reloading accident. I got my finger caught between the ram and the die. It hurt like hell but no blood.
Rusty
 
I went for years with out anything. then just in the past month i have had 3 primers go off when loading. in all i believe it was due to bad primer pockets. as the last two times i had just went to load a primer and BOOOOOOM. after the shock i got the case took a primer pocket cleaner to it. checked it out again. looked ok. set another primer tried it again. and BOOOMMMMM. After that i just chucked the case. all other rounds were ok before and after
 
Don't store open kegs of powder under your power bench-grinder!/QUOTE]

Dang, that is one for the dumb reloader of the month book,:D

Over 30 years of reloading and my worse accident was a pinched finger
in the press when adjusting dies.
Click to expand...
 
Lesson to be learned = Don't store open kegs of powder under your power bench-grinder!
Click to expand...

Was he trying to make it in the paper or did it just slip his mind? Of course I know someone like that, certifiable genius, invented many things. Was flow testing fuel components and no substitutes would do, the physical properties of racing gas had to be passing through his parts. And atomizing. In his house. Powered by an electric motor. Not a total loss, he pushed his race car out of the garage before the house burnt to the foundation.

Most reloading accidents reveal themselves on the range. I think home reloading is pretty safe. Store your components responsibly. Mind loose powder. The was a gun store employee named Ric, who now unwillingly goes by Ric Flare(WOOO!) who was dumping an ammo can of range sweepings into a cold burn barrel to dispose of it. Cold winter day, large flow of unburnt powder equals big flash and no eyebrows.
 
My mother is absolutely positive that im going to blow my face off.
Click to expand...

More importantly, have you told her how much money you'll be saving her?
 
Thing is, serious reloading accidents are so scarce, you can just about call them out one by one as anecdotes. The accident RATE per hundred thousand users or per million rounds loaded is tiny.

My parents were scared of reloading too, based on an account in the newspaper describing a cop running the department Star to load practice ammo. Apparently he had a primer feed jam and poked at it with the metal weight rod. Bad idea.
But I eventually started reloading. Haven't blown up yet, but it has only been 36 years.
 
"JUST had a squib load, that's ALL"?

Not a good attitude. A powderless load, commonly misnamed a squib these days, is a sign of a major lapse in attention or a rare but serious mechanical malfunction. Pay attention to your work, you have a long life loading and shooting to protect.
 
squib load oh ya i had one. lets see i was at the range loaded up 5 rounds in my 30-30. fired one or two. then fired the next, but i didnt feel a kick or anything. I stopped right there pulled the shell out it looked too clean. so unloaded the rifle. to it to the rear bench. took out my cleaning rod. pushed it down. YEP then tapped it a few times. out comes the bullet. EVER since then after i charge the cases i look into everyone of them to make sure i see powder. Then i do the shake test to when im done to make sure i hear powder. Or weigh them out. so they go through about 4 checks now.
 
I am relatively new to reloading, and have not had any accidents.

To avoid squibs and/or double charges, I clipped an LED booklight onto the frame of the press and pointed it down at the bullet seating station so it lights up the inside of the case. This way, I can see the charge very easily before I place the bullet.
 
Read the rules, then follow them, and your injury rate will be zero. And don't try to remember what you loaded last time. Work out of a manual and keep accurate notes. I've been loading for 40+ years and haven't been hurt yet. But I don't cut corners either.
 
I had a loose primer get under the shell plate. It went off and flew across the room and buried it self in to the wall.

I almost fell backwards off my stool..
 
Oh but wait..........I thought in the shooting world there was only negligence and accidents were a thing of the past!:confused::scrutiny::banghead:
 
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