Scared Of Handloads

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HANDLOADER

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I am begining to think that I am the dumest man alive or the bravest man alive from what I hear on the views of handloads from people. I am just cuirse what is it that people fear so much about handloads in this day and age. I have been told over and over again that they are terrible/ no good/ in accurate/ suicide wish specials. What is making people believe this. The part that realy gets them is when they learn I use then in SD and HD guns. I always tell them I have never had a fluke what so ever with my handloads or at least since I learned that the lee loader did not seat them deep enough. They always carry the belief that it is too dangerous and I will one day blow myself to kingdom come. So if you have any comments please post them.

GOD BLESS

Handloader
 
By accurate count I have fired 1.2 zillion of my own handloads. According to your sources I guess I was just lucky!

There is a school of thought which holds that using handloads in self defense opens you to additional liability. This topic is invariably heated, so I'll only point out that it exists.

Otherwise, I think you need to start hanging out with different "people".

HTH!
 
34 yrs, several thousand rounds and still have both eyes and all my fingers. Get some new people!
 
I always get a kick out of people talking about "double charging" a round, and this causing a horrible explosion which turns the gun into shrapnel, killing the shooter and everyone within 50 feet of it.

The truth is that I have personally never run across a case which could be double charged without overflowing and being incredibly obvious. There might be some, but I haven't loaded it. If you were still too dumb to figure this out, then you would probably notice it as you seated the bullet and things didn't feel right. I actually did this with shotshells once, and it was very obvious that something wasn't right, as the shot spilled out over the edge of the hull -- the extra powder raised the wad up so high it couldn't take the full shot load.

Secondly, you can definitely damage a firearm by improperly loading, but the odds of it actually exploding are pretty low. You'd probably get a cracked or bulged barrel, but it's not gonna be a bomb. Remember the Mythbusters episode when they were trying to cause failures?

The worst reloading accident I had was with commercially reloaded .32ACP in my Kel Tec P32. The cases were apparently overworked and thin, and the bullet had bulged the cases slightly as it was seated. (Fiocchi brass seems to do this, but other brands do not.) Anyways, it burst inside the gun. Fragments of casing came out through the hammer recess and bounced off of my shooting glasses. No damage to the gun.

The moral is... always wear your shooting glasses, no matter what it is.
 
The moral is... always wear your shooting glasses, no matter what it is.
Click to expand...
I am constantly amazed at the number of people at the range I go to that do NOT wear shooting glasses. :confused:
I have a pair of inexpensive Uvex safety glasses I wear when shooting or reloading. It's kind of difficult to enjoy our hobby if you lose your eyes. :scrutiny:

Anyway, I've been handloading since I was 12 at my Dad's bench. I've fired a zillion rounds of hand loads through his guns and mine with nary an issue. Actually I've had MORE problems with factory stuff than I have with hand loads.
 
I've only ever had one problem with handloads that was potentially dangerous - it was with recycled CAVIM 7.62 brass. It was so soft that the brass got deep scratches in it during feeding. After a few loadings the scratches made it rough enough that some of the rounds didn't want to fully chamber, which could have lead to an out of battery failure in my FAL, which would have been REALLY bad.

But for the most part, even my mistakes aren't really dangerous. Just irritating.
 
It's my opinion all the fears come from stories of explosions that resulted from using Black Powder long ago. Old fears and old stories die hard...
 
There's a guy that's always at the local gun show who has a small pile of apparently exploded revolver chambers. (the top 3 chambers mostly came off)

I don't know where he got 'em, or how it happened, or if they're for display or for sale(?), but it looks painful.
 
Hand loading is a great way to save some money and to produce loads as good or better than factory ammo.

Its not for the careless, impatient or the stupid. You need to be willing to learn a bit and be able to read and follow directions. Some basic understanding of of physics and how things work in general helps a lot too.

I've been loading my own ammo for 33 years and find it an enjoyable and safe hobby but there are few people I trust enough to shoot their handloads.
 
Quote;

Its not for the careless, impatient or the stupid. You need to be willing to learn a bit and be able to read and follow directions. Some basic understanding of of physics and how things work in general helps a lot too.
Steve C.

Same advice applies to many other activities, such as aviation.........or just plain every day life......
 
HANDLOADER...You need to quit hanging out with your liberal left wing friends...
__________________
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I agree. In the end you have to answer to yourself not to anyone else. i still have all my fingers and toes. Did some casting yesterday and i got a couple of small burns from the lee bottom pour. It started to drip. Then the drip landed on the drip and it just splashed in the air. two small pieces landing on my arm. Thanks.
 
the issue with the safety is, did they follow the manual when loading?

everybody remembers the photo of the bp revolver loaded with bullseye powder, "its a black powder so it should work"....
And with so many different powders made by different companaies sharing hte same name, but different properties one must be concerned of using billy bobs mystery ammo.
 
Thousands of reloads over 30 years with ZERO problems. I don't know what the problem of the people you talk to could be, but I bet they work for Rem, Win, or Fed.
 
Its not for the careless, impatient or the stupid. You need to be willing to learn a bit and be able to read and follow directions. Some basic understanding of of physics and how things work in general helps a lot too.
Steve C.

Same advice applies to many other activities, such as aviation.........or just plain every day life......
Click to expand...
Big Plus 1
 
Handloads are fine as long as they are made with the proper attention and caution. I trust my own loads, and my best friend's handloads. He's very cautious, and hand weighs almost all of his charges... I use a progressive, but I don't run it at a break-neck speed, and eyeball every powder charge before a bullet gets seated. What has given handloads a bad name are the gun show "specials" or the "let's just put a little more powder in here, by eye" crowd. I know a couple of those guys... yes, they've blown up guns, but thanks to modern firearms engineering and materials, none have lost fingers or eyes (and that's a real surprise).
 
With due diligence, it's a perfectly safe hobby. Some people shouldn't undertake it, just like some people shouldn't use a Skillsaw, or handtools, because they bleed when they get near them.

I once experienced a really nice S&W Model 19 blow to pieces in the hands of the shooter directly to my right during a match. He admitted that he had probably double or triple charged a .38 Special case with Bullseye, under a 148 grain HBWC the night before, when he was in a hurry to load his ammunition for the match.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I guess I've got good people. I work with a bunch of engineers so the reaction is mostly curiosity.

As far as other peoples handloads, I recently modified my rule one them. Used to be I wouldn't fire yours in anything, ever. Now that I've been a club member for a few years and know people and their work I will fire yours, in your rifle, over my chrony once or twice if I know you well. Otherwise, no.

No one can shoot over my chrony but me, still.
 
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