A little less (or more) careful and I wouldn't be posting this right now.
I was at the range yesterday plinking with my AR. I was shooting handloads with 53 gr bullets. There were 2 other guys there shooting pistols. They weren't that good and were missing the cardboard boxes they had set up about half the time.
I figured I'd show off a little bit and decided to shoot the 200 yd gong.
I loaded 10 rounds in a mag and got into a good sitting position. BANG...THWUNK, BANG...THWUNK, BANG...THWUNK, BANG...THWUNK, BANG...THWUNK, bang... no THWUNK. No sound of a missed shot sailing through the brush either. That made me go 'Hmmm'. Flag #1.
I didn't really think much of the bang rather than a BANG since they were shooting too and I had ear protection on. What really caught my attention was my next trigger pull. Nothing. Not a click, not anything. I cycled the action and out popped a spent case. Flag #2.
One doesn't stay alive long if they miss 2 flags in a row, so I opened up the rifle, removed the bolt carrier and looked down the bore. All I saw was black. This can't be good, I thought. I didn't have a rod and neither did the guys next to me. My day was over.
I gathered up my brass and found one piece where the primer didn't have any signs of ANY pressure. I must have missed that round when throwing powder.
I got home and knocked the bullet out. It was only at most an inch past the chamber. My first handload squib really put the fear of God into me.
I weighed every other round in that batch and they all weighed normal. I'll weigh every round before they leave the bench from now on.
I posted this as a reminder to all reloaders to be careful and PAY ATTENTION to anything different when you're shooting and PAY ATTENTION when you're at the reloading bench.
I was at the range yesterday plinking with my AR. I was shooting handloads with 53 gr bullets. There were 2 other guys there shooting pistols. They weren't that good and were missing the cardboard boxes they had set up about half the time.
I figured I'd show off a little bit and decided to shoot the 200 yd gong.
I loaded 10 rounds in a mag and got into a good sitting position. BANG...THWUNK, BANG...THWUNK, BANG...THWUNK, BANG...THWUNK, BANG...THWUNK, bang... no THWUNK. No sound of a missed shot sailing through the brush either. That made me go 'Hmmm'. Flag #1.
I didn't really think much of the bang rather than a BANG since they were shooting too and I had ear protection on. What really caught my attention was my next trigger pull. Nothing. Not a click, not anything. I cycled the action and out popped a spent case. Flag #2.
One doesn't stay alive long if they miss 2 flags in a row, so I opened up the rifle, removed the bolt carrier and looked down the bore. All I saw was black. This can't be good, I thought. I didn't have a rod and neither did the guys next to me. My day was over.
I gathered up my brass and found one piece where the primer didn't have any signs of ANY pressure. I must have missed that round when throwing powder.
I got home and knocked the bullet out. It was only at most an inch past the chamber. My first handload squib really put the fear of God into me.
I weighed every other round in that batch and they all weighed normal. I'll weigh every round before they leave the bench from now on.
I posted this as a reminder to all reloaders to be careful and PAY ATTENTION to anything different when you're shooting and PAY ATTENTION when you're at the reloading bench.