Reloading hall of shame

[JeepsAndGuns]

I bought a brand new redding type s bushing neck sizer. I measured my cases and ordered the appropriate neck bushing. I searched around online about the difference between the standard steel and the titanium nitride. I read multiple posts on a few different forums saying with the titanium nitride, you do not have to use lube, that was the point of the coating. Sweet I said to myself. So I order the titanium nitride bushing and also get the carbide expander ball. I have a good bit of money in this die now.
I get my first shell, a fire formed norma shell I just annealed. I run it through the die and thought it felt a little stiffer than normal. When I pull the case back out, the neck is now pressed into the case, completely ruining the case. It also scratched the bushing and it scratches any case neck you ran through it. So that bushing had to be tossed as well as the other 19 shells I had.
New bushing and I now lube them. Do not believe anyone who says you do not have to lube titanium nitride neck bushings.

[Ted_Feasel]

I bought a brand new redding type s bushing neck sizer. I measured my cases and ordered the appropriate neck bushing. I searched around online about the difference between the standard steel and the titanium nitride. I read multiple posts on a few different forums saying with the titanium nitride, you do not have to use lube, that was the point of the coating. Sweet I said to myself. So I order the titanium nitride bushing and also get the carbide expander ball. I have a good bit of money in this die now.
I get my first shell, a fire formed norma shell I just annealed. I run it through the die and thought it felt a little stiffer than normal. When I pull the case back out, the neck is now pressed into the case, completely ruining the case. It also scratched the bushing and it scratches any case neck you ran through it. So that bushing had to be tossed as well as the other 19 shells I had.
New bushing and I now lube them. Do not believe anyone who says you do not have to lube titanium nitride neck bushings.You dont lube if your neck sizing only. If your fl sizing then definitely lube. I would also recommend having bushing 1 size above and 1 size below to account for different brass brands.

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[rerun5]

My very first reloading session was my turn. I was loading some 357 Magnum cartridges. I learned, from reading and re-reading the instructional part of my reloading manual, to have a couple loading blocks and work 50 cases at a time to be safe. I was so proud of myself! I primed 50 cases, belled the case mouths, charged the cases with the start load, and started seating the bullets. However, when I removed the first case from the shell holder the bullet was almost completely inside the case. Man that ain't right. Then I noticed I still had the case mouth expanding die in the press. So I primed and charged another case, put the bullet seating die in the press and finished loading 50 rounds. I had to gently cut the case mouth of the bad round with side cutters, used some forceps to open it up and drop the bullet out. Poooor old newbie!

[henryholub]

I was loading the other day and couldn't find where I had last stored my usual scale so I grabbed a different one instead (clearly forgetting the reason I'd quit using it before). I loaded up a bunch of rounds with 80gr barnes ttsx in my 243 and headed to the range. First shot resulted in 3805 on the chronograph and one hell of a sticky bolt. Yep- pulled bullets and measured- sure enough the scale was off by more than 3 grains. I will not be making that mistake again.

[Bill2905]

Years back I was shooting PPC with a local sheriff's group. I was using a Colt Trooper III revolver and Keith style lead bullets.

One of my round just made a little "Mmfh" when I pulled the trigger. The primer fired and it moved the bullet up into the forcing come - jamming the cylinder.

The range boss shut everything down (embarassing enough) and I had to walk my locked-up pistol over to the sideline with the range haulted and try and drive the bullet back into the cylinder with a dowel.

It had powder. Never did figure why it didn't fire - oil or lube wax??


And then there is the forgetting t lube a .223 case and sticking it well and truly on the resizing die with the expander down in the case and the rim torn off. I eventually got it out, but I see why RCBS used to offer that as a regular service (removing stuck cases - I think they charged $15). Now I would paid it. ;-)

I have managed to experience both of these proud moments.

About 20 years ago during a PPC match, I fired a self made 38 Special squib load (primer but no powder) with my Model 686. In the heat of competition and with all the noise in the range, I was unaware this had occurred. Fortunately for the gun and me, the wadcutter bridged the cylinder gap, locked the cylinder, and prevented me from firing another round on top of it. I was pretty embarrassed when another shooter showed me the cause of my locked up revolver.

More recently, my Hornady Lock'n Load modified .223 case somehow ended up in the press and got sized. Of course, the rim ripped off when I lowered the ram. With it being an odd thread size and no matching screw to be found, I had to order a cheap 5/16-36 tap which I threaded into the case and then drove it out of the Lee sizer with a hammer and screwdriver. I'm still not sure how that happened.

I'm still good for the occasional charging of powder to an unprimed case which then leaves the classic trail of powder everywhere on the way to the press.

[Ted_Feasel]

I have managed to experience both of these proud moments.

About 20 years ago during a PPC match, I fired a self made 38 Special squib load (primer but no powder) with my Model 686. In the heat of competition and with all the noise in the range, I was unaware this had occurred. Fortunately for the gun and me, the wadcutter bridged the cylinder gap, locked the cylinder, and prevented me from firing another round on top of it. I was pretty embarrassed when another shooter showed me the cause of my locked up revolver.

More recently, my Hornady Lock'n Load modified .223 case somehow ended up in the press and got sized. Of course, the rim ripped off when I lowered the ram. With it being an odd thread size and no matching screw to be found, I had to order a cheap 5/16-36 tap which I threaded into the case and then drove it out of the Lee sizer with a hammer and screwdriver. I'm still not sure how that happened.

I'm still good for the occasional charging of powder to an unprimed case which then leaves the classic trail of powder everywhere on the way to the press.Lol.. I've missed priming a couple times and long stick powders you wont know you did it unless you see the unprimed round, doesnt leave a trace of powder :(

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[Hammerhead]

Barely daylight, decoy set,turn on call, coyotes suddenly everywhere. Rifle won't even click. No primers in all 20 rounds.

Load up, drive 40 minutes to range,set up front rest, set up rear bag, get out ammo and earmuffs. No rifles in the truck.

[Coyote_Hunter]

Not reloading problems, more like loading problems.

Loaded a .375 Win or .30-30 round in my .45-70. Didn't even hear a 'Bang', just the click of the hammer drop. Cocked and tried again. Nothing. Decided I had forgotten to load a round but couldn't load another as the first hadn't ejected - extractor wasn't catching the rim. Ended up with a reverse bottleneck cartridge, where the case was expanded to .45 caliber from the mouth back an inch toward the rim.

Decided to use my .280 Rem for elk one morning. Put .280 ammo in my ammo wallet and grabbed the .280. Before heading out decided to use my .338 Win instead. Ended up on a knoll with a bull 100 yards away and 50 feet below me, facing away. Aimed for the spine just back of the shoulders. Bang! Expected the bull to drop but instead it just walked away. Ended up dropping it at 411 yards with my hunting buddy's 7mm RM. The .280 case I fired in the .338WM had a split in it but no other damage done.

[Trapper]

I was using my RCBS Charge master doing my loads and when I was done, I prepared to return the powder from the Charge master to the 1 lb. jug.. Problem is when you unload the powder, there is a knob on the side of the Charge master to use to dump the powder back to the original jug. I changed calibers, grabbed the next powder jug to pour into the powder measure tube and noticed the level of powder was not rising in the tube as it should. I noticed a nice sized pile of powder laying neatly on the side by an open valve that someone forgot to close. :confused:
Unfortunately I have fallen prey to many of the oopsies mentioned on these pages, but I have learned to reload with no phone near me, no tv, only a radio for background , and try to keep anyone out of the reloading area until I am finished. Luckily, my mistakes have been at the bench and aside from shooting my chronograph rail at the range, nothing overly scary.

[Blue Avenger]

Load some rounds, change dies and powder. Load a different cal, .220 swift. Wrnt to the range and shot the best group ever. Came home to load some more! Before i forgot the load. R17 sitting out. R17 is not listed as a swift powder. Forgot to change the powder. No pressure signs and no idea on velocity

[Ted_Feasel]

Load some rounds, change dies and powder. Load a different cal, .220 swift. Wrnt to the range and shot the best group ever. Came home to load some more! Before i forgot the load. R17 sitting out. R17 is not listed as a swift powder. Forgot to change the powder. No pressure signs and no idea on velocityLol, that's scary:) I did a brain fart last week loading some 6.5 grendel. I used 123gr ELD load data and realized after getting 50 done that I had seated 129gr SST. I thought long and hard about just shooting them then decided not to risk it. The load is use for the 123gr is just a grain over max listed for 129gr so probably good I didnt use them.. was a pain pulling all those, i just neck sized and seated 123gr.

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[Bill2905]

I was using my RCBS Charge master doing my loads and when I was done, I prepared to return the powder from the Charge master to the 1 lb. jug.. Problem is when you unload the powder, there is a knob on the side of the Charge master to use to dump the powder back to the original jug. I changed calibers, grabbed the next powder jug to pour into the powder measure tube and noticed the level of powder was not rising in the tube as it should. I noticed a nice sized pile of powder laying neatly on the side by an open valve that someone forgot to close. :confused:
Unfortunately I have fallen prey to many of the oopsies mentioned on these pages, but I have learned to reload with no phone near me, no tv, only a radio for background , and try to keep anyone out of the reloading area until I am finished. Luckily, my mistakes have been at the bench and aside from shooting my chronograph rail at the range, nothing overly scary.

I bought a new Chargemaster Lite a few months ago. I did a review of it on this forum and warned potential users about forgetting to close the hopper drain and making a mess. Several days ago, I repeated this mistake for something like the fourth time since initially using it. Not the worst mess to clean up but man, what an aggravation.

Last month I took my left handed 10 BA Stealth to the range which is about 40 miles south. When I set it up on the bench, it didn't take long to realize that I had accidentally grabbed the bolt to one of my right handed receivers. Fortunately, I took other guns to shoot that day. Since then, I have disassembled the left hand bolt for cleaning. Finally made it back to the range the other day after nearly a month away. I took the Stealth again which then had ejection problems. After five rounds I realized that the bolt head was rotated 180 degrees. Borrowed some tools, disassembled and fixed the bolt issue (so I thought) and went back to the bench. Then it wouldn't fire at all. Fiddled with it some more, finally gave up and put it away. When I got home, I looked at it and eventually figured out that I had assembled the bolt with the cocking piece on the left side. On the positive side, I now a good understanding of how the fire control works on these things. Many things I have learned in life came as the result of being forced to solve a problem, some of them self inflicted.

[Ted_Feasel]

I bought a new Chargemaster Lite a few months ago. I did a review of it on this forum and warned potential users about forgetting to close the hopper drain and making a mess. Several days ago, I repeated this mistake for something like the fourth time since initially using it. Not the worst mess to clean up but man, what an aggravation.

Last month I took my left handed 10 BA Stealth to the range which is about 40 miles south. When I set it up on the bench, it didn't take long to realize that I had accidentally grabbed the bolt to one of my right handed receivers. Fortunately, I took other guns to shoot that day. Since then, I have disassembled the left hand bolt for cleaning. Finally made it back to the range the other day after nearly a month away. I took the Stealth again which then had ejection problems. After five rounds I realized that the bolt head was rotated 180 degrees. Borrowed some tools, disassembled and fixed the bolt issue (so I thought) and went back to the bench. Then it wouldn't fire at all. Fiddled with it some more, finally gave up and put it away. When I got home, I looked at it and eventually figured out that I had assembled the bolt with the cocking piece on the left side. On the positive side, I now a good understanding of how the fire control works on these things. Many things I have learned in life came as the result of being forced to solve a problem, some of them self inflicted.That's unfortunately the best way we learn most often lol ;) I've had some fails that I'm to embarrassed to go public with lmbo[emoji2957][emoji3061]

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[PhilC]

That's unfortunately the best way we learn most often
And are most always lessons we never forget. :nod:

[rerun5]

In alot of these posts I see folks talking about being in a hurry. It happened to me a couple times loading pistol ammo. I have two loading blocks out so I can work 50 rounds at a time, stay safe. So I go back and check all my cases for the powder charge, all good. I place bullets in the cases and start seating them. First round after seating the bullet tip is just peeking over the case mouth. I was very upset about my new bullet seating die, that is until I realized I forgot to take the powder through expanding die out and replacing it with the bullet seating die. Actually happened again on another caliber a while later. That was an attention getter, after that I became really more safe when reloading.

[Orezona]

I have two loading blocks out so I can work 50 rounds at a time

I also do this. I have two blocks for each caliber I load.

[glockmeister]

Well I am not new to reloading, I started in the early 1970's, but after reading this thread I find I have many kindred spirits. Thanks for all the trips down memory lane, been there done that. I first started with an RCBS Jr. ,years later a Dillon 550, later still a Lee Classic cast turret press and now I am back to the RCBS Jr. I use the Lee for my .45 ACP rounds and the RCBS for my other loads. Reloading is a much slower paced pass time for me now, I enjoy it sloooooowly and make fewer mistakes. The one that scares me to this day, when I think of it is when I had reloaded some old cases for my son's .357 S&W 686, WE were on his In-Law's ''range'' when he had fired several cylinder loads with no problems, then he fired one that did NOT sound right, he called me over and we decided to check the gun. Thank the Good Lord we did, slug was lodged abut 2'' up the bore, I carefully checked the rounds in the cylinder and found the culprit a split casing. Guess I reloaded that one once to often. Took the gun to my house and tried the old method of a dowel in the barrel and a hammer, no good. Scratched my head for a while and headed to Ace is the place and got brass tubing that would fit in the bore and smaller sizes to fit inside that one. Used a transfer punch to get a solid place to start the drill, drilled through the slug, took out a tube, next size drill bit and so on. Finally got the hole big enough that the wall pressure eased up and I could drive out the slug. Yes we pulled the rest of the slugs and deconstructed the ammo. Still scares me, I could have had a dead or seriously injured son that day, only the Good Lords intervention prevented it.

Judging from this thread, the Reloading Gremlin is a very busy fellow, he sure has visited me more than once. I try to learn from my mistakes and NOT do it twice, most times I do. Take care and reload safe, John

[Ted_Feasel]

Well I am not new to reloading, I started in the early 1970's, but after reading this thread I find I have many kindred spirits. Thanks for all the trips down memory lane, been there done that. I first started with an RCBS Jr. ,years later a Dillon 550, later still a Lee Classic cast turret press and now I am back to the RCBS Jr. I use the Lee for my .45 ACP rounds and the RCBS for my other loads. Reloading is a much slower paced pass time for me now, I enjoy it sloooooowly and make fewer mistakes. The one that scares me to this day, when I think of it is when I had reloaded some old cases for my son's .357 S&W 686, WE were on his In-Law's ''range'' when he had fired several cylinder loads with no problems, then he fired one that did NOT sound right, he called me over and we decided to check the gun. Thank the Good Lord we did, slug was lodged abut 2'' up the bore, I carefully checked the rounds in the cylinder and found the culprit a split casing. Guess I reloaded that one once to often. Took the gun to my house and tried the old method of a dowel in the barrel and a hammer, no good. Scratched my head for a while and headed to Ace is the place and got brass tubing that would fit in the bore and smaller sizes to fit inside that one. Used a transfer punch to get a solid place to start the drill, drilled through the slug, took out a tube, next size drill bit and so on. Finally got the hole big enough that the wall pressure eased up and I could drive out the slug. Yes we pulled the rest of the slugs and deconstructed the ammo. Still scares me, I could have had a dead or seriously injured son that day, only the Good Lords intervention prevented it.

Judging from this thread, the Reloading Gremlin is a very busy fellow, he sure has visited me more than once. I try to learn from my mistakes and NOT do it twice, most times I do. Take care and reload safe, JohnI recon any of us that have been doing it long (I've been doing it about 35 years with the last 5 or so really digging into precision reloading) have had some butt hole puckers lmbo. Thank the LORD I've caught mine before firing any rounds.. a few times ive over charged rounds by looking at the wrong line on the load data.. I started using a yellow highlighter to highlight the line of the powder I'm using and cured that mess up. Another one I've done is forgetting to prime the brass before dumping the charge, luckily I caught that before pressing any pills in the brass

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[Ernest T]

A few times, seated bullet, no powder in case........Squib load at range.


Happened to me on Sunday. What a pain in the butt getting it out using a dowel down the muzzle.


… My worst is not charging some cases. The weirdest part was that the bullets never left the cases.

I’ve done this twice — primer, but no powder. With 60 dB of ear protection, I didn’t hear the primer go off. Waited ten seconds and ejected the round and it came out complete with bullet. When I took it apart, it was obvious the primer went off, but the bullet remained seated. Should a primer be able to fire a bullet into the barrel by itself?

[Ernest T]

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