You know how they say to never anneal brass with a live primer? Seems pretty obvious, heat and explosives don't mix well. So I had a couple of FTF's at the range the other day, and pulled down the cartridges to save components but got side tracked before I could de-capp both and apparently just set them aside on my loading bench.
Next day decided to anneal all the shot brass on it's fourth cycle and somehow got the FTF brass mixed in with the other shot ones. Proceeded to start annealing and bout the time i dropped the fifth case into the bowl after annealing, a very loud bang rang out. Knew exactly what I'd done, but couldn't remember if I de-primed the other FTF.
About 10 cases later, just as I dropped the newly anneal case in the bowl, another loud blast. This time however, the force of the primer (CCI 450) blowing out of the pocket of the 6mmBR case and hitting an adjacent case and almost flattening it completely. Quite amazing how much force it (the primer) had. Gave me a whole new respect for what a primer can do all by itself.
Banning a gun will not solve what is a mental health crisis inflamed by incendiary rhetoric on social and television media. The first amendment in this case is less precious and more likely the causal factor than the second amendment.
I just started reloading about 2 months ago. I've already crunched my fingers trying to hold the bullet in place as I was seating it and lowered the ram and forgot to get my fingers out, took a chunk of skin and nail out of my 1st finger and thumb.
I forgot to remove the sizer and put in the bullet seating die and kept popping primers on 5 rds while checking bullet seating depth. I'm sure I'll be making more mistakes along the way.
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. ;-)
"They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Last words of Gen. Sedgwik
Did the same thing with .308, full sized thinking it was a Neck Size die, no lube and it was hard as hell but it didn't get stuck. That's testament to the quality of Redding S Type Comp Dies.Originally Posted by Stumpkiller
Yeah when I was a newbie reloader I was reloading some 38spl for my wife's revolver and seated the bullet with the expander die, shoves the bullet well into the case. I didn't bother telling her about it. Unfortunately she was in the reloading room when I did it again with one of my 357 mag cases. That lesson was learned VERY well.
I'm new to reloading, and new to Savage Shooters forum. But I'll fess up, and tell my "never do this'rr". It's not really a reloading blunder, but this is the right place for it. I was setting up a corner dedicated reloading area "which I had already been using" and was adding hooks and pegs to hang stuff on. Well I had hung up my RCBS hand prime, which I forgot that I left 25 CCI 200 primers in. And noticed I need to grind a little VB more on one of the hooks about thirty inches away from it.
One spark and all 25 primers went off.
Ears ringing---wondering what the bleep just happened ???
Word to the wise. Highly Explosive! Really does mean HIGHLY Explosive.
Here is what I do to keep my powders "pure". Against the recommendations of the powder manufacturers, I never pour powder back in a bottle once I pour it out. For some reason, my mind sees pouring powder in a hopper, then back into a bottle after using that hopper for other powders as cross contamination. I have always stored powder that was in a hopper in a separate container. I use the ziplock type bowls labeled with the specific powder. I also leave the bowl for the powder in use on my work bench until I am done with that powder that way I know what powder is in the hopper. This also prevents me from ruining a whole factory bottle because I dumped the wrong powder back in on top of it. If I mix them up, it is in a smaller container with less powder to ruin.
Rosewood
One of my blunders was when reloading 7mm-08 for a new rifle. Went to range and was shooting over chronograph. Noticed the velocity was 150 fps or more faster than what it should be. Had me scratching my head. I stopped after a couple of rounds. Got home and figured out what happened. Powder, bullet weight was all in order. My OAL was too long and the bullet was jamming in the lands. By starting in the lands, the bullet was building higher pressure which gave more velocity. I had loaded different bullets and neglected to adjust my seating die. Fortunately it didn't hurt anything, but taught me the dangers of seating too long.
Rosewood
Probably my most risky scenario was I had a 7mm TCU loaded and it would not chamber so I decided to run it in my Redding body die (looking back, I should have pulled it). I failed to lube it enough and it got stuck. Imagine that, a loaded round stuck in a die. Not good. I can't remember all of the details but I think I oiled up the case and then carefully cut it open to get the powder out, was able to get it out safely, but there was a lot of butt clenching during the process.
Rosewood
Worse one I did was when I mistook a can of 3M 77 Spray Adhesive for my Hornady One Shot dry lube when I went to spray down my dies. Took FOREVER to clean those dies out completely!!
Glad I’m not the only DA that does this stupid stuff. Loaded an OCW test yesterday and I live where I can load and shoot. Loaded up 3 rounds for my next step and 1 didn’t have powder. Luckily the bullet didn’t move out of the case. You can imagine what I looked like with my kinetic bullet puller around the corner of the house from me trying to break it down and then realizing it didn’t have any powder. I thought the primer was bad but it had fired. Needless to say, my groups were not as good after that. LOL.
I use a lot of 3M 77 in automotive work and lacquer thinner kills it fast.
Acetone will melt it also.
I used Denatured Alcohol, didn't have acetone or lacquer thinner on hand readily. It was all over my hands, so everything I touched got sticky and I had taken apart a few dies and sprayed each piece, so it was in threads and all over! Took a few dies to realize it, too.
I remember one time I had loaded some 40 rounds of 308 with Varget. After I pressed in the last bullet I looked at mt scale and realized I had set it 10 grains too low. Since this brought the load under the published weight, I pulled all the bullets and started over.
I have also messed up with sights. My first foray into owning a 308 rifle was a AXIS XP ii. I started shooting some real good groups than all of a sudden the rounds were scattered all over the target. After 10 frustrating shots, I realized the scope mounts had come loose. Then recently I was shooting my newish Marlin 45-70 with semi-buckhorn sights. All of a sudden the bullets started to drop, even with the sight adjusted as high as it would go. Finally figured out there is a little adjustable plate in the sight held on with a small screw. The screw had come loose and the plate had dropped down to it's lowest part.
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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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!
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.
A painted turd is still a turd...
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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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.
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.
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.
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.
Last edited by Trapper; 09-29-2019 at 11:09 PM. Reason: my fault
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
.223 Rem AI, .22-250 AI, .220 Swift AI .243 Win AI, .6mm Rem AI, .257 Rob AI, .25-06 AI, 6.5x300wsm .30-06 AI, .270 STW, 7mm STW, 28 nosler, .416 Taylor
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