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Thread: Reloading hall of shame

  1. #101
    SidecarFlip
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    Quote Originally Posted by doctnj View Post
    I thought it would be funny /useful as a learning experience for new loaders to list up your mistakes.
    I'll go first.

    One that I've done more than once is to load powder and bullets and... Oh yeah forget primers!!
    I see this will be an interesting forum to post on....

    I've done that as well but with 300 WM cases and H1000... I don't dribble out the flash hole, it's cylindrical and won't come out....lol

    I've stuck more than a few (I quit using One Shot about a month after it came out), I just use it on straightwall pistol cases for easier resizing now. I'm very careful with my custom built John Whidden dies...don't want to be pulling a stock case from a 200 dollar plus die.... I use an RCBS lube pad and lube now... Sometimes, old school is better....

    I think my worst bad habit is seating too deep and then having to pull the pill and resize the case and do it again. COAL is critical when seating for jump and I use RCBS micrometer seaters with custom machined (by me) pilots and getting a consistent seat depth of a number of cases can be an effort in frustration at times.... I use a torque wrench in place of the press handle when seating to get consistent seating pressure but sometimes even that won't work consistently.

  2. #102
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    Well I pulled a real boner today.

    Setting up my dies for my new grendel. I use the Wilson seating dies. Decided to use the book col for the 123 amax to start with. 2.245. Well for some unknown reason I set the die for 2.45. Usually I double check this but I wanted to get to the range and get started with barrel breaking. Did not realize my mistake until I was set up on the bench and started loading a mag. Needless to say they didn't fit.

    I will give it another shot tomorrow.

  3. #103
    schnyd112
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    I have done something very similar with my 25-06 and 117g sst's. Usually load to a coal of 2.68" and for some reason left them all at 2.880. Fit in the mag, but the bolt wouldn't close. I think I had them .015" into the lands when it was all said and done.

  4. #104
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    I think there may be a ghost in my man cave.
    Last evening I loaded some ammo to shoot in four rifles this morning. I shot #1, #2, #3 without problem but the bolt was no where close to locking on #4. When I got home I pulled one round apart, the empty case measured the correct length base to shoulder and chambered normally.

    To make a long story short my notes say the loaded length (BTBO) for the bullets I use for #4 is 2.225" @.010" off. I think one of the ghosts was messing with me and reseated them to 2.347".

    Bill
    Each morning eat a live green toad, it will be the worst thing you'll have face all day.

  5. #105
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    OK I guess I need to fess up. This happened in the 70's when I was first learning to reload. You know that thing about reading directions...... I did read them, mostly. I can also attest to the unbelievable strength of the Ruger Blackhawk 357 handguns, and that God really does protect idiots, since I am still here to write this. It's embarrassing to admit it, but hopefully some your (or old) idiot does not try it themselves.

    I cannot recall what powders they were, but somehow I got this idea to mix powders, yup, I did it. I was looking for a hot load. Well........I found it. Have you ever fired a 357, 158gr load, and seen the bullet hit 100yds away BEFORE recoil pulls the barrel up? I kid you not. I have NO IDEA how fast it was because I only fired one. Even with ear plugs my ears rang like never before, and surprise! the cylinder was jammed. Eventually I pried the case back away from the frame and freed the cylinder. I unloaded those rounds and took them home. I pulled the bullets and threw away the powder, and thanked God for saving the life of a moron.

    Believe it or not, I fired that pistol for another year with zero issues, with normal 357 loads.

    Ruger, thankfully, makes a strong pistol.

    There, I admitted it, and believe me, you have NO IDEA HOW CAREFUL I AM NOW WITH POWDER. If I even slightly doubt what powder is in my charger, it is thrown out.

    New reloaders, READ AND ADHERE TO THE MANUALS! They may not be perfect, but they are a lot safer than winging it.

    I hope I don't get flamed too harshly.

  6. #106
    Basic Member big honkin jeep's Avatar
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    Well for those that think a little LESS powder than what is in the manuals cant hurt anything,
    In a search to reduce recoil, I went below published minimums on a .300 RUM. wound up with nerve rattling hang fires and a sticky bolt.
    Cant remember much about which components I was using as it's been years ago but I wont do it again.
    I would pull the trigger, hear the click of the firing pin striking, and then 1 thousand 1, 1 thousand 2, 1 thousand 3,...KABOOM.
    Yep follow published load data and don't go over or UNDER published loads without carefully and knowledgeably working your way up, or down as the case may be.
    A good wife and a steady job has ruined many a great hunter.

  7. #107
    Grandoug
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    One of the admonitions in both the Speer and Nosler manuals is DO NOT RELOAD when distracted. Turn off the TV!

  8. #108
    Basic Member jpx2rk's Avatar
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    Sneezing while trying to fill a powder trickler really sucks. I tried to put the powder down before I actually sneezed, but was not successful.

  9. #109
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    Once loaded 100 rounds of 6.5 Grendel with H4350 powder. I did not realize it until I was already at the range. After shooting a few rounds and noticing my dope was off, I remembered I did not change my powder right after loading for my 284 Win. Loads still shot great, but was only going about 2200 fps. Had to pull bullets when I got home.

  10. #110
    Mountain Man
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    Was loading some +P 9mm for a new R51 pistol I had picked up the week before. Had an established load that tested safe in the pistol a couple hundred times. Went from single stage to a progressive and ended up loading a few 380 cases with the +P load.

    The first HOT 380 bulged at the unsupported barrel ramp then the brass separated at the rim. Luckily, Remington's Aluminum frame directed all that excess gas down the mag and out the bottom. I did catch some black stuff that squeezed between the grip and frame on my hands though. No injury, washed hands and went through 250 rounds to find 3 more +++++P+++++ .380s

    A good painless lesson.

  11. #111
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    Unfortunately for me I have another addition to this thread. I went back and forth about posting/admitting this. As you see I have decided. If it helps keep someone safe then its worth the embarrassment of the mistake. I like to think that I am very careful but this endeavor will show your shortcomings and mistakes, occasionally with devastating consequences. Luckily my example didnt reach that level but totally had that potential very easily.

    What happened:

    I worked up a load for my daughter's 243 with a 70 gr bullet. For her I declined to go any where near max loads at all. I would find a nice load that was as accurate as possible. So we did that with the 70 gr. SMK. Then I worked up a 107 gr smk. Then switched to 105 hybrid berger. All of these were on a chargemaster. I made recipe cards for every load I use and physically pull out the card when loading so I have all the measurements in front of my while loading.

    I loaded all of us up for a match. We went to the match and were able to do a mornings worth of shooting as it was an afternoon / night match. Although she is young, my daughter has been shooting for 3 years and she is very comfortable shooting long range. We were side by side all 3 of us shooting and checking out dope getting ready for the match. Her mother any I seemed to be hitting high on the steel but my daughter was flying the targets. She was going to be competing in a couple hours so I had to do some on the spot calculations to re calibrate her dope. So I trued the MV for what was actually happening. Looking back, the only reason I let her continue was the fact that both her mom and myself were also hitting high. We were at quite a different elevation then normal so conditions could have been playing a part. But the trued MV was almost 300 fps faster then what I had measured from the muzzle with magneto speed. Something was off but I didnt know what. There was no heavy bolt lift looking back. Her action was smooth as ever. With the re calculated dope she came in 22 out of 43 grown adults as an 11 y/o girl at her first match at night from prone. Very proud.

    I stumbled on the answer to the puzzle a couple days ago. I pulled the charge master book out and went about erasing all the charges that were not in use. The extra stuff that I had used just for work ups etc. As I went down the line I came across a second 243 load! I immediately thought, 'what is this for?'. So I pulled the card and compared. Holy shit!!! this was the 243 load for the hybrid and I had been using the powder measurement for the 70 grain all along.

    The only thing that saved this from catastrophe was my initial desire to not give my daughter a hot load. She wound up with one but it could have been devastating if the load was HOT on top of HOT. The calculated speed wound up being 3115 fps. I didnt even think that it was 15 fps over the range speed limit.

    I am sure that many professional shooters run their 243 at that speed or close to it. Like I said this could have been a lot worse. It was a HUGE wake up call. I hope it helps people out there to be more careful. If leaving charges programmed into the chargemaster or any other programmable powder device, do not have duplicate or similar loads that wont stand out. Mistakes help us learn. This mistake was not possible till I got this powder measure device. Hope this is helpful.

  12. #112
    Basic Member DanSavage's Avatar
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    I crushed my left finger in the press trying to rush the process too fast.

    Sent from my LGL34C using Tapatalk
    There really is an excuse for everything!

  13. #113
    RustyNut
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    I had loaded up some bottom of the starting load list using lead SWC in a .38 special to start a guy at work out shooting. Before He & I went out I took my son and daughter to the range and had grabbed the wrong bag of ammo, the rounds I had loaded up for him. My son was shooting the .38s out of a .357. I was talking to my daughter and I heard the .357. make a fstttt sound. When I said that didn't sound good my son said "yah it's been doing that". Turns out there were 6 bullets stuck in the barrel.
    So I learned 2 lessons that day, pay attention to what your shooters are doing, even though they are in their 20s and have been shooting for years. Don't load so close to the bottom of the load listing (I may have been just a tad under). I guess there is a 3rd, if you load different levels of ammo make sure you grab the right bag.

  14. #114
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    I once put the funnel on the wrong side of the cartridge and poured powder over the case head! Lol.

    And today I tried to seat a 9mm bullet with the crimp die and couldn't figure out why I couldn't seat the bullet deep enough? Lol

  15. #115
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    I just got a 500 Smith and Wesson 4". Cast my own 440gr bullets. Gas checked. Used Ramshots starting load for Enforcer powder.

    Everything went fine the first day. Second day, I left the gun and ammo in a cold car all day. They did not like cold weather.

    First round sounded odd, but I saw flash, so bo big deal. Fired second round and thought I was holding Thors hammer. The first one stopped in the forcing cone and the flash was from the cylinder gap. So the second shot sent 2 bullets out, 880gr of lead.

    I am lucky that it didn't damage the gun, or me.

    Moral of the story is that if something doesn't seem right, check before continuing.

  16. #116
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    My biggest mistake (to date) happened almost 40 years ago (November 11, 1977). My older brother asked me to load him some 154gr Hornady's for his 7mm Rem Mag. He had shot, out of his rifle, some of these that his friend loaded, and the loads were deadly accurate, again from his rifle. He told me the load was 57.0gr of 4831. Before loading, I went to the loading manual and double checked his numbers to confirm the load was safe, and it was a relatively mild load for his 7mm Rem Mag. I went on to load 40 rounds at 67.0gr of 4831 and gave them to my brother, which by the way he never shot- THANK GOD.....

    Fast forward 2017

    About a year ago my older brother gave me his Custom 7mm Rem Mag (1963 vintage built by Cleveland Custom Gun Shop on an FN Mauser action) and all the ammunition. When I looked at the reloads I made for him, the box label showed the load, in my writing, of 67.0gr of 4831 with 154gr Hornady Spire Point. I thought to myself "that's kinda cool". Almost a year went by and I was going to take the rifle out and see how she shot, but first wanted to check the load and confirm it would be safe to fire. When I looked in the loading manual you could have knocked me over with a feather. The ammo that I so meticulously loaded was exactly 10 grains higher than what my brother told me and about 8 grains higher than maximum. What ever made me do this, I have no idea, but I thank God every day that he NEVER fired one of those rounds. I pulled all 40 bullets and reloaded them with the same cases, primers, powder, and bullets and 57gr of 4831. When I fired these rounds, they were as my brother had told me, deadly accurate.

    This rifle, BTW, has only been shot 20 rounds to sight-in, 7 rounds to kill 7 whitetails, 3 shots for 3 groundhogs, 10 rounds his friend had loaded, and the 20 I had just recently shot for a grand total of 60 rounds since it was built in 1963 (54 years).
    Johnny_V
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  17. 02-10-2017, 05:25 PM
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  18. #117
    Grandoug
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bolthead View Post
    Being totally new to reloading, I am trying to develop some good habits, including the flashlight trick. Works good. When I put my primers in, I put the case neck down in the block with the primers where I can see them. This is a great thread. I know from years of experience with other endeavors that it is so easy to space out or get distracted, sometimes costing extra hours of work, more money, or worse.
    That is a great tip, thanks for another reloading newby...

  19. #118
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    Driving myself nuts trying to figure out (over a period of ~days~/multiple 'quests') why my OAL's were varying as much as 60 thou,,,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,
    ,

    when in reality they were only varying 6 thou,,,,,,, Doh!!!

  20. #119
    Cyber
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    I was reloading sets of 5 rounds in my 50 round block to work on a load for my 6.5. I had everything done the rounds all in separate containers labeled batch 1,2,3,etc. and ready for the range. I get home from work and the wife tells me the toddler broke the computer. Turns out he fried the hard drive which has all of my recipes for the 50 rounds on it...pulled 50 rounds. Now I always keep a backup piece of paper locked in the gun cabinet.

    Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

  21. #120
    Chamdaddy
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    I was just starting to develop a load for my new 6.5C in a Savage Stealth. I was using a Hornady 120gr ELD Match bullet and three powders H4350, Varget and IMR 4451. In a single, 100 round ammo case I had 3 Sighters and 3 each of 7 graduated loads for each powder (72 rounds). In the lid, I had a matrix with all the load information, charge weight etc. ready to go to the range. I was so proud of my work so when my wife walked into the room I wanted to show her all the pretty bullets I loaded up. I grabbed the ammo box by the lip and went to turn around in the chair when I got about an inch off the table and the box slipped out of my grip. It is amazing how those little things jump like a Jack-in the-Box. They all stayed in the box but 16 of them jumped high enough to lay flat out on the top of the dividers with no indication where they came from. My wife quickly exited the room as I cussed at myself. Fortunately I only had to pull 16 bullets instead of 72 and redo the work. Now I never pick up an ammo box without closing the lid. “Stupid is what Stupid Does”-Forrest Gump

  22. #121
    schnyd112
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    You both have more gumption than I. No way I would have pulled those bullets. A good stock of fouler ammo if you ask me.

  23. #122
    Chamdaddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by schnyd112 View Post
    You both have more gumption than I. No way I would have pulled those bullets. A good stock of fouler ammo if you ask me.
    Don't confuse it with gumption, I was just out of brass.

  24. #123
    schnyd112
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    I had a similiar experience, but mine was with 9mm. I had loaded up 50 rounds with new lead bullets, 5 of each charge, to chrono and settle on a load. After crimping, I instinctively threw them in a tin instead of putting them back in the block. Didn't realize what I was doing until I had done half of them.

  25. #124
    Basic Member Phranque's Avatar
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    Well, I've sat here & gone through this entire thread for a few great laughs, as I have done most of these things myself over nearly 30 years (though no brass through the thumb....yet). I'd have to say my most recent embarrassment that I have not seen listed here was with the Chargemaster... emptied powder & forgot to close the drain. Next time I went to use it, powder everywhere.

    I just set up to reload 7-08 along with 308, so I'll be expecting my first major blunder there, though I am cautious of it ahead of time & don't plan on ever shooting the two at the same time, and the ammo boxes are very different.

    And, doctnj, no offense, but I hope to never meet you anywhere other than here...

  26. #125
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    With divorce, moving, another marriage, moving, and moving again, time flies. Had not reloaded in years. Wife out of the house, I set things up (in the kitchen), portable reloading table bolted to a Black & Decker Workmates. Loaded .223 with Varget. So happy to be reloading again I did not think of making .5 grain increases. Result is 100 rounds of the same load. Live and learn.

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