reloading disasters

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I have been loading off and on for a long time. Mostly my own hunting ammunition and in the past 9mm for practice. All my loading has been done on a single stage press. So I am not a really experienced loader. I recently posted a question about some mixed powder because I was unsure. Got good advise and survived.

I post this time to ask guys to submit their bad experiences or other credible instances where loading went bad. Sometimes you hear nasty stories about guns blowing up and bolts going through guys heads and such. Personally I think that unless you double charge or somehow get bad or the wrong powder loaded its a pretty idiot proof process. I have crushed primers while priming , used old data to set my max load, used my fingers to trickle powder and fired loads so hot the primers fell out when I ejected the brass. So far I am intact. I learned from those things and don't suggest you can do them and skate by. Obviously anything that goes boom can hurt you.

But unless this has been done before maybe the info from this post could teach new and old alike.
 
Actually not a bad idea, We should call the thread “Cause and Circumstance“ and sticky it. What do you say mods? I will begin the thread with:

Circumstance - I was vacuuming my reloading room floor with a Hoover upright vacuum cleaner when all of a sudden “KABOOM” the bottom of the vacuum blew apart and it took me all but 30 seconds to realize what had happened!

Cause - Live primer sucked up by a Hoover vacuum - the primer detonated inside the vacuum, destroying a good $300.00 suck machine - my wife was not impressed.

Lesson - Visually inspect the reloading room floor before attempting to vacuum, and/or use a vacuum that captures the primers via direct suction into in a soft dust collection bag. DO NOT USE vacuum‘s that use a rotary brush on the bottom of the machine to collect the dust.
 
i'll go you one better- a lot of us have an old shop-vac, royalite, or general electric canister that is used EXCLUSIVELY for the RELOADING AREA- watch for c/t and walmart specials and have something like a hardwood floor or an arbourite panel surrounding the loading bench- concrete works, too, just not carpet or esp shag
 
Circumstance - I was vacuuming my reloading room floor with a Hoover upright vacuum cleaner when all of a sudden “KABOOM” the bottom of the vacuum blew apart and it took me all but 30 seconds to realize what had happened!

Cause - Live primer sucked up by a Hoover vacuum - the primer detonated inside the vacuum, destroying a good $300.00 suck machine - my wife was not impressed.

Lesson - Visually inspect the reloading room floor before attempting to vacuum, and/or use a vacuum that captures the primers via direct suction into in a soft dust collection bag. DO NOT USE vacuum‘s that use a rotary brush on the bottom of the machine to collect the dust.
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There is NO WAY a single live primer blew up a vacuum. I have set off primers with a hammer and all they do is make a nice bang. I also doubt there is enough force inside a vacuum to initiate a primer.

More likely is you have been anal about cleaning your loading room and have been using the same vaccuum too long without changing the bag. You got enough powder buildup in the bag and a nice static charge ignited the powder and swirling dust to result in an explosion.

Lesson: NEVER use a vac to clean up a loading room. Sweep the floor.
 
I some how got a live primer into a 10lb pot of hot lead. A nice bang sounded the arrival of the tinsel fairy x10, a good third of the pot was gone when the lead finally settled :slap:
 
I've had a few negative reloading experiences over the years. Probably hate stuck cases the worst. But one that was potentially dangerous I still don't have an explanation for. I was chronographing loads in an old 6.5X55 using 160 g Hornady RN bullets and IMR 4320 powder. The first two loads chronographed in around 2350ft/sec. The third load went off with heavy recoil and muzzle blast, blew the primer, stuck the bolt and chronographed out to just over 2800 ft/sec. I was using maximum loads for that rifle (not compressed, not light). Would be impossible to double charge. Unlikely to be some kind of excursion effect. Anytime I have varied magnum and regular large rifle primers I haven't seen effects nearly this large. (I was using large rifle primers.) The only thing I could think of was the powder, but there was not really bad smell to it or anything. Last time I have ever used 4320 though I sure can't justify it to you on any rational basis I am aware of. I used it alot back then without a whimper before that particular shot. I have wondered what happened to this day.:confused:
 
Wrong powder

Four years ago I had purchased 4 lbs of titegroup and divided it up and put it in powder containers that were identical that I had been saving. I marked them and then one day I went to reload my revolver and some how I misread the container: more likely I was not paying attention. I had put BLC 2 powder in my .44mag rounds. At the range I fired the gun and there was a small pop. I noticed right away that:sniper: powder was pouring out of the cylinder. I opened the cylinder and saw the slug in the throat of the barrel. I think the primer forced the slug in to the chamber but the powder never ignited. Not sure why. I went home and pulled all 250 rounds apart. Removed the slug and bought some florescent lighting to brighten the room. I separated my powders completely and double check everything. If I think I may have done something wrong I stop and pull every bullet just in case. I have had no problems since then.
 
peterdobson said:
Is it wise to post bad instances on a forum which may be monitered by those who wish to eliminate it?

Regards,

Peter
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A fair question Peter, and it is important to be responsible in relation to reporting, but I think it is wise to discuss openly some of the things that can go wrong in shooting and let everyone listen in. For one thing shooting has proven consistently not to be dangerous, in comparison to many other sporting activities and this has never stopped our enemies from criticizing it. But, even more importantly, when you hide something, or behave as if you are hiding something, it makes you look afraid, and just allows your critics to fantasize, or lie about you, while the lack of discussion disarms your supporters from the understanding that allows rational discourse. It even sets supporters up to be surprised by accusations or inappropriate statements. We all know we don't have a steady stream of people going to the hospital. In fact, I can't remember the last time someone has in our sport. What we are doing is not all that dangerous, but it isn't trivial either. Let's just portray it that way. In fact, I think we should be proud of what we do and what our record is. mho (or my $0.02:))
 
I caught my mistake before it mattered, but I've always wondered since then what would have happened. I dropped a primer into a case, after I was done priming and getting everything put away for the night. I can just imagine some large explosion if I had gone on to put powder and a bullet in that case, without removing the primer. I only actully noticed, because I knew exactly how many primers I had, and I was missing 1.
 
peterdobson said:
Is it wise to post bad instances on a forum which may be monitered by those who wish to eliminate it?

Regards,

Peter
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I also believe it is instructive to post things that might/did go wrong. The majority of these posts were instances where problems were caught.

What we are posting here are things that have happened to OURSELVES. These accidents do not involve anyone else. We can't reload ammo for others without government permits.

None of these stories involve risk to others either accidentally or criminally. We CHOOSE to participate in this activity and know the consequences if, in the rare instance, something is a bit off. It is no different than any other activity such as boating (drowning), golf (lightning, heart attach, strained muscles), wilderness camping (bears), skydiving :)eek::eek:)



The only thing I have done is get distracted or daydream when reloading with a progressive press. Run out of primes, or don't remember if a particular round or rounds have 0, 1, or 2 charges of powder. If in doubt, they go into my bucket to be pulled.

I am careful and usually have a post-it with the data I am reloading as a check. :)
 
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Reloading Boo Boo

My biggest Reloading boo boo was reloading 50 rounds of 38SPL with 13.2 grains of W231 not 3.2 as I wanted. I was using a new balance beam scale and the counter weight had jumped over to the 10th marker. So I go to the range and shoot two or three rounds and the recoil is higher than I thought it should be. One other shooter said he would try them in his gun to see if they really were that hot. Well after one round he could not eject the shell casing from the cylinder. I am lucky that a SW686 is a really strong gun, as it has no damage that I can find. Found lots of unburned power on the bench.

Greg
 
curtmg said:
I caught my mistake before it mattered, but I've always wondered since then what would have happened. I dropped a primer into a case, after I was done priming and getting everything put away for the night. I can just imagine some large explosion if I had gone on to put powder and a bullet in that case, without removing the primer. I only actully noticed, because I knew exactly how many primers I had, and I was missing 1.
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Sounds like really good observing to me. Good on you! It would be easy enough to miss a primer. Jeez!!! Another thing I discipline myself to do now is shine a flashlight into each case before seating a bullet. As I'm sure most of us know, it is easy enough to miss filling a case with powder.
 
I agree with SUPUTIN, there is no way a primer did that damage. I sweep around my loading area and put the dirt in my dust tin. Since there was some paper in the basket, the wife took it up and burned it in the fireplace. She told me there were some pops in the fireplace when she burned the refuse from the waste basket. I knew right away they were live primers, because I had spilled some on the floor and didn't get them all. They were just pops in the fireplace, and our fireplace has glass doors. So a primer going off in free space is a very minor event.
 
peterdobson said:
Is it wise to post bad instances on a forum which may be monitered by those who wish to eliminate it?

Regards,

Peter
Click to expand...

I thought of that before I posted. I think that my post suggests and that the info here with show that errors can happen and that injuries do not normally occur or buildings do not get leveled. I think the members will post accordingly and any unusual posts will quickly be sorted out by other members. I also think there are many things on ths site that antis could exploit.

I believe it will be useful to loaders trying to improve safety by learning about mistakes others have made.
 
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