Disaster Report

D

Davidf

CGN Regular
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Location
Milton, Ontario
I've heard often enough that if you reload enough or long enough eventually something will go wrong. I always thought - not me.

Sadly I had my first (and last) reloading accident last Sunday.

I started PPC this year and really like it. As most know PPC is generally shot with very light loads. I hate shooting .38 spc in my revolver because the chambers are pretty tight and it only takes a few dozen rounds till I can chamber .357's any more. So shooting PPC with my lightest loads I still got a lot of advice form the more expoerienced guys that my loads were too hot (too much noise and too much recoil) Over the past few months I've been inching downwards even bleow the minimum loads in my relaoding guides (I use 4).

Well on Sunday I tried the latest batch which was;
- 158 gr. Frontier Copper Plated FP's
- 4.0 gr. Hodgdon Universal
- WSMP Primers
- Remington Brass
NEVER USE THIS!

Any way during the match the recoil was very low. After the final stage of a 600 match I found I couldn't open the cylinder. It turns out that there are at least 4 and possibly more bullets lodged in the barrel of my favorite handgun. I now fear there is an excellent chance this gun is ruined.

The only really good thing here is that this is just an expensive warning - I wasn't injured.

New rule for me - I WILL NEVER EVER ASSEMBLE A LOAD THAT I CANNOT FIND PUBLISHED IN AT LEAST TWO REPUTABLE RELOADING GUIDES - NO MATTER WHO ELSE IS USING IT.
 
You mean to tell me that you stuck one in the barrel and then squeezed another one off and nothing happened? You're lucky you still have your fingers/hand....especially after you did that 3 times.
 
I've seen guys fire after a squib many times and nothing happend other than shoot two bullets at once.
 
Hodgdon manual lists 4.0 gr. Universal for a 158 gr. LSWC for 357 magnum with a velocity of 890 FPS. I am surprised that the bullet didn't make it out of the barrel with this load.
T
 
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't an LSWC (lead semi wad cutter?) a lead bullet to which you substitute a jacketed bullet? Not trying to be a wienie but why would you think that you could substitute one for the other (because they are the same bullet weight?). It doesn't sound like you were following your loading manual.
 
Suggested by who? I am not saying you can't fire jacketed/non jacketed bullets but typically it is not a 1 for 1 exchange. As a jacket is harder and resists deformation it would make sense that your min load would squib a round.
 
Yes that's exactly what happened.

I don't hand weigh every charge for pistol cartridges so I suppose there may have been less than 4.0 gr - but not much less.

No sign of a buldge in the barrel at all. There is at least 4 bullets stuck though.
 
Well, there's Hodgdon Universal Clays and there's Hodgdon Clays. Very easy to confuse the two.

Universal is much slower burning powder than Clays. Universal for pistol, OK. Magnum loads, NO GOOD.

However, Clays for 158 grain LEAD magnum loads, is good to go. 4 grains of Hodgdon Clays out of a 5 inch barrel would bring you about 850fps.

So, someone either miscommunicated, or someone misunderstood.

You're right though, never sway from published loads, never shoot other peoples' loads either, 'specially in your own gun.
 
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Certainly glad you are OK.
I have experienced that Universal does not completely burn without a tight crimp. Maybe this was a factor as well?
T
 
Davidf said:
Yes that's exactly what happened.

I don't hand weigh every charge for pistol cartridges so I suppose there may have been less than 4.0 gr - but not much less.

No sign of a buldge in the barrel at all. There is at least 4 bullets stuck though.
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I see. You use the "pinch" method of handloading. That's scary. Glad I never fire other peoples' handloads. ;)
 
Davidf said:
I'll check when I get home. I think it is just Hodgdon Universal not Universal Clays.
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Well, there you go. That's your problem right there.

You want Universal Clays for magnum loads with LEAD boollets.
 
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UNIVERSAL CLAYS™ UNIVERSAL Clays gunpowder handles the broadest spectrum of cartridges for both pistol and shotgun. This is the Clays gunpowder technology designed for 28 gauge shooters. From the 25 ACP to the 44 magnum and 28 gauge to 12 gauge, UNIVERSAL CLAYS gunpowder provides outstanding performance. As with all the "CLAYS" gunpowder series powders, clean burning and uniformity are part of its attributes. Available in 1 lb., 4 lb. & 8 lb. containers.
This is the powder I was talking about.
T
 
easy said:
I see. You use the "pinch" method of handloading. That's scary. Glad I never fire other peoples' handloads. ;)
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I've loaded and fired 10's of thousands of my own reloads.

With rifle cartridges I hand weigh every charge but with pistol cartridges I've been weighing every tenth charge (after I have the thrower set and working consistently). If when I weigh a load and the charge is not exactly what I expect I go back and redo the proceeding 9. Remember many people do these on a progressive press.....

It seems highly unlikely but I must have made a squib load and thankfully the pistol was strong enough and the loads light enough not to blow up with the next rounds.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if you had no powder in those cartridges, my dad did the same thing and had two bullets in the barrel. Since there was no powder in the bullets, there was no damage to the barrel, but if one round would have had powder then it probably would have caused a bulge. I had some cartridges from the same batch but noticed something was wrong when the first one didn't make enough noise. I only had one round in the barrel.

Do you still have rounds left from the batch? Maybe take them apart and see if they are all consistently loaded.
 
accurateshot said:
I wouldn't be surprised if you had no powder in those cartridges, my dad did the same thing and had two bullets in the barrel. Since there was no powder in the bullets, there was no damage to the barrel, but if one round would have had powder then it probably would have caused a bulge. I had some cartridges from the same batch but noticed something was wrong when the first one didn't make enough noise. I only had one round in the barrel.

Do you still have rounds left from the batch? Maybe take them apart and see if they are all consistently loaded.
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I'll soon find out. Definitely can't fire these so they'll be coming apart as soon as I get time.
 
I've loaded thousands of .357mag & .38spc with 4.3gr of Universal and have never had a single one stick in a barrel. Sounds more like you put no powder in them. I'm glad I check every round and even those which I am hesitant but 95% sure go in a "to be pulled" bin.
 
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