First day shooting reloads. What a bust. (Or is that flop?)

firemachine69

firemachine69

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So I decided I'd finally finish the reloads today.

I cleaned the brass the other night with soapy water. I had to size my new Winchester brass, my neck gauge didn't fit ANY case :)eek:). I wanted the Lee lube gone, hence the wash.

After cleaning, and allowing them to air dry (or so I thought), I primed the cases. Flipped them primer-side up, just in case so residual water would dry out overnight.

This morning, I proceed to work up a load. Each case is individually filled with a charge, three per velocity listing in the 7th Edition Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading. This gives me a set of three cases, per six slots.

(Using IMR 4895 powder under a Hornady .308 150gr. BTSP, in Winchester brass and Wichester primer.)





Exactly three rounds, of no particular charge, decide to fire. All others have perfect dimples in the primer. I cannot attribute any particular reason why: primers are set with a Lee Auto-prime, and it does not release the cartridge until the primer is fully seated. Maybe the majority of the cases were still somewhat humid? But that makes no sense, the Lee lube is water-based, and Lee attributes the qualities of a water-based lube over oil-based, as the oil-based lube can degrade the powders and primers (according to them). With that in mind, I can't see how a minute amount of water vapour could cause so many FTF's. It should result in slightly higher pressures, at most.


Man, was that ever depressing. Maybe I should stick with factory ammo. I crimped the bullets in place with a Lee Factory Crimp die, I don't think any component is coming out in a hurry. What a waste of brass/powder/bullets/primers. :(
 
What calibre are you shooting?

Are the primers you have brand new? Or have they been sitting around for a while.

It's also good practise (from what I've always been told), to never touch the primer with your fingers.

If you think the problems have to do with the water, maybe next time try some other case lube (I use the redding sizing wax). Rub a bit on the case, run it through the sizing die and then just wipe it off the case.

Not sure of the calibre or gun you shoot but you might not even need to crimp.

I've only ever crimped 45/70 since it was for a lever action rifle.
 
There are lots of causes for a newb to have those results, but my best guess is that the cases were very likely still wet.
Try washing a few more, let them dry over night, and give them a close inspection.
You'll likely find a considerable amount of water in them.
Cases don't dry quickly for some reason.
Lee lube does zero harm to powder IMO. You can just wipe down the finished rounds with a dry towel to reduce lube in the chamber.
Myself, I run my resized cases through the polisher a second time.
 
firemachine69 said:
After cleaning, and allowing them to air dry (or so I thought)
Click to expand...



Don't get discouraged.... I've only been reloading for a little while. I use the Lee Anniversary set. So each round takes quite awhile to make... Have patience! Try again, let them air dry for 24 hours. Could have been water in the flash hole, or anything. Could be a bad batch of primers also.

I don't own a tumbler. If my brass is really, REALLY dirty, I'll get a buddy to tumble it. If not, I don't bother cleaning it. I just wipe the lube off...


Try again! If you still have the same problem, try switching primers.



***EDIT**** I see I got beat to the punch... :D
 
Does the rifle work OK with factory rounds. if not, the culprit couls be your firing pin system


do the rounds go off if you fire them again? . in which case, the primers may not be seated deep enough. some work best with a slight pre crush so the anvil touches the compound.

Assuming you have a bolt action, when you chamber the unfired rounds, do you feel reristance when you close the bolt ( the same resistance as with a factory round, or more? If there is little or no resistance, you may have set the shoulder back too far, which leads to excessive headspace (the head of the cartridge is too far in, so the firing pin energy mostly puished the case fiorward.) this is not good - as in unsafe- you'll have to pull these loads apart & i'm not sure if & how you get them back to length. when you sized the cases, did you set up the die shouloder using an unfired factory or new virgin case, or one that had been , fired in your rifle?

If all of the above checks, then primer contamination is a possibility. I use a wet towel to remove lube and then dry by hand . Remember that case lube is basically soap, so i'm not sure if using soapy water does more than dilute it.

As usual, always willing to stand corrected, but the above has worked for me.
 
If you wash with water and soap they will have to be dried for 24-36 hrs or put them in a tin pie plate and in the bbq for 15 minutes on real low heat UNPRIMED of course. Like someone else said the water stays in the case for a long time. Don;t give up, reloading can be a very satisfying and rewarding hobby.
 
How long did you let them dry for? I washed some .223 once and recall having to wait a few days for them to completely dry.
 
The cases were wet inside.
I dry my washed cases on my air vents, or in the hot sun on the patio. Otherwise, even with the primer gone, there is no air circulation inside the case and they will take days to dry out. Lots of moisture inside means that the powder won't burn.
Have you pulled the bullets from the duds and checked what the powder is like?
 
Or use a hair dryer. They were wet. Not wasted if you have learn't something. I'd be areful using a barbecue or anything with enough heat to discolour the brass. It likely has no effect but it could make you paranoid and I don't think you need that now.
 
Wipe lube from outside of case with a cloth and "brake cleaner"(no residue), avoid the water unless using soap and water for black powder case cleanup.
 
I agree with the poster who said those cases were still wet inside.....plenty wet!! If you disassemble those rounds you will find the powder clumped together and possibly charred from the primer flash, but of course, no ignition. If I wash any cases in soap & water [only rarely] I dry them in the oven, standing upright on a tin pan, oven at 200ºF. Even at that it takes 3-5 hours to assure totally dry cases. Eagleye.
 
I use the running shoe rack in the clothes dryer. Just fold up a towel and put the cases on it and run the dryer for 10 minutes. Now get yourself a kinetic bullet puller and pull what bullets you have loaded. Knock the primers out and start again with new ones. If the powder does not come out clumpy you might get away with using it again. If it is clumpy use it to fertilize your lawn. I am also with Mad Mike about crimping, no need unless you are shooting out of a tube magizine or shooting a big boomer.
 
Thanks for all the help again guys.


The .308 Winchester cases, unprimed, were permitted about five or six hours to dry, at which point they were primed, and immediately flipped upside down to dry some more overnight.

My rifle is a Savage 10FLCP-K, and dead reliable - I'd trust my life on it without a second thought. It shoots any factory round without a hiccup. As well, twenty-seven out of thirty rounds would be very unusual for a rifle to be at fault, but, as we all know, anything is possible!


The primers were new stock on the shelf. In this time and age, what component sits around for a long time? ;)

I'm pretty sure the primers didn't go off, as I didn't hear the "fizzle" usually associated with that.

I set my die using a round of virgin brass. I considered headspace, but these were all above minimum COL (just enough to "grab" the crimp section of the bullet), and below maximum SAAMI COL (I don't think you can even seat a 150 grainer that far out). The dimples looked perfect, just like on any factory fired round.

From the sounds of it, I got my primers and powders wet. Does that mean I also need to wipe the case lube off from inside the neck?

I forgot to add, I haven't pulled the bullets yet. How does one go about pulling bullets that are crimped in?
 
Any oil on your press / shell holder? Oil also renders primers inert.

However, if taking the precaution of turning cases over think you realized they were still wet (if stand them on the shoulder, where would moisture trapped inside go?). More patience next time.
 
firemachine69 said:
I forgot to add, I haven't pulled the bullets yet. How does one go about pulling bullets that are crimped in?
Click to expand...

Just swing the puller higher over your head than for non-crimped bullets.:)

When you primed the cases after only 5 hours and then flipped them upside down, you essentially stopped any drying from happening. if the air can't circulate it can't replace moist air with dry air.

Don't give up and look at the bright side. Good thing your inaugural batch wasn't 100rnds.......;)
 
I just annealed all my 22-250 brass, heating the necks with a torch, to a dull orange, then tipping them in water. I set them upside down, and came back to them a week later, those fudgers were still wet. So, I dried them all with a towel, sized them and tossed them in the tumbler. So even a week later, I still had large amounts of water inside the cases, is my point. Definetly have to do something to get the insides dry, they aren't going to dry on their own, no way, no how.
It certainly sounds like contaminated primers were your problem, I had the same thing happen to me once, thankfully, for me, it was only 2 rounds out of 20, not the other way around like your experience. When I pulled the rounds, there was the slightest bit of burnt powder, and a bit that turned yellowy/green on top of it, I assume this was from the contamination. From that day forward, I wear gloves for all possible steps that might cause contamination (priming, anything to do with powder and bullet seating).
The bullet puller will work fine on crimped rounds, I just pulled a whole pile of milsurp rounds, which are crimped and lacquered. If it takes a lot more banging than usual, you might use the seating die to push the bullets in a tad and break the crimp. 27 isn't too bad for pulling rounds. My personal record is 160 rounds 45acp, when some dingus :)redface:) didn't notice that my powder measure had a loose bolt, and starting throwing overcharges.
 
About my first four hundred reloads were washed in soapy water, dried using a combination of lightly turned up radiator and a hair dryer. I think the hair drer was most effective. Anyways I never had a misfire but its a lot easier to spend $100 on a tumbler.

When using your kinetic puller with crimped rounds wear your "ear defenders". I find this helps me to apply more/better energy into the strikes and they don't take to many wacks to seperate components. Sounds like crap but its true.
 
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