in reloading whats is the worst thats happened to you ????

Kevin M. said:
So did his finger work better as a resizing die or the lube station?
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... Laugh2

There was that time me was all lined up for CCB shot at 950 ... the whole crew spotting/coaching/jiving away behind the line. ..~"click"~.. goes 6.5.
wtf? .... crowd erupts in gales of mirth as yours truly gazes at empty primer pocket ...

'Least the escaped powder was successfully recycled from ammo box!
 
Worst I had happen was a powder dispenser loose a set screw and spill its entire contents (about 5 ounces) all over the loading bench.

Oh, and I had a friend use my .223 small base dies to resize a dozen empties he got... turned out they were 5.56 from a military machine gun (wicked loose chamber) and not enough lube meant the first case stuck solid with a broken expanding button inside. Broken case puller wouldn't touch it, so I got a new set of RCBS dies from him.

I have been lucky to never have sever over pressures, any squibs or the like. "Reload with focus, load with confidence" is a good motto.
 
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1) around 3 stuck cases
2) bent decapping pin
3) crushed thumb swaging .223 brass with RCBS swager
4) slightly crushed about 20 30-06 cases when resizing. Didn't notice until they wouldn't chamber
5) left back gate open on lyman powder dispenser dumping powder all over the floor
6) lots of crushed primers when starting out reloading
So far I've been careful not to have any squibs or double charges. However I have caught a couple when about to seat a bullet.
 
The powder and shot spills I have taken care of years ago by drilling and installing one the the mrs's old cookie sheets under the press I am reloading on. Collects everything and works like a charm
I think having a primer discharge or rolling over one with the chair after it fell on the floor because I didnot look for it right away has to be right up there for me
Been lucky I guess in 45 plus year or careful for the most part

All the best
Cheers
 
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Of loading thousands of rounds, I guess I have been fortunate.

1) with shotshells I get maybe 1 of 750 that are squib as sometimes when refilling powder, or maybe a wet primer cavity I get one where the powder doesn't ignite, or wasn't in there to begin with and the shot dribbles out of the barrel with a cloud of unburnt powder. Embarrassing. People laugh on the skeet field.

1a) Cycling my progressive without a shotshell under it, causing somewhere between 3/4 and 1 1/8oz of lead to roll over the floor. Powder too sometimes.

1b) lots of pinched fingers while wad guiding. Lost a nail once...

2) only once has centerfire gone wrong. primed case, no powder. 22-250 bullet got lodged half way down barrel. Had to get some drill rod to drive it out. Should have known it was wrong because it was super hard to chamber, as it had not been resized either.

Valuable lesson learned. Always buy quality firearms with strong actions, especially if you are going to load for it. The way I see it, if I made a mistake with no powder it could have easily been double powder instead. In that case my M77 action would have likely still held it. I would not put that kind of faith into a Norinco or other less than perfect QA firearm.

Check check check and double check.

C
 
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As for reloading, I've had the occasional boo boo like seating a plain base bullet in a case not quite flared enough to accept it square or the "once in a blue moon" forget the powder in a load when running a big batch of small case ammo. I've been cartridge loading since 1970 & muzzle loading since 2 yrs. before that.

My 1st. press was an RCBS Junior & my second (And current one.) is an RCBS Rock Chucker, though I prefer Lee dies over others unless they are the only ones available in the cartridge I want.:)
 
Took a friend shooting for his first time ever and we went to Silverdale, me as a guest with another friend who is a member and the new shooter as a non pal guest shooter.

One of my 9mm reloads (luckily the last one loaded in a mag) either had NO powder or not enough powder in the case. I shot the round and found it odd that the slide didnt lock opened but shrugged it off and put the gun away. We then went and shot some rifles. After the rifles we went to another hand gun range (the action range) for some close up shooting and by now my buddy was comfortable putting the mags in the guns himself. The gun wouldnt fully chamber the first round so we tried a second mag thinking it was one of the reloads not chambering correctly. Finally, I had a look down the barrel and saw it was fully obstructed. LUCKY for his hands and my face (standing right beside him watching him closely) the squib round didnt go far enough down the barrel to allow for a second round to fully chamber.

This was a very important lesson for me and because of it, I now pay much closer attention to the recoil I feel after each shot, and do not allow my friends to do any rapid firing at all. I also explain this same story to all the new shooters I bring out for a fun shoot. Not to mention I pay closer attention when reloading.
 
rubberdown said:
Took a friend shooting for his first time ever and we went to Silverdale, me as a guest with another friend who is a member and the new shooter as a non pal guest shooter.

One of my 9mm reloads (luckily the last one loaded in a mag) either had NO powder or not enough powder in the case. I shot the round and found it odd that the slide didnt lock opened but shrugged it off and put the gun away. We then went and shot some rifles. After the rifles we went to another hand gun range (the action range) for some close up shooting and by now my buddy was comfortable putting the mags in the guns himself. The gun wouldnt fully chamber the first round so we tried a second mag thinking it was one of the reloads not chambering correctly. Finally, I had a look down the barrel and saw it was fully obstructed. LUCKY for his hands and my face (standing right beside him watching him closely) the squib round didnt go far enough down the barrel to allow for a second round to fully chamber.

This was a very important lesson for me and because of it, I now pay much closer attention to the recoil I feel after each shot, and do not allow my friends to do any rapid firing at all. I also explain this same story to all the new shooters I bring out for a fun shoot. Not to mention I pay closer attention when reloading.
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good idea at least you can explain what happened to you so it doesn't happen to no one else!!!!!
 
omamfciqg1uiper3pdrj.jpg
 
^^^ Okay, how does this happen, look closely, there are 9 bullets lodged in that barrel? Was this done on purpose to show the strength of the barrel???
 
rubberdown said:
Took a friend shooting for his first time ever and we went to Silverdale, me as a guest with another friend who is a member and the new shooter as a non pal guest shooter.

One of my 9mm reloads (luckily the last one loaded in a mag) either had NO powder or not enough powder in the case. I shot the round and found it odd that the slide didnt lock opened but shrugged it off and put the gun away. We then went and shot some rifles. After the rifles we went to another hand gun range (the action range) for some close up shooting and by now my buddy was comfortable putting the mags in the guns himself. The gun wouldnt fully chamber the first round so we tried a second mag thinking it was one of the reloads not chambering correctly. Finally, I had a look down the barrel and saw it was fully obstructed. LUCKY for his hands and my face (standing right beside him watching him closely) the squib round didnt go far enough down the barrel to allow for a second round to fully chamber.

This was a very important lesson for me and because of it, I now pay much closer attention to the recoil I feel after each shot, and do not allow my friends to do any rapid firing at all. I also explain this same story to all the new shooters I bring out for a fun shoot. Not to mention I pay closer attention when reloading.
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Next time you take a new shooter, you should teach them to ACT and PROVE the gun every time they handle it and before you pass it to them.
 
Wrecked a few .45-70 cases a couple years ago when I first started. I didn't realize that I needed to flare the case mouths to seat the bullets properly, crushed about half a dozen cases trying to seat bullets. No big problems really, spilled the powder out of a couple cases and seated a couple primers too deep. Still have all my fingers and both my eyes though, so I guess I'm doing OK.
 
Many, many years ago when I just started reloading:

Squib load due to some idiot (me) forgetting to put any powder in one of the cases. To ensure idiocy followed it's full course I proceeded to load another round oblivious to the fact there was a bulled lodged in the chamber, luckily it hadn't traveled far and the next round couldn't chamber. Common sense eventually prevailed and I realized what had happened.
 
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