Never be distracted during reloading

Glad you're OK. Now you have an entry to the "Have you seen a bulged barrel" thread. ;) (sorry, couldn't resist)

And on another note, some people question why I continuously recommend that beginner handloaders who load handgun cartridges use a powder like Trail Boss when learning. It is designed to be an especially bulky powder that makes double charges much easier to see. :)
 
SandRoad said:
Glad you're OK. Now you have an entry to the "Have you seen a bulged barrel" thread. ;) (sorry, couldn't resist)

And on another note, some people question why I continuously recommend that beginner handloaders who load handgun cartridges use a powder like Trail Boss when learning. It is designed to be an especially bulky powder that makes double charges much easier to see. :)
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This is good advice, I load thousands of handgun rounds a year and I use bulky powders for this reason, it's impossible to double charge without making a big mess.
 
This is something that every reloader on here should take seriously. I don't care how long we have been reloading, there is not one of us on here that couldn't make that, or a similar mistake.
All it takes is a moment of losing concentration, or being interrupted, etc.
To prevent such things we all take steps of precaution to preclude such an event, but even so--
If someone wants to say I am giving reloading a bad name, then so be it.
 
Hunting buddy did the same thing with a nice 3 screw .41 mag black hawk last year. Wasn't paying attention and got distracted and double charged a case. It blew the cylinder apart and pushed the back strap up about 1 inch at the front of the frame above the barrel. On the positive side I inherited a nice 4 5/8 .41 mag barrel and an xr3 red grip frame and he wasn't hurt.

I have a progressive loader and one time I missed a charge loading .45 acp, thank goodness I was operating it and not one of my kids. The nice thing about a auto pistol, no powder and the slide wont cycle to load another round. If it was a revolver you could just pull the trigger and lodge another bullet in the barrel at the very least. It happened again about 1 year later, missed a powder dump and I finally found a spent primer in my can of Unique powder that was intermittently plugging up the powder dump. I was so paranoid about it happening again that I totally changed my reloading sequence.

1. On the first pass I deprime/size and then flare the mouth and that is it, I do not dump powder or seat a bullet.
2. I fill each case with a RCBS Uniflow powder dump and make sure that each case is filled with powder and no double charges.
3. Then I install a second die tool head with a bullet seater and a crimping die only in it. So I take the case with the powder and put a bullet on it and put it on the Lee 1000 case feeder and seat the bullet and then crimp it.

Yes it takes a bit longer to do my reloading but over all it is about the same time because all it takes is for the powder to spill one time on the 1000 machine and you spend the next 20 minutes cleaning it out.

Some day I will buy a Dillon or Hornady progressive that you can install a powder checking die but for now I have a hard time justifying a +1500 dollar expense to switch over all the calibers that I reload for.
 
I reload every casing by hand. After 50 are loaded with powder, I look into each casing to ensure powder is present and levels look the same. If one is missed or one over powdered...it is easily spotted. Takes more time but what is your eye or face worth? Or possibly someone else getting hurt. GOTTA RELOAD 1000 AN HOUR....????
 
I use RCBS 4x4 and use the lock-out die between the uniflow and the seater. If there is double charge or no charge - it will lock up the upward travel of the press ram. The die cost less than $80 and worth it. I believe it should work on any progressive press.
 
When I'm reloading, I like bright light so I can see into the case as every powder charge is thrown. And I always bottom out on the stroke (arm up, ram down) so it jumps to the next die position, using Lee turret press.
 
Pilots figure that sooner or later we will all make a landing without remembering to put the wheels down.

Pistol handloaders will sooner or later double charge a case. Have you deleiberatly double charged to see if it is noticable? If you use a fast powder it might not be. A good reason to use a slower/bulkier powder.
 
H4831 said:
This is something that every reloader on here should take seriously. I don't care how long we have been reloading, there is not one of us on here that couldn't make that, or a similar mistake.
All it takes is a moment of losing concentration, or being interrupted, etc.
To prevent such things we all take steps of precaution to preclude such an event, but even so--
If someone wants to say I am giving reloading a bad name, then so be it.
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You've got that right. A few years ago an associate of mine in his 50's, who shot and reloaded all his life, had such an incident. The very picture of a big time knowledgeable gun guy.

He had marital troubles, and had his mind on his new young girlfriend, and how he would explain that to his wife...

He reloaded a few 270's with pistol powder. Destroyed a beautiful pre-64 Winchester M70. The doctor had to pick bits of pins and springs out of his facial skin. Good thing the doc was a family friend, and the man in question was alright.

The moral of the story: don't have a girlfriend on the side and you won't get hurt.:)
 
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Wow...Thats crazy!
Im glad your alright,
Im just working with blackpowder and subs myself so theres less to worry about -for example-prime then fill case and thumb seat bullet.

Seems with smokeless theres far more variables that needs a higher level of skill, I respect all you guys who do it.

When I finally settle on a modern rifle I plan on reloading , but not until I do alot of homework first.

measure twice and charge onece

Cheers Guys!
 
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GANDERITE said:
Pilots figure that sooner or later we will all make a landing without remembering to put the wheels down.

Pistol handloaders will sooner or later double charge a case. Have you deleiberatly double charged to see if it is noticable? If you use a fast powder it might not be. A good reason to use a slower/bulkier powder.
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Sage advice Ganderite !!
When I first started reloading with .45 on a Dillon, , I did exactly that --intentionally double charged w/700X-- left a good mess , ( would'nt want to fire that compressed load!)it raises the alarm bells when you see the powder all over the machine.
 
GANDERITE said:
Pilots figure that sooner or later we will all make a landing without remembering to put the wheels down.

Pistol handloaders will sooner or later double charge a case. Have you deleiberatly double charged to see if it is noticable? If you use a fast powder it might not be. A good reason to use a slower/bulkier powder.
Click to expand...

If the pilot has a set of wheel floats, and makes many consecutive water landings before landing on a hard strip; the chances of not putting the wheels down increase dramatically. So it is with the handloader who always loads powder charges that fill the case to the extent that a double charge is not possible, then switches to a fast powder.

A double charge of SR-4759 with a 210 gr cast bullet in a .30/06 is a memorable event. It happened to me once - it will not happen twice. I don't want to know what the chamber pressure was. The bolt had to beat open with a 2X4, the primer was in the bottom of the magazine, the flash hole was equal in diameter to the primer pocket, but the primer pocket grew out to the edge of the printing on the case head. The printing on the case head was permanently stamped into the bolt face. I was shooting over a chronograph; the previous rounds were in the low to mid 1800's, this one clocked at 2850 fps. No serious damage occurred to the rifle, a M-17 Enfield which saw thousands of more rounds over several years, and more importantly, no damage was sustained by me.

The most important thing to remember when loading reduced loads, is that a double charge is possible and that it can happen to you. If you are not sure, pull the bullet, dump the powder and reweigh it. It doesn't matter what system you use to weigh out powder and charge the cartridges, but it must be repeatable. If you are tired or distracted stop.
 
Are you using a progressive press? I find that it's a little more difficult to double charge on a progressive. That and my audible powder check has saved my ass a couple times.
 
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