Reloading incident. Remeber to check before seating bullets.

63hemipolara said:
I have a question, can you de-prime good primers. I was reloading and took one step too soon. Primed 50 .308 shells before resizing the collet. Part of the collet die is a depriming pin. Is there a danger of setting off the good primer or damaging the good primer. Thanks for the help. I have loaded thousands of 9mm and 45ACP, first time doing .308 rifle. COMPLETELY different animals. I am measuring overall length, using case lube to resize outside, cleaning the collet opening, cleaning the primer pocket, trimming them all to same length 2.010", deburring inside and outsize of trim. I am at the collet resize now, but got ahead of myself and primed all the 50 cases. Live and learn. I just want to be safe about removing the "live" primers. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
I did this once. Just take the de-priming pin out and size as usual.
 
I've deprimed many a live primer over the years. None have gone off (yet). All have lit off normally when re-used.
Be gentle, wear glasses, and you should be ok.

I don't think the deprime pin is removable from a Lee Collet die's mandrel.
 
In my opinion, the safest thing to do is 1) dispose of the round if it's only a case or two or 2) find a safe place like a rifle range; chamber and fire the primed only cases. You can de-prime many, many cases with your press, as you claim, but sooner or later a primer will go off. Take it from me, a primer going off is the press is not a good thing to happen. There was no damage, as far as I can tell, but it scared the sh*t out of me! Also it's one of those trust things with my wife. She doesn't want to hear "bang" while I'm at the reloading press.

Last piece of advise...

The last step before a reload goes into the "ready to fire" box...every completed case gets weighed with a digital scale. Over the years, this has caught and prevented two - double loaded 45acp from my Dillion 550 progressive and one - no charge from my single stage press. This is not much...3 out of thousands of reloads, but worth the effort, in my opinion.
 
Eagleye said:
I have seen incidents like this about a dozen times over the years. :oops: No powder is a more common one, but double charges of fast-burning propellants is asking for a disaster!! I have loaded for 40+ years now, and so far, have managed to escape either scenario personally [touch wood! :lol: ] But I have been religious about checking powder levels in all charged cases BEFORE seating bullets, and I do not use progressive presses, so maybe that is the reason. One small distraction can cause a hiccup, so it's good to be very attentive to what you are doing. Our hobby is generally a safe one, but is far from idiot-proof!! Regards, Eagleye.
Click to expand...

These are wise words, Dave, If I don't feel 100 per cent focused, I'm not gowing near the reloading bench.



focus is key.
 
hunter64 said:
On the other end of the spectrum years ago I was out with 3 other buddies at our usual saturday morning shoot at the range. Everything was as normal and we all proceeded over to the pistol 25 yard range. Plinking away when we heard a huge bang and this guy white as a ghost was limping around the table holding his right wrist in a daze. Somehow he had double charged a 44 mag shell and his redhawk was letting him know it didn't like it. That redhawk took it and next week he said he took it into a gunsmith to check it out and all was well. Never load when you have distractions, everyone can make mistakes but here you can't afford to make a mistake.
Click to expand...

Did that occur at club in Ontario as the story sounds very familiar. Scarey stuff.
 
Chrossphyre said:
I will second this suggestion: The RCBS Lockout Die is a "must have" addition to anyone loading progressively. It took me two barrels to find that out so learn from my mistakes.
Click to expand...

I haven't found the need for one in 20+ years on a progressive. Of course, I don't get distracted as easily as others.
 
TJCote said:
In my opinion, the safest thing to do is 1) dispose of the round if it's only a case or two or 2) find a safe place like a rifle range; chamber and fire the primed only cases. You can de-prime many, many cases with your press, as you claim, but sooner or later a primer will go off. Take it from me, a primer going off is the press is not a good thing to happen. There was no damage, as far as I can tell, but it scared the sh*t out of me! Also it's one of those trust things with my wife. She doesn't want to hear "bang" while I'm at the reloading press.

Last piece of advise...

The last step before a reload goes into the "ready to fire" box...every completed case gets weighed with a digital scale. Over the years, this has caught and prevented two - double loaded 45acp from my Dillion 550 progressive and one - no charge from my single stage press. This is not much...3 out of thousands of reloads, but worth the effort, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Excellent advice. My first round reloaded I misunderstood grains and grams abbreviation on the digital scale. Once everything was put together I compared the weight of it and a factory round. I knew then something was up.

I made a piece of dowling marked off with full and empty markings. I check that dowling against every round now just to make a quick check before moving on. Can't over stress the "triple check".
 
John Y Cannuck said:
Advice for newbies. ( and old farts that forget )
I like to use a powder that nearly fills the case if possible. It eliminates double charges, and for most aplications, those loads tend to be the accurate ones anyway.
For example You can't double charge a full load of H110 in a 44 mag case, it won't fit.
Use of a loading block.
Simple inexpensive little thing that could save your bacon. It allows you to compare the powder levels of all the charges. If they're all the same, either they're all right, or you really screwed up. It will quickly also point out the differences in powder capacities of different brands, and sometimes even different batches of brass.
Always check a few loads on the scale, (If you don't have a scale, GET ONE!) even if the levels are the same, then check that charge back against the manual one last time before you start seating bullets.
Click to expand...

Agree totally with these comments. It is the reason I have switched to HS6 for 9mm, 40 and 45 ACP. You cannot double charge as it wont fit. I had been using Titegroup which you can double charge. Saving 1c per round on powder cost is not worth it if you wreck your hand or loose you sight. I have learned in my life that if it is possible to make a mistake sooner or later you will. I try to remove as many possibilities for mistake as I can and simplify everything else as much as possible.
 
Silverback said:
It has nothing to do with being stupid; all it takes is a slight distraction. A friend of mine was reloading 45 ACP when his young kids came down and caused a little scene near him, that momentary lapse in concentration caused him to forget what he had done already and ended up with a double charge, luckily it was a light target load so the case just bulged and did not rupture or hurt the pistol. It was noticeably louder when he fired it. It never hurts to double or triple check when in doubt.
Click to expand...

I have learned that if I stop reloading on my progressive press for any reason that I manually check all 4 stages on the press. I once double charged a 45ACP. Fortunately it was a very light target load I was using. The powder charge ended up at about the proof load ie max plus 35%. Gave me a hell of a fright but the gun and myself were OK. One of the reasons I like Ruger's, they make them tough. I learnt my lesson switched to a bulkier powder and no problems since.
 
Polish-Jack said:
Why not just buy an electronic scale from Radio Shat ($30 ish) and weigh the finished product to make sure there are no double loads or if you missed a load?
Click to expand...

Simply put, when you shoot as much as I do this is not realistic. My typical loading session is 500 to 1000 rounds and I need to do this at least once a month. I am very very careful about my setup and I spot check at reasonable intervals. I also use the lightest load that will achieve what I am trying to with that cartridge. I don't think I have ever loaded to max charge. The point of a progressive press is that you don't need to check every cartridge. If you use the right powder you can minimize the risks of overcharging. In addition if you are using mixed brass as a lot of us do there are variations in brass weight that my be as much as the powder weight.

Now having said all this I am talking about relatively low powder volumes in handgun cartridges. Now high power rifle cartridges would be a whole different procedure.
 
So far so good for me. On my 550 I look into every case and in my 650 I do the same. I do not have a powder check die

In my youth when money was tight I looked for fast burning pistol powder that would give me the most reloads per pound. Now I am more inclined to buy a powder that will fill the case. It won't change my process of looking into each case but it will provide an addition measure of comfort against double charges, which would most likely spill over the case

To get to that promised land I have to get rid of 4-8 pounds of 700-x, which has a reputation for not metering well in progressive presses.

Lesson learned Is to buy a powder that meters well and fills up the case capacity
 
I find using a single stage press lessens the chance of making mistakes, I would also recommend when heading out to the range with reloaded ammo to bring basic gun smithing tools, such as a push rod, screwdrivers ect.... Years ago I was reloading 308 chambered a round, squeezed the trigger and nothing happened. The I realized I couldn't even cycle the bolt to eject the round. I was parinoid thinking I was going to have to drive home with a loaded round in the chamber of my rifle. Thankfully an old timer sitting next to me had basic tools with him and we managed to eject the round.
 
New Redding Dies for 38/357 does this. While I was full length sizing.

When you back out the stem, the primer is not pushed out.

What did I do wrong ? Did I switched the stem or something.

8ef9d04b-bfe6-4118-8e34-dbdaa8ca0162_zpsj94w4ii7.jpg


9-thumbnail_IMG_1143_zpstz0i7mun.jpg


Now what ?
 
So hack up a die here and die there.

1. So Full length resizing die -------- CH
2. Powder funnel and belling -------- Dillon
3. Seating die - - - - - ----------------RCBS
4. Crimping -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -CH

9042227a-b3f3-4fbb-9d25-0291e9984610_zpsvz6d3ynu.jpg


a4ff5742-1f8a-4134-aca6-2ed99c20fa6c_zps9a5y4kpx.jpg


Single stage CH Universal die gets the depriming going.

3d3bfe59-d52a-4444-a2e6-834ddb2a453f_zpsd7diq7ya.jpg


It will gets you this

fc6766f4-b64e-4bb0-b43f-3723ba58daf3_zpsgrnj6mzv.jpg


I am G...e...n...i...o...u...s !!!
466643_thumbnail_IMG_0614_zpsrvtjk7za.jpg
 
Ego bruiser, accident averted

Way too much unburned powder but the pop was lighter pop,

so I took a breath and noticed this >>>>

5a5eafb2-682f-434c-8742-59fe77521952_zps4dv65ngl.jpg


It took almost an hour to push the bullet back to the chamber, bad part is, I had my guests with me !!!
 
My buddy had a screw up this week with his powder drop reloading .38spl. Unfortunately he was rushing for a match that night and didn't look into every case or at the powder drop. He now has 6 bullets stuck in the barrel of his very newly acquired S&W 627 :HR:

On a side note does anyone have any suggestions as to how he can remove them?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom