Safety and Accuracy

Most of us drive every day. Reloading is less dangerous than driving. Stop at the stop sign and look both ways, every time. Check beside you before changing lanes, every time. Most people can do this and would laugh if they were told they don't need to.

Put your powder away or label the hopper, every time. No different.
 
Another important reloading safety tip- Always make sure you charged every round.

I reload rifle on a Dillon 550. It’s easy to miss charging a round. After I load my batches I weigh them to ensure I don’t have any light rounds. I have caught myself a couple times with empty .223 rounds.
 
John, I am not going to disagree with the findings with the Berdan priming system being more consistent.

I've read a couple of different studies on why and back in my HBR days I went to great lengths and expense to find cartridge brass with BERDAN primer pockets and to bring in match grade primers that came out of Sweden. I ran this ammo very hot. One cartridge was the 308Win with Palma Match body dimensions and a special neck/throat reamer so that I had to turn the necks for proper clearance or they wouldn't fit.

The next, was a 6.5x08 that used the same PM reamer with a 6.5 neck/throat reamer. Both were extremely accurate. Yes, I know it's called a 260 Remington but back in the day it was a wildcat.

Finding brass wasn't a problem. Norma had it available as did Gevelot, which I believe was a subsidiary of Norma. Please feel free to correct that, it was and is great brass if you can find it.

Finding BERDAN PRIMERS that were consistent from lot to lot was a whole different story.

Finally, at a Penticton match Nobby Uno came over to chat. Nice fellow and a very meticulous gunsmith. I like him a lot.

He looked at my brass and my primer boxes and asked me why I was going through all of the trouble. I mentioned an article out of the UK where tests were done between Boxer/Berdan primed loads in the same rifle.

This didn't happen with just one lab facility or group of shooters. It was done over thousands of rounds and the velocities/accuracy were recorded in detail

Their conclusion was that the TWO FLAME HOLES made the BERDAN loadings more consistent with STANDARD type primers. Magnum type primers didn't seem to make any difference.

When they went to Boxer primed brass, STANDARD primers gave them inconsistency as far as velocities and accuracy went. They tried drilling all of the flame holes to the same size but it didn't seem to make a difference. Some of them claimed inside burrs on the flame holes also effected consistency.

One of the boxer primer manufacturers came up with the suggestion that they should try "hotter primers." Of course there were the same discussions we see here but they did try them. The manufacturers made up special batches of primers with different ignition temperatures and duration of flame.

They found that HOTTER PRIMERS tended to give consistency on par with BERDAN priming.

This lead to special match grade Bench Rest Primers being made available. I used to buy them in boxes of 5x1000 sleeves so that I could maintain lot consistency.

NOW, I just use CCI 250 Magnum primers for everything and haven't looked back.

Standard cases, because of their larger capacity are a bit more forgiving than smaller cases, like 22 Hornet and 223 Rem. I still use magnum primers in the small cases but work up the loads much more carefully

When I can get consistent 1/2 moa groups out of a hunting rifle, such as my custom 7x57, built on a 98 action or a Tikka T3 in 6.5x55 or an off the shelf Model 7, 308 Win, I'm very pleased.

I find primers can be very temperature sensitive around -20C. Magnum primers don't seem to notice it as much.

I have been chastised by a lot of folks about "OVER PRIMING." I just ask them how that's possible if I've worked up the loads accordingly.

This is of course IMHO and my own personal experiences with methods based on an article I read from a magazine in the mid eighties. I don't remember if it was Rifle/Handloader/American Rifleman.

TURF THE LIBERALS IN 2019

LIBERALS REALLY LIKE POOR PEOPLE, they're making more of them every day

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coleman1495 said:
Another important reloading safety tip- Always make sure you charged every round.

I reload rifle on a Dillon 550. It’s easy to miss charging a round. After I load my batches I weigh them to ensure I don’t have any light rounds. I have caught myself a couple times with empty .223 rounds.
Click to expand...

I used to load my match ammo on a Dillon 550. Sometimes a case would not feed into a die, giving a shock to the press. I would then cycle and dump two more rounds because the powder would be uneven until the press got back into rhythm.

I would do the same if I stopped to answer the phone or wife. Wanted to keep powder charge the same and also avoid the risk of a case with no powder. With regular rifle powder and jacketed bullets there is no risk of a double charge, like there is with fast powder.

When loading on a single stage, the powdered rounds go onto a loading black. When it is full, I scan the rows for full cases, and make sure they all look the same.

Not unusual to find an empty case.
 
I was loading some .455 with smokeless powder for a Mk.VI Webley. All good, I finished up and put the powder can away. I had some left in the thrower and intended to shoot what I had loaded and come right back and reload them again. That didnt happen, I shot some then decided to reload another day.

Fast forward to about a week later, I wanted to load up some black powder ammo in 450 Adams for an antique bulldog pistol. I got everything going and loaded my first cartridge and then realised that the powder was smokeless. Oh my goodness! I am an idiot!
I took that first cartridge and put it aside for me to pull the bullet and reload. I got rid of the smokeless powder and continued to load my batch with black. I put them in a reloading tray.

The one cartridge got lost on the bench and ended up on the floor I guess. A couple of days later, a young kitten was playing with it whacking it about in the kitchen. My significant other took it away from the cat an brought it to my reloading room. She saw the partial loading tray and guess where she put it? Yup.

Later, I got ready to shoot the bull dog and came and got the ammo. I was shooting away and then WHAM!, boy that was a stiff one! I looked and the top strap was broken. No instantaneous catastrophic complete disassembly, but now my once working antique is a display item.

My lesson learnt, if loaded wrong, I get the inertia hammer and take down that ammo right away and not leave for another day.

So easily done. When you hear the bang, it is too late.
 
As I said "Dump the powder each time and only the one can on the bench is the safe way to do it. Otherwise, Murphy will pay a visit."

I regard Murphy as a "when" proposition, rather than an "if". If we give him the slightest opportunity, he drops by and screws something up.

And I beg fellow Nutters to not think "it can't happen to me."

Sorry for your loss. I have some antiques and I would be distressed if Murphy blew one up.
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Put a piece of blue painters tape on the powder tube and on the powder can it was filled with. If you run multiple calibers and powder dispensers, use green tape for the other etc.

You could also write the cal/grs you are reloading on the tape if it helps.
 
Ganderite said:
As I said "Dump the powder each time and only the one can on the bench is the safe way to do it. Otherwise, Murphy will pay a visit."

I regard Murphy as a "when" proposition, rather than an "if". If we give him the slightest opportunity, he drops by and screws something up.

And I beg fellow Nutters to not think "it can't happen to me."

Sorry for your loss. I have some antiques and I would be distressed if Murphy blew one up.
PF3Z8qN.jpg
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RELOADING IS NOT A TASK FOR A LAZY OR CARELESS INDIVIDUAL.

I've taught several people to load their own ammo and if I see anything to indicate the above, I tell the person right away that being lazy or careless can and will eventually lead to unpleasant circumstances.

Ganderite, IMHO, is being polite.

Things can and do happen, sometimes beyond our control. That's why I don't buy part cans of powder at gun shows. Also, if I purchase hand loads, they're purchased as components only.

TURF THE LIBERALS IN 2019

LIBERALS REALLY LIKE POOR PEOPLE, they're making more of them every day

If you can't vote CPC, stay at home in protest
 
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