How do I dispose of bad rounds?

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IMO A double charge in a 9MM would overfill the case, I’m not sure you could even seat the bullet.
Squibs happen occasionally, it’s why I carry dowel rods in the kit. Your post indicated numerous rounds fired before the squib. For my self I’d fire off the remaining rounds. That’s just me however.
 
ANYTIME you have an interruption in the cycle of a progressive press you should remove ALL cases from the press.
 
Yes. I started using the progressive press and I had to learn it on my own. (So if there was a malfunction, and I had to argue with it to fix it, I lost track of what case had been through which station.

Now I have a much better rhythm for it. And if there's an issue, just pull the case out and recycle it, I don't argue with it. I also bought a stand that moves the press about 4" lower than I had it, and I mounted a lamp to be able to see inside every case, every time.

The Blessing is that on one or nothing was hurt or damaged. The positive note from this is that you learned a valuable lesson in many different ways.

So why do you think you missed those charges? It is important to know and understand the reason. If it was just unfamiliarity with the press and process so be it.

Anyone using a progressive press should know and understand exactly what each station is doing and should be able to recognize when something is amiss and what is needed to correct it.. Even on a simple progressive like the Pro1000 with only 3 stations removing one case from the press is going to effect the others, same happens with the ABLP.
 
Because I didn't have my head around all the processes and sequence of operations.

And no, I couldn't just shoot the rest of them and hope for the best. I was lucky that this squib didn't go far enough to let a new round chamber. What if the next one did?
 
IMO A double charge in a 9MM would overfill the case, I’m not sure you could even seat the bullet.
Squibs happen occasionally, it’s why I carry dowel rods in the kit. Your post indicated numerous rounds fired before the squib. For my self I’d fire off the remaining rounds. That’s just me however.

A double charge of Titegroup will. And one of the reasons I quit using Unique, is that in some loads, you have to actually crush it down in the case. It was correct and it worked, but it gave me the willies.
 
Everyone’s different, for my self it would be impossible for me to run off that many rounds and then suspect the whole batch because of one squib. I use a 550 and a powder scale is always set up ready to use. I check powder weights at random intervals, 2 to 3 times between primer refills on average.
 
No point in weighing 9mm rounds in mixed brass. IMO
If you allow for 1 gr bullet weight difference + or - and differences in case weight it won't work for a 4-6gr charge.
Random 9mm cases from mixed range brass
63.5
59.7
64.4
60.4
60.1
61.0
62.3
66.8
62.3
61.0
62.7
64.7
63.7
60.4
61.2
62.2
58.5
61.8
57.8
Just handfull I grapped out of my bucket, cleaned but still have old primers in them
So MAX was 66.8 MIN was 57.8, 9grs difference! Won't work for spotting a missing or double 4gr charge.
While I have never tried it, I think for example 8 grs of Titegroup might not overflow and would be BAD news in a 9mm round.

If some of you sort your 9mm brass I would be interested to see a random sample of X brand cases that were not from the same box of ammo but all brand X,
For that matter it might be interesting to see the variance of all the cases from the same box of ammo.
I just use mixed range brass as off hand with my old tired eyes and iron sights I am hard pressed to shoot the difference.

I believe RCBS hammer puller has a lifetime warranty and spare parts are available.
Had one from Cabelas not spares short warranty. (it broke when it was a couple years old) used it, but never that much.


But the kinetic makes you remember to quadruple check everything the next time.
Just :evil: but I like it:D

I really like using the RCBS lockout die but I have a station for it on my LNL
 
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Because I didn't have my head around all the processes and sequence of operations.

And no, I couldn't just shoot the rest of them and hope for the best. I was lucky that this squib didn't go far enough to let a new round chamber. What if the next one did?

PM coming your way.
 
No point in weighing 9mm rounds= in mixed brass. IMO
If you allow for 1 gr bullet weight difference + or - and differences in case weight it won't work for a 4-6gr charge.
Random 9mm cases from mixed range brass
63.5
59.7
64.4
60.4
60.1
61.0
62.3
66.8
62.3
61.0
62.7
64.7
63.7
60.4
61.2
62.2
58.5
61.8
57.8
Just handfull I grapped out of my bucket, cleanded but still have old primers in them
So MAX was 66.8 MIN was 57.8, 9grs difference! WOn't work for spotting a missing or double 4gr charge.
While I have never tried it, I think for example 8 grs of Titegroup might not overflow and would be BAD news in a 9mm round.

If some of you sort your 9mm brass I would be interested to see a random sample of X brand cases that were not from the same box of ammo but all brand X,
For that matter it might be interesting to see the variance of all the cases from the same box of ammo.
I just use mixed range brass as off hand with my old tired eyes and iron sights I am hard pressed to shoot the difference.

I believe RCBS hammer puller has a lifetime warranty and spare parts are available.
Had one from Cabelas not spares short warranty. (it broke when it was a couple years old) used it, but never that much.



Just :evil: but I like it:D

I really like using the RCBS lockout die but I have a station for it on my LNL

Yeah, all the brass was mixed. The process of weighing them all on my beam scale would have taken forever and been difficult to tell any difference at all. And the collet die was REALLY fast, I did the whole batch unless than an hour. I will still keep a hammer puller around to build the character of my range slaves. :)
 
I lucky that this squib didn't go far enough to let a new round chamber. What if the next one did?

How did you find out the squibbed bullet didn't go far enough to let a new round chamber? If you did the normal clearing/checking after you realized the round didn't go off normally and you saw the barrel was obstructed - great. That's the way it should be handled.

However following the unusual (squib) round, if you racked the slide and the next round didn't chamber and THAT'S how you discovered the stuck bullet - then my $.02 is to always make sure the above process is done (i.e. ensure all is clear) prior to chambering another round.

I realize I'm on the edge of speculation / getting preachy - which is why I asked it as a question. But having recently (just within the last week) seen a friend get a squib (the first squib I've ever seen anyone get ever) my warning radar is currently on high alert. When he had the unusual detonation we all watched closely as he ejected the case. It had a lot of soot on the outside and it had no bullet. We knew immediately there was only one place that bullet could be: in the barrel. If he'd just assumed it was a vanilla failure-to-fire, racked the slide, and pulled the trigger, his gun would now be history and he'd likely be nursing some set of bandages/scabs.

OR
 
So as I have been slowly progressing in my reloading, I have accumulated some bad rounds. I have mostly just let them accumulate, and didn't worry much about them.

I just got a Lee Breech Lock Pro progressive press, and I cranked through 300 ish 9mms. I took some out with my wife's new Ruger EC9s, and it was a great day.....until she hit a squib. (Fortunately it lodged in the barrel right in front of the chamber, and prevented another round from chambering. I popped it out with one tap.)

But the bad news is......how can I trust the rest of this batch? What if there's another squib? What if I did a double charge? I have gotten the rhythm now, and I have re-mounted the press in a way that lets me eyeball every single case from now on, I think I have learned the lesson. So I need to be a grownup and ditch the iffy batch. It's about $19 of supplies. I'll call it a cheap lesson learned.

But where and how? It's one thing to toss one round in the trash. It's another to drop 300 and hope that they don't get dropped on the floor of a landfill station and run over by a front loader against a concrete floor. If it was maybe a dozen or 20, I would pull them and reuse them. I don't think my range slaves have that kind of focus to pull 300. Is there any way to bulk neutralize them?

Without reading all the pages of answers, I'm going to suggest just boxing them up and selling them, just like A-Merc did..........:neener:

And that's a joke, by the way.:eek:

Fred
 
How much is your time, health and life worth? You have live rounds that may or may not have been loaded correctly. If your range does not have a bucket for live rounds that the range will dispose of, and you feel compulsed to make the world a safer place, use a collet puller.
 
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