powder check gone wrong

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murf

murf

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i got the darwin award today. i missed a case this morning. i checked all the cases i filled with powder. i saw powder in all fifty of them, but one case didn't have any powder. that one stuck a bullet in my glock 19 this afternoon. apparently i went too fast when checking the powder, or something (complacent, i think).

i heard the "pfft" sound and immediately knew what happened and stopped shooting. the bullet stuck a bit up the barrel. i didn't have a range rod in my bag so i had to wait until i got home to punch the bullet out of the barrel. on the bright side, i now have a perfect barrel slug (grooves - .356", lands - .347").

on the darker side, i loaded up fifty 45 acp rounds this evening. upon checking the powder, i found two double charged cases. i don't know what is going on here, but i'm glad i check the powder fill before i seat the bullet. these two rounds would have blown up my gun.

i'm posting this to let everyone know that no one is perfect and things happen (and for me, when it rains it pours). so, please, check and make sure there is the correct amount of powder in each and every case before you seat a bullet. this is, in my opinion, by far the most important step in the handloading/reloading process.

and stop shooting if anything sounds wrong, looks wrong, or feels wrong. this can be a dangerous business and complacency can get you seriously hurt.

murf
 
Glad you are ok.
If you’re going to screw up, your screw up is a good way to do it.

And yes the reminders you give are ones we should all hear all the time.
 
Glad you was alert at the range.
I had that happen to me, but the bullet never left the case. Just thought the powder got wet. Got distracted.
 
Yes. See my recent thread on "avoiding double charges." I blew up a revolver, and it could have been a double-charge. I distinctly remember a sense of grown confidence during that reloading session, followed immediately by a warning to myself not to get complacent or smug. Even though I verbally reminded myself and by my conscience I warned myself to be careful, there is nothing like cold, hard consequences to reinforce inviolable realities.

I would rather learn from other's mistakes, but we can be thankful for lessons learned the hard way where no injury resulted. But it's up to us to take home the lesson and not repeat the mistake.

I can tell you from my experience that I've decided that, "I look in every case" is not a good enough method. There's no excuse not to, and a powder cop or lockout die or whatever is not an excuse to not look at what you're doing, but I am not satisfied anymore without multiple fail-safes. Immediately, besides never neglecting to turn my press lights on and look in every case before I seat a bullet, I also switched to loads that fill the case (like 16 gr of IMR4227 for .357 magnum instead of 5 grains of a fast powder). I don't think I'll use partial-fill loads again until I get a lockout die. I also weigh finished cartridges, which is effective with the components I use because they can be expected to be within 1 gr.

I had a lesson from a squib load too. Not because I missed the powder charge, but from cases that had been wet-tumbled and not thoroughly dried. The remainder of the 100 cartridges had to be pulled. No damage done, but I'll never just air-dry cases for a day again. Now I always wet tumble, air dry, then dry-tumble polish the cases.
 
Thanks for the warning! Its not easy to admit our errors!

Id seen enough loading shenanigans happen before Id ever loaded a round myself, to decide that I want to use powders that really fill a case.

Im pretty good at dismissing my own safety sometimes, but I always keep in mind while loading; "these all have the potential to be fired by my boy".
That helps me mind my Ps and Qs
 
OP glad you figured out the problem and are OK with no damage to you or the firearm. Paying attention to what happens every time when the trigger is pulled is always on my mind whether reloads or factory ammo. One of the reasons precipitating no mag dumps for me.;)

So far in 30+ years of reloading I have not had a squib or double charge. I like to take my time and hand craft the ammo as best I can. Part of that process is to batch load using loading blocks. I also like to use a custom made scoop for my charges after I settle on a load. As a final check I look in the casings with a strong light and compare the levels in the whole block before I start to seat bullets. Every time I reload a block of ammo. This has worked out well so far. Not saying that another way is inferior in any way at all but I read about many more problems we collectively as reloaders have when using a progressive press-- even with lights, powder cops, and the like to aid us. I sometimes think that a progressive press would be fun but talk myself out of it due to safety concerns every time. I will not trade off my safety for added speed------but that's just my personal take. YMMV
 
Ah you didn’t get the Darwin Award, at least you stopped. Some don’t and the results are sometimes catastrophic.

I have more presses without powder check dies but, when I can, I always use them.
 
I still load on 50 round wood blocks on a single stage Rockchucker. And I take all the time needed to eyeball every case in the block several times under a good light. In thirty years I have never loaded a squib or a double charge simply because I never get in a hurry. Today most guys want to buy the fastest progressive press they can find and never really consider what might happen if they get going too fast on the reload bench. Being careful apparently takes too much of their precious time. I used to see guys have squibs all of the time at the range and everyone of those cartridges was loaded on a Dillon just as fast as they could run it. And most of them would quickly fire another round into their plugged barrel before they could stop. IMO handloading is NOT a good activity for people in a big hurry. It's not a video game kids.
 
Had a squib about 6 months ago in my P-229. Bullet stuck about 1/2" into the barrel. I knew it was a squib when it happened.

I know how it happened and it was my fault. Sometimes I leave primed brass near my loading tray. I got distracted and grabbed a primed case that wasn't in my tray and seated a bullet. I should have had only 50 finished rounds but somehow I missed that too. I always check every case for powder before I seat.

I now load my tray with 50 cases and remove any cases from the bench that aren't in the tray. Lesson learned.

I used to shoot a lot of trap and there were plenty of double charges and shot rolling out of barrels.:oops:
 
Last edited:
.45 cases seem to be the ones I had the most trouble with. You'd think short squatty case with wide mouth would be no problems. But Noooooo. Finally figured a system that worked for me with them.

I developed my own primer counter several years before Hornday. But all it does is count the number of times you prime. My plans are to add to it to detect out of sequence things like double charging and not charging. Of course it won't detect if the powder measure failed to drop a charge. Wondering if a very short distance laser range finder could be integrated, too? Hmmm.
 
I'v never seen a squib loaded on a Dillon 650, or any other progressive with auto-indexing and powder check.

"The way grand daddy did it" is seldom the best or most efficient way.
 
Ironicaintit said:
Id seen enough loading shenanigans happen before Id ever loaded a round myself, to decide that I want to use powders that really fill a case.
Click to expand...
the double charge was 5.0 grains of bullseye in a 45 acp case. that is a toughie. i had to shine the flashlight in those two cases a few times and really stare at the case wall before i realized there was a difference in wall height. i immediately poured the powder back on the scale. it weighed out @ 10.0 grains. not cool!

murf
 
Drail said:
I still load on 50 round wood blocks on a single stage Rockchucker.
Click to expand...
yup, that's how i have done it since i was a teen. i can't remember the last time i had this problem, if at all. getting old, i guess.

murf
 
i posted this to try and help those that may have a mishap with powder charging. any anecdotal stories are welcome. again, no one is perfect.

murf
 
There is one thing that can't be emphasized enough!!!

Always, always use a powder/charge where a double charge will overflow the case!
This is almost impossible with .45 Colt, but it works well with 9 out of a 10 calibers.
 
murf said:
the double charge was 5.0 grains of bullseye in a 45 acp case. that is a toughie. i had to shine the flashlight in those two cases a few times and really stare at the case wall before i realized there was a difference in wall height. i immediately poured the powder back on the scale. it weighed out @ 10.0 grains. not cool!

murf
Click to expand...
5.0 grains of bullseye was my dads favorite load for 45acp. when I got to loading my own, I was going to duplicate that recipe, but I didnt like the amount of case filled! His .45 rounds were a little light for my taste anyhow...wouldnt even cycle my FNP... so, instead of just bumping it up, I made my own load using Unique. Ran my own tests, and settled on 6.5 grains with a 230 FMJ/JHP. It's got some zest! and no doubles are possible.
It cycles my FNP reliably, and I re-sprung my Para P14 to handle them.

I use Unique for a lot. despite it's metering traits....it's nice and fluffy and shoots great.
On large capacity cases like 357 and 44 magnum, I appreciate Herco, and IMR 4227.... and the last couple pounds of bullseye have been relegated to the lowly 380acp. (at 3.2 grains per, its gonna take me my whole life to use it all)

I really like what Drail said. I'm in no rush. I load on an old Lyman S-T turret, in the small hours of the morning when I cant sleep (but wide awake, to be sure). sip coffee, usually listening to vintage C&W (none of this hick-hop or poppy stuff), taking my sweet time, enjoying the attention to details and the process.
 
labnoti said:
Yes. See my recent thread on "avoiding double charges." I blew up a revolver, and it could have been a double-charge. I distinctly remember a sense of grown confidence during that reloading session, followed immediately by a warning to myself not to get complacent or smug. Even though I verbally reminded myself and by my conscience I warned myself to be careful, there is nothing like cold, hard consequences to reinforce inviolable realities.

I would rather learn from other's mistakes, but we can be thankful for lessons learned the hard way where no injury resulted. But it's up to us to take home the lesson and not repeat the mistake.

I can tell you from my experience that I've decided that, "I look in every case" is not a good enough method. There's no excuse not to, and a powder cop or lockout die or whatever is not an excuse to not look at what you're doing, but I am not satisfied anymore without multiple fail-safes. Immediately, besides never neglecting to turn my press lights on and look in every case before I seat a bullet, I also switched to loads that fill the case (like 16 gr of IMR4227 for .357 magnum instead of 5 grains of a fast powder). I don't think I'll use partial-fill loads again until I get a lockout die. I also weigh finished cartridges, which is effective with the components I use because they can be expected to be within 1 gr.

I had a lesson from a squib load too. Not because I missed the powder charge, but from cases that had been wet-tumbled and not thoroughly dried. The remainder of the 100 cartridges had to be pulled. No damage done, but I'll never just air-dry cases for a day again. Now I always wet tumble, air dry, then dry-tumble polish the cases.
Click to expand...
sounds interesting, can you link to the post?
 
Precisely why once the powder goes in the case it doesn't leave my hand until the bullet is seated. 30 years no squib, no 2X charges; only 2 misfires due to bad primers. May be slower, but safer.
 
PWC said:
Precisely why once the powder goes in the case it doesn't leave my hand until the bullet is seated. 30 years no squib, no 2X charges; only 2 misfires due to bad primers. May be slower, but safer.
Click to expand...
another great way to load. the ultimate "safety" is still between your ears.

murf
 
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