Reloading Mistake

[vaalpens]

Just want to remind the new people getting into reloading like me . Check your work after each step . When I was loading Saturday I caught a double charged case and a high primer . That was the first time that I have caught or made any mistakes .

The key here is that you were able to catch the overcharge and correct it.

I have never finished a round with an over or undercharge, but have caught a few missteps. It is just being human. I load on a Lee turret press, and don't always follow the exact same process. Sometimes I have primed cases, and sometimes not. Sometimes I weigh the powder for each round, and sometimes I use my Lee auto drum powder measure.

There is one thing I try and keep constant, and that is to look into the case before I seat the bullet. Anytime I see a charge that doesn't look right, I will start over with that round. I will sometimes even pull a bullet or bullets if I think I maybe missed looking down the case, or if feel I missed something. The key for me is to feel confident with the loads I just created.

Catching a high primer is not always that easy. If I prime my cases before the load process, it is easy. I always feel the primer after the seating, and also place the case upside down in a tray. If I prime during the load process, then I have to add a step to check the primers.

Be safe.

 

[Mick Boon]

Biggest reloading mistake I ever made ... that I'll admit too ... is not buying enough primers!

I saw the shortage coming and stocked up.

 

[red rick]

The key here is that you were able to catch the overcharge and correct it.

I have never finished a round with an over or undercharge, but have caught a few missteps. It is just being human. I load on a Lee turret press, and don't always follow the exact same process. Sometimes I have primed cases, and sometimes not. Sometimes I weigh the powder for each round, and sometimes I use my Lee auto drum powder measure.

There is one thing I try and keep constant, and that is to look into the case before I seat the bullet. Anytime I see a charge that doesn't look right, I will start over with that round. I will sometimes even pull a bullet or bullets if I think I maybe missed looking down the case, or if feel I missed something. The key for me is to feel confident with the loads I just created.

Catching a high primer is not always that easy. If I prime my cases before the load process, it is easy. I always feel the primer after the seating, and also place the case upside down in a tray. If I prime during the load process, then I have to add a step to check the primers.

Be safe.

I have the same press , I basically do the same as you , but I have never used the auto prime that came with the kit .

 

[vaalpens]

I have the same press , I basically do the same as you , but I have never used the auto prime that came with the kit .

I don't use any auto prime.

I place the primers in an RCBS primer tray, pick each one up by hand, and place each primer in the primer arm cup, and then prime the case. Doing it this way I think is safer, plus it helps exercising the fine motor skills in your hands.

So basically I prime the same way, but sometimes I will just prime the cases and save them, and sometimes I will prime them as part of my loading session (resize, prime, powder, bullet seat and crimp) .

 

[roval]

What would you do differently ?

if you are using 2 loading trays 1st tray has empty primed and belled cases upside down, charge with powder and place in 2nd tray once charged and don't get interrupted and inspect prior to batch seating. only take a case to be charged from 1st tray. you still might get a squib if you don't inspect properly but you shouldn't get a double charge. is this what you are doing with the 2 trays?

i load on a progressive and after checking the charge weights average for 20 rds stop weighing charges unless there's a long gap in reloading. so i don't think you have to weigh each charge myself unless big cornflakes like 800x or extruded rifle powder ( then weighed with chargemaster) and those don't get loaded in full progressive fashion and then i do it in above fashion but i still do the resizing, depriming, priming, belling - break the process as above then....,seating and crimp on the progressive.

 

[Pottimus]

Thank you for being humble enough to remind us to be careful, and to remain ever diligent during the process.

 

[warnerwh]

I only reload when I'm fully alert and there are zero distractions. Never load when tired when it's easy to make mistakes. I remember reading about a guy in Idaho who had been reloading for decades. His shotgun blew up and it killed him so never ever be complacent.

 

[41 Mag]

Sounds like OP might have propellant bridging problems and might have light loads mixed in as well. Be aware for a squib in that batch.

I was headed for this just late to tha party.

Not being judgmental at all, Lord knows I've messed up plenty of stuff over the past 40yrs.

That said, if your measure has those screw in little funnels for the bottom, the smaller one can hold powder up from one charge to the next especially if you're operating the drum without a solid knock at the top or bottom. Even then some powders will stack or bridge on the fall depending on the drop.

I throw probably 90+% of my charges, either loading from a tray or on my progressive presses. I make every effort to visually check the powder height on every rounds as I'm working through a batch. Even so, I've still had that one off case that gets less powder due to the above described.

I used a VLD chamfer tool to ream my small case neck funnels for my Uniflo measures. It just gives a smoother transition through the funnels and into the smaller cases. Still I use a solid thump at the end of the stroke usually followed up by several thumps on the side of the funnel with a fingernail to dislodge anything that might be stuck.

In multiple thousands of rounds, yes I have experienced both of the mentioned primer and powder issue, but not at the same time. The primer issue was probably a tight pocket and felt like it was fully seated but wasn't. Been there. Usually get those on the progressive, but the clearance usually won't allow me to advance the round until I clear that case. If it does make it past it's just barely sitting proud and I catch and reseat later when I'm doing final inspections while boxing them ip.

 

[Highland Lofts]

So, the primed, empty cases are in a tray. You then drop the charge from the measure and put the case back in a tray.
Same tray or in a separate tray for only the charged cases?

If your press is already set up ready to seat the bullet, once the powder is dropped, rather than putting it in a tray, why not go ahead and seat the bullet then put it in the tray?

Once the charged case is in your hand why not seat the bullet next? (don't know if you are using your turret as single stage or semi-progressive)

I only had a single stage press, and once the powder was in the case and checked, the case did not leave my hand until it was closed, then it went into a separate block from the uncharged cases. Just my process, in 38 yrs never had a squib, nor overcharge. Worked for me.

I have two Hornady Lock n Load single-stage presses set up side by side.
Ill have a sizing die in one press and a flare die set up in the other press.
I generally process about 500 pistol cases at a time.
I have a plastic contaoner with the unprocessed brass. I will grab one, resize it, put it in the other press and flare in them put it in the other container.

i prime at the kitchen table with a Lee Bench Prime.
I'll grab five boxes of primers and get them all primed.
Then set up my powder drop, I'll put a bunch of primed cases in a plastic cereal bowl and bullets in another cereal bowl.
Ant I'll have a plastic tray that pistol ammo comes in to put the finished cases in .
I'll charge a case, seat the bullet in the first press then place the loaded cartridge in the second press and crimp it, them place it in the plastic tray.

After I fill two pistol trays I'll place the finished cartridges I'm the 200 round plastic storage containers and label them.

357mag
Berry's 158 grain round nose
7.2 grains Bullseye
Velocity
Col 1.580

I just losded up six hundred 38spl and
six hundred 357 mag.
now ill work on 44spl and 44mag then 9mm and 10mm.

I did the same thing. Once I didn’t put powder in a 9 mm luckily it didn’t sound right and I looked. The bullet was about half down the barrel. It scared the heck out of me. I made them for 38 357 and 45 colt

My friend reloads and has his set up on a rolling beck he stores in a extra bedroom.
He will wheel it out to the living room and do his loading while he watches TV.
Needless to say his nick name is Mr Squib.
Distractions and reloading is a dangerous combination.

I use to have a radio up in my reloading room, I got rid of it.
Also good lighting is very important.

 

[JFrank]

I’ve lost track and double charged cases, it’s easy to tell when you lift the funnel and powder goes everywhere. Dang it ! Start over ..

 

[deadeye dick]

I keep a small led flashlight on the bench specifically for doing a visual check of the charged cartridges in the loading block before seating bullets. This is an easy check with straight wall cartridges, a bit trickier with bottleneck cartridges but still doable. Double charged or empty cartridges show up readily. Using a flashlight is a lot better than relying on room lights. The shadows from a room light could hide a problem.

That's exactly how i do it.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I bought a sewing machine light from ebay for my press light. It works good for me.

 

[Barmcd]

I use a Lee Turret press and an on-press powder measure for handgun loads. I look in every case after charging it with powder to make sure 1. It has powder and 2. Its not double charged. I don't have calibrated eyeballs, but I can tell by a glance if it looks odd. Despite my best efforts I've made mistakes that I caught before shooting the rounds and I've disassembled cartridges because I found something that gave me pause.

I don't store powder or primers where my reloading bench is. One day I was using Staball 6.5 and CFE pistol at the bench. After loading 50 rounds of 9MM I realized both 1 lb. containers had green and black labels and could not remember for sure which I had used. I took one rifle and one pistol cartridge apart to make sure I used the right powder in the right case. I had, but that cured me of bring two different powders to the bench at the same time.

 

[hdwhit]

Just want to remind the new people getting into reloading like me . Check your work after each step . When I was loading Saturday I caught a double charged case and a high primer . That was the first time that I have caught or made any mistakes .

I am editing this post to say that it wasn’t a double charge . This thread got me to thinking if a 9mm case could hold 6.0 grains of HS-6 . It could but it was almost overflowing . My case was not near that full . I must of had something going on with my powder measurer , powder , or my technique . Double checking caught the out of spec cases .

I am a single-stage handloader, so what I do may not be applicable to others.

I got into reloading to 1) get around the fact that .30 Carbine was - at the time - considered a pistol cartridge, and 2) get around my father's restrictions on how much ammunition I could purchase each week.

Once my father accepted that I was going to be reloading, he insisted that I implement a set of written reloading procedures to be accompanied by a written checklist that was to be used any time I was at the bench.

Those procedures and that checklist saved me on more than one occasion.