I missed charging a case and got a squib. I followed a Sierra recipe for 454 and got 2 squibs and a lot of unburnt powder. Not really sure what caused it but I no longer use that recipe (it was light on powder compared to other manuals.) Fortunately I have never made an error with an overcharge.
The dumbest mistake you made when reloading?
- Thread starter TheDomFather
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I told my wife that I paid a $1.00 a pound for all the brass My Brass Monkey picked up at the range. She told him they would weigh more if they were full of mud. I had to buy a Harbor Freight cement mixer! My 5-gallon bucket of range brass went from an average of 50 lbs to about 75 lbs.
someguy2800
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I worked for a summer cutting up train cars with a torch at a metal scrap yard. They bought a lot of cars to process into scrap metal, probably 30 or 40 a day when steel prices were really high, and they always had to check the trunks of the cars people brought it because people would shove wood blocks in springs and fill the trunk full of dirt to get another 7 or 800 lbs of scrap wieght.
8x57mm
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Well, I guess this falls into reloading mishap. I was "pulling" rounds from a bunch of 38 reloads that had accumulated ov time. Whenever I had a cartridge not slide right into the cylinder of my target revolver, I would toss it into a pocket of my range bag. I was using an impact puller. On about the third cartridge... BANG! The round went off. **** my pants, but otherwise no injury. Even the impact puller seemed to have survived with little more than internal powder burns.
Still, even though I'd used the impact puller hundreds of times over the years without incident... I went to an RCBS press-mounted collet bullet puller, and have used that exclusively ever since.
Still, even though I'd used the impact puller hundreds of times over the years without incident... I went to an RCBS press-mounted collet bullet puller, and have used that exclusively ever since.
1976B.L.Johns.
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^^^WOW! How?^^^ I was using an impact puller. On about the third cartridge... BANG! The round went off. **** my pants, but otherwise no injury. Even the impact puller seemed to have survived with little more than internal powder burns.
Absolutely hilarious!I've done that,but never told the story so eloquentlyThat's not how to do it!
First one must pick up a case and hold it over the press while grabbing a bullet. This ensures enough time for the powder to be evacuated from the case and dispersed gently, over as much accoutrement as possible. When one finally notices there is leaking powder everywhere they must be sure to not know where to put the leaky case, and wave the pouring powder in a Witch Doctor fashion, blessing every nook and cranny with the power of fire.
When cleaning up, after one has regained composure from the ritualistic chanting, use a light solvent (like brake cleaner) to attract the kernels to the cleaning rag. Then marvel as the solvent dissolves (TA DAA!) the gun powder into a smeary, flammable, gooey mess.
Experience is the best teacher, not the least cruel, but very effective.
Right before deer season in 1980,I was loading 270 ammo,and the expander ball in the sizer die was dragging really hard.I got the great idea to put some WD-40 on a q-tip and lube the case necks with it.I didn't tumble back then,and just went along with the loading,happy that my great idea worked so well.No more screeching,all nice and smooth.On opening morning,a big buck came chasing a doe at a high rate of speed,but he was only 75 yards away,and I knew I could hit him.Firing pin hit with what had to be the loudest "click" ever.About one second after that,the powder finally went off,and I somehow managed to hit the deer straight through both hams.Killed him dead in seconds.I shot two more out of that box of ammo,and one went bang,the other went click...bang.Lesson learned.Dry lube only from then on,thank you.It was the biggest buck I had killed at the time.
8x57mm
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Went to the range with my shooting/reloading buddy to try out our new loads. He said to me, "give these 357s a try." I loaded up my Uberti revolver and pulled the trigger. Blew my gun to pieces! Cylinder flew 10 feet. My biggest reloading mistake was using someone else's test loads!
Zaydok Allen
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FLIGHT762
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In your impact puller, did you use the collet supplied with the tool or did you use a reloading press shell holder? I've read that using a press shell holder in place of the supplied collet type holder can cause primers to go off. I stopped using a press shell holder after reading that.
Blue68f100
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The difference is a shell holder allows movement (0.008"-0.010"), where the 3 finger base collet does not when tightened. The movement can set off a primer if nit was not fully seated.
I took a nasty chunk out of my finger with a 45 acp case and sizing die. I’ve also tried to drive a decapping pin through a finger before.
Kevin Rohrer
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My dumbest mistake was loading a small batch of something and not labeling the box, so I had no idea of what the ballistics might be.
Yep, drive ya nuts getting them all apart. Then Reloader Fred taught me a little trick, dump in the .45's and let them fill up, then the .40's, then the 9s, problem solved.
But I don't mix and match very often anymore when tumbling.
Used a Redding .223 sizer for a couple of decades before getting sloppy about how long before I put more lube on my finger......Now I use an RCBS .223 sizer, I was not careful enough removing the stuck case. (Lost patience and well.......I have a new sizer.
)
Demi-human
maybe likes firearms a little bit…
That's not very many...
I did figure out why there is two different sized priming rams and two diffferent trays early on. And since then I have come across much fewer "defective" primers, that for some strange reason, were crushed on just one side. The hand primer is much smoother in operation now, too.
I have still put one in downside up, but maintain that I have "no idea how that happened".
Sofie007
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GW Staar
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I did that trying to hurry on my Pro 2000 progressive, but I was seating bullets in .308's. That hurt enough that I bought a RCBS Gold Medal Seater. With that tool you just drop the bullet in through the top.....no more bites and....more concentric bullet seating. Win, win......Spensive, but it was the best money I ever spend on reloading tools.
Decapping pin? Oh Geeze!....did that once on a RockChucker! Tried to go through the nail....I failed...but that still hurt for 2 weeks!
LOL! Sofie, you might better rethink that.....if you don't teach them right, someone else may teach them wrong......
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Maybe not the worst, but certainly up there.
When I started reloading, wife asked me where I was storing the powder. I said right on the oil burner box so it stays nice and dry in the basement. This was meant to be a joke, but not received as one.
When I started reloading, wife asked me where I was storing the powder. I said right on the oil burner box so it stays nice and dry in the basement. This was meant to be a joke, but not received as one.
Oh my, this thread is hilarious!
My worst mistake was starting! Now it is hopeless. Three presses (which isn't that many, but I have all of a closet for my reloading stuff), dies I've never even used, dies I don't have guns to match (yet, there's still hope)!
My second worst... not documenting everything like 1930's Swiss or German firearms.
My worst mistake was starting! Now it is hopeless. Three presses (which isn't that many, but I have all of a closet for my reloading stuff), dies I've never even used, dies I don't have guns to match (yet, there's still hope)!
My second worst... not documenting everything like 1930's Swiss or German firearms.
Whiterook808
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I proudly walked up to the bench with my first 38 special loads, my first loads ever. Everything was looking good, but by the third round the bullets had walked out of the cases enough to hang up the cylinder! I went home and learned about crimping that day. That was 34 years ago, but I still remember that moment. One time at that same range there was a guy set up next to me with a Lee whack-a-mole. He had an open container of powder and would reload the same five 9mm cases after each firing. That was scary! I never saw that guy again, so I think he was asked not to return.
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