We've all had one (or more ) Embaressing little mishaps whilst reloading share them here & who knows we may prevent somebody making our mistakes ?
Dave
Printable View
We've all had one (or more ) Embaressing little mishaps whilst reloading share them here & who knows we may prevent somebody making our mistakes ?
Dave
One day my best buddy, a very talkative man, decides to shoot Blackpowder with me next time at the range.
We also agree that I will prepare the loads for his yet unfired Navy '51 so that he doesn't have to buy a pound of powder he will never use (he had gotten caps n balls with the gun).
On the shooting day at the range, I handle him the little tubes and after the crowd is done checking on our guns I coach him for the first cylinder which goes fine. Then I more or less mind my own stuff next line (did I mentioned we are good buddies and we like to chat and check on each other's targets?).
After a while, the shooting session being well advanced for me, said buddy finishes loading his third cylinder (did I mentioned they were a lot of people to chat with that day?).
He then proceeds to shoot it, which goes like boof! boof! boof! boof! BANG!... I couldn't tell the difference between that last sound and my 357, which was a surprise as I was pretty sure he was still on that '51 Navy...
As a matter of fact he was holding that gun and looked quite surprised with an interrogative look toward me.
Well that WAS embarrassing as I had provided the loads. So we went through what could have gone wrong... His first explanation being that i had mixed the tubes for the two guns...
"Noohh...! Mines have a different color and anyways you can't put 30grs of Blackpowder in a single '51 Navy's chamber; are you sure you didn't load two balls in that chamber...?"
"No, no, YOU must have inadvertently loaded one tube with H110 or something like that.........!"
So in short we didn't agree on the answer as I was quite sure I had double checked his stuff and he was almost quite sure of his loading procedure (and a bit shaken); but I still felt bad despite perfectly remembering him blabbering and loading at the same time.
My take of the story is that talking and loading don't go together. Black powder guns always bring attention on the range and you need extra concentration to use them. It can help to prepare just enough components for your immediate need: five loads and five balls in that case.
-----------------------------
An other one for the road; have you heard of that guy who loaded 300 rounds of pistol ammo on a progressive press with upside down primers? I'm glad I wasn't watching TV with him the following week because that's when he pulled them out with a kinetic hammer :D.
kg
LOL
300 rounds ?
I usually quit after 3 or 4
Well now if I am honest I did the same thing, but I caught mine a little sooner than him. I'd say between 15 and 20 rounds. I also forgot to put the crimp die in my SDB Dillon one time. After that I bought a gauge and everything I load for our 1911/.45s goes through it. I have had 2 .38s with no powder. Yep I have made some mistakes.
300????? That's got to be a Ouch ! :cry: One that will never leave my mind (or my Mother's for that matter ) Was when I was about 15-16 (a life time ago ) I was given a Lee shot gun reloading kit ! Now my Father who is a great man ,with a eye for Murphys law ! Warned me load one round at a time ! Of course i did'nt see any reason to do this & would prepare 25 shells at a time & then crimp them ! I was doing this in my bedroom of all places on a small table ! I had 25 shells full of 10 shot & was getting ready to crimp em when my Mother came in unanounced to see what I was doing ! I turned to see what she wanted & yes Murphys law took over ! I knocked the lot over ! Yep 25 rnds of 1 1/8 loads of 10 shot ,all over the floor !
Dave
Many many years ago I didn't have the tools to reload 410 shotgun so I just made a few home made ones. Knocked out the primers and reprimed about 100 Winchester Hulls and went on to do some Imperials that I had about 40 of them.
Well I got all the primers knocked out and was putting the new primers in.
I had a bolt about 3/8" X 6" long that I had drilled the end out that a 209 primer would fit up in. I would start by hand starting the primer then set the primer and hull on a flat piece of steel insert the bolt and tap and the primer would set right in, well on the winchesters but the head of an Imperial 410 shot shell is thinner than that of a Win about two taps and BANG Scared the ever livin Crap out of myself and two of my kids that were down stairs playing.
Down comes the wife with the 400 questions of what are you doing are you okay are you hurt are the kids hurt what are you doing are you okay are you hurt are th kids hurt? If you have ever made a big bang in the basement you know the drill.
That is in all honesty the only screw up reloading I have had. Man I have pulled some lulu's doing other things though.
Ken.
Just shows why I check them after I load them. I think my worst was having my powder measurer running out less then half way through a box of 50 223, but I am not going to give you too msny details, but just to you I was glad I had just bought a bullet puller.
DANIEL/BS JR.
Man I have pulled some lulu's doing other things though.
Ken ! trust me your no Robinson Caruso ,in that deptment !
Dan ! Where would we be without bullet pullers ????
Dave
One of my hunting buddies dropped off two boxes of fired .257Roberts cases yesterday as he was down to one magful for deer hunting, so I set up quickly to crank them out for him. I charged the cases and was lifting the first one from the loading block when I noticed a little line of powder flakes between block and press. My daughter looks up with a big smile and says, "But Daddy, they won't work very well without primers, will they?" [smilie=1:
Ouch! Versifier I know that one hurt.
My kids have me making blunders in the reloading room down to a fine art ! They say nothing ! Leave ,get their Mother who comes in ......Looks & points at what has happened, giggles,points ,shakes head & leaves ! :cry:
Dave
I one time attempted to do such a thing with 12ga, and loading slugs, but a kind man gave me a lee 12ga loader before I did something stupid.Quote:
Originally Posted by kodiak1
I remember one time dad was teaching a reloading class, and we got to discussing primers, and some one asked "what does a primer do"? Dad said the primer.... I will show you what a primer does. He set one on the wood stove and hit it with the back of a small hatchet.... BANG! There where several women upstairs and some of them came flying down the stairs to make shure that we where ok. It seemed to take longer to convince them that it was ok, then it took to teach the class.
DANIEL/BS JR.
Hell I shouldn't even tell this one it cost me a awful lickin from the oldman well it was probably closer to a beatin.
I was probably about 7 or 8 and I always did have an awful awful love for guns.
Dad took me bird hunting and my main job was "Son you pick up the empty cases." Well that sounded pretty easy even to a young fella like I was.
We had a terrific day getting grouse, partridge and a few ducks, I can still remember as plain as day the thought coming over me as I picked up about the twentieth spent 12 pounder hull " THAT DENT IN THE MIDDLE LOOKS LIKE WHEN I SHOOT A PIECE OF TIN WITH MY BB GUN."
All you old tiger's out there can see where this went all ready well you are about fifty percent right.
So that day I get me a brand spankin new shot gun shell and I devise my self a plan.
My father also did a lot of wood working, renovations and such for people. He had this woodworking room way in the back but it was still attached to the house. Well all good woodworking shops have a vice and they are also full of projects that are partly done.
This is where you have to kind of imagine this as I go along now.
In one corner of the room is a pair of fancy doors (Entrance Doors Mahogony) that Dad is going to put in for a rancher. Well in my haste to try my experiment I guess I over looked that slight little problem.
I get in the wood shop open up the vice get mister 12 gauge shot gun shell in it and ever so gently squeeze the crap out of it in the vice.
Next I line up my trusty old BB gun on the primer, I mean right on the primer get all hunkered down a flick the switch. Well inside that small woodworking room was the biggest bang this kid had ever heard. Ears ringing dust flying around stuff all over the place.
Well I gather up my BB gun and am leaving in a hurry when the door comes open and there stands the old fella and the guy he had bought the mahogony doors for that now had a slight imperfection in them a bout 14" above the hole for the knob but just about dead center.
Well that woodworking room only had one little window about ten feet off the floor and there was no way I could get up there to get away. So in followed the beating.
Hell it's funny now I'm chuckling as I am typing this but it wasn't back then.
Ken[smilie=w: [smilie=w:
Kodiak1,
I did the same thing with a 22 L.R. and my trust CZ 618 break open pellet gun. Only I did not have the 22 held down. I had it sitting on a 4X4 about 2 feet long. I started shooting at about 10 feet I moved a step closer fired several shots. So I finally set the barrel on the rim, and bang! I was wearing shorts, and the stupid little brat of a 22 case hit me on the leg! I got a good bruise and I have not wore shorts for two years! I found the bullet sitting on the 4X4 in perfect conditon.
I have another story, that no one got hurt on, but some people got a good scare. A couple years back mom and dad would drop me, and some times one of my brothers off at a friend's. Well one time I was over there and me and one of the boys (they have 8 kids) started talking. I got a idea so I said hey Noah, will you carve me a bullet to fit in this 30/06 case? he said sure, Why? I said, you will find out. So He gets out his pocket knife and carved one perfectly. So I stuck it in the case and call together all the kids. The two youngest two were asleep, so I end up with an audience of 4 girls and two boys. I pull the 30/06 out of my pocket and let every one see it. The girls said it was real, and the boys said nothing but tried hard to hide a smile. I get out a hammer and go over to a small stump. The oldst girl said you aren't going to make it go off are you? I just gave her a wicked grin :twisted: . I set up the case and start to pound it into the stump. I get a cheer of screams, and the boys had to leave to hide there laughs! I pound it all the way into the wood block, and turn around and see the crowd running to the house yelling I am gonna tell mom! I go up to them and settle them down and tell them the truth and have the two boys witness. It was the main talk around the table that evening.
DANIEL/BS JR
As a child ! I was a right little Bugger ! I used to involve my Little brother in all of my Experiments ! (the reason they don't have little brothers day ,is you just can't fit that much malice into one card ! ) I would show him things & he would report straight back to the Old man & Mum !
Now in those days Dad was always blowing stumps out of the ground & there were always a few sticks of Gelignite stored in the Shed ! Well the thing is with Gelly is when it gets hot it sweats ! When it sweats it produces Nitro Glyserine ! Well I get's to thinking ....Experiment 10005 ...........Explosives ! Yeah the big time know !:twisted: I take a stick of said fracture ,place it in a plastic bag of water & lay a sheet of iron over the top of it in the sun ! That afternoon . I invite my Brother to wittness my greatest moment ! Off with the sheet of tin & at a safe distance I shoot the bag with a .22 ! WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW did it go off !!!!! The experiment was a roaring success ! It might of been prudent though in hind sight to have conducted this experiment several miles from home!!!! Not about 100yrds from the Back door ! Of course as the back door flew open ,my little brother was holding the rifle ! But once again the Old man took his word over mine ! People have often asked Dad why he sent me off at 14 !!!!!
d-o-k Ah YES DYNOMITE!!!!!
That opens up a couple of more thoughts.
To think now a days they worry about kids getting a few bumps and bruises.
I can tell you one thing when ever there is a family reunion and the Aunts and Uncles get asking about the things that they know happened and when you tell them some of the ones that they didn't know about makes them wonder "WHAT KIND OF KID WHERE YOU? yOU SHOULD OF HAD FIVE JUST LIKE YOU SO YOU WOULD KNOW WHAT YOUR PARENTS WENT THROUGH."
The real funny part of it is as I got older had my kids and now grandkids up till my Mom passed back in 99 Her and I use to talk abou these escapades and laugh our heads off over a coffee. Dad didn't have Mom's sense of humor so While he was still alive we didn't talk about them that often.
Ken.
progressive press.
I had a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 Mag that was a REAL shooter, it just hit what I pointed it at.
Well I got tired of spentding more time loading than shooting ( a good afternoon to me is a couple hundred rounds or so) ab=nd made up my mind to get a progressive press. Much stdy and I finally decided what would work for me (aand my frugal ways).
Best plinking load I had for the gun was 10.5 grains of AA#5 and Lee 240 cast boolit.
Anyway I get it set up and fun several hundred 44 mags and over a thousand 38 spls.
Of to the range and I am shooting at clay pigeons at 100 and lay the gun down on a rest and pull the trigger . . . of course rested the clay pigeon was busted and I got ready to move to the next one . . . Dang the rear sight blade is missing I turn the gun up to look at the missing sight blade and note that the rear sight, top strap AND top half of the cylinder are missing.
You know how long it takes to disassemble that much loaded ammo with one of those plastic hammers?? I finally set a goal of at least 50 per night.
I had problems with the primer feed and as I fiddled with it the press let me double up on the powder. NO powder check die (that 18 dollar savings sure wasn't).
A year or so later one of the club members found the topstrap and gave it to me.
It sets on the shelf of my reloading bench . . . kinda a reminder.
As a joke I sent the gun to Ruger asking what the rewpairs might cost . . . thatey wouldn't repair it but replaced it. I pushed them to get me a replacement and en they said none were available and the gun the sent has yet to hit a clay pigeon at 25 yards, let alone the 50 and 100 yard distance. I am NOT real sure the gun would even hit the 100 yard berm so it sets in the safe IGNORED.
All that to say watch oout when you have a primer hang up in youyr progressive IF you do not have a powder check die . . .
Did I find another double charge in all of that ammo I disassembled???
No but I had had severl other instances of failures with the primer feed and so I could NOT take a chnce on taking a gun apart and especiall with NO injury to the shooter . . . ME.
Injury that day could have been real serious because I was the ONLY shooter there.
My first firearms related "incedent" was when my Dad bought my brother an I "Davy Crockett" rifles. they were scaled down toy muzzle loaders that fired cork balls fired by those red tape type caps. there were 2 vent holes at the breech end to keep things from getting to dangerous. didn''t take me long to pull the barrel off of mine and turn it around (instant muzzle brake) it shot those cork balls faster and further now. I swiped a box of Dad's 22 shells and would bite the bullet out and pour the powder down the barrel, and it REALLY made those cork balls fly. Then I found out glass marbles were the same size at those puny cork balls. I got pretty darn good with that marble smoothbore smokless muzzle loader. I was so good in fact I showed off to my Dad by shooting a can off of my Brothers head with it. I only did that once tho, because Dad showed me how to beat a Davy Crockett rifle into splinters and twisted metal against a post. Then he beat my hind end.
I too did the shoot the shotgun primer with a pellet gun thing. How about shooting wooden stick matches out of a 177 pellet gun? If you hit something hard, it'll light the match.
I USED to have a Remington 788 in 6MM. It was a Carbine and really liked IMR 4895. I shot Remington 80 grainers over 42 grains and 100 gr Nosler partitions over 38 grains. Well one day I was loading 80's (at 42 grains) When I was done, I thought to load up some speer 100 gariners to see if they would hit the same as the Noslers. I rolled the 1/10th weight up to 8, but didn't move the sliding weight back to 30. I loaded 5 rounds at 48 grains of 4895. I fired the first round off the bags over the hood of my pickup. It was LOUD, and there was smoke coming out of the action, and the clip had left a big dent in the hood of my pickup when it blew out. I had to open the bolt with a ball peen hammer and when I did 4 of the locking lugs were missing, and the rest had a funny offset to them. The primer pocket had enlarged to .285 (normal is about .210) and the brass had been pushed into the ejector hole about 1/8th". I wasn't hurt, but the rifle was ruined and I learned a lesson I'll never forget. I double check everything, TWICE!
krag35
Playing Willhem Tell eh Krag :)?
I did break a few windows with bows and air guns, the authorities being totally oblivious to the really small size of the holes/cracks and making big deals of them...
But what that story reminds me of is that school friend who was once caught by his parents, when he was about 9, in the process of hanging his younger brother... Being the thorough kind, he had thankfully taken the time to judge and sentence the younger fellow before that...
kg
Thanks Krag I feel better to know that I was not the only scientist when I was growing up.
The match thing you betch yah. Just shoot the old steel burning barrel and up she would go.
Gas in steel garbage barrel slop some over the outside on purpose stand back and ignite.
If it took more than one shot and was a little to warm out usually had to pick up the garbage that got blown out of the barel.
Man does that bring back memories
Ken.
Fortunately, I'm one of those real careful guys and haven't had any mishaps. I've only been reloading for 37 yrs. though.
One of my old friends had a bad habit of having several cans of powder on the bench at once. I told him that was a bad idea. One day he ran out of H4831 in his measure. He inadvertently grabbed a can of H4895 and finished loading his 7MM Rem Mag cases. The next day another of his friends touched one of those off at the range. It knocked him off the shooting bench, broke the wrist of the stock, blew the floorplate out of the stock, and welded the bolt shut. After pulling the bullets and discovering his mistake he found he'd loaded it 13 grains over max for H4895 powder. A gunsmith removed his bbl. and got it all apart. It didn't hurt the Remington action or bbl. but it ruined the stock and bruised the shooter's face pretty bad.
Another friend, an ex-employee of a firearms manufacturer, once thought he'd go real slow and see if he could push some live primers out and replace them with a different primer. Bad idea! It's always better to soak them to kill them or, better yet, just fire them without powder and replace them with the primer of choice. Anyway, he didn't wear eye protection, either. A primer went off. My friend now has only one eye. Never! I repeat... never try to decap live primers!!
I have decapped hundreds of live primers without a problem, probably because I never thought about it. now that I know, I'm going to have to kill them first. My luck won't extend to deliberately dumb things :-)
I know that live primers on the floor will cause your wife/girlfriend to quit vacuuming your reloading room floor :-)
krag35
This one didn't involve reloading, but it did involve black powder. It was several years ago, so the shame (and more importantly the statute of limitations) has worn off.
The first house I bought was just a little dump, formerly owned by a widow woman who had passed on. it was over grown and generally run down, and in a poor part of town to boot. It was what I could afford at the time. Out in the back yard was a gihugeic Plum tree that was dead. I fell the tree, but what to do with the stump? I dug around it for a solid week, then hired the neibour kid to dig on that big bas###d for a week. by the time we were done, it looked like a 750# bomb had landed in the back yard, but I still broke 2 3/8 chains trying to pull it out with my pickup. If I remember right it was about July 2nd when I came up with this brainfart. On the 4th the city sets off fireworks from the rim above town, so I had cover for what I contemplated. 2# of FFFG in a 2" pipe nipple and some home made fuse. I snuck out back (whole family was out front watching the fire works) Lit the fuse and came back up front with the folks. My timing was off and the big BANG happened wile they were reloading the tubes up on the hill. I got off lucky I only ruptured the water line, and not the NATURAL GAS LINE that was 2' farther out. The fire department showed up along with the city fellers (to shut off Old Faithfull gysering in my back yard, and though I was in my mid 20's Dad nearly beat my ass again. That stinkin stump was still stuck, I wound up cutting off the exposed roots and backfilling. I had Plum sprouts in my back yard as long as I had that place.
it's a wonder I got to make old bones the way I did things.
krag35
Hey, Krag... you better watch yourself. Today they'd call you a terrorist and you'd expire in Guantanamo before your relatives could clear your name. But all joking aside, next time you plan a stump extraction let me know so I can watch... from a good distance, of course.
Just remembered that one: A fella reloaded two boxes of 45 with one of his dies interfering with his Auto-Disk powder measure; result was 100 squib loads...
He found a kid who was too happy to rack the slide back 100 times after shooting the big gun.
A guy said he could see the bullets fly to the target... I don't know; I can only remember the ones who bounced back and hit my feet over the next hour...
kg
I've never had a Ka-Boom, but rather on the other end of the spectrum. "Pop" and nothing else happens.
Years ago two young ladies, players on our softball team, were room mates in a section of town that wasn't the greatest from a security standpoint. They had been out on the desert shooting with us several times and finally one of them decided to buy a pistol for self defense. We talked it over a few times and they finally decided on a 4 " K model S&W in .38 Special.
Money was very tight and I told them I'd be happy to load up some ammo for them. To show them the reliability of reloaded ammo, we went out with their new (to them) pistol and a couple of my rifles, including my Siamese Mauser in 45-70.
We shot up quite a bit of the FACTORY .38 Special stuff they brought and finally moved to the rifles. Well, out of the 20 rounds I had loaded for the 45-70, 5 in a row DID NOT make a sound! Load, pull the trigger, and nothing but a "click." The other 15 were fine, but the 5 were the ones that made an impression!:???:
They bought another box of factory ammo!
When I got home and pulled the boolits, they were black on the base, but had not moved at all in the case! Absolutely NO powder in those 5.
We shot together many times after that, but they ALWAYS brought their own ammo!:wink:
Well C1PNR, a similar thing happened to me. Only it was less embarrassing and a little more destructive.
I had purched a Kel Tek Sub 40 for a range toy. One day when we were out on the firing line enjoying some rapid fire target practice, that squib load rudely announced its nature. Bang, bang, bang, click, BANG, OUCH, Wnat the heck was that ?!! as I dropped the mini rifle to the ground.
Then I proceded to learn how to ( or not how to ) remove two stuck bullets from a 16 inch barrel. The plastic receiver had split apart some and spit the magazine out,
but nothing was terribly broken. ( except my confidence in my home-rolled ammo.)
As for the accuracy of that rifle, it didn't suffer much. Nor did it improve any. It still couldnt keep ten shots on a 12x12 target at fourty yards.
When it was stolen from the range some months later I didn't even think of shedding a tear.
Al