Caution...

[Guy Miner]

I hadn't loaded any .45 ACP in quite a while and the supply was running low. Decided to just use my little Lyman turret press.

Needed to re-set the Lyman powder measure as well, wanted to throw the usual 5 grains of Bullseye.

Got 20 of the cases charged, and something was bothering me. The fill just didn't look right... It had been a while since I'd loaded for the .45, but...

At 20, I stopped.

Looked hard at my powder measure.

Looked hard at my old RCBS beam scale...

Oh good grief! I'd bumped it a notch when setting it and was throwing very nice, consistent, 10 grain powder charges!!!!

Now, I have absolutely no intention of finding out what the heck 10 grains of Bullseye could do to my 1911, so I summarily dumped all that powder. And quit for the day. I just didn't feel like loading anymore right then.

Been handloading since I was a little kid, that puts it at about 55 years now. Have made a few mistakes along the way, and am so glad that something made me eyeball those charged cases... BTW, a bullet will seat over that much Bullseye, just fine...

Be careful!

Guy

 

[HeathSexton]

Good catch as that would have ended bad.


I double charged a 44 Mag case one time, luckily I was using A2400 and 38grs just won't hardly fit. I cleaned up my mess and decided that tomorrow looked to be a better day.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Guy, thanks for the reminder.

I am scared to death of double-charging my handgun cases. I have seen way too many pictures and emails about such a thing. What I do now when loading up handgun ammo, to prevent double charges, is that I charge each case and then seat the slug individually as I go. This is WAY slower and probably less efficient but by doing so I am able to charge the case, look into the case mouth every time and ensure, as you did, that the powder is not overfilled. I use 8 grains of Unique or 14 grains of 2400 in my .45 Colt with 250 grain Cast Lead and so the potential for double charge is definitely there.

It pays to pay attention for sure. I find myself triple checking the needle on my scale to make sure that I have it on the right little notch.

Thanks for sharing Guy.

Dale

 

[truck driver]

I usually don't load above 3.8grs of Bullseye and 10grs would have been disastrous to say the least. I load all my pistol ammo on Dillon presses and have one dedicated just for the .45 acp and always check my powder measure at the beginning and several times during my loading session.
Anybody can make a mistake even the most proficient reloader.

 

[Elkman]

Guy
Anyone who loads long enough will make mistakes, its great you caught it when you did. One of the issues men have is not listening to their "inner self" you did and saved yourself from a disaster. Good luck on your next batch. !!!!

 

[JD338]

Good reminder Guy.
Its happened to me too. Not a double charge but 10 grs over on the beam scale. Glad I noticed it after loading a couple of rounds. Pulled the bullets and started over. I have been loading for 41 years, still have all my digits and never destroyed a gun so I guess I am lucky. I always double check my scale as well as the powder I am using. I made that mistake too once.

JD338

 

[6mm Remington]

Good you let your inner voice be heard guy! Some times it's JDLR! Hate to ruin a perfectly good Colt 45. It think it's wise that you just stepped back and called it a day too. Sometimes are minds just aren't into it for some reason or another. Good catch Guy!

We get ammo from a place locally and some of the loads we were shooting were I want to say 150 gr. lead cast loads for practice. I was shooting these in a Model 28 S&W in .357. We were doing double tap drills and I pulled out and shot and it went bang.... BANG! The first one only had a primer and it shoved the lead bullet down the bore far enough that the cylinder rotated just fine and I pulled the trigger way faster than I could comprehend the light recoil and sound on the first round. Thank God for strong S&W's as it never bulged the barrel or hurt my revolver. Scared the crap out of me after we realized what had happened!

I'm thankful that so far I have not had any mishaps on the loading bench!

 

[RiverRider]

That's a very scary one, David. I'd hate to wreck a nice 28...or my extremities.

I use a loading block and I charge 50 cases at a time and then seat, but I A-L-W-A-Y-S look at the level of powder in each case before I even put the seating die on my press. I keep FIVE flashlights on my bench just for that purpose. I can usually find at least one that has good batteries in it.

 

[FOTIS]

That will wake you up in the morning lad!

 

[kraky1]

I am 59 years old and have been reloading for 23 years......... I've set my balance beam scale wrongly..... and I've had my balance beam scale malfunction. I came to the conclusion about 3 or 4 years ago that I will never proceed reloading without checking the balance beam scale against my digital scale..... once they agree I have the green light!

Now I have another bad habit to double check..... I like to totally prep my cases for reloading one day then come back another day and do my powder charging and bullets seating. Indecision on which primer to use on day one sometimes leads me to charging cases with no primers in them.....geeeez!

 

[diverdown]

I load ammo in my garage and my wife knows that I am "not" to be bothered by telephone, knocks on the door or anything else. I also do not load late in the afternoon when I've been busy with a host of other projects all day long. (being tired is baaaad.) I always double check my case powder level with a flashlight. I have on occasion found things didn't go as planned but fortunately have caught them. (at least I haven't had any "loud noises").

 

[Polaris]

Some near misses I've read about and some I've done have caused me to adopt some fail-safes in my procedure.

I don't load anything in progressive fashion. Just too many moving parts for my piece of mind. For handgun, where the possibility of a double charge is very real, I charge 50 at a time and visually inspect all before seating a bullet. My load data has a fill line depth, measured from case mouth written next to each powder I've used.

I always place the can of powder and the bullet box and primer box in-use on top of my bench. No other component boxes are placed there. I always empty the measure after a loading session, even if my next session will use the same powder.

I write the data for a particular load on a post it note and stick it to the page of the reloading manual I'm using at the time. Caught myself once setting up to load 180 grain 30-06 with 150 grain data. Probably wouldn't have blown up my gun, but would have been a bit hot. Just writing it down and placing the note is a triple check that correct data is being used.

Glad you caught your disaster before it came about. I wouldn't want to fire 10 grains of bullseye in a Thompson contender, much less a 1911.