Did you ever screw up?

[TackDriver284]

I had spent time prepping two tray full of .308 and 6BR brass after coming back from the shooting range about 30 days ago. I had cleaned all the carbon off the brass, annealed, primer pocket uniform / cleaning , resized all brass, run it through a Giraud trimmer to trim to the correct size and primed and left them on the trays ready to be filled with powder. It was a tiring day, so I covered the brass / trays with a rag only to come back later to finish. Thirty days went by and nothing was touched because I have been quite busy, so I had time last night, so I plugged in the Chargemaster and the FX120 to warm up for 30 mins. It was 9 pm and earlier the day was about 100 degrees, and the thermometer read 95 degrees in my garage at that time, so I switched on the fans. Thirty minutes later I went in my garage shirtless and it was like a sauna after turning the fans off to stop the draft so it won't affect the FX120 because its so sensitive to draft, so I uncovered my brass and picked up the .308 brass to see that the primers are in to remind me that the cases were prepped as usual. So I sat down to weigh and filled all of the .308 brass with RL15, and pushed it aside, then drained the ChargeMaster and filled it with Varget and did weighed / filled the 6BR brass. It was so hot and the thermometer read 93 degrees! Sweat was dripping from my elbows and down my chest and back, so I stopped to go inside to cool off. After 45 mins, I went back to finish seating the bullets, started seating 155 grain Palmas in the .308 and was done, then switched to the BR and I picked up a BR case and seated a 107 Sierra MK and returned the completed cartridge back to the tray and to see that the cartridge did not seat upright as it once did before I took it out of the tray to seat that bullet in. I picked up the cartridge and looked in that empty tray space and there was powder kernels in the bottom of that tray. Guess what?

I forgot to put primers in it!!!! Imagine sweating my butt off in that garage for an hour to weigh / fill cases for the 6BR only to forget to double check what I did 30 days ago. For now on, I will write a little note on what case prep had been done to certain brass, etc.

Ever have anything like this happen to you and please state your experiences. It must be fun to listen to other's experiences so it won't happen to us. :mrgreen:

 

[Gun nut]

Yup, been there, done that. I created this checklist that accompanies the cases as the hand loading process progresses. (Need to add annealing too)
Duane

 

[DrMike]

Oh, yes, it has happened--one than once! Duane, I really like the list. I keep a similar list, but in my log book as I work up each load.

 

[JD338]

Gee, that's never happened to me.
Wait until you run a case into the sizing die that doesn't have enough lube on it. If you don't have a stuck case removal kit, you might want to get one. If you reload enough, it's not IF but WHEN you will need it.

JD338

 

[DrMike]

Gee, that's never happened to me.
Wait until you run a case into the sizing die that doesn't have enough lube on it. If you don't have a stuck case removal kit, you might want to get one. If you reload enough, it's not IF but WHEN you will need it.

JD338

Ain't that the truth! They should make the stuck case removal kit part of every reloading kit sold.

 

[JD338]

Gee, that's never happened to me.
Wait until you run a case into the sizing die that doesn't have enough lube on it. If you don't have a stuck case removal kit, you might want to get one. If you reload enough, it's not IF but WHEN you will need it.

JD338

Ain't that the truth! They should make the stuck case removal kit part of every reloading kit sold.

That's funny Mike.
"Standard Issue"

JD338

 

[ShadeTree]

A time or 2 I've missed the primer step prior to loading powder. What's worse is it was during reloading, and not coming back later like you did which is more understandable. Thankfully didn't do many until realizing it.

Knock on wood I've never stuck a case yet. But I use a case lube pad and put a 1/2 dozen or so at a time on the pad and use off that pad until empty then load some more on it and roll them on the pad before starting again. Pretty hard to run a dry case into the die that way.

 

[lhsako]

Gee, that's never happened to me.
Wait until you run a case into the sizing die that doesn't have enough lube on it. If you don't have a stuck case removal kit, you might want to get one. If you reload enough, it's not IF but WHEN you will need it.

JD338

Lol... been there....own one!

 

[michsteve]

Mine was a little scarier. I have 30/06 and 45/70 rifles and had both Reloader 17 and 7. I was loading a batch of 45/70 and my powder dispenser was getting low so grab the Re7 to refill then I was getting weird readings as I weigh each charge. I kept going after I had loaded my last bullet I looked down to see I had my Re17 bottle next to my Re7 bottle so right there I realized I had grabbed the Re17 instead of the 7 when I did a powder refill and explained why I was getting weird readings every time I dropped a charge. I was not sure which bullets had the mixed powders so I didn't take the chance and just decided better to redo all of them luckily it was a small batch.

 

[jimbires]

I read through these and I've been there done that . I have a tip for you guys . I always kept my brass in the loading try through all the process steps until they were loaded ammo . then they got a final wipe , and in the ammo box . I stopped doing this a long time ago . now I use small brake pad boxes . the brass does not go in the loading tray until it's completely ready for powder . right now I have 50 pieces of brass that range from 5 cycles to 9 cycles , with 25 of these being neck turned . I can keep track of them . I'll anneal all the brass . after they cool I put them in the correct box by number of reloading cycles . I'll then work out of that box and do the next step , and put them in an empty box . I guess you could call it leap frog . I do this for every step . my last step is priming the cases , then I put them in the loading tray . my numbers stay on the brass until I lube and size , then it rubs off . I spray carb cleaner on a rag and wipe the lube off , and renumber with the next higher number . I think a couple pictures might better explain it . the brass in the boxes are primed ready for powder . it was in the loading tray . I took it out of the loading trays for the pics . the flow would be ; take a piece of #7 brass do the next step and put it in the empty box to the left . when #7 box is finished go to #6 placing the brass in the empty box to it's left .










one more tip. are you tired of looking through all the hornady ogive inserts for the correct one ? I used a sharpie and colored the ones I mainly use .

 

[BruceP]

I did that a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to load for three different firearms for a range trip the next day. Luckily I wasn’t loading very many for each but on one load after putting powder in about 5-6 cases I picked up a case to check something and found the primers missing.

Bruce

 

[SJB358]

one more tip. are you tired of looking through all the hornady ogive inserts for the correct one ? I used a sharpie and colored the ones I mainly use .

MAN! You just inspired me Jim! I am forever digging through about 20 of them trying to find the one I need!

 

[TackDriver284]

one more tip. are you tired of looking through all the hornady ogive inserts for the correct one ? I used a sharpie and colored the ones I mainly use

I use a thin tie wrap, and tie up those I don't use and mark the caliber on the sides of those inserts with a felt marker. I feel your frustration, been there.

 

[1Shot]

I have been hand loading for over 40 years and have stuck a few cases. I am pretty careful and double check everything sometimes quad triple check after I thankfully discovered once in my early years that I set my RCBS 505 scale wrong and was putting about twice as much Bullseye in some 38 Special cases. Firing one of those probably would have been the end of my shooting for life. Biggest bobo I can think of was having two cans of powder on the bench at the same time. I had a bottle of AA 4350 that I was going to use for 25-06 and a bottle of H 335 that I was loading 223 with. I had finished doing the 223 ammo of which I was using my RCBS powder dumper to drop my charges. My phone range and I went into the next room to answer the call which told me that my dad was sick and mom need me. I did not want to leave the powder sitting in the dumper and quickly removed the dumper and opened a bottle of powder and stuck the funnel in and poured the half full dumper full of H 335 into the half full bottle of AA 4350. Thankfully I caught it and was able to by pain taking time separate the stick powder with tweezers at a latter time.

 

[M7025-06]

Tack....at least you noticed the missing primers when you did. A few years ago I discovered I forgot to prime 4 or 5 rounds that had been loaded. The kicker was I figured it out while scoping out a deer opening weekend. One of those rounds was loaded in the rifle.

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[Joec7651]

:lol: Me!? Screw up!? LOL, never! LOL

 

[wvbuckbuster]

My name is Dan and I have screwed up, lol.

 

[TackDriver284]

Just remembered that my safe was kind of full and wanted to squeeze another rifle in, but would not work unless I removed three bolts out of three rifles and I was able to squeeze it in,,,,several weeks later I grabbed two of those three rifles. At the shooting range, 30 miles away, I pulled out those rifles out of the cases and remembered that the bolts were still in the safe. :lol:

 

[Guy Miner]

Oh ya, I've got one bag of loaded 45 ACP cartridges, just a few, that have a double-charge of Bullseye in them.

I haven't been able to get the bullets out with my collet bullet puller and don't have an impact puller anymore. I'll have to go get an impact puller.

The bag is Very Clearly Labeled "DO NOT SHOOT! UNSAFE" - just in case. It's on my project list.

Guy

 

[dd.payson1018]

Oh, yes, it has happened--one than once! Duane, I really like the list. I keep a similar list, but in my log book as I work up each load.

Yep, Ben there done that. Also once I loaded about eight 30 Cal bullets in 270 Win Brass late at night. I remember my .270 die was way off on seating depth and it was really hard to seat the bullets. Thinking something was wrong with the die I took it apart to clean it. I then looked at a loaded round and said, that sure looks like a 30-06 cartridge. Necks also had slight crinkle in them. Ruined 8 pieces of brand new brass when I grabbed the wrong box of bullets shoving .308 diameter bullets into .277 cases.

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