Reloading BOO BOOs and incidents

[skidderman]

Establishing a cost can vary greaty depending on several factors & what you want to achieve. Brass costs more in some calibers than others. Bullets can be 50 cents to 2 bucks each. If you are happy shooting factory Remington Core Locks your reloading costs will be much higher. If you want to produce premium grade ammo the difference between reloads and bought is greater. I will likely get shot down but my guess is that since I started reloading my costs, if I factor everything in, is much higher. The benefit for me is more shooting & the pride of rolling my own. In addition the more shooting you do the greater the pay off. For me reloading is not about saving money and if the average shooter is honest there is really no savings. It is a hobby & hobbies cost money.

[marxman]

Originally Posted by skidderman

Establishing a cost can vary greaty depending on several factors & what you want to achieve. Brass costs more in some calibers than others. Bullets can be 50 cents to 2 bucks each. If you are happy shooting factory Remington Core Locks your reloading costs will be much higher. If you want to produce premium grade ammo the difference between reloads and bought is greater. I will likely get shot down but my guess is that since I started reloading my costs, if I factor everything in, is much higher. The benefit for me is more shooting & the pride of rolling my own. In addition the more shooting you do the greater the pay off. For me reloading is not about saving money and if the average shooter is honest there is really no savings. It is a hobby & hobbies cost money.

for me its about saving money. i load for about half the cost of factory. a little more for 30 06 a lot less for 300 wby. i have probly 600 dollars reloading equipment. so you will have to shoot about 500 rounds to start saving money. of course you will have a few hundred dollars bullets and powder on hand but thats not really an expense unless you quit reloading

[terry b]

Set my seating die to low (same as resizing die) and crushed some brass real bad! And I know better just not paying attion

[a little redneck]

New to reloading... picked up some brass from the gun show. I was told it was reloaded "once".... many of the cases were trimmed and some of the necks where the bullets enter the case are oversized. Not sure what that means but I can put the once fired case necks into the oversized case necks. Last time I'm buying "once" fired brass. I'm sticking with brass that is new or that I fired from factory ammo. Why can't people be honest when you ask them questions?

Kinda makes me wonder if this guy was wandering around ranges picking up "once" fired brass? This bag of brass is now separate from all of my real once fired brass.

[Lefty-Canuck]

Originally Posted by a little redneck

New to reloading... picked up some brass from the gun show. I was told it was reloaded "once".... many of the cases were trimmed and some of the necks where the bullets enter the case are oversized. Not sure what that means but I can put the once fired case necks into the oversized case necks. Last time I'm buying "once" fired brass. I'm sticking with brass that is new or that I fired from factory ammo. Why can't people be honest when you ask them questions?

Kinda makes me wonder if this guy was wandering around ranges picking up "once" fired brass? This bag of brass is now separate from all of my real once fired brass.

They could have been fired only once....but not resized at all, hence why the necks were larger than the bullet. So they could be once fired but no other case prep was completed on them.

When ever using "free" or "once fired" brass you should always full length resize and trim and QC check every brass individually before reloading and using in your rifle.

LC

[lyallpeder]

Originally Posted by a little redneck

Kinda makes me wonder if this guy was wandering around ranges picking up "once" fired brass? This bag of brass is now separate from all of my real once fired brass.

I use range brass, just have to check it well. I even bought range brass twice and was happy with it. One bunch of brass I bought here was so nice and clean he could have passed it off as new.

[Elkhunt]

This just gave me a real aha moment. I was just rereading the Lyman 48th edition of their reloading manual & on page 30 under "Cautions" they talk about how static electricity build up in reloading tools may effect manual loading scales & the readouts they give. Has anyone ever experienced this for themselves? Would it also effect electronic scales?

I just sent my RCBS 505 scale back because I couldn't seem to get it to zero out properly. I have since bought an electronic scale but maybe this was my problem.

[Elkhunt]

Originally Posted by lyallpeder

I use range brass, just have to check it well. I even bought range brass twice and was happy with it. One bunch of brass I bought here was so nice and clean he could have passed it off as new.

I bought 50 cases of supposedly new brass once at a gun show it all had to be FL resized...obviously it wasn't new "new". Only new to me.

[CheeseBurger]

Originally Posted by Elkhunt

This just gave me a real aha moment. I was just rereading the Lyman 48th edition of their reloading manual & on page 30 under "Cautions" they talk about how static electricity build up in reloading tools may effect manual loading scales & the readouts they give. Has anyone ever experienced this for themselves? Would it also effect electronic scales?

I just sent my RCBS 505 scale back because I couldn't seem to get it to zero out properly. I have since bought an electronic scale but maybe this was my problem.

Simple fix, just wipe it down with a used dryer sheet from time to time.

[CheeseBurger]

Originally Posted by a little redneck

New to reloading... picked up some brass from the gun show. I was told it was reloaded "once".... many of the cases were trimmed and some of the necks where the bullets enter the case are oversized. Not sure what that means but I can put the once fired case necks into the oversized case necks. Last time I'm buying "once" fired brass. I'm sticking with brass that is new or that I fired from factory ammo. Why can't people be honest when you ask them questions?

Kinda makes me wonder if this guy was wandering around ranges picking up "once" fired brass? This bag of brass is now separate from all of my real once fired brass.

Lefty has it right, it just hasn't been resized. Remember to recheck your case length once you have resized as resizing may have changed your case length.

[a little redneck]

Thanks.... I've tumbled it in crushed walnut, then in corn cob media with a little nu finish and a used bounce dryer sheet. The old brass has more shine to it now than the new barnes factory ammo I have.

[Jeron Kahyar]

Originally Posted by Elkhunt

This just gave me a real aha moment. I was just rereading the Lyman 48th edition of their reloading manual & on page 30 under "Cautions" they talk about how static electricity build up in reloading tools may effect manual loading scales & the readouts they give. Has anyone ever experienced this for themselves? Would it also effect electronic scales?

I just sent my RCBS 505 scale back because I couldn't seem to get it to zero out properly. I have since bought an electronic scale but maybe this was my problem.

Only time I have ever had a problem with this is realoading with a progressive press for shotshells (was using IMR 700x). The powder was clinging to the plastic holding tube and some bounce dryer sheets fixed it up nicely.

[michaelmicallef]

I got a new flash hole deburring tool. It works great a little to good. So I figured I messed up about $200 worth of brass. I will still use the never fired stuff. But I probably cut it's life short . Not sure if I should just pitch it all and start again. What a &;$(&:@:@: waist.

[32-40win]

I'm wondering what you could have done, to do what you think you did, to the cases. The flash hole tool only needs a couple of turns to take off the punchout burr , if it is there, on the inside of the case. Don't need to mount it to a drill, or keep churning away at it, as though it were one. You can feel what it is taking off. It is really no different, in operation, to a chamfering tool. You will sometimes be surprised at what comes out, but, you'd really have to crank on it for a while to wreck a case.

[a little redneck]

Just finished reloading the brass I bought from the gun show. Here is what I learned, if brass has been fired but not in your rifle it needs to be full length sized. I reloaded 6 rounds with neck sized brass (used) and I could not get a single round of the six in the chamber of my rifle. I forced the bolt closed and had a heck of a time getting the round out of the chamber. I pulled the bullets and full length re-sized the brass then reloaded and vola they chamber in my rifle.

I didn't want to spend time de-priming and re-priming so I was pretty careful not to push the live primer out. (had to resize 40 cases).... probably not the smartest thing to do.... but couldn't be discharging primers in the city.

Lesson learned.... full length resize in doubt.

[emesoldier887]

Just got my first case stuck this weekend, did not lube the mouth of the case it was the first piece going into the decapping and re sizing die.......oh well lesson learned.

[bulletman]

OK, this is a mistake I made at the range, just recently! This is the only rifle loading mistake I can re-call in my 55 year shooting history!
A few weeks back I was doing my newspaper test, testing various bullets for expansion, penetration and weight retention. I have 2 rifles that look quite similar, one a .270 and the other a 7mm REM. MAG! Yes, you guessed it! I put the .270 cartridge in the 7mm and it fired! Mistake one was having two similar rifles along on the same range trip. Mistake two was not wearing my safety glasses which I did have with me at least! That day I was also in too much of a hurry to complete my newspaper test.
Long story short, I had debris from the ruptured case come back into my face and right eye! Next day it was pretty light sensitive! My wife made me go to the optometrist. That was a good thing. The optometrist removed some debris from the outside surface of my eye. Eye drops etc. for a week. I consider myself very fortunate to have not lost my vision, which is still incredible, even pushing 62 years old. .270 and 7mm won't be on the same trip ever again. I have been to the range since and fired some good groups, so I'm happy about that.
The rifle that fired the .270 cartridge suffered an injury also. The extractor needed to be replaced, and that was 165 bucks. I haven't been out to test it since it was repaired. Yes, I did recover the bullet fired in the wrong gun. Very interesting result!

[Lefty-Canuck]

Wow glad you are ok.....good lesson for reloader a new and old.

When I hit the range I only place one rifle and one box of ammonon the bench at a time....to help prevent what you just described.

LC

[Wisebuck]

Here is one for ya.


After reloading for a couple years I decided to "experiment" and put spritzer points on my .30.30 rounds. Wanted to see if I could increase the old guns range (Marlin 336c).
WAIT I only loaded one at a time directly into chamber!

Well after shooting a few and finding minimal real improvement in velocity or range, decided "oh well {shrug} Worth a try"

Then on a hunting trip saw a chance to bag a Coyote and threw one of these in the chamber, but alas the dog disappeared before I could shoot.
Then found in trying to extract the unfired round it was to long to clear the extraction port........ so I had to fire it off in order to chamber a regular hunting round.

Guess it shows not to load bullets not designed for your rifle.

[a little redneck]

I'm having bad luck with reloading equipment.... tumbler busted after tumbling a total of 170 rounds of brass. I bent the rod which sizes necks on my brand new Hornady neck sizing die (only lasted 70 rounds). I'll get another neck sizing die but it won't be Hornady.

The tolerances on the Hornady dies are not as good as the RCBS. I'm going to find a higher end die which will work better and be less frustrating to set up and less frustrating to use than the Hornady dies. I'm learning that you get what you pay for.... and you end up buying twice if it's bad quality.

What dies are better than the RCBS?

[bushlover]

Am totally new to reloading and have read various manuals on how to set your dies. Set the dies and proceeded to load 65 rounds in 5 round groups with two powders and 1/2 grain increments. Took them out to my parents to see what type of groups I could get. Could not close bolt all the way when I chambered them. Tried it in my son's rifle (both 7-08) with same results. Read the Hornady pamphlet that came with the dies and saw they recommended contact with die and bushing (no back off 1/4 turn). Pulled de-capping pin up and resized, chambers nicely now. Lesson learned:
**Always try a case in your rifle when you set your dies up before loading**
Oh well, could have been worse I guess.

[CheeseBurger]

I know guys that go one step further and chamber loaded rounds as well as chambering resized brass to ensure there is no surprises when they go to pull the trigger.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by CheeseBurger

I know guys that go one step further and chamber loaded rounds as well as chambering resized brass to ensure there is no surprises when they go to pull the trigger.

I sure do!
Cat

[CheeseBurger]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

I sure do!
Cat

Me too.

[wolf308]

heres a good one, just happened, about 20 of my match 308 rounds are loose when seating so i decide to anneal then resize ,seems to fix it. anyhow forgot to take primers out or place in a pan of water(would have kept primer cool) just held onto them till they got hot.

working along and BANG! one cooked off. was not in my hand ,just set aside

sure woke me up, and lesson learnt,haha. ive fired them off b4 in guns,but when your not expecting it and not in a chamber sure is loud. whew !

[Wisebuck]

Originally Posted by a little redneck

I'm having bad luck with reloading equipment.... tumbler busted after tumbling a total of 170 rounds of brass. I bent the rod which sizes necks on my brand new Hornady neck sizing die (only lasted 70 rounds). I'll get another neck sizing die but it won't be Hornady.

The tolerances on the Hornady dies are not as good as the RCBS. I'm going to find a higher end die which will work better and be less frustrating to set up and less frustrating to use than the Hornady dies. I'm learning that you get what you pay for.... and you end up buying twice if it's bad quality.

What dies are better than the RCBS?

Redding makes quality dies I use them as well as RCBS

[3/4 curl]

Just finished reloading 50-270 with barnes triple shok.My first box was short a couple of bullets so opened new one and assumed they where the same and continued.Wrong after loading and looking at the bullets they seemed to be a little short.Then looked inside box and found a paper from barnes saying at barnes bullets we are constantly striving to make a better product.In our request to build the best products ,we have made design changes to this bullet.Pleas be aware that if you have loaded this bullet in the past ,you may need to adjust your load/cartridge overall length to achieve the correct distance from the bullet to the riflings in the barrel. Would of been nice to look at the paper first.So just because you buy the same bullets doesn't mean they will be the same physical size.

[FallAirFever]

The other night I set up some dies for sizing, it was getting late and I decided before I started it was time for bed.

The next evening I head to my bench grab a bin of brass and put the first one in the shell holder. I cycle my press and grab the piece of brass only to realize I had just run a piece of 270 brass through my 308 die. OOPS.

My first Wildcat

[Homesteader]

Originally Posted by FallAirFever

My first Wildcat

Looks like it should handle those 350g 30 cal bullets just fine

[260 Rem]

On Monday, a chap showed me his rifle (Rem 700 308) in which the case/bullet was stuck. He said the load "just fizzed" with no bang. He got the bolt open without extracting the case and subsequently had broken his carbon fibre rod trying to pound it out from the muzzle end .... so I offered him the use of my "just under 30 cal steel rod" which he used to pop the bullet/case loose. (No danger anticipated as the primer was spent) Once out, we examined the case .... and the base of the case was black with no visible primer. He was certain the primer had not come out when he got the bolt open. Closer examination -- primer had been put in upside down. Must have been close enough for the firing pin to crush it. Somehow, enough gas must have passed into the case and caused the bullet jamb in the lands?