Reloading BOO BOOs and incidents

[32-40win]

Only way I can visualize that one, involves two of three issues. With an FLS case, maybe even done with an SB-FLS die (for 308? Used for for Savage 99 ?), a fair amount of shoulder setback, maybe a long seated bullet. Bit of an unusual scenario for sure. How it got past the extractor? That would have to be a really short shoulder, in my mind. I'd want to check fired vs unfired case. Could the primer have enough pressure to jam the edge of a long neck in the throat? Be why he wrecked his rod? It can certainly seat a bullet on a no powder round. I'd guess the primer had enough pressure to push the extractor up and out to the top of the rim, at least, while pushing the case in.
That is one possible line of thought at least.

[260 Rem]

Indeed a mystery how he removed the bolt. And, what caused the bullet to jamb. I did not observe the bolt extraction or inttial effort to remove the case/bullet. But when he used the steel rod, it took a couple of pretty solid raps with a hammer. The freed cartridge had the bullet jambed back into the case at least 1/4" so I assume there must have been some friction between the case and chamber wall as well. Strange stuff, but of course one really never knows how the reloading process was conducted... only that bad stuff happened with a reversed primer!

[forgesmith]

When I was a lot younger I annealed some 7mm mag brass, only five, due to getting some cracks in reloads after 4 or 5 times. I didn't have the brass in a pan of water to prevent the bottom from getting soft too and Yes one fired and mushed all over the head of the bolt, actually broke the extractor. I sent the gun away and was returned with a new bolt, no cost either[ being ignorant is bliss but stupid} . The bolt was nest to impossible to get out by the way, and I have it still. Always prevent the heat from softening up the case head, only need to touch the neck anyway.
Cheers

[marxman]

Originally Posted by 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?

Probably the primer sealed fine and blew the whole cartridge forward enough to stick the neck in the throat squeezed onto the bullet

[monkeybase]

in a hurry loading the other night everything going great till I start charging.
load two with powder then start on the third case when I see powder on the
bench .I think must of spilled some , check the two case,s with powder dumb dumb forgot the primers not to smart on my part .

[260 Rem]

At least you caught it before seating bullets --- which from experience, I can tell you is a lot more trouble

[SirQuincyM]

I see some new to reloading are not quite sure how to set the FL reloading die. Here's tip I've used for years. Lube the case then smoke the shoulder & neck area with a candle. Have the die backed off a turn or so and resize the case, then try it in the rifle you intend to use it in. If the bolt will not close then tighten the die slightly (1/8 the turn or so) and repeat until the case will chamber, then tighten the locking ring on the die. By smoking the case you can see exactly when the die starts to contact the shoulder area; or not if the cases were fired in a rifle with a slightly shorter chamber that yours.
Pushing the shoulder back unecessarily will shorten brass life and possibly create case seperations after several reloadings.
I always smoke the first case for any new calibre I'm reloading just to ensure that the shoulder is not being set back , thus not creating excessive headspace.

[densa44]

When I started reloading shot gun shells, many yeasr ago I had a Lee hand loader and it was easy to tell my reloads, they had ankles, bulged tops, tops weren't closed very well, etc.

The equipment has improved a lot, also the technique. I now can't always tell my reloads from factory ammo.

Yesterday I killed a rooster with #8 lead that I use shooting pigeons for the dogs. Bad, bad bad. On the bright side my reloads are much better than 45 years ago.

[Rdamours]

Oh yeah. .308 and 223 could have been through a semi. I didn't separate my cases and you can really tell the difference during sizing.

Originally Posted by 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.

[Travis15]

Originally Posted by monkeybase

in a hurry loading the other night everything going great till I start charging.
load two with powder then start on the third case when I see powder on the
bench .I think must of spilled some , check the two case,s with powder dumb dumb forgot the primers not to smart on my part .

Done that to. Except loaded up 20 of them. Wasn't fun pulling them all.

[GunMunKey]

When I first started loading all I had was a Lee Loader. I made a a few hundred rounds with it. Only had one incident and I was pounding primers in and one went off. I used to work on my lap. It scared the heck outta me and probably the neighbors in the apartment across from me since it was midnight. Left scorch marks on my mallet. That's when the line in the instructions about wearing safety glasses came back to me.

[Marko]

Am I misunderstanding this?^^^ Were you using a mallet to pound live primers into the primer pocket??

Mark

[Big Daddy Badger]

Originally Posted by Marko

Am I misunderstanding this?^^^ Were you using a mallet to pound live primers into the primer pocket??

Mark

I believe that the answer to that is... yes.

[Bassett]

Double check always, did my first few reloads tonight. Had a bit of dyslexia tonight and loaded 3 rounds of 47.9gr varget with 110gr hornady spritzers. Then continued on to do 52 and 56. When I went back to double check my loads it was 49.7 I was supposed to load in the beginning!

Glad I looked again as its below minimum.

[lyallpeder]

I loaded 50 .223 soft points with my v-max load of 27gr rather than my sp load of 25.5gr of powder. When I did my load development if I kept better records I would know at what point I started seeing pressure signs. Because I have have poor notes I am going to make 3@26.0gr and 3@26.5gr before I start pulling 50 rounds. (Max in my manual is 27.5gr)


Moral of the story,
Keep good notes of all test loads even the ones you didn't like.

If you use more than one type of bullet/powder/charge/primer for the same caliber, don't get them mixed up.

[bat119]

I picked up a new Browning .338 win, years before I had a Win mod 70 in .338 so I had some cases that were resized and deprimed, I Ioaded a test run of cartridges in .5 gr. increments.

At the range I set up the chronograph got every everything all lined up, I went to chamber my first round, The bolt won't close! Then I remembered I used to neck size for the mod 70, the Browning has a shorter chamber. I had pull all the bullets resize the cases.

Moral of the story test chamber your brass.

[hunter001]

I'm pretty lucky to say i haven't had any incidents yet with reloading! fingers crossed

[Haris001]

Just started loaded within the year and i'm glad I could read some of the booboos here, thanks everyone

[nof60]

Originally Posted by GunMunKey

When I first started loading all I had was a Lee Loader. I made a a few hundred rounds with it. Only had one incident and I was pounding primers in and one went off. I used to work on my lap. It scared the heck outta me and probably the neighbors in the apartment across from me since it was midnight. Left scorch marks on my mallet. That's when the line in the instructions about wearing safety glasses came back to me.

I nominate this for best coffee through my nose post of the year

[Yycadm]

I was shooting in a local PPC match, and doing MUCH better than I'd expected. I hadn't loaded enough ammo, But I had this little fully manual RCBS "one round at a time" reloader in my range bag, and I needed 18 rounds to finish the cycle.

I had primers, I had some powder, but no bullets. A fellow competitor from B.C. had a hundred home cast inverted wad-cutters and gave them to me. I was shooting better than I had all season, so foolishly I thought I'd reload 20 rds to get me through; no real powder measure except a small scoop, and I knew how to measure Red Dot by Eye...sure I did.

What I couldn't measure by eye was the mouth of pressure eye-balled powder charges combined with inverted wadcutters set flush to the top of the case would do; Thank goodness I was loading .38spl and shooting with a S&W .357mag revolver. Seems Red Dot, compressed by the bullet head made for some smoking hot rounds that were not anything like I was expecting. I didn't win, more importantly I didn't blow anything up either. I'd been planning on "modernizing" my reloading, and my powder...this gave me the nudge I needed

[The_REB]

Originally Posted by saskbooknut

disposing of degraded old powder with rust colour stuff all through it and acrid smell (4831 I think) - in my backyard
I dumped it in a pile, almost 1 lb
I made a small trail of powder to it ( note to self : not nearly long enough trail)
I ignited the powder
I swear the flare went 25 or 30 feet in the air
Had lesser eyebrows and a bit of beard singe too.

I spread the powder out more if I am going to burn off degraded powder now.

This almost made me laugh, but seeing as I am just getting into reloading, it would be bad luck to. All these stories are making me wonder if I should break the seal on my new Lee that just arrived!

[260 Rem]

Our accounts are testimony to the fact we are all alive and not seriously disabled ... well, perhaps some are suffering a bit cautionary PTS. It s likely that any impairment of brain function was a pre-existing condition

[pushing 60]

this is like watching a train wreck... you just can't look away ... I read every post .. good stuff .. I don't reload but my newfew just started... I think he could learn a lot from you guys.. he had 2 failure to fire rounds and blamed old primers... maybe he still has the rounds. will give them a shake...
there is always something NEW to learn.. thanks guys!

[Papershredder]

Just had an interesting incident at the range. Had the Chrono set up as per always when building loads. Started working up loads for my new RMR .300 Ultra Mag referencing the load data I still have from the Model 70 Win .300 Ultra I had for years before. I sold it to buy a .300 WSM (not my cup of tea). Anyways I buy a pound of Retumbo as this has always been my go to Ultra Mag powder. The label on the Retumbo states a max load of 100.5g/3300fps for a 180 grain bullet. I always ran 96.5 in my old rifle at around 3325 fps. So I started loading 180 Accubonds at 94g @ 3230; and started working up. At 96.5g I was at 3410.....hmmmmmm. Max says 100.5 (why was I only using 96.5 before).......fired one at 97.5g.....3510fps holy chit!!!!! Pull back now sticky bolt and no case comes with it. Case tapped out easily with a cleaning rod. No damage done; but wtf?? Go to Nosler load data and it states a max of 95g for Retumbo on their website for 175/180g bullets. I had checked my old data and the Retumbo bottle and figured I was good to go; hell not even close to max before. I can't imagine someone without a chrono just throwing the max on the bottle into a case (going off the 10% safety factor myth) and touching one off. Learned a lesson here and should have went with my instincts and reloading expierience rather than letting the label override it. I thought hitting the max 3300fps; 3.5grains before the max load was not right....it wasn't. Research and trust that Chrono.....96.5 is a MAX load in this rifle as it was in my last Ultra with 180 Accubonds and Retumbo; I will most likely look for the most Accurate load in the 94.5 - 95.5 range which will have me back in that 3300 fps range.

[32-40win]

Had a pound of 4320 about 25yrs ago, turned out it was in a recall batch, which I didn't find out about til a few months after. This was before the internet, so to speak. I had to use a rubber mallet to open the bolt on the min chg weight. No damage, but, it sure woke me up to the changes that can occur from batch to batch. Appears maybe, that batch of Retumbo was possibly a bit quicker, and with a different rifle, that sort of thing can happen.Had a 7mag in a BBR that liked H870, w/160Nos. Switched to a Ruger with a 1in8 twist, it wouldn't get within 3gr of the BBR load, same batch of powder. Didn't get to the same velocity, either. Those loads were under book max.

[Papershredder]

Originally Posted by 32-40win

Appears maybe, that batch of Retumbo was possibly a bit quicker, and with a different rifle, that sort of thing can happen.

Yep; exactly what I was thinking. Change one variable in an equation and the answer can become radically different. I this case it was two variables; different rifle, different batch of powder. The 180 bullet used to come up with the 100.5g max load must also be quite a bit different than the 180g Accubond. I'd bet the Accubond is a longer bullet.

[krprice84]

Originally Posted by 6tmile

I was reloading for my brothers 270 wsm, I finished a box of twenty for him. On final inspection one shell looked wierd, it had a bit of a bulge on the neck, upon further investigation i realized that the bullet was to big (nosler accubonds) it was a .308, the box had 3 .308 cal bullets in it, I contacted nosler by email and have not heard back from them as of yet

This exact same type of thing happened to me with Berger.

Bought a case of 1000 .224" 70 Gr VLD projectiles, and while loading, ended up with a 243 Blackout type of round.... lol. There were 3 .243 projectiles in the case.

Emailed Berger, they were shocked and appalled at the mistake, said they had a few problems with their QC guy in the past few months, and he was let go about a month prior to my email. They compensated me nicely for that mistake. Very impressed with Berger's customer service. There was really no way to know if I was full of BS, other than the fact that I showed them the loaded round that was wrong, the extra 2 projectiles, and the case of projectiles I had bought.

Very impressed by Berger. But always take a quick look at your loaded rounds, and it might even be worth dropping them into a gauge quickly as you finish them, or at least inspecting them reasonably closely. That would have been a crappy day, had it got through my own QC

[Bigwhite]

Every shell I screw up goes on the wall of shame so I can remember what I did wrong and not do it again. After loading prob 7000 rounds I have about 20 little gems from over crimping to the sizing die set too low crushing the shoulder to bullet not being started perfectly straight and the press cutting part of the bullet off.

[longshot270]

Started reloading again, set up all my stuff in the garage. Reload 60 rounds just for some ammo to shoot and not really looking at accuracy, etc. Go to range, fire first shell and although it came out of the gun fine, to say it had extractor marks on the case would be an understatement. Think what the heck happened. Go home scratching my head. Get out manuals, re-read charge weights, still not sure what happened. Read reloading manual notes on ammo I loaded and now find I am overweight on the powder. Look at 3 other books, check internet sites and yep, not even close to what I loaded. Have NO Idea what happened at this point. As I flip pages, I stumble upon 22-250 rem. Ackley Improved. I don't remember this page, but the numbers are close to what I used. BRAIN FART, or I am getting to old to read properly.

[Brad Donovan]

The worst snafu I have had yet was when reloading .45 acp. I had just finished some .30-06 loads with IMR 8208 XBR. Then I switched to .45 auto. Forgot to emty the powder measure and put IMR into the .45's. I didn't notice until 100 rounds in, so I had quite a few to pull and redo. Fortunately I didn't get to the range with any of those shells...