Mistake I COULD have made today

[AnthonyB]

Fellas:
Passing this on in hopes it helps someone else.
I had been building up enough 38 Special brass to warrant setting up the Dillon for a run, and decided to load this weekend. The brass was sorted by maker but is typical Special brass - if it will stand up on its own I'll load it - and had been cleaned, sized, primed by hand, and then stored in 100 round MTM containers for several weeks, and even months for some.
I loaded 400 rounds yesterday using the Lee 358-158 RF and 4.0 gr. Bullseye over Tula primers. No issues at all, and I had more brass in the tumbler being cleaned for loading today.
This morning I loaded the last 100 of the previously prepared brass. Two rounds required greater than normal force to seat the bullet. I stopped on both, examined them, and decided the bulges around the bullet were from variation in brass thickness.
Pulled the last brass from the tumbler and got ready to load it. I was using lizzard bedding as tumbling media, and had some media sticking in cases, so I would pick up 3-4 cases and knock them against the side of the bucket to make the media fall out. After all were out, I started inspecting and found one where media had packed together at the bottom of the case so tightly I had to dig it out with a screwdriver.
Ruh-Roh, Raggy! :) Could the extra force required to seat the bullet have been me compressing 4.0 gr. Bullseye against who knows how much media? Was I certain that each hand primed case had been inspected? No, I wasn't. I was pretty sure, but had not inspected each before loading.
I couldn't positively identify the two rounds, so out came the bullet puller. I pulled all 100 rounds and found every one to contain nothing but bullet and powder. I wasted some time and effort, but won't be scared my J-frame might grenade on me during some future range session.
LESSON LEARNED: All brass to be loaded on the Dillon goes head-down into a 50 round loading block so I can visually inspect under a shoplight, and is then loaded from the block. It may slow me down a little, but the peace of mind is worth it.
Tony

[Trey45]

That's an eye opener for sure isn't it. Excellent job on being safe and vigilant too. It really doesn't take much for a catastrophe to occur.

I use a slotted spoon to remove my brass from the tumbler, I visually inspect each one right there over the open tumbler, I have a metal scribe next to me to dig compacted media out of cases when I see it, and to also poke media out of flash holes when it gets stuck.

Thank you for bringing this to the attention of others, not everyone would be aware to look for this, especially new and inexperienced reloaders.

[462]

Yep, regardless of what our case prep procedures are, a mistake can still happen.

I tried the critter bedding, once, but found it to be too large and prone to build up inside the cases, so went back to corn cob.

[JIMinPHX]

The whole reason that I use lizard litter as tumbling media is because it pours easily out of small necked cartridges like .223 & doesn't hang up in a clump like you describe. Do you mix some sort of polishing liquid or something like that with your media? Did your media get wet?

[spqrzilla]

It is embarrassing when you hit a problem, realize that you loaded some unknown number of cases that might have that problem, know that you can't ignore it and pull them all to find out that the number was zero.

And the only reason I don't admit to having done it myself is that you never caught me ...

[Dan Cash]

What is the rationale for priming by hand off the press? If media or other foreign material is clogging the case, you will notice it when decapping/resizing on your Dillon. Short of benchrest ammo, there is little to be gained by hand priming, tinkering with primer pockets, etc.

[D Crockett]

I would rather pull 10,000 bullets apart than have one blow up a gun that I own or worse yet hurt some one next to me when said gun comes apart GENTLEMEN I have see a gun come apart and a man next to it spent the next 3 months in the hospitol he almost died so like I said I would rather have to pull 10,000 bullets than have one blow up a gun of mine D Crockett

[AnthonyB]

Jim:
My media is obviously much coarser than yours. It had some Nu-Finish added to it, but no way this stuff would flow through a .223 neck. 35 was the first caliber where I thought everything would be okay. It had not been wet and had tumbled several hundred cases since the Nu-Finish was added.
I need finer media. Where do you buy yours?


Dan:
I had been processing brass as I had time. I can deprime/clean/size/clean/expand/prime 100 rounds in increments as I have time as opposed to the dedicated attention required by the Dillon. I was just working batches of brass.
Tony

[RP]

I have used this type of media for a long time it comes in diff coarse so to speak. I have had it stick in primer pockets and in cases if i added polish with brass in the tumbler. So what I do is add polish in the tumbler before the brass and let it mix before adding the brass. I also have pulled down loaded rounds to check for mistakes.

[BruceB]

Strange things happen.

For years, I used 1/8"-grind corncob from our local feed store without problems, except that an occasional and very rare oversize chunk would hang up in a .22-caliber case. In '09, I bought a Mini-14 in .223.

On two separate dates, the rifle was working fine until it failed to close completely for the next round. Careful examination showed a piece of cob IN THE CHAMBER, which of course prevented the bolt from closing.

The pieces of cob obviously had stayed in the case through the loading process, without signaling their presence. I immediately stopped using that cob for .22 cases, checked every case on hand for' leftovers', and began polishing with a MUCH-finer grind. There have been no recurrences so far....but I'm also a lot more cautious.

[JIMinPHX]

Jim:
My media is obviously much coarser than yours. It had some Nu-Finish added to it, but no way this stuff would flow through a .223 neck. 35 was the first caliber where I thought everything would be okay. It had not been wet and had tumbled several hundred cases since the Nu-Finish was added.
I need finer media. Where do you buy yours?


I got mine at a local big-chain pet store. It may have been Pet Smart. I'm not 100% sure. I'll check the name the next time I drive by there.

The pictures below show the brand & granulation.

Edit: It came from PETCO, not Pet Smart

[462]

Jim,
Thanks for the picture.

That is much finer and cleaner than the stuff I bought from Wal-Mat. I need to get dog food, from the local Pet Smart, so will look for that.

[gray wolf]

Drill spot, will put 40 pounds of the correct corn cob at your door in three day's.
Cost--$20.00, 40 pounds is a lot of corn cob.

[35isit]

I've been told for years I do it wrong. I do all my brass prep (sizing, primer pocket cleaning, trimming, case mouth chamfering or whatever) then clean my brass. After tumbling all my brass gets a pin through the primer hole and then inspected for media. Then each case get stood up case mouth down. There is still a few kernels of media in the loading blocks.

Yes I run dirty brass through my dies and clean brass through my guns. I figure dies and brass are cheaper than guns. I also don't clean my brass twice. My tumbler is on a timer so it tumbles while I'm not there. It may tumble for a few days if I forget to turn it off.

[JIMinPHX]

I just drove past the place that I bought my lizard litter from. It was PETCO, not Pet Smart.

Sorry about the earlier misinformation.

[Trey45]

I called the local feed and seed this morning, the man who answered the phone told me they don't normally carry ground corncob, but he had bought a 50 pound bag to use as tumbler media. :) We got to talking about reloading and casting boolits after that, he invited me down to talk and get a bucket full of the media he has. Turns out he's just had an Apache Machine 6mmBR rifle built (I've never heard of them before either) So we got to talking about rifles and such, and I just might have an invite to his private rifle range, which is the next farm over from my cousins farm that I shoot at sometimes. Aint it funny how the world turns.

[troy_mclure]

ive had nu-finsh glob some media into the bases of .44mag cases.

[mroliver77]

I use the exact same stuff that Jim uses. It is smaller than a flash hole. It is the best media I have found so far. Like has been said, put the additives into the tumbler with only media in it and run it 15 min or so. Then add your brass. Dirty or wet media will clump and stick. I take my handgun brass from the cleaner to the Dillon and load away. I am pretty good at stopping immediately if something feels ***** and finding the cause.
Jay

[AggieEE]

My $0.02 input. If you have an industrial supplier that caters to the sandblasting industry you can find different size walnut and corcob as well as some plastic based media. I don't think the plastic would work very well for our needs but.... I seem to remember some ceramic based stuff also. It gets interesting just to see what is out there and to think if you can find a use for it.
AggieEE