Pull them or shoot them??

[robpete]

I decided to spend some Rob time in the basement this evening and load a batch of 38 Specials. My load is a 165 grain SWC pushed by 3.5 grains of Titegroup. I calibrated my scale, set my Uniflow and proceeded to charge my cases. I then seated all of the bullets. When I was through, I dumped the powder back into the jug and was a little upset at what I saw at the bottom of the Uniflow.....a small piece of folded over electrical tape. My heart sank. After pulling several bullets, my suspicion came to be truth....... the loads are a grain(or so) light. I NOW HAVE 250 BLOOPERS!!!

So my question is do I spend a fun-filled morning pulling or go to the range?

[303Guy]

That's a hard one. How consistent are the charges? If you do go to the range, take a means of removing stuck boolits from the bore. That reminds me of something I heard, this guy took his gun to a gunsmith who removed several boolits from the bore. Apparently for a few years on new years eve this guy would fire a single shot in the air. :???: He apparently also never bothered to clean his gun. :groner: The barrel was bulged of course.

He must have not noticed that the boolit did not exit because the cylinder gap still lets out a bang.

[nvbirdman]

Go to the range, but take a range rod with you just in case.

[freebullet]

That sucks...I'd pullem

[robpete]

It sucks bad. I'm actually losing a little sleep over it.

303Guy- the 4 that I pulled were pretty much on the 2.5 grain mark. I can pull a few more tomorrow. Unfortunately, I fill a bin up once they're seated.....then move onto crimping. There's going to be no way to tell when they started getting light.

[Bzcraig]

I once had to pull about 50 223's and it was a pain using a kinetic puller. Yeah, it sucked!

[warf73]

I would try them if it was me starting load using a 170gr bullet is 3.0gr and max is 3.5gr. Using 2.7grs of titegroup with a 148gr swc is starting load so you your talking .2grs less correct? You should get a fps of around 525 or so.

[fcvan]

I'd pull them, re cast them, and reload. I've used a kinetic puller and I've used vise grips with the reloading press. I don't screw up often, but having a collet puller for use in a press has been on my nice-to-have list for some time. There is no sense losing sleep with worry when a simple solution will give you peace of mind.

[jonp]

I'd take that many to the range with a wooden dowel or a rod and check the barrel after every shot. If more that a couple jammed I would take the rest home and pull them. did I mention check the barrel after EVERY shot?

[Nazgul]

Ran into something similar. Weigh a known correct round. Then just weigh each one. Process any with significant variation.

Don

[robpete]

Don - I actually thought about that one, but with the mixed headstamps...and nickel mixed with brass, it would be nearly impossible to differentiate whether the difference in weight is a light charge or not.

[ku4hx]

I'd bag 'em and tag em' with large red letters something saying there was the possibility of squib loads. Then I'd shoot em' (nobody else) and be prepared to drive out any stuck boolits.

Listen for the bang, note the recoil level and act accordingly.

[Foto Joe]

It depends on how anal you are I guess. Personally I'd probably pull 'em but on the other hand I've never had that many bloopers, yet. Since they're mixed brass why not try sorting them into specific headstamps and try weighing them. The problem is that +/- one grain even on the same headstamp is going to be iffy at best.

Just out of curiosity, how did the tape get into the powder dispenser?

[robpete]

Just out of curiosity, how did the tape get into the powder dispenser?

That's the million dollar question. My father-in-law just asked me that exact question a few minutes ago. I have NO clue. A few years back, I found a spent primer stuck in the powder tube of my MEC 9000. luckily, that was only a hundred rounds and i easily drained them through an 870. That mystery will go down with: Was there a second shooter in the grassy knoll?

[mookiie]

I once had a similar problem with 500 SKS rounds I pulled them all and reloaded them. If you have a question about it and are not 100 percent sure of them, than pull them. You should never shoot anything you are questioning.

[gray wolf]

Could you please explain how a piece of tape in the hopper has anything to do with what goes on the scale. The scale and the hopper do not know each other.
The pick up tube rotates, picks up powder and dumps it on the scale. When the scale weighs it--it has no knowledge of whats going on or whats in the hoppr.

[WILCO]

That sucks...I'd pullem

Yep. Pull them, start over.

[robpete]

Could you please explain how a piece of tape in the hopper has anything to do with what goes on the scale. The scale and the hopper do not know each other.
The pick up tube rotates, picks up powder and dumps it on the scale. When the scale weighs it--it has no knowledge of whats going on or whats in the hoppr.

The powder drop volume was measured and set @ 3.5 grains. As I was charging cases, the tape must have moved down as the level dropped and got stuck it the charging cylinder. I did notice some sticking as I was rotating the handle, but thought nothing of it. Small charges of flake powder have always caused that kind of sticking in my uniflow.

Believe me...lesson learned. I will be checking the weight more often. I also made a cross out of stainless wire and taped it to the opening of the funnel that I use to load the hopper. That will trap anything else that can be in the jug still.

[rintinglen]

I think I'd try a few, but be prepared to knock out any that get stuck and go one at a time. Check every time for a bullet in the bore. But if you can shoot them out, that'll be a heck of a lot easier than pounding out 200 boolits.

[Wayne Smith]

Do you have a .38 with a two inch barrel? I'd shoot them in that and not worry. Listen for squibs and have a knock out rod with you.

[Andrew Mason]

I would shoot them, but out of a snubbie, not one of my longer barrel revolvers.
just make sure to bring a rod to push out any squibs.

[Mohavedog]

I'm in the shoot em camp. But I have a question. How many rounds are we talking about? If it were me I would shoot a couple of them at the range to see if they had anything going at all. If all was ok I would plink with the rest. Now, that is if you loaded a bunch, as I would hate to break down more than 100. If a 100 or less pull em and start over. Mohavedog

[robpete]

I like the snubbie idea. It will give me a reason to get the J frame out of the glove box. I'll give it a go tomorrow morning and report back.

[country gent]

I got a steel pin in 4895 one time made it into the measuring chamber of my beeding and Mull measure and part ways into the measuring tube tied the measure up and dinged the edges of the block and hole. IMR sent me 2 * lbers for my troubles.
The snubby advice is sound and solid from way back. Fritz started the short barrel revolvers with the theroy that ammo of the day with many squibs would still push the bullet out of the short barrels. Back in his day duds light loads squibs were much more common place.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

If you are reasonably sure there is at least 2 grains of Titegoup in them, shoot them! It might be good to see how you flinch if one does fail to fire. Take a rod with you as nvbirdman suggested. Pulling bullets sucks.

[MtGun44]

Shoot them in slow fire, check with rod each shot.

Bill

[hiwall]

get out the Electronic scale and test for light rounds. pull them and see what happen to the light ones. if the bullets are within .1 grain and the case are very will matched then the 3 grain light ones should be the without powder. Good luck. Other thought is trash the whole lot and start with new everything, brass cases bullets and powder.
Safer that hurting a lead launcher.

[Foto Joe]

There ya go, using that tape again!:bigsmyl2:

I'm in the habit of weighing every 5th charge. It's a pain but it soothes my paranoia a little bit. I've never found an off charge and I've considered skipping it once in a while but can't bring myself to do it with anything other than TrailBoss, which if I double charge winds up all over the place.

[robpete]

Joe - your comment made me spit my rice pudding out when I read it. Hysterical!
I'm definitely going to be changing some habits after this one.

[Mk42gunner]

Safest thing is to pull them. Pulling 250 rounds with a kinetic puller ranks up there with getting a prostrate exam by Dr. Sasquatch stone cold sober.

I have read that collet pullers don't work well with lead projectiles, I don't have one to try it. If the round is long enough to go through the hole in your press, a quick and easy way to pull them is to use pliers/ side cutters / end nips to grab the boolit and use the leverage of your press to pull them.

If you do shoot them, do not use a wooden dowel to drive any squibs out of the barrel. A 5/16" brass rod will work much better, with no chance of splitting.

Robert

[MaryB]

I agree with sort them by headstamp, weigh each one in each group and set the light ones aside for a test fire.

[Stephen Cohen]

Pull them if nothing else its a good reminder to check a thrown charge every 10th or so. Also what it that tape moved at some point and allowed a double charge. knocking out slugs at range is no way to encourage people to want to shoot next to you. No offence intended just my 2 cents worth.

[Wayne Smith]

Actually, Robert, I wouldn't worry much about a wooden dowell in a 2" barrel! Ordinarially I would be in complete agreement with you.

[Foto Joe]

Kinetic pullers and lead boolits get along just fine. A word of caution though: DO NOT ever substitute the shell holder of your press for the collet of the kinetic puller. There is anecdotal evidence indicating that this can cause the primer to detonate and ruin your day. I've seen a couple of YouTube videos from folks who have learned this the hard way, one of which showed the user retrieving pieces of plastic etc from his ceiling tiles that had once been part of his RCBS puller. On the other hand, I do use my shell holder in a kinetic puller for pulling dummy uncharged/unprimed boolits all the time.

[Jim]

I agree with ya', Joe. Use the collets that come with the hammer. If using a shell holder was the design method, the mfg'rs. would have made the hammer head to fit them and would have included instructions for such.

[Foto Joe]

Actually my Lee shell holders fit perfectly in an RCBS kinetic puller. I think that the problem lies with the fact that the case head can slide slightly in the holder and the primer hole in the shell holder will mis-align when that happens. Theoretically if the primer is seated correctly this shouldn't present a problem but if said primer is slightly "proud" then you would be entering the realm of the crash test dummy. The RCBS puller that I use actually works great for medium caliber rounds like 38SPC and 9mm but I'm constantly arguing with it when it comes to 45 and 44's. I try really hard to never have a reason to pull more than a couple of goofs a few times per year but since I'm nowhere near perfect (yet) it seems that do get the opportunity to practice with it from time to time. I feel bad for the OP since I can't imagine having to sit there and whack that thing on the floor 250 times. Not to mention the lost powder as I have a hard time justifying reusing powder that has been exposed to boolit lube.

[robpete]

I fired a little over a hundred of them through my 630, then a 686. No jamming. Very slow though....i was actually able to see a few of them flying.....

On a side note, my Browning Hi-Power loads must have been infected as well(also load 3.5gr of Titegroup). Four out of five rounds would not cycle properly. I fired them through a friend's XD just fine. They just wouldn't rack the Hi-Power slide back far enough.

[Foto Joe]

If you want to have some fun try it at nite through the headlights. I used to get a kick out of watching 45 Colt slugs loft down range.

[MtGun44]

I was shooting some loads with 1.9 Clays under 120 TC Lee boolit today.
They worked fine and no chance of sticking one with that load.

Bill