What's the most stupid thing you did casting/reloading that you won't do again!

[Rustynails]

Okay, no politically correct concerns when I say... "There are stupid questions and actions, but we should all learn from them.

I am still new to casting and reloading...just on my first 4k rounds of casting bullets and reloaded ammo. My first and only stupid mistake, thus far, was to keep an open ingot container near my reloading bench. Somehow a live primer fell into the old coffee can full on ingots. I was starting to cast some 45 acp and I placed the last ingot from the coffee can into my melting pot and then proceeded to dump all the scrap bullets into the pot. BAM! Lead went flying!

I got just a few specks on my shirt, but most went on the table and around the lead melting pot. I had gloves and glasses on and was wearing a short sleeve shirt. I was lucky it didn't get on any of my skin.

Am I the only one out there that has done something so stupid? Lesson learnt!

So, anyone else do anything stupid that they want to admit to? Maybe your comments will help me not melt my skin away or blow myself up in the future.

[Taterhead]

Glad it wasn't worse. That must have bumped the heart rate!

Mistake: Buying gear twice by trying to get by with the cheap stuff initially.

Obtaining a supply of estate sale reloads thinking I'd pull down for components. False economy! The guy who reloaded the ammo so severely crimped the bullets that they were useless mushroom profiles. That's when I was first clued into the fact that excessive taper crimp ruins neck tension.

[3leggedturtle]

I didnt put my Bullseye away after a loading session. Hour later loaded up some rounds with Unique. YEP! I poured 1/2lb Unique into a container of Bullseye. Mixed it up good, and poured it in the snow outside the door. Had to look at it every day for 4 days til it snowed and covered it up. Still po's me that i did that... Todd/3leg
PS, that happened to a friend, after that i always put a cover on the pot any time i start up or add new lead.

[Winger Ed.]

BAM! Lead went flying!I got just a few specks on my shirt, but most went on the table and around the lead melting pot. I had gloves and glasses on and was wearing a short sleeve shirt. I was lucky it didn't get on any of my skin.
Am I the only one out there that has done something so stupid? Lesson learnt!

One thing that comes to mind was redecorating the ceiling, the walls,
and my clothes after stirring a full 20lb. pot with a damp wooden paint stick.

[marek313]

I always wear eye protection because i shoot mostly steel plates but I dont shoot anything anymore wearing just sunglasses. I had a 45acp case shoot up and right inside the sunglasses making a nice burn mark right under my eye. Now I only wear tight fitting safety glasses.

On the other hand though I love watching girls scream and run lifting their tops off when hot piece of brass gets between those girls. That doesnt bother me as much [smilie=l:

[mart]

I have had throw out powder after I inadvertently dumped the wrong powder in the wrong can because I had more than one can on the bench at the same time. Only takes once to learn that one. Never since have I had more than one powder out at a time.

[Hossfly]

I had some new 9 mm powder coated boolits made up and thought I was good enough to hit small flower pots off steel “I-Beam and missed low a piece of lead splattered and caught me on the neck between chin and shirt neck line, had safety glasses on thank goodness. Thought 10’ Was plenty far enough back, nooooope, was going to do like Hickok 45 and smoke some pot. Did quite a few using Front sight squeeze method worked really well till that last one.

[Petrol & Powder]

Well, there was that one time I got into reloading to save money........

[KenH]

Well, there was that one time I got into reloading to save money........

That's the best one!!! :)

[WheelgunConvert]

Not lubing ALL of the bottleneck cases to save time.

[CastingFool]

Turning down a Ruger Red Label shot gun for $600, was the thing I will always regret

[WheelgunConvert]

I’ll add, I wish I had started documenting traceable batch information and labeling earlier.

I keep hoping someone that is tech savvy will create an app that generates and uses QR codes to track components, assembly and batches from cradle to grave.

[Tom W.]

Got three 60# lead ingots and tried to melt them with a little home propane torch. I ended up going to where my son worked and used an oxy-acetylene torch. It still took most of the night.

[jcren]

Storing all my load and chrono data on a phone app. Nothing like starting over.

[SSGOldfart]

Well, there was that one time I got into reloading to save money........

So reason I started casting and it's been over 50 years when does the saving Start????????????[smilie=f::killingpc

[RED BEAR]

Tried to cast battery lead once almost didn't get out of my garage the fumes burnt my throat and couldn't breath. Never again and felt very lucky to get out of there. Stupid things i have done in life wouldn't fit here.

[Hickory]

What's the most stupid thing you did casting/reloading that you won't do again!

Another guy and myself were going west to shoot prairie dogs:
I let a guy load ammo with my bullets & powder on my equipment to shoot in my guns, he changed the amount of powder, even though I told him to change NOTHING and it caused my rifle to come apart.
Stupid me. Stupid "friend" who thought he knew better. He still owes me $1100 for the rifle.

[lightman]

A couple of things come to mind. One was painful and the other was just aggravating. I was changing the sizing die on my Lyman 450 and the handle fell. The top punch punched a nice round hole in my thumb nail. I also left the dump valve open on my ChargeMaster after emptying it one time. Of course the next time I used it the powder ran out of the dump and all over my loading bench!

[Tom Myers]

I’ll add, I wish I had started documenting traceable batch information and labeling earlier.
I keep hoping someone that is tech savvy will create an app that generates and uses QR codes to track components, assembly and batches from cradle to grave.

The Precision Load Records software (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Prec_Rec-Bas.htm) can do that very thing for you.

(Click on links for screen snaps)

All loads (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/hlp_arms_and5.htm) and targets (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/hlp_arms_and9.htm) are keyed to individual firearms and can be saved to searchable, retrievable (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/hs162.htm) databases ;

You can maintain an automatically updated, running inventory of all Cartridge Cases (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/hlp_cartridge_list.htm), Bullets (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/hlp_active_bullet.htm), Gas Checks (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/hs67.htm), Primers (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/hlp_primer_list.htm), Powder (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/hlp_powder_list.htm) and Loaded Ammunition (https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/hs340.htm).



https://tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/Inventory.png


https://www.tmtpages.com/New_Prec_Rec/Help/Inventory-Cartridge.png

[sniper]

Well, there was that one time I got into reloading to save money........

Didn't we all? :bigsmyl2:

Then there was the time when I gave a reloading demonstration to a bunch of Boy Scouts, and had forgotten to prime the cases...Unique all over the table! :oops:

[Sig556r]

almost lost a digit converting 223 brass to 300BLK/277WLV with that cheap HF mini-saw...it has a safety stop which I took out to streamline the process, well, it's there for a reason that I now know...

[MrWolf]

Turning down a Ruger Red Label shot gun for $600, was the thing I will always regret

Was buying a bunch of guns from a family before went to a gunbroker. I didn't care for Winchester over my Marlins. Was offered a NIB Winchester 45 colt lever. Just spent a bunch and said no. I still kick myself and it has only been about six or so years.

[RED BEAR]

I actually didn't start reloading to save money. I started so i could shoot more with the money i had.

[Wayne Smith]

Missread my powder scale. Thought the slide was on 0, it was on 10. The difference between 5 and 15 grains BE took off forcing cone, put a piece of it against my skull, and bent the side plate of a Colt Army Special 41 Colt. I'm still amazed it didn't come apart more - that is one strong gun.

[Mica_Hiebert]

In my teens I was teaching myself to reload and found out the hard way that H4831 and imr4831 are not the same. I got some powder burns and a damaged rifle.

[Petander]

Mistake: I stopped casting bullets for a few years.

Another one is trusting a phone's SD card for chrono/load data. Those cards do fail just like any other digital media,I should have know better,working with computers since the 80's. Oh well.

[Walks]

Using the RCBS Primer Pocket Swager to swaged 1500 G.I. 45ACP cases. Pushing really hard, actually hitting the handle to pop off the case from the nipple gave me PERMANENT Tennis Elbow.
Can only be fixed by Surgery.

[C-dubb]

Loaded a few rounds to try out my brand new Interarms Mauser 270. Doubled a load and it was the very first round I fired in my brand new rifle. Took a hammer and a piece of wood to get the bolt open but that action was undamaged.
That was 40 years ago and it was a lesson well learned.

[Winger Ed.]

gave me PERMANENT Tennis Elbow.Can only be fixed by Surgery.

You're lucky shooting is your hobby.
Otherwise, you might have ended up with Golf balls.

[Daver7]

Mistake.....Nope not me. I've never made a mistake.
Anyone who tells ya different must be mistaken.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[MrWolf]

Just realized that the NIB Winchester lever 45 was for $200 and I didn't buy it.

[Burnt Fingers]

Loaded a few rounds to try out my brand new Interarms Mauser 270. Doubled a load and it was the very first round I fired in my brand new rifle. Took a hammer and a piece of wood to get the bolt open but that action was undamaged.
That was 40 years ago and it was a lesson well learned.

What kind of .270 load allows a double charge?

For me it was buying a Hornady LnL AP instead of a Dillon 650. I lost my shorts selling all my Hornady stuff.

[dondiego]

I discovered when I was around 15 years old that my dad's pristine Trap Door Springfield 45-70 is not a very strong action when loaded with Hornady 500 grain jacketed bullets. I should have bought that loading manual and scale. First reloads..............

[sniper]

You're lucky shooting is your hobby.
Otherwise, you might have ended up with Golf balls.

:groner: :mrgreen:

[JimB..]

I bought out an estate and with it got tens of thousands of reloads in .40, .45, .357, .380, .500, and .223/5.56. I pulled some for the components, but eventually was just looking for how to get rid of the things. Called a local gun range and they said that they would dispose of them. Cool, they were labeled in ammo cans that I wanted to keep so I just dumped some into a dozen mfrb’s and took it to them. Their guys took it out of my car and took it to their cars, I asked how they were disposing of it, and they said they’d just shoot it.

Didn’t take them any more, and never heard of a problem, but it still irks me. Was pulling down the last of the .357 a couple weeks ago to salvage the winchester silvertips and unfired starline brass, they were loaded at 175% of book max, clearly labeled and confirmed by weighing several loads.

So the dumbest thing was not stopping the guys and taking it all back home. Probably not my problem, but I’ll still feel bad if one of them blows off a few fingers or a hand. I don’t shoot at that range very often.

[truckjohn]

Probably the dumbest thing is trusting electronics for my records rather than doing it the old fashioned way and writing it all down in a bound book..... "Oh... I will never loose that info" spoken right before the electronics horks out it's brain and looses EVERYTHING!!!!

[Land Owner]

I was a Grasshopper at the beginning of the journey and heating my (one and only at the time) new 45 Devastator HP mold by dipping it into the melt in the pot. In an instant of mind-checked-out-for-a-second when the top side of the mold was hot I nonchalantly turned it over and stuck the mold and its screw-on wooden handled HP insert into the pot. Another Homer Simpson (face palm), "Dooph!"

By the time I came back-to-the-future and withdrew the mold the heat had scorched all of the finish off of that wooden handle and it had started to cook the wood. Still works well though, but I think about that insanity every time I use that mold...and wonder how I could have been so STOOPID?

Eyes on the Boat or bad things can happen that one would least expect.

[skrapyard628]

Havent done stupid with reloading. But I did get myself a horrendous case of poison ivy at the range. The range is an old gravel quarry pit and there are benches/tables at the top of the pit and you shoot down into the pit there.

I was shooting an AR15 with a scope and bipod off of the table. I squirmed around a bit to get a better position and because I was looking through the scope I didnt notice I was knocking my pistol off the front of the table by hitting it with the bipod leg.

It slid about 30 yards down into the gravel pit and stopped when it disappeared into some bushes. So we called a range break and I climbed down there to the bushes to rummage around and find my gun.

Paid no attention to the fact that those "bushes" were mostly poison ivy because I just wanted to find my pistol. Found the gun. Got home and wondered why I was so dang itchy....Arms, legs, neck...poison ivy everywhere!!!

[15meter]

Loaded some 06 cast loads on my Dillon 550 with 4759. Had one that bridged and dropped a tad heavy on the next round. Took a heavy wood mallet to open that bolt.

And that case sits on a shelf right in front of my reloading press as a reminder, don't be stooopid. I don't have any place to store it.

I don't have horns like a steer. Steers have got horns to store all the extra stooopid they were born with.

No ugly stick powders in progressives where you can't visually check EACH AND EVERY round for powder level.

[RogerDat]

Well since we are limited to reloading I can't really claim every day after the first 3 dates with my ex-wife.... so I'll go with teaching my wife of the last 22 years to shoot. If I'm alive when she actually looks at the price tags on the boxes in the primer inventory or powder inventory and does some basic math I won't be alive long after. :-)

My receipt book for lead and scrap would likewise at the very least get me kneecapped with a nice lady sized .38 special, good thing it is a revolver she only has 5 shots and doubt she would be mad enough to reload.

Recently while melting some pewter in a large pot I went to dump it into a small pot on an electric burner, just as I started to pour I realized the small pot was cold and could..... tried to stop pouring heavy pot and jump back at the same time. Only sloshed a bit from the big pot as I aborted the pour but that bit hit the cold put and promptly exited after a super brief rumble.

Splashes on concrete floor not too bad to clean up, metal table, easy, the stuff that landed on the empty upside down plastic buckets? Eh, not so good. Embossed itself into the plastic. Only one bit hit my full length jeans and it was cool enough to do no harm. So if one is going to toss molten metal to the tinsel fairy I suggest expensive tin is by far the best choice. At least that way all the scraping and collecting to clean it up is worth it. Man all that for $1 a pound lead would have been like twice as annoying.

It better be hot or it better be not. Need a sign for my casting bench that says that. Maybe next to my full face shied hook.

[Al_Bundy]

dumped a container of rejected bullets into hot lead. problem is there was a hidden primer at the bottom of the cup. 2nd problem, i wasnt wearing eye protection, or shoes or pants. Primer popped in the hot lead and the primer went flying and hit my an inch under my eye. I got startled from the pop and stumbled backwards lol the little **** scared me good

[GregLaROCHE]

Storing my reloading equipment at my ex wife’s house after our divorce.

[woodbutcher]

[smilie=s: Well,among other things I have screwed up doing,I forgot to turn on the drip-o-matic.
As far as paying attention to what you are doing reminds me of a bumper sticker my Dad and I saw one day.It said"Watch my rear end,NOT hers".
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe,
Leo

[gwpercle]

A bunch of years ago when I cast my very first boolit , it dropped out the mould, was lying on the towel all nice and shiney , I wanted to look at it , I blew on it , it didn't look hot , so I picked it up ....
You can't tell hot by looking at something ! Never did that again !
Gary

[Drew P]

Storing my reloading equipment at my ex wife’s house after our divorce.
You win!

[JimB..]

A bunch of years ago when I cast my very first boolit , it dropped out the mould, was lying on the towel all nice and shiney , I wanted to look at it , I blew on it , it didn't look hot , so I picked it up ....
You can't tell hot by looking at something ! Never did that again !
Gary

This reminds me of an old Woodwright’s Shop episode, think it was the first one that Roy did with a blacksmith. Roy kept reaching over to touch stuff, to feel the surface, etc as if he was working with wood, the blacksmith corrected him at least a half dozen times. He didn’t get burned, at least not on camera.

[popper]

Dropping powder into a 308 case with no primer.

[rintinglen]

Just recently I "loaded" 200 rounds of 158 grain 38's. Too bad I forgot to turn the powder measure from close to dispense.:(

[wv109323]

I was smelting some lead shot that was given to me. It was in a 1 gallon jug. When I started the smelt I poured about 2 pounds over the rest of the lead. The lead shot was wet. When the lead below melted and the lead shot started falling into the melt,the tinsel fairy paid a visit.

[Kev18]

I was trying out dripping shot with a homemade shot dripper.

I had a spoon I mixed the lead with.

Turns out some coolant (clothes softener) got on the spoon. When I dipped it back in the lead... I gave myself some fine decorations, a minor stroke and a brown streak in the pantaloons.

Atleast I have bad vision and was wearing my glasses. A thick string of lead got stuck to my glasses right over my left eye... Could of ended real bad.

[Winger Ed.]

My receipt book for lead and scrap would likewise at the very least get me kneecapped


Never keep records of hobby/guy stuff.

You give up all deniability, and there is no way to 'play dumb' when confronted with said records..

[leadhead]

I forgot to turn the gas off under my lead pot (150 lb pot). Turned the blower off
and came upstairs for the night... Went to bed around 10:00 PM and drifted off
to sleep. About 2:30 AM, my wife started screaming at me to get up... the carbon
monoxide detector went off and never heard it. I'm hard of hearing and if she
had not been there, her, me, and both dogs would have been dead by morning.
I do remember having one bad headache when she woke me.. I'll never do that again.
Denny

[redhawk0]

Stupidest thing I've done was using a loading book data for a 220gr jacketed bullet with a 214gr wadcutter 44 mag. Since the seat depth of the WC was all the way into the case I had extremely high pressure on that load. Fortunately I had a Ruger Redhawk so it was a very strong action. I disassembled the other 99 rounds that I had loaded...and started over with a greatly reduced load and worked up. There was no data available at the time for a 214gr wadcutter in a 44 mag. Learned my lesson early.

redhawk

[asmith80]

Never keep records of hobby/guy stuff.

You give up all deniability, and there is no way to 'play dumb' when confronted with said records..
What's that old line? When I die I hope my wife sells my guns for what I paid for them, not for what I TOLD her I paid for them

[john.k]

For sure ,putting a length of lead pipe into a melt.....thing must have had a lot of wet mud in it........Explosion put lead 20 ft away...Wont be doing that again........to melt lead pipe,put it in first and bring up the temp,and water will just boil away......I knew that,so just stoopid,I reckon.

[Peregrine]

A few days ago I managed to set off a couple magnum rifle primers in an RCBS hand priming tool all at once. I had been having problems with it double feeding since I got it (to replace an identical one I had borrowed and had to give back, that one worked 100%) but up to now I had been working through the issues instead of just calling RCBS.

I was teaching a friend how to use it, and he managed to jam it up. There was a primer halfway in a case and since the pockets were a bit tight on the brass this wasn't unexpected, I tried to get the primer all the way in but I didn't realized that the he had actually triple fed it.

Holy hell that was loud. Everyone always says a primer going off is louder than you'd expect but wow, the fact it was multiple primers and they were of the magnum rifle flavour definetly enhanced that. It took a few seconds of me stumbling around dumbly checking if I still had all my fingers and eyes before I could say anything coherent.

I clearly should have taken the tool all the way apart when I had an issue, but when it had double fed before and gotten the case stuck on the shell holder with a primer halfway in, by slowly applying more pressure I was always able to get the primer on top into the case and the case off the shell holder. Not so with a triple feed it seems.

I usually always wear safety glasses when priming but I wasn't wearing them this time, at least I had the sense to have the thing pointed away from my face. Lessons were learned.


Still not quite sure what's going on with the tool, the old one behaved far better. RCBS is sending me some parts and if that doesn't do the trick they offered to replace it. But frankly I'm pretty unimpressed with their quality in general lately and have been buying less and less of their stuff. Not that I blame this cockup on them, that's on me. I did rather like the old hand prime tool I had but when I got this one in it very obviously didn't fit together the same way.

[1bluehorse]

It would be hard to pick one. To many choices.

[boman250]

I ordered some surplus powder, MP580, bottle says to use IMR4451 data and reduce 10%.

Well, lets just say I should have reduced it about 20%. The rifle was undamaged, wish I had my chrono there that day to see how fast a 6.5 creedmoor way over pressure would push a 140gr bullet.

Lessons learned.

[44Blam]

I nearly had one the other day. I had about 2lbs and I put in about 12 lbs of alloy. I have a 20 lb lee melter but I know that it generally holds about 15lbs. Well I also used more Lino to my WW/Lino alloy. As the lead melted, the level rose and it ended up stopping about 1/4 to 1/8" from the top. I was making plans on how to try to maintain an alloy but also drain a little lead...

[44Blam]

A few days ago I managed to set off a couple magnum rifle primers in an RCBS hand priming tool all at once. I had been having problems with it double feeding since I got it (to replace an identical one I had borrowed and had to give back, that one worked 100%) but up to now I had been working through the issues instead of just calling RCBS.

I was teaching a friend how to use it, and he managed to jam it up. There was a primer halfway in a case and since the pockets were a bit tight on the brass this wasn't unexpected, I tried to get the primer all the way in but I didn't realized that the he had actually triple fed it.

Holy hell that was loud. Everyone always says a primer going off is louder than you'd expect but wow, the fact it was multiple primers and they were of the magnum rifle flavour definetly enhanced that. It took a few seconds of me stumbling around dumbly checking if I still had all my fingers and eyes before I could say anything coherent.

I clearly should have taken the tool all the way apart when I had an issue, but when it had double fed before and gotten the case stuck on the shell holder with a primer halfway in, by slowly applying more pressure I was always able to get the primer on top into the case and the case off the shell holder. Not so with a triple feed it seems.

I usually always wear safety glasses when priming but I wasn't wearing them this time, at least I had the sense to have the thing pointed away from my face. Lessons were learned.


Still not quite sure what's going on with the tool, the old one behaved far better. RCBS is sending me some parts and if that doesn't do the trick they offered to replace it. But frankly I'm pretty unimpressed with their quality in general lately and have been buying less and less of their stuff. Not that I blame this cockup on them, that's on me. I did rather like the old hand prime tool I had but when I got this one in it very obviously didn't fit together the same way.

I like just lighting a grain or so of new powder when I get it to see how it actually burns. One day I decided to "set off" a WLP primer with an extended length lighter and my wife was PISSED. *POW*

[gwpercle]

This reminds me of an old Woodwright’s Shop episode, think it was the first one that Roy did with a blacksmith. Roy kept reaching over to touch stuff, to feel the surface, etc as if he was working with wood, the blacksmith corrected him at least a half dozen times. He didn’t get burned, at least not on camera.

I love that show .... and would bet money there were some edited clips of him touching hot stuff !
Or at least the blacksmith yelling...Don't Touch That !
Gary

[xiholdtruex]

Loaded a .357 mag case without a primer. Last week I loaded 100 rounds of 9mm with cast bullets and apparently seated too deep or crushed primers because about 20 of them did not fire.

[goryshaw]

Not a reloading mistake, more of a cleanup brain fart. Cleaning bench at parents house when I was a teenager, found a primer with no idea what kind it was. Disposed of it by putting it on the concrete garage floor and smacking it with the flat of a shovel, after my ears quit ringing found a burn spot on the floor and a dent in the shovel, had more respect for primers ever since.

[rockrat]

My biggest mistake was stopping my casting to talk to the tinsel fairy. Such a nice smile, till all 20 lbs of hot lead came out of the pot headed for me, the ceiling and the old pie cupboard behind me. Took a long time for the scars on my arm, to fade. I just turn up the music now so I can't hear her sireen song anymore

[Onebad06vtx]

dumped a container of rejected bullets into hot lead. problem is there was a hidden primer at the bottom of the cup. 2nd problem, i wasnt wearing eye protection, or shoes or pants. Primer popped in the hot lead and the primer went flying and hit my an inch under my eye. I got startled from the pop and stumbled backwards lol the little **** scared me good

Note to self,ALWAYS CAST WITH SHOES AND
CLOTHS ON AND EYE PROTECTION

[Green Frog]

Unknown alloy. Took out a long pig of “something plumbous” and cast a season’s supply of Minie balls for my N-SSA musket. Problem was, the MBs should be pure lead and I used LINOTYPE! [smilie=b:

Froggie

[Jedman]

I have a Sig/ Sauer M 200 switch barrel rifle and I found a local guy selling a 9.3 X 62 barrel, magazine, dies, brass, and bullets that fit my rifle so I bought it all. The brass was brand new Norma in boxes of 20 so I loaded about 10-12 with a couple different powders to try out. When I tried to use them I couldn't close the bolt on my handloads. I simply forgot to run the new brass through the sizing die first and found out that expensive brand brass doesn't come sized.
I think I never loaded new bottle necked brass before at that time.

Jedman

[nvbirdman]

I melted some lead in a thin aluminum pan on my camp stove. Never did get all the lead off the bottom of the stove.

[Dvdmacdaddy]

When I first started casting I was none the wiser, I was given 2 cavity 9mm TL lee mold, Lee .356 sizer, cast iron pot and ladle, and a boat load of unknown alloy lead ingots. Casted 5k bullets, TL, sized, TL, did 3 round ladder test, then loaded all 5k. Never occurred to check for leading, slug barrel size appropriately, and do all the testing needed. I now have 5k of rounds I’ll eventually get pulled. I didn’t use a M Die then and also put a heavy crimp, the ones I’ve pulled are .354 mostly. I have since learnt better, from reading the Lyman cast book and this forum.

[RogerDat]

I like just lighting a grain or so of new powder when I get it to see how it actually burns. One day I decided to "set off" a WLP primer with an extended length lighter and my wife was PISSED. *POW* Bet she wasn't more pissed than my wife was when she set off one with an upright vacuum in the basement. How the little bugger got all the way from the smooth concrete floor where my bench is to the carpeted area is beyond me but it did. Thank goodness it was only a SPP and went off down in the brushes/blower several feet away.

Which leads me to... using multi colored traction sprinkles in blue, gray, black, and white when I painted the smooth concrete with epoxy floor paint. Wife spread the sprinkles and she did it as a "decorative" function not as a practical traction function. Lots and lots of decorative multi colored sprinkles from two bags of mixed chips. Should have used just white because I can't find a thing that hits the floor that isn't brass. I find any dropped shot or small screws/clips/nuts by taking off my shoes. Guess I never thought to search for a dropped primer that way. I tend to think if I can't find it then it rolled under the bench, not all the way to the carpeted area.

[odfairfaxsub]

Worst thing I ever done.... prob when I grabbed the wrong cab of powder because the color of uniques label is about the same color as bullseye. Shot my gun and thought man this feels really magnum like. I stopped and went home eventually and pulled the rounds, weighed the charges and realized I used unique data w bullseye powder. Could have been worse.

One time shooting my gp100 w 38 specials I shot and shot and shot and the noise changed from poof poof poof to VaROOOM!!!!!!! Must have double loaded a shell. Now I check w a flash light for differences.

[bikerbeans]

Cast 500g 45 rifle cal boolits from pure linotype and shoot them from a 458 win mag. Boolits measured 0.463" and chambered in my Cz550 just fine. Apparently these bullets didn't appreciate being swaged in my rifle as they keyholed at 25 yards.

BB

[rrob692326]

I used a propane torch to heat my lyman 450 bullet sizer filled with hard bullet lube on a cold morning, a few minutes later I hear a cracking sound as the cast iron housing broke. Had to get a new one, but on the good side I have extra replacement parts now and I did get 40 years of use out of the thing before I busted it. We learn as we go.

[Baja_Traveler]

Went to load some 44 mag with 7 grains of Bullseye two weeks ago, and set the powder measure bar one click over and rolled the fine weight to 2 grains. After 100 rounds I wanted to set the powder drop to 5 grains to load up some 44 special - it was then I realized I had just loaded 100 potential pistol exploding rounds with 12 grains of Bullseye. Spent the next two days hammering them apart. So glad I had discovered my brain fart before it was too late.