Kaboom.....explosion.....

[jonp]

Lucky your friend is ok and this is a good example of why you should wear shooting glasses. Looks like Ruger built the rifle right. Explosion directed down into the mag well and out the sides.

Had a slight argument with a know it all at the house yesterday. He stopped by and informed me about casting, loading (insisted you could buy ammo cheaper than reloading it) and was appalled I had a single stage press. I just had to get a dillon and he had two of them. Tried to tell him I wasn't interested, was not in a rush loading ammo, didn't load enough rounds to make it cost effective and besides I liked dubbing around one round at a time as I was not in a hurry. Can't say in 15yrs or so that I've misloaded a round either under or over yet and hope I don't.

Like Willie Pete I put them upside down until powder then turn them over. I usually weigh each charge and if using the lyman 55 every 5th or 6th. I load on the bottom end so even if the lyman throws a 1/2 grain off it will still be well under max. If I decide to load 3/4 of max or up for some reason every charge gets weighed.

[jonp]

Not to hijack this thread. Just had this happen to my XD 40 S&W. Fortunately, only the pistol got hurt. I haven't yet determined if it is the result of out of battery or an over charge of Tite Group. When reloading, I have 2 blocks. When I charge with powder, I move the case to another block on the other side of my single stage loader. Attachment 123476

Did you pull the rest of the ammo that you loaded at the same time to check the weights?

[btroj]

Like a few others I dump powder, seat bullet, then set case down. No loading blocks for me.

I know a person who did likewise with A Ruger in 06. The bolt held but a chunk of stock flew past me. Scary as hell. He now weighs all loaded rounds that have less than 2/3 case full of powder to prevent double charges.

Glad to hear the injuries aren't serious.

[koehlerrk]

Scary stuff...

Here's my reload procedures to try and keep this from happening:

1. I try like heck to avoid loads that don't fill the case more than halfway - makes double charges easy to spot.
2. Two loading blocks - as each step is completed, the cases move from one block to the other.
3. If I think I screwed up, I pull down the whole batch and start over. No exceptions!

So far I haven't had a problem... looking to keep it that way.

[waco]

I hate to read stuff like this but it's a good reminder to all of us. I charger all my rifle rounds with an RCBS Charge Master 1500. Empty primed brass in one loading block and once there is powder in it, it goes into another block on the other side of the bench. Maybe not as fool proof as some others methods, but its kept me safe so far...Knock on wood.

[ColColt]

He ought to get on his knees and be thankful he's still got his sight. I've never had an accident like that and hope it never occurs. The only time I recall over charging a case was H4831 in a 270 case. Of course it fell out all over the bench as 60 gr of H4831 is pert nigh a full case already. 2400 in a 308?

[willie_pete]

Jonp,
why in the world would the guy have TWO Dillons if he thought you could buy it cheaper than reloading? You have some strange friends. Or should I say you let strange people drop by your house.

WP

[Multigunner]

HARRY

Not to hijack this thread. Just had this happen to my XD 40 S&W. Fortunately, only the pistol got hurt. I haven't yet determined if it is the result of out of battery or an over charge of Tite Group. When reloading, I have 2 blocks. When I charge with powder, I move the case to another block on the other side of my single stage loader

Probably excessive pressure but I suggest you check the box the ammo or cases came in against the ammunition recall lists. I found quite a few warnings on lots of .40 S&W ammunition due to defective cases with some casehead blow outs.

[Multigunner]

Jonp,
why in the world would the guy have TWO Dillons if he thought you could buy it cheaper than reloading? You have some strange friends. Or should I say you let strange people drop by your house.

WP

Only reason I handload these days is because I can make up handloads taylored to my rifles that are more accurate than the available store bought ammunition.
Thats especially true of older milsurp rifles. None of the commercial or milsurp ammo I've used is anywhere near as accurate as my hand loads.

[mozeppa]

exactly why i'm pulling down 13,000 loaded rounds.... they may go ((((((((((((((pow!)))))))))))))

or possibly...
((((((((((((((((((( BOOM ! )))))))))))))))))

[aspangler]

Once primed I do one cartridge at a time and it doesn't leave my hand until the boolit is seated.

A+ to that. My way too.

[country gent]

Rereading the Original post I have several questions on this incedent and the follow up done. Were the remainder of the rounds disassembled? Did powder charges vary or other double charges show up? What was the charge wieght of the original load? Reason Im curious is the proof loads are probably in the 80,000-90,000 cup range. I have seen a couple M14s blown up ( true forged reciever military M14s) on high power rifle lines from over pressure loads. Also one M1A from fatigue in the reciever casting ( wasnt an Springfield but a small entrepenuers product). The shooter had pulled the 150 grn bullets from some surpluss ball ammo and replaced them with 168 grn sierras. It was a very warm load. Alot of things could be a fault or a combination of things. I wish the shooter a speedy recovery and hope theres no lasting problems. One thing He should have had done was X rays for shrapnell embedded. The possibility of broken bones should have been checked also.

[freebullet]

Wow, I'm glad yer friend is still alive. That really sucks. I hope you will be able to share his loading procedure, it might explain why it happened. I hope he makes a full recovery.

[TXGunNut]

Been loading over 30 years and had my first double last year. Can't figure out how I did it but I was the only one there when it happened so it had to have been my carelessnes. All I remember is that I got distracted at some point but caught it, must have done it again. Good news is that it was a double charge of a light 2400 plinking load, case was badly stuck but no permanent damage.
Personally haven't had much use for stitches since I discovered butterfly closures, can even make them one-handed when the situation calls for it.

[smoked turkey]

I agree that seating the boolit or bullet right after loading the case with powder is the best way to avoid a mishap. I will sometimes charge five cases at a time (one row on my loading block). If it is a straight wall case it is relatively easy to verify that the case has not been short charged or double charged by comparing all the powder levels. It is not so easy with bottleneck cases. What I do is verify one of the filled cases and then use a dowel rod and mark it with a pencil mark at the top of the case neck. A quick check with the dowel on the five charged cases lets me know the powder level is ok. Just another way to check things out before seating the boolit.

[MaryB]

I use the dowel trick with a strip of red electrical tape and the dowel spray painted with a coat of black. Easy to see the contrast between brass, black dowel bright red stripe. Also use 2 blocks, fill with powder and move to the other block, check with dowel, do the next. Checking adds 5-10 seconds, time I am glad to lose.

[MaryB]

Lot of nerves in that area so I hope no lasting damage... plus I hope no punctures into the sinus cavity that could leak bacteria into the cut from beneath

Dr. probably can't do much for him now. Wounds need to be stitched within a short amount of time else stitching is impossible as the wound behinds to heal and scar within a day or so. Broken bone is a different issue.

[Lead Fred]

Once again using powders not designed for the firearm can lead to pain.

I have loaded 50 at a time since 1961. When Ive powdered the 50th one, I tap the loads even, then look down the neck of each and every one to make sure they are all at the same level.

[DougGuy]

I use 41.5gr H4895 in my .308 and it comes right up to the case neck. Very hard to dbl charge in this scenario, and very hard to squib or half charge being I weigh every charge one at a time and also visually verify every case is filled to roughly the same spot on the case neck or it gets dumped and set aside and I don't load that case.

I do set them all in a loading block at this point, and I visually look at the charged cases and I settle the powder and dump any of them that are visually lower than the average or higher than the average. Even though each charge is weighed, observing this average position of powder in relation to the case neck/shoulder lets me see cases that are uneven in volume as the level of the powder gives them away rather quickly.

Sorry to hear about your buddy, glad it isn't any worse.

[Loudenboomer]

Sure hate to hear stories like this. Hope for a speed recovery. The only good that can come out of this is maybe the rest of will take another second or two for Safety.