Reloading Fail!

[Echo]

This was from one of my first few casting sessions. I had a hot plate that I had purchased and a stainless steel pot that I got for a bargain at the thrift shop. I noticed that the pot was little pitted but I figured that at $2 it was a steel. My first session that day went smoothly. Hot plate kept up and I cast some nice boolits. I came back later that afternoon for my second session of the day and got the pot up to temperature. Then I noticed that the lead in the pot kept solidifying and liquefying randomly. Eventually I thought that perhaps there was something wrong with the element. I pulled my pitted bargain bin pot off the hot plate and lo and behold... the lead had run through the pitted surface and almost completely filled up the space under the element melted down through the hot plate and puddled on the table. Needless to say I've never used anything but a cast iron pot from that day forward. My $2 pot cost me a $30 hotplate, 2-3 lbs of lead, and a burn spot on my table. I wish I had taken pictures of it because looking back it was pretty funny.

LVB, we have to be able to laugh at ourselves, or else we shouldn't laugh at any thing else...

[gwpercle]

I've charged cases without priming first. Didn't realize it until all 50 cases were perfectly
hand measured.......doh!

I watched a guy on a U-Tube video , load ammo this way! Had some reason about it speeding up the process and said not much powder would come out the flash hole while priming !

This type of horse hockey is exactly why I stay away from the "U-Tube experts".

[Oklahoma Rebel]

runfiverun , how did you find out the amount of powder you loaded ? if tthey were already loaded ? couldn't hear the powder when you shook it because it was compressed? just curious, I doub not you wisdom, I have read many of your responses to questions, including more than a couple of mine.

[OS OK]

"Screw up? Who...me...never!"

Attachment 173701

[snowtigger]

I was new to the world of Dillon presses. I was loading 9mm with lead bullets. It's been so long, I don't remember the specifics, but I had loaded 1500 rounds before I realized they would not chamber. That's one thousand, five hundred!!
I forced myself to sit down and break down each and every one of those and I have not ever forgotten to check EVERYTHING before proceeding since then. Funny now wasn't funny then....

[rintinglen]

My own bone head moments are more than they should be but the worst came when I mistakenly grabbed a can of HP38 thinking it was H110. Back in the 90's I had decided that all my loading could be done with 4 powders H-110 (Hodgdon), IMR 5350 (IMR), Hercules Unique (Hercules), and WW-231 (Winchester). Each canister was severely different from the others, so at a glance I could tell which was which. This worked well until I was given some HP-38 by a friend whose father had passed away and was getting rid of his reloading stuff. My standard 357 lad was and is 15.7 grains of H110 under anRCBS 38-162 GC. I loaded up 197--ran out of magnum primers--and was then putting things away when I discovered I had grabbed the wrong black round bottle. I spent the day the following Saturday pulling the boolits with a kinetic puller and cursing my inattention.
Nowadays, I read the label out loud.

[OS OK]

Heck...I can read the labels out loud all day...it's the comprehension that I'm working on.

What did I just say?

[45workhorse]

"Titegroup" "titewad"
Enough said.

[Walter Laich]

Heck...I can read the labels out loud all day...it's the comprehension that I'm working on.

What did I just say?

same here. I can sit a screwdriver down on the bench and when I look down for it, it will be gone. never took a step away from the bench. Ah, old age....

[rosewood]

OOPS! Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I've done similar things, and I'm a very careful reloader...

As human beings we'll start off telling you how to do it "right" and that our way is superior to whatever method/technique you are using. But you obviously have experience and have developed a good technique, but were distracted. No big deal...

So, now go my son and sin no more...

Amen!

[dondiego]

My own bone head moments are more than they should be but the worst came when I mistakenly grabbed a can of HP38 thinking it was H110. Back in the 90's I had decided that all my loading could be done with 4 powders H-110 (Hodgdon), IMR 5350 (IMR), Hercules Unique (Hercules), and WW-231 (Winchester). Each canister was severely different from the others, so at a glance I could tell which was which. This worked well until I was given some HP-38 by a friend whose father had passed away and was getting rid of his reloading stuff. My standard 357 lad was and is 15.7 grains of H110 under anRCBS 38-162 GC. I loaded up 197--ran out of magnum primers--and was then putting things away when I discovered I had grabbed the wrong black round bottle. I spent the day the following Saturday pulling the boolits with a kinetic puller and cursing my inattention.
Nowadays, I read the label out loud.

Sure glad that you caught this mistake before you touched one off!

Don