buldged cases mystery solved

[RED BEAR]

well i figured it out it was my fault the loads were just to hot for that gun . ran 2 boxes of factory ammo and no buldges . two boxes of reloads were i backed off from 2.2 to 1.8 grains of red dot. no buldges. i started off with 2.2 red dot as this was a load i use for another 32acp and kel tec says +p ammo is ok. but this gun wouldn't see any. like i say i feel this was my fault i should have worked up load for this gun instead of going with the one i use for something else. thanks for all the feed back and ideas.

[country gent]

Working up is advised for each firearm for several reasons. there are slight differences in chambers and in autos the feed ramps location, differences in throats dia and length, and differences in the lead and oal. and last bore groove dia. These all affect ow pressures build and in a small case like the 32 can make a difference. Working up can show these effects

[RED BEAR]

yes this is something i should have known. i have bore diameters between .308 to .314 for different 32s. . i have a sign on my loading bench reminding me DON'T BE STUPID!!! .but missed this one.

[Mr_Sheesh]

At least you didn't have TOO serious a problem and are now "Scared Straight"! We all make mistakes.

[RED BEAR]

amen to that. i have that on my loading bench because in my youth i blew up two guns one part of the barrel hit me in the face no to bad just burn and lot of brusing still have little parts of the second one in my chest. this was a very long time ago but still not long enough.

[Traffer]

amen to that. i have that on my loading bench because in my youth i blew up two guns one part of the barrel hit me in the face no to bad just burn and lot of brusing still have little parts of the second one in my chest. this was a very long time ago but still not long enough.

Interesting... I had quit shooting for about 35 years and just took up the hobby again a few years ago. I have always been a bit careless. When I started shooting again I couldn't find 22 cartridges so I decided to use the internet to learn to reload my own. hahaha. I had no experience reloading anything. Armed with the idea that, "how could a little 22 possibly blow up and hurt me" I proceeded to wade into unknown territory with reckless abandon. Again, hahahahaha.
Fortunately on forums such as this people were always cautioning me...enough that I started at least using eye protection and sometimes gloves. I am happy to report that I can still see. The particulars are:
I had quick success reloading some 22lr using toy caps as priming compound and settling on HS6 as the powder of choice. (glad I didn't have any Red Dot) My first attempts were loaded with no measuring system ...just comparing the load to the amount of powder in pulled cartridges. It was easy to see on factory ammo the cases are about half full. So on my first batch I used that as my MAX load. I was amazed at how well these rounds worked. My max ones seemed a bit hotter than factory. I estimated at about maybe 1250 fps.
I have a buddy who finds the limits of things (like driving his sports car around curves) by building up until the limit is exceeded, "That is how I know what the limit is" he explains.
Well, I had this in mind when I filled the case with HS6. (later when acquiring a scale found it to be about 4.2 grains)
I used an old Remington 514 single shot for my testing. I figured it was over built by a factor of probably 100x. So I did not fear running a case full of HS6 under a 40 grain bullet in it.
I was quickly introduced to the term "case failure" and things like "gas venting". The gun did not sustain any damage other than the extractor being blown to somewhere that I will never find.
But the gasses traveled through the bolt via the firing pin hole directly back into my face. It was very loud and stung like crazy. But happily my safety glasses saved my eyes.
On a side note I have since come to realize why the bottoms of the bolts of the new 22lr guns are void... WHEN cases fail the gasses are funneled through the void on the bottom of the bolt away from harming the shooters face. I had one such case failure in my new Savage MK II. With 3 grains of HS6 the case let go at the bottom, venting the gasses into the magazine, splitting the metal magazine at the seams. Causing the magazine spring to fly out when I finally got it unjammed from the gun.
Yup folks...Work up those loads and don't exceed the max on any particular gun.

[Bazoo]

Thanks for posting. Too many people wont admit they've done something like this, and it really helps others. Me at least.

[RED BEAR]

as my better half tells me i have never been graceful. i have a few similar stories about casting without safety equipment. have several nice sized scars for my foolishness. always happens when i am just going to do this one thing. the one i will never live down is sawing some wood on a table saw and wife going by said be careful i took the time to explain that i had been doing this type thing my whole life. less than an hour later i was in er being sewed up. i will never be so foolish again. i really think it was carma for being a smart #$%&.