Double Charge of Unique

[cbennett]

Gentlemen, I was at the range with my Brother in law yesterday. John is a fairly new handloader and he was shooting a Model 94 Winchester with 7.5 grains Unique and a 165 coated lead bullet. We were shooting steel plates and one of his rounds was much louder than his others. He really struggled getting the lever opened and when his case ejected I grabbed it. The primer was intact but very flat! I told him to put the rifle up until we could determine the cause. I took his rounds home and weighed them. I had 2 that were heavier and I broke them down with my collet puller. I found 15 grains of Unique in them (double charge). Question is them rifle seems fine and when I told him what I found he was curious about the condition of the rifle. Any thing to check as far as the action? Lock seems tight and he called me and said that he fired a few factory loads afterward and it seemed fine.
Any ideas on the pressure of that load? I am assuming that he was very lucky that he did not have a grenade in his face.
I have talked him into 4198 for his cast loads now!

[Tracy]

Sounds like the rifle is ok.
A bulkier powder like 4198 or 2400 will help protect him from the real problem, but he needs to examine his loading technique and deal with that.

[Kev18]

What caliber? 4198 or 3031 maybe. Tell him to take his time and not post pone anything... Sometimes I want to do that. Im adding powder, then run outside to get the mail, then I get distracted and go do something else before actually going back to reloading. Its easy to lose track!

[cbennett]

Kev, it was a 30-30. He said my sister called for him and I guess that was enough of a distraction. Our main concern now is the rifle it was a sweet pre 64. Any way to figure pressures?

[17nut]

It is borderline!
But any 94 after 1895 (change to nickel steel recievers) should be ok.

[RED BEAR]

You really need to double check your charges. I consider myself to be careful when i load and every now and then i will miss a case ( no charge ) or double the charge. It surprises me every time but it happens.

[NSB]

Another danger is that when you get a double charge in one, you may get no powder in the one next to it. Putting a squib in the barrel followed by another (and possibly a double charged one) will damage the gun...and possibly the shooter.

[popper]

Indeed borderline but shouldn't hurt anything. IIRC 12 is pretty much book max, 10 is the LOAD. I'd scrap that fired case! Also clean the lead from the barrel! For Unique I drop powder (watch it drop through the tube) and immediately seat the boolit! Don't trust a loading block!

[robg]

tac is a good powder for the 3030,cant double charge

[cbennett]

Gentlemen, Thank You. John (Brother in Law) is going to the charge the case -load the bullet route in the future if he uses Unique again. I really appreciate the quick load pressures.

[redhawk0]

I assume he charges all cases in a single step....to avoid this I got into the habit about 30 years ago of charging a case the seating a bullet all in one step. For me this eliminated the possibility of a double charge. And...of course a bulkier powder would help.

redhawk

[dverna]

Tell him to ALWAYS seat the bullet as soon as the case is charged. That will prevent a double charge.

There is no good reason to charge all the cases first and then seat the bullets...that is the main cause of double charges when using a single stage reloader.

And I do not buy into the procedure of having a loading block of charged cases and to visually check the cases before seating bullets. I know one person who loaded this way and missed one. And it only takes one mistake.

Charging powder and then immediately seating the bullet is safer and also faster.

[JBinMN]

I am glad no one was hurt.

You did not say if he was "batch loading" on a single stage or using another system, but if he is batch loading & still wants to use Unique, or even the other powders, the "dowel method" of using a dowel smaller than the neck on the cartridge, stuck into the cartridge gently, then marked with the correct load amount at the neck with a black marker/pen should help prevent over charges.

One can check the whole tray at once & then place the boolit on the cases afterwards, or do it one at a time by checking each load once charged, then set the boolit on the case. Even doing it one at a time & seating the boolit on the press works.

One can write the caliber & load amount on the side of the dowel where the fingers would hold it to ID it for future loads, and to keep it from being mistaken for other loads/powder/calibers. One can get more than a few of them out of a 36" dowel for use with other powders. To get fancy, one can mark the part of the dowel that goes into the case with a red marker/pen to indicate "danger" when red is showing above the case mouth for where the MAX load would be to prevent going over MAX..

Anyway, whatever is done to try to stop the issue, I hope it works well for him.
G'Luck!

[pietro]

.

There are two other damages, beside excessive headspace, that a Winchester 94 can receive from an overload:

1) The receiver sidewalls can be stretched lengthwise.

2) The bottom of the barrel near the chamber can bulge, or blow out - due to the thinness there.


I would respectfully suggest having a qualified gunsmith (not some AR parts-changer) thoroughly check out the gun before shooting it again.


.

[PAndy]

cbennett thanks for sharing the story. Like others here, I don't completely trust myself charging cases. It is a boring task and my mind can wander. I hold a light up beside my eyes and look down every one before seating bullets. with some loads, it could be possible to miss a double charge even if you looked right at it. Some ball powders are not very shiny, and you have to look hard to make sure that powder is even in there. I try to fill half the case volume, such as 1.3 cc in a 30-30 case, but that doesn't work in all situations with mild loads. 4895 reduced loads work well also, if the power level fits the situation. My last two bottles of h4198 were pretty dense, over 14 gr per cc. IMR is bulkier but I wish they could cut the kernels a bit shorter

[snowwolfe]

Brass lays on its side. It gets picked up and charged and goes into the loading block. Once the block is full a flashlight is flashed over the cases to make sure all the powder level is at the same height. Been reloading for 54 years and have never double charged a case.
Glad your friend endured his error with no loss of limb or rifle.

[GregLaROCHE]

I seat the boolit after charging the case, most of the time. If not I am really careful! And do it less and less. Surprised how many others seat the boolit after charging. It’s definitely the safest way.

Maybe I’m getting old, but I agree it would be a good idea to have it checked by a qualified gunsmith, if you can find one. A double charge is a lot. Not like increasing by small increments, checking for signs of over pressure each time.

[Froogal]

Unique is bulky enough that a double charge would be obvious, IF he visually inspected each case after charging with powder.

[country gent]

I would recommend having the headspace checked if possible. As a check to make sure. Ive seen lugs set back from borderline loads. Im not trying to worry but rather have you be on the safe side

[Texas by God]

Brass lays on its side. It gets picked up and charged and goes into the loading block. Once the block is full a flashlight is flashed over the cases to make sure all the powder level is at the same height. Been reloading for 54 years and have never double charged a case.
Glad your friend endured his error with no loss of limb or rifle.

Exactly this. With good reading glasses.

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