Double Charging

[smorin2]

I turn all of my cases primer up,get one and charge it with powder after weighing the powder.Then return it to the loading block and repeat until all the cases are charged.Take a flashlight and inspect for no carges and double charges and then re-inspect just to make sure before I seat the boolit.I have never had an over charge and one sqibb that I caught before another round was fired,Been reloading since 1960 for the most part a few times when I was in the Army I didn't but would reload when I got home on a pass or leave.

This is how i do it also,on a Redding single stage press.I concur with the others who also have no distractions and stay alert.This is a great hobby but as with many things in life it will bite you if you let your guard down.

[BenW]

I load on a single stage. I'll do each stage in a batch. When sizing and priming, i throw the cases into a small plastic bin. I change out to the belling die (pistol loads) and bell until the first bin is empty, throwing all belled cases into a second bin. Only then do i use a loading block. The belled case goes from the bin, to the powder throw, into the block and checking every 5, 10, or 25 rounds (every round at first, then increasing the count as i get more consecutive consistent throws). Once i have charged a full block, i check with a light to compare powder levels. Then i finger seat a bullet in each case and move to seat.

Only charged rounds stay in the loading block, and only checked levels get a bullet.

-Ben

[rogerstg]

I think the problem can happen with non indexing progressives. On my Dillon SDB, the indexing engages just before the powder drops. You'd have to remove the case from the third station and put it back in the second station to double the load.

[Mohillbilly]

I use the powder load density ( 50+% ) and watch the powder bar operate , as well as looking at the powder level before putting a projo on . I use a 550b and clear the powder and seat stations when ever something distracts me , or is not right . But , IF I had made a mistake , some how , the double charge would have ran over and made a mess . I have had only 1 squib because I made a dumbie round as a seating guide with a live primer , and I accidentally mix it with live rounds . I no longer make dummies with live or unstruck primers .

[snoopy]

Pay attention, no distractions. I use a single stage press and 2 blocks, primers up in one, charge and move to the other and then check. New to it here, but my wife shoots my loads also, and heaven forbid if I hurt her that would be bad.... but if I ruined her model 19... well, I would probably have to go to Siberia.

[Zouave 58]

Correctly setting the powder charge when you do not measure each load is critically important. Fifteen years ago I had a new electronic scale that did not calibrate. I was attempting to load a charge of 8.5 Unique in 45 colt but was actually throwing 13.2. Eyeballing the powder column in that big case did not seem out of order. I loaded 50 rounds in a Dillon 550B and weighed the charge at the first, 25 and 50 rounds. I fired about 24 rounds from the batch through a Ruger Blackhawk with no problem or pressure signs. When I switched to a Single Action clone the first shot blew the top center chamber and sympathetically discharged the chambers at 10 and 1 o'clock. The top strap and 1/2 the cylinder disappeared and I later found part of the top strap embedded in the roof structure of the shooting range. I was not injured. Later, I broke down a number of the remaining loaded rounds and measured each load on the electronic scale and found them all to indicate to be 1 tenth +/- of 8.5. On a whim I checked a load on a balance beam scale and only then discovered the actual load was 13.6. I returned the scale to the manufacturer who agreed it was defective and replaced it to me with a correctly functioning unit, they also compensated me for the monetary value of the SAA clone. To this day I always double check the calibration of my electronic scales with a balance beam. I also check the the powder charge of every 25th round I load with my progressive loaders. I've gone back to measuring each load when I load rifle loads in my single stage press. One blow-up in a lifetime is enough. Dr. Murphy was right.

[tazman]

That is flat out scary, and a good reason to double check everything.

[44 Special]

If anything occurs which requires breaking the routine cycling of my 550, my SOP is to immediately REMOVE all cases from the press, solve the difficulty, and then start the cycle all over again.

This routine involves DUMPING the powder from any charged case. So far,(twenty years or more) it's been working ....

^^^^^^^^^^^^This.