And don't use two manuals at once.
Years ago, I had a country bumpkin challenge me on the data for one cartridge between the two books.
I told him to pick one book and load religiously from it.
He was actually using one for start at and one for max grains.
Neither book was close to the other.
Same guy was using his hand to bang the bolt closed, on a jammed reloaded round.
Shoulders weren't back far enough.
Also uses max charge in a .270 to shoot deer in thick brush.
"Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face!" - Mike Tyson
"Don't let my fears become yours." - Me, talking to my children
That look on your face, when you shift into 6th gear, but it's not there.
A few years ago a lot of parade riles were sold thru dcm, dewats. These had the barrels tack welded in place. Quite a few bought them ground of the tack cleaned them up and built back to shooters.
Also wondering if at some point a new barrel had been over torqued to time it up and cracked the receiver before the incident
Back when I was at school ,a friend loaded me some 30-06 ammo that nearly wrecked my rifle ..........his father was a long time reloader who had all the equiptment .......this wasnt common in the 60s due to cost..........the primer pockets came out oval by about 1/4" ,and the fired cases had belts like a magnum.............the last one I fired busted the extractor ,and I suspect if the cases had not been Norma ,the gun would have blown.
Here's what I did with unknown powder. Had bought a box of various powders at an auction (40 lb. for $40). There were two Tupper Ware containers not marked with any identifying notes. Used it to fireform 8mm Lebel into .41 Swiss. Started low and worked my way up.
The only amendment the Democrats support is the 5th.
You can also use use it for fertilizer. I have a couple of opened containers. If I were ever to used them it would have to be very dire circumstances and i would use a mauser rifle that I could afford to lose that was tied down and fired remotely. I purchased them during the obama scare. Right now I am about to buy some non-american made primers because of similar fear from the man that is now POTUS.
I knew a fellow once who thought it would be a great idea to fill a 30-30 case full of bulls eye and seat a heavy bullet, not boolit, on top of it. He found out several things. Such a load will destroy a 336 marlin rifle. You can lose 2 years of work recovering from such a load. And your right big toe makes a usable oposing thumb for the 2 remaining fingers on your right hand. We ALL make mistakes. Sometimes to the point of counting our apendages, all 21 of them, but a prudent man learns and corrects. Inorance is bliss but stuppidity is inexcusable.
Most folks see a firearm as rifle, pistol, shotgun, ect.... I see a canvas.
I was on a skeet squad when one of our shooters had the lower barrel of his Caesar Guerini fail. I was glad he (or anyone else on the squad) wasn't hurt, but it didn't really hit me until later; He was on station 7, so the entire rest of the squad was off to his left, and the left side of the lower barrel was what blew out! One or more of us could have easily caught some steel in a very bad way.
Clearly an obstructed bore, this guy had the gall to contact CG and demand a new set of barrels! He is a known "crap reloader," (any hulls he can pick up off the ground, powder/primers bought secondhand from estate sales, etc.) Up till that point it was always just duds and fart loads, but after that I won't shoot with him.
I am glad there were no serious injuries in your case too!
I know, right! Reloaders are some of the cheapest people on the planet. "Hooray...I found an open half-full jug of mystery powder at a yard sale and it was only $5!"
I ain't about that life...My eyes and fingers are worth too much to me.
Anyway, I think the overarching moral of this thread is this: Reloading is serious and if you F-around long enough, you're gonna find out.
Last edited by kerplode; 08-24-2023 at 11:21 AM.
Over my may years of reloading the only mistakes I have made is failure to put powder in the case. The only problem occures if you fail to remove bullet from the barrel and believe me a primer can drive the bullet pretty far up the spout.
A GUN THAT'S COCKED AND UNLOADED AIN'T GOOD FOR NUTHIN'........... ROOSTER COGBURN
I had pretty much forgotten (or repressed) a college student who asked for some of my wisdom (he didn't know me very well ) (~ 1976 or so) re what I do to keep MY Bullseye powder from bridging in powder measure to enable repeatable, accurate measuring. I said, "No problem, Harold -- are you certain it is Bullseye you are using?" He replied in the affirmative, as he had lucked out (his words) to get a "find" at a garage sale with dies, brass, and powder to enable HIS .38 S&W Special reloading at a most affordable cost He already had primers and a shell holder; a can of cast bullets; so he was all set. I asked him to NOT load any more, and to discretely bring some of the powder -- maybe a bit in a Zip-lock bag -- in, as I'd like to see it. I also brought in an old round Bullseye cardboard bottle which I had emptied -- but I refilled it about 1/2-way from a large bottle of Bullseye I had.
God only knows WHAT powder Harold had bought in the Bullseye container. His -- brought it all in -- was the metal can which resembles that now which, say, mineral spirits, turp, and similar come in. I thanked him profusely for bringing his can in, and in turn -- upon his promise to break down those he had already loaded with powder discard as part of the promise -- I gifted him the genuine Bullseye I had brought in. (The "whatever" powder was tossed on my lawn.)
In 50+ years of reloading, this is the ONLY time I ever transferred powder from its original container to another.
Obviously, the original purchaser of the "Brand ????" powder Harold bought did not think the same way.
YUPPER -- If it does not have a factory seal on it -- I will not buy the powder!!!
geo
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I know I've posted this before, but, seems like a good spot to repeat it.
Gunsmith had a customer (local LEO) come in with a Dan Wesson .357mag that he said didn't shoot straight anymore. He brought in some of the ammo he had reloaded for it. Gunsmith got some factory ammo and loaded a couple chambers. He noticed they were VERY loose in the chambers. A chambering reamer wobbled in there. A reload was disassembled and the case was FULL of some flake powder. A call was made to the owner and he verified that it was Bullseye. When asked how much he said he just filled it enough so the bullet would fit. The smith gave the gun back and told him his best bet would be to return it. He did! Wesson sent back a really nice note with a check for the value of the gun and politely said not to buy any of their products again.
Unless I know a person well, I never recommend someone get into reloading. Never know how they will do.
This reminds me at age 78 to double check everything. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.ph...ums/kaboom.24/
Two friends were shooting crows ,which wisely kept over 400 yards distant .....one had a new 243,and his buddy took a pair of pliers ,and pulled a bullet,and showed how there was some empty space in the case .............so he pulled another bullet ,and topped up the other case .....so it would shoot further .........the gun locked up ,and the extractor broke when the bolt was hammered open........the gun was taken back to where it was bought ,cause it was "no good".
Sometimes you only get to be wrong once.
NRA Benefactor Member NRA Golden Eagle
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |