Is foreign object in a loaded round dangerous?

[Patrick L]

Here's a new one for me.

I am currently loading a batch of .223 on a progressive. I suddenly noticed the decap pin was missing from the decap die. I can't find it anywhere on the press, benchtop, floor, anywhere. I think there is a good chance it is inside one of the loaded rounds. I'm not 100% sure its in one, but I can't find it anywhere so its at least a possibility. What do you think would happen if I fired a round with something like that inside? Would it cause a safety hazard? I can isolate the box of 50 it would be in. Should I pull them just to be safe?

Never had this happen before.

[chsparkman]

You might try to find the culprit with a strong magnet.

[1bluehorse]

Have you checked for it where the spent primers go on your press?? Isn't the pin long enough to at least make it "difficult" to seat a bullet if it fell into a case??

[longbow]

If you can't find it you might try a REALLY strong magnet like chsparksman mentions. Some of the new rare earth magnets you can buy at auto parts stores and hardware stores might have enough pull to find it. Alternately, you should be able to weight the rounds to find it.

Longbow

[Larry Gibson]

Yes, a foreign object in the case can be dangerous. It reduces case capacity and thus raises pressures. How much depends on it's size and whether it is combustable. Additionally if the pin is to the rear of the powder charge it may not be blown out of the case. With a bolt or SS action hat probably wouldn't pose a problem. However, the pin may even just be blown into the barrel which ould pose a real problem if another round is fired with the pin in the barrel. The pin could be stuck in the flash hole and the primer may have simply pushed it forward on seating. With the flash hole plugged a missfire or a hangfire could result either of which may or may not pose problems.

Best to pull the bullets and find the pin. Look in each case after dumping the powder as it probably is stuck in the flash hole.....been there, done that.....

Larry Gibson

[lunicy]

not to mention, a hardened steel pin sliding down your barrel is no good.

Besides, the BATF may classify it as armor piercing :)

[runfiverun]

i just had this same thing happen.
i caught it when the next primer didn't pop into the primer catcher on the 550.
thankfully.
i size/trim/tumble, then use the size die on the press to unprime and open the case neck.
so i can make sure i don't have any media stuck in the cases.

i have often wondered how many "double" loads have been caused by trapped media.

[farmerjim]

Can you id the last one you loaded? It has to be in that one. You could not deprimed and loaded a case after that.

[youngda9]

Try the magnet. Shake the rounds and perhaps you'll hear noise. Is it heavy enough that you could weight your rounds and it would be apparent?

I would not shoot them for the reasons described...bad idea.

[SP5315]

Be on the safe side, pull them until you find it. A little time lost is nothing compared to ruining you or your rifle.

[John in WI]

Alternately, you should be able to weight the rounds to find it.

Longbow

I was going to suggest that--I nearly caused a "kaboom" early in my reloading days when I missed a powder charge, and the primer had just enough "oomph" to send the boolit halfway down the barrel. Good thing I didn't pull the trigger again!

Anyway, now I re-weigh the loaded rounds as my last quality control step. If your scale is accurate, and with all similar components, they should be nearly identical except for the one with a chunk of steel in it.

Still--I'm curious if it does pose a safety hazard if you pull the trigger? Would it stay in the case on firing? Or be ejected along with the boolit? Or would it only be partially propelled into the barrel (lacking any kind of gas seal)?

[waksupi]

Did you have any cases with fired primers turn up? You would know it was before that point. Another strike against progressives.

[762 shooter]

How did you seat a new primer in a case that hadn't been de-primed?

[btroj]

Like with potentially spoiled food I love by the "When in doubt, throw it out" motto. In this case, pull 'em.

I don't mess with potentially bad ammo, not worth it.

[MT Chambers]

Sometimes the pin can stickin the flash hole and stay there even after a new primer is installed, it might cause a dud on firing if this is the case, I know that the flash holes on some cases(Lapua) are pretty tight.

[DLCTEX]

I have several RCBS dies that can lose the short decap pin and leave plenty room to seat the boolit. The few times than this happened I was using a single stage and the problem was apparent on the next case.

[Cherokee]

don't shoot them, alternatives already mentioned: weigh, shake, magnet, pull 'em.

[Patrick L]

Got it! I pulled the bullets and dumped the powder, and viola! It was in the 40th round of the 50 round box in question.

Oh, to answer the question of how I could have continued reloading when I first lost the pin, its simple. I wasn't resizing/depriming the cases at this point. When I load rifle on a progressive, I resize separately and then re tumble to get the lube off the cases. I then use a universal decapping die in station one just to knock any kernals of media out that may be stuck in the flash hole. It was the pin out of the universal decap die.

[1Shirt]

I also wonder about about "double loads" caused by trapped media as Runfiverun says? Thinking about GC's that may have come off in the case.
1Shirt

[dale2242]

I had an over pressured round in a 17 Rem.
I know sub calibers are sensitive to small changes.
I shot thousands of rounds of my favorite loads through this gun and suddenly it blows a primer and the extractor.
The only possible thing I can think of was that some tumbling media [ walnut] got stuck in the case. 17s have a very small neck. This created a reduced capacity and created the high pressure.....dale

[beagle]

Now that the culprit has been found, lets go a little farther.

I'm 100% certain that all of us have at one time loaded some ammunition with media caught in the primer pocket. What happens? The media is blasted out into the powder charge and all things proceed normally.

At one time back in the 50s when Hodgdon's milsurp 4831 was cheap and plentiful, one well known African hunter was loading a load in one of the big .450s and his recipe was to cast steel cased .45 ACP cases full of lead, turn the noses on a lathe and load them with as I recall 105 grains of 4831 over a magnum primer. Before he dropped the powder, he dropped an additional magnum primer in the case to get better ignition. From his writings, he never experienced any problems and he killed a lot of elephants with this load in Africa while "cropping).

Based on his experiences, I'd say that a stray decapping pin wouldn't cause that much hassle but better safe than sorry.

My old shooting partner Petey experimented with super drying BP by removing moisture content. He'd load the night before the range and drop three kitchen match heads in under the powder. This was in a .45/70. Velocity went up several hundred FPS amd there were no problems encountered with the match heads./beagle

[uscra112]

My old shooting partner Petey experimented with super drying BP by removing moisture content. He'd load the night before the range and drop three kitchen match heads in under the powder. This was in a .45/70. Velocity went up several hundred FPS amd there were no problems encountered with the match heads./beagle
Y'know, I've sometimes wondered what adding match heads would do. I'm glad someone else took the risk! When I was in my early teens a chum like to killed himself making "rocket motors" by tamping match heads into a emptied CO2 cartridge. Lost most of his right hand when the thing exploded.

[10x]

Got it! I pulled the bullets and dumped the powder, and viola! It was in the 40th round of the 50 round box in question.

Oh, to answer the question of how I could have continued reloading when I first lost the pin, its simple. I wasn't resizing/depriming the cases at this point. When I load rifle on a progressive, I resize separately and then re tumble to get the lube off the cases. I then use a universal decapping die in station one just to knock any kernals of media out that may be stuck in the flash hole. It was the pin out of the universal decap die.


Use a Lee decapper and that problem is solved.