Guardian
03-06-2013, 06:15 PM
Let me begin by saying that nothing was damaged and no one was hurt by my lapses in judgement. I've had two incidents within a couple days of each other and if it helps someone else not do the same thing or reminds someone to pay attention and think through each step, then it's worth a little embarrassment on my part.
Incident 1: Sunday night I was annealing 9mm cases for use in my forthcoming 40 cal one step die. I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting for the dies to get here. Excited is an understatement. I was using a method I saw posted here, nails into a 2x4, cases inverted on the nails, and a propane torch to heat the case heads. I was doing pretty well with the light on over my reloading bench, the rest of the garage lights turned out, and me positioned between the reloading bench and the annealing operation, working in my shadow to see when the cases turned dull red. I was putting the cases on the block, checking the primers for strikes, then proceeding. After taking a break, I decided that I would leave the door to the garage from the kitchen open, with the kitchen lights on, and leave the light over the reloading bench off so it would be a little easier to see when the cases turned dull red. On the first batch of 20 cases after my break, there was an explosion and my ears were ringing. I had forgotten to check the PRIMERS! I have no idea how there was a live primer in the bucket I was working out of, but there certainly was. In leaving the light out over the reloading bench, I had removed my source of light for checking the primers for strikes and in my haste to get back to work, I skipped a step. I will say it caused quite a stir in the household. The primer was ejected from the case and became a projectile, but I have no idea where it went.
Silver Lining: I learned my dogs do react to abnormal noises. I'd begun to think they'd sleep through anything. My wife cares enough to get out of bed and come check on me! Both are good things to know. :)
Incident 2: Last night I was working on annealing and cleaning more 9mm cases for my forthcoming die set! I had rinsed all of the cases I had annealed after they were removed from the citric acid solution. To speed up drying, I put them in a stainless steel basket and put them over the kerosene heater in the garage. I shake the basket occasionally to redistribute the heated cases and get the cooler ones shuffled down. While waiting on them to dry, I emptied the tumbler of the ones from the previous day's effort. They were gorgeous! Bright, shiny, and slick; just the result I was looking for. I had left the tumbler running overnight and turned it off on my way out the door to work, so they had been in there for 8 or 9 hours. I use #40 corncob media from Grainger loaded with a capful of mineral spirits and a little Nufinish. It was late and I was ready to get the next batch going so I grabbed the basket and dumped the mostly dry cases into the tumbler and media. Smoke (or maybe steam) started wafting from the media......****......forgot that cooling step after taking them off the heater. So much for going to bed soon. Fortunately there was no fire, but it had me worried for a few minutes. It was at this point I realized my fire extinguisher is rated for B and C fires, not A. I'm glad I didn't need it, but I'll be getting an appropriately rated one today.
Again, thankfully no injuries and no damage, but it's something to think about. I swear I'm not stupid :oops: but this post is sure to make some wonder......
Hopefully, this inspires others and helps someone.
Incident 1: Sunday night I was annealing 9mm cases for use in my forthcoming 40 cal one step die. I'm like a kid at Christmas waiting for the dies to get here. Excited is an understatement. I was using a method I saw posted here, nails into a 2x4, cases inverted on the nails, and a propane torch to heat the case heads. I was doing pretty well with the light on over my reloading bench, the rest of the garage lights turned out, and me positioned between the reloading bench and the annealing operation, working in my shadow to see when the cases turned dull red. I was putting the cases on the block, checking the primers for strikes, then proceeding. After taking a break, I decided that I would leave the door to the garage from the kitchen open, with the kitchen lights on, and leave the light over the reloading bench off so it would be a little easier to see when the cases turned dull red. On the first batch of 20 cases after my break, there was an explosion and my ears were ringing. I had forgotten to check the PRIMERS! I have no idea how there was a live primer in the bucket I was working out of, but there certainly was. In leaving the light out over the reloading bench, I had removed my source of light for checking the primers for strikes and in my haste to get back to work, I skipped a step. I will say it caused quite a stir in the household. The primer was ejected from the case and became a projectile, but I have no idea where it went.
Silver Lining: I learned my dogs do react to abnormal noises. I'd begun to think they'd sleep through anything. My wife cares enough to get out of bed and come check on me! Both are good things to know. :)
Incident 2: Last night I was working on annealing and cleaning more 9mm cases for my forthcoming die set! I had rinsed all of the cases I had annealed after they were removed from the citric acid solution. To speed up drying, I put them in a stainless steel basket and put them over the kerosene heater in the garage. I shake the basket occasionally to redistribute the heated cases and get the cooler ones shuffled down. While waiting on them to dry, I emptied the tumbler of the ones from the previous day's effort. They were gorgeous! Bright, shiny, and slick; just the result I was looking for. I had left the tumbler running overnight and turned it off on my way out the door to work, so they had been in there for 8 or 9 hours. I use #40 corncob media from Grainger loaded with a capful of mineral spirits and a little Nufinish. It was late and I was ready to get the next batch going so I grabbed the basket and dumped the mostly dry cases into the tumbler and media. Smoke (or maybe steam) started wafting from the media......****......forgot that cooling step after taking them off the heater. So much for going to bed soon. Fortunately there was no fire, but it had me worried for a few minutes. It was at this point I realized my fire extinguisher is rated for B and C fires, not A. I'm glad I didn't need it, but I'll be getting an appropriately rated one today.
Again, thankfully no injuries and no damage, but it's something to think about. I swear I'm not stupid :oops: but this post is sure to make some wonder......
Hopefully, this inspires others and helps someone.