Lesson well learned

[USARO4]

I've heard the advice never to have more than one can of powder on the bench dozens of times. I've even given such good advice to others. Well I'm reloading 38 with Bullseye on one press and 45 with Red Dot on another. Both presses have their respective can of powder beside them. You see, I'm smarter than most people, and much more meticulous in my reloading than the unwashed newbies I dispense my sage advice to. I finished loading the 38 and proceeded to empty the powder measure. You can only imagine the gasp I made and the chagrin I felt as I watched the measure full of Bullseye slide down the funnel into the can of Red Dot:(. To quote Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz "If I only had a brain[smilie=1:"

[Cherokee]

At least you noticed and avoided potentially finding out the hard way later.

[beagle]

I've done that..... Felt like a dumb ass. You have to keep only one can on the bench. That's the only way to avoid that scenario./beagle.

[felix]

I've resorted to keeping powder in a closet long away from the reloading room. I have to think about which powder to grab, and it helps to keep the powder closet all messed up on purpose. In other words, do not organize your powder according to lot, speed, brand; instead shuffle the containers drastically as is possible. I have gotten upstairs several times over the last few years with the WRONG powder because of habit. Habits are enemies to reloading. ... felix

[Powderpacker]

.... and it helps to keep the powder closet all messed up on purpose.... instead shuffle the containers drastically as is possible ... felix
Yeah, that's it ! That's why I do it . That's why my powder cabinet looks like it would qualify for disaster relief . I'm just practicing safe powder handling . I was starting to think I'm; a) lazy, b) disorganized, or c) both .

[Sundogg1911]

I have a dozen tool head conversions for my Dillon 550. I bought a powder measure for each one. Each powder measure is also marked with what power is inside with a sticker directly on the powder measure. I never ever change powder without changing the sticker. It's an added expense, but I believe it's cheaper in the long run. I also never never put poweder in a different container, I think that's just asking for trouble. Mistakes will happen. No one is perfect, but the key is to use common sense to keep the mistakes few and far between. USAR04, I have up until this point done nothing to protect me from what you did, but I think I will start today

[Buckshot]

.............Proves your human, and it also shows someone was looking out for ya. Chalk it up as a lesson you paid about $25 for :-)

...............Buckshot

[kodiak1]

USAR04 Where does the smarter part come in?
That is the school of hard knocks I would say and as stated above cheap lesson and you caught it right away.
Ken.

[Topper]

I have two presses, two hoppers.
I will only load one caliber at a time and only have powder in the hopper I'm using with the canister close by.
I'm with felix here, keep powder in a closet long away from the reloading room.

[USARO4]

Kodiak the"smarter part" was just a sarcasm aimed at my own stupidity for disregarding the rules of safe reloading.

[Ken O]

I have a "stupid me" story also. I loaded up some .44mag with AA7 and went out back to shoot. I shot at a target and the bullet skipped in the dirt in front of me. Puzzled, I shot another, a roostertail of dirt flew up. So I went to my loading bench where I had my "only one" powder still on the bench. It was Reloader 7 instead of AA7. I just think if I would have done the opposite and put AA7 in the 45-70! So from then on it is 3031 instead of RL7, and no more AA7.

[hydraulic]

It occured to me that everything I load can be handled with just two powders; Unique and 4895. As I use up the other numbers they won't be replaced. I only bought those others because they were cheap, anyway. There's nothing cheap about a reloading accident.

[kodiak1]

USARO4
Were laughing with you not at you!!!
Seems no matter how careful one is they can and do from time to time make errors.
If you are like me I imagine you gave yourself a pretty good verbal bashing for doing it too.
Ken.

[1Shirt]

It is easy to make a mistake, it is hard sometimes to recover from it! Dumb a** luck has saved me from mistakes a few times. That said, I blew up a 77 Ruger 06 from what had to be a double charge of 2400. Am thankful that Ruger built a strong rifle, and that it held together for the most part. I have always checked cases with a light, never loaded when tired, and have been a reloader for well over 45 years. I am now going with med burning rifle powders that can not be double charged. The only exception will be when I weigh the charge, dump the charge, and seat the blt in one operation. Will never again charge multi cases and depend on a light and old eyes to prevent double charging. In my case, the good Lord looks after fools, drunks, and old reloaders of cast blts.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[Old Ironsights]

I'm with the "limited Powders" crowd.

I shoot LilGun, Titegroup and Varget. That's all.

[Bigjohn]

.............Proves your human, and it also shows someone was looking out for ya. Chalk it up as a lesson you paid about $25 for :-)

...............Buckshot

As the great sage; Buckshot said.

My mistake was transposing load data from one powder to another. The powders involved were Bullseye and Unique. Loading some 200gr cb in .44/40 for a Ruger Vaquero. I cannot recall what powder I loaded but the charge weight was effectively a double charge of the powder I had used. I mentioned my load details to a fellow reloader in a phone call the night before I planned to test the loads.
Lucky for me, he checked the details against his reloading manuals and phoned back and left urgent messages for me at all the places I normally go before getting to the range. I missed every one of those messages until I returned home that day. As it was the opportunity did not present it self for me to test the loads as all the ranges were busy.

Even to this day, I STILL have a problem with the data from these two powders. I had to adopt the following to overcome the problem. And when talking about reloading with these powders I do not mention charge weight in case the other person uses that information to load with.

1) Only have one of the powders on hand at any time (presently it is Unique).

2) When loading; powder can in one hand; reloading data in the other. Calculate the charge required and write it down.

3) Recheck the above procedure before loading any cases.

If I wish to load with the other powder, then I must complete the use of the tin I have on hand before buying the other powder.

I know this seems to be an extreme measure to have to carry out but the problem is so fixed in my mind that I can't seem to change it.

I do not have this problem with other powders but I still follow the procedures listed and have experienced no problems with reloads.

I had to sell the Ruger because my guberment told me I had no need for it.

[grumpy one]

My system is similar to felix's, with maybe an extra twist. I keep all powder containers locked up in my office which is through two closed doors from the loading bench, and I only ever take one powder container out of the office at a time. The powder containers are stacked chaotically in their locker. Thus far, same as felix. However I also decide at least a day before loading, what I'm going to load for my next range session. I write all the loads on a sheet, and also on the loading blocks I'm going to use. I keep the sheet, and the loading blocks, on the reloading bench. Since I only have one powder on the bench at a time, I put some in the powder measure and trickler, then do all the loads that use that powder, one cartridge at a time: throw and weigh a charge, put it in a case, seat the bullet.

Doing it this way doesn't seem to take any longer than any other way, and is safer. There are still things I can mess up though: I have found myself about to seat the wrong bullet, or having just done so, because of my process of doing all the loads that use the same powder, in immediate succession. I find I have to put something bulky on top of every box of bullets except the one I'm actually using, to keep from doing that. Then I block up the one I've just finished with, and uncover the next one I'm going to use. I do that with both cast and j-bullets.