Casting and Reloading Accidents! Share Your Stories!

[Hanzy4200]

I would really love to hear from some of the older guys. I am a relative newbie, and these stories can (hopefully) help guys like myself learn from others mistakes.

I personally don't have any overly dramatic stories to tell. Within my first week of casting, I was smelting down range scrap. I had hosed it down and left the bucket to dry in the sun for several days. I skimmed off the first run of dross and junk, and piled a new load on top of the molten lead. I stepped inside to give it a few minutes to melt down. About 30 seconds later I heard what sounded like a small caliber handgun shot from the porch. I opened the door to about 5 of the 20 lbs of molten lead spattered in all direction. Obvious to me know, a bit of moisture was trapped inside one of the deformed slugs. First lesson learned. NEVER add range scrap to a loaded hot pot! Had I been outside, I would have been severely burned.


Another less intense, but nearly as scary, incident occurred whilst casting. I was in water dropping .45 acp boolits when a droplet splashed up and into my mold. This happens occasionally, but is usually vaporized almost instantly. For whatever reason, this one did not. As I poured the next cast, the effected cavity regurgitated 200-250 gr.'s of hot lead straight up and out. Most hit bottom of the pot, and I got several small gobs to the face. After cleaning myself off (and changing my shorts) I put my glasses back on, to find a nice round splat of lead over my left eye. Glasses saved my eye.

[varmint243]

nothing particularly dramatic..
I have loaded rounds without powder when the powder measure ran dry, had to break down 50-ish rounds
I have had a squib or two
I have burned myself smelting in shorts
I have had a visit from the tinsel fairy when smelting
I agree that safety glasses should always be worn

Now stand by for all the posts from guys who have been reloading for 50 years and never ever made a mistake :roll: :groner:

[ukrifleman]

Now stand by for all the posts from guys who have been reloading for 50 years and never ever made a mistake :roll: :groner:[/QUOTE]

I haven't been reloading for 50 years (only 45!)

My advice to anyone would be as follows.

#1 Stay focussed on what you are doing, don't allow your attention to wander or be distracted.
#2 Develop a system and stick to it.
#3 Do one operation at a time.
#4 Don't rush, near enough is not good enough!
#5 Check and double check your load data and components (particularly for correct powder) before loading.
#6 Where possible, use a powder charge that fills more than 50% of case capacity, so that a double charge will cause the case to overflow.
If using light charges that are less than 50%, before you start, take a FIRED case and double charge it to see where the powder level comes to, so that you will recognise a double charge when you see it. Immediately empty the double charged case afterwards.
#7 Check weigh a minimum of every fifth powder charge to verify the measure is still correctly adjusted, or better still, check weigh every charge with your scale to be 100% sure, particularly if your loads are near the never exceed level.
#8 NEVER have loose primers and powder on the bench at the same time.
#9 Now the obvious, don't smoke or drink alcohol before or during loading or casting.
#10 When casting, make sure you have sufficient ventilation, stay upwind of the pot and if inside, position a fan to blow fumes away from you. Wear gloves, eye protection and a mask, as well as stout clothing to protect you in the event of spillage.
#11 Don't eat or drink when casting or loading.

I also shake each loaded round just before putting it its storage container, to verify that it has powder.

That's my system, which has served me well since I started loading in the early '70's and has pretty much kept me out of trouble.

I am sure others will contribute their knowledge and experiences, but this is how I do it.

However you approach loading/casting, remember it is not that complicated, but it is a precise undertaking and should not be attempted in a cavalier fashion, for your own (and others) safety.


ukrifleman.

[Animal]

I had a squib once while carefully developing a new load. All components and measurements were the same as the components used in the load data. After pulling all the bullets, I was able to confirm that the charges were set properly. It didn't end well, but I wasn't hurt. Long story short, published load data from a reputable source is the best source of data you can use. But even published load data only proves that the load functioned in all areas that the data company tested. This is no guarantee it will function in any gun that it hasn't been developed in. Each gun has it's own set of variables. Unfortunately, hindsight is 20/20. I was able to connect the dots after the fact with the help of a few experienced folks. This situation was totally avoidable with the proper knowledge. Understand your guns measurements and what the load is intended for. Approach all loads with extreme caution.

[44man]

Only once in well over 65 years playing with lead. A friend and I were making ingots in my mothers kitchen on the stove. We used a big cast iron ladle and would set the bottom in water a few seconds to harden enough to dump. He left it in too long and the iron absorbed water after I told him to keep it hot. He dipped it and lead shot out onto my shoulder and arm. I peeled it off and ran into the bathroom to pour cold water on myself for 1/2 hour. Had a hose on the faucet. I never got a blister and had no scars that lasted.
If you get burned head for cold water.
I never had a problem with my loads. Only stuck boolits were from starting loads with a .454 and 296 that I caught. Only gun damaged was a S&W 27 that a factory load stuck at the muzzle and the next shot split the bottom of the muzzle. S&W replaced the barrel with an 8-3/8" ribbed barrel, removed the nickle and bright blued it for $35.

[Jack Beauregard]

I had a squib once while carefully developing a new load. All components and measurements were the same as the components used in the load data. After pulling all the bullets, I was able to confirm that the charges were set properly. It didn't end well, but I wasn't hurt. What didn't end well? What happened? :???:

[Harter66]

I hand sort the range scrap an ingotize when I get up to 1 of 4-5 5 gallon buckets about half full . I have since changed where I stack my sorting buckets .living in the high desert makes water pretty unlikely this was the result of a loaded probably 9mm that snuck into the 2nd dump of jacketed. It blew the side out of the pot and dropped 90# on the floor and 5-7 on the garage floor, walls, door and roof.

133091

This is the worst of it,mostly. I had a long sleeved jersey tee on. The spray was also in my beard and hair . I ruined my glasses which fortunately were "last year's " work safety glasses.
133092

If you shoot ARs with different uppers don't be this guy. The 1 on the right is a steel 223 that went through a 6.8 Rem upper with its proper brass case .
133097

For the love of Pete 90% of 9mm Kurtz,x17,x19, Luger,parabelum, x21,x23 have over sized grooves often being ...... wait for it ........ .357 even .358 Don't be afraid to try a light 38/357 mould in them .

Even if you have a Ruger there is no reason to push a 45 Colts to 44 mag levels get a Casull or a 445 mag if you need or want 44 mag levels in your Colts.

Always cross check ,ALWAYS, cross check data . I have a Lee die set for 280 AI ,the load sheet is all for 280 Rem safe but very under loaded . Their 264 WM on the other hand starts at near maximum by data in 3 other books and exceeds maximums in 4 books. Granted in a brand new FN 98 it probably wouldn't end catastrophically but there is the very real possibility of a 75,000+ psi round going in a 64,000 psi cartridge.

Seating depth matters , A LOT, I once had a 45 Colts Load climb from 1050 to 1217 fps for a seating depth change that amounted to the difference in the top and bottom of the crimp groove. Go Ruger Blackhawk ,the listed load was safe by the books but I didn't care for the beating and the cases were really not as free as they should have been for ejection.

Sometimes load data just doesn't work in your gun . I had 3 manuals that all agreed on a start load in a 357 . It took me 45 minutes to get the cases out of that Taurus 66 . They were wedged tight.

[dolang1]

Once, a long time ago, I went into the garage on a fall morning to do some casting. I opened the garage door enough to let the fumes out, but keep the heat in. I turned on the pot, the hot plate, and the fan. I was wearing my casting hoodie, the one with the paint stains, the welding burns, and the sleeves with the tinsel fairy badges. The mold got to temperature the same time as the pot did. The first boolits were not wrinkled and the rest were dropping like rain drops. My 4-20 was not leaking and my sprue plate was not smearing. It was amazing. It only happened once and it was a long time ago.

[Steve77]

My 6 year old was running the handle of my press for me while decapping. She got a little hasty and pulled the lever before I got my finger out of the press. She ran the decapping pin through the center of my finger just behind the nail. She panicked and let go of the handle leaving me stuck. I lowered the ram and seen the look on her face. No need to say a word. She looked like a whipped pup, she silently walked out and came back several minutes later with a band-aid.

[Petrol & Powder]

Once, a long time ago...I started reloading; haven't been able to stop since.

:mad:

[upnorthwis]

Was casting boolits in garage in winter on a folding leaf table. I think that when I moved to table into position by the door that the locking wedge may have loosened some. Had pot filled with 10 lbs. when the wedge let loose and the leaf dropped on my lap with full pot heading toward me. The shell of the snowmobile suit and boat cushion I was sitting on where both vaporized. Had it been summer and wearing blue jeans it would have been bad. I escaped without a scratch.

[plainsman456]

I have a scar on my left hand from a rather small splash of lead that missed the gloves that i was wearing.
Other than that i have been lucky.
It does make one tend to look more closely at what you are doing.

[Eddie2002]

The worst I've done so far was loaded up about 50 100 grain plinkers over 5 grains of bullseye for a 7.7 Jap and forgot to prime the brass before pouring the powder and seating the bullet. Had to pull the bullet which mangled it, dump the powder and run the brass back through a resize die to make sure I didn't beat the mouth of the case up from pulling the bullet. Didn't think priming loaded cases was a bright idea even with plinker loads.
Had a buddy give me a bunch of 8x57 Mauser berdan primed brass and was using the punch and pry method to decap them. Had one that still had a live primer in it even though it was dented by the firing pin, boy did I jump when it went off, glad I alway wear safety glasses while reloading. Resized that brass down to 7.7 Jap and still get a chuckle when I fire it.

[bedbugbilly]

I've been casting for 50+ years - always in an open pot over a LP hot plate. I had cast for an hour or so a few years back and needed to add some lead to the pot as it was getting low. (I was casting RB for BP so it was soft lead). I had a large box full of everything from old un-shot minie balls to round balls in sizes that I couldn't use. The minie balls had some lube in the bases but I wasn't worried about that as it would act as flux. The box of lead had been given to me - I carefully looked at the lead balls, mines, etc. as I put them in a large ladle to carefully dump them into the pot. Well, I carefully reached over and dumped them in and took several steps away to retrieve another mold from the shelf a short distance away. All of a sudden . . . POP . . and a loud one at that and the tinsel fairy paid a visit. Fortunately, I was far enough away and didn't get spattered or burned. While I'm not sure, I'm of the opinion that the guy I got the lead from had been on the "careless" side and a percussion cap had gotten buried in the old crisco in the base of one of the minie balls.

Thus, I learned my lesson . . . look at EVERY piece of scrap before it goes in the pot and if any of it is a minie ball . . . scrape the old lube out prior to putting it in. I'm not afraid to say that it scared me quite a bit when I got to thinking of "what could have happened" had I been closer to the pot. I always wear a face shield over safety goggles, high wrist welding gloves as well as heavy pants with cuffs covering my shoe tops. Even after casting for so many years . . . it bodes well to keep alert and NEVER take short cuts.

[bangerjim]

Never add more lead scrap to the liquid melt!! Especially dirty range stuff. Those FTF's have a way of sneaking there.

If you MUST wash your range stuff (not needed at all...everything floats on molten lead) put it in a cold pot and bring the temp up to drive out all the moisture. Range scrap and other carp in a bucket can hold water for weeks! Even in the sun.

I have been cooking and pouring Pb for years and have NEVER had any problems at all. Just use common sense and "think ahead!"


And.............

"It has been proven that the position of one's mouth is directly proportional to the success of the process one is endeavoring to complete" [smilie=s:

[nannyhammer]

Once upon a time I learned that you should pay attention to those numbers on the right side of the beam scale. When you are expecting 5.2 grains but end up with 5+2 grains of unique, a .38 special is pretty warm and accurately recreates the old 38-44 round. From a 4" Model 10 velocities were just over 1100fps and all four rounds grouped about 3/4" at 15yds, best group ever out of the gun. Fired two and then replaced the chrony battery because something was amiss. After two more rounds, I pulled the last two and found the mistake. Glad the chrony was there to dummy check the dummy.

[Jumbopanda]

I once managed to drop a glob of molten lead on my toe while casting. Those warnings you hear about not wearing sandals while working exist for a reason!

[MR45]

The worst one for me is spilled a 40 pound pot off the plumbers furnace.
Lucky for me I can jump fast.

[1911cherry]

Had a range scrap explosion , apparently a live round in the mix, visit from the tinsel fairy once, and two squibs back to back, had to pull down a bunch of pistol rounds to make sure that was all of em. If you never make a mistake its because you never did anything, just learn from them and move on.

[upnorthwis]

Went to a gun show today and was reminded of what a fellow shooter did that makes my previous post tame be comparison. He loaded 296 in a .308 Win instead of 748. The firing pin went through his right eye and went around to the back side of his head, on the inside. He lost that eye but lived to see another day. No pun intended.

[Jumbopanda]

Went to a gun show today and was reminded of what a fellow shooter did that makes my previous post tame be comparison. He loaded 296 in a .308 Win instead of 748. The firing pin went through his right eye and went around to the back side of his head, on the inside. He lost that eye but lived to see another day. No pun intended.

****!

[Beau Cassidy]

I have been fairly lucky, I guess. Mostly just a little splatter or 2 of lead from being overly aggressive stirring. When casting I usually use safety glasses, regular glasses, painters mask, and hat but even that could not keep a little splatter from hitting me just below the right eye one time.

Most of my problems have been when sorting thru scrap lead and ww. I have found razor blades and live ammo on more than a few occasions.

[Digital Dan]

A gun with no commercial source of bullets moved me into casting. For reasons not clear there was no excitement on the first casting session and the bullets shot well. It was pure lead cast followed up with hammer dies. What followed was horrifying. First it was another mould, then another and still another. I'm casting for .22-.50 caliber now. Designing bullets and a new cartridge to go with a custom barrel.

Swallowed whole like a shrimp in a grouper's gullet I was.

I'll never be the same. -sniff-

[clintsfolly]

The wasn't thing I ever saw was the darn lucky guy that came in to the gun shop I worked in. Said he can not get the bolt open on his 2 week old Rem 700bdl 30/06. After removing the loaded rounds from the magwell. I put the rifle in a vice upside down and hit the bolt with a brass hammer after 3 hits it opened and out came the base of the case. I asked what are these loaded with? " I was told by my buddy to use 55gr of powder and wanted target loads so I used Bulleye". I asked if he had more then the 3 I removed magwell. He said he just loaded 4to try I used the press and pulled the bullets avnd gave him a old loading book. Clint

[MBTcustom]

I thought I made a mistake once.......but I was mistaken.

[trapper9260]

I been at this for some time also and we all have some thing happened that is not good.Last year while melt some scrape lead and some rejected boolits and the small tub i had them in near my reloading bench I did not know a live primer got in it and when i dump the rejected boolits in the pot of alloy just a few sec. it blow and when i only got alittle splater on me but also had a old pair of pants cover my jeans and I was ok not much but that was the first time of all the years I had been doing this that I had this happened.As for over charge of loads .What I found is after sizen and deprime and then prime and neck expand is to turn the case upside down that way the primer is up and when you put your powder in it that is will be face up and you know you got your powder in it and ready for the boolit.

[country gent]

I had an early Lee hand priming tool blow up on me. Was priming 308 win brass for upcoming high power season. 5 gal bucket of brass on one side of chair empty on other. Was sitting in the easy chair going to town had prime just over 1500 cases. was being lazy and hadnt blown the dust out of it yet. I was using federal primers and making good time. Daughter was standing watching me. I went to prime another and boom there was a bright flash and numbness. I had just filled the tray shortly before that. I had a mltidude of small cuts, and a few primer anvils imbeded in my face.After the trip to hospital Wife picked up the primers and about 30 detonated and there were 40 or so that didnt. We think it was dust build up from primers and static electricity. Now these tools come with a warning to use only cci or win primers ( foil covered so no dust). I had done this for years though and it finally bit me. I had pock marks on my glasses so they probably saved my eye sight.

[marvelshooter]

I took apart about 100 .45 auto rounds with an inertia (hammer) puller to find the hand full without powder. The screw holding the operating lever on my Dillon SDB had backed out and the slide was not moving. The stories about the wrong powders in rifle cases give me the creeps. A double or missing charge in a .45 while a bad thing is nothing compared to a case full of Bullseye in a .30-06 or .308.

[dondiego]

When I was 16 years old I found out that a tad too much 2400 behind a 500 grain Hornady bullet will absolutely demolish your father's pristine Trapoor Springfield.

[w5pv]

I have been visited by the tinsel fairy just once.I was goint to pour ignots ant there was a spider web built into one corner of the mold and I saw it but didn't take the time to clean it and when the hot lead hit there was a pretty good spray that got me acouple of drops on the face below my glasses and on the lens of my glasses.Now I clean and wear a face sheild for protection.

[wordsmith]

I got in a hurry once and didn't go through my pre-flight checklist when loading some 300 BLK cast rounds, and used WC 820 instead of WC 680, a much faster powder. Luckily they were subsonic range, so the only consequence was my confusion when I was hearing a sonic crack and the chrono was reading 250 fps faster than expected. It finally dawned on me what I'd done, and I had that sinking feeling about what could have happened if those had been full power loads.

My takeaway - NEVER skip my item-by-item verification of the correct components for my load (i.e. bullet, powder, primer, brass, etc), and NEVER have anything else on the loading bench besides what I'm loading at the time.

[rockrat]

Had a primer go off on the priming system of my lee progressive. Forgot about not using a certain brand of primers.

Tinsel fairy visited me once. Emptied a 10 lb pot. I THINK that somehow a lubed boolit fell off the bench above me and went under the surface of the lead, cause I hear a rumble and threw my arm up just in time to catch the hot lead from getting on my face. My arm, shirt, the ceiling (I was sitting on the floor casting) and the wood furniture 4 ft behind me were coverd in hot lead. Scars on my arm faded after about 20 years

Took apart a M29 Sihlouette Smith&Wesson using a new powder that not much data was available yet. I won the powder at a match. Extrapolated a starting charge and reduced 10%. My starting charge really was the 10% reduced point. Had a S.E.E. Many will argue "can't happen", I will stand firm on it did happen!

[Hanzy4200]

Lots of good advice.

[Hanzy4200]

My 6 year old was running the handle of my press for me while decapping. She got a little hasty and pulled the lever before I got my finger out of the press. She ran the decapping pin through the center of my finger just behind the nail. She panicked and let go of the handle leaving me stuck. I lowered the ram and seen the look on her face. No need to say a word. She looked like a whipped pup, she silently walked out and came back several minutes later with a band-aid.
HA! Not your finger, your kid. I thought I was the only one to allow them to do that. My daughter caught my finger once, but it was the seating die an it caused no injury. My only problem now, is every time I work the press, it's like a dinner bell and 3 midgets appear to fight over turns.

[BrianL]

I had a near one this afternoon. I keep a small box on the bench to toss culls that need re-melting and when it gets full I take it out to the shop and toss them in at one of the pot filling stops. I am pretty careful about what goes into it and had dropped about a dozen into the pot and was going to just dump the rest in when something brassy shined through. Yep, live large rifle primer. I will make sure to move the cull box off of the bench from now on.

[Catshooter]

Years ago I grabbed the keg of Clays thinking I was grabbing Universal Clays. Loaded a hundred rounds of 45 ACP with a middle of the road Universal charge. Very like using Bullseye powder with Unique loading data for those who don't know.

At the range, I loaded up a mag full for my Glock 21, chambered a round and then asked my buddy if he wanted first shot. :) He did.

Nice smiley on the bottom of the fired round, no harm at all to the poor shooter. The tragedy was the ruined magazine which since it was during the Assault Weapons ban cost me over $100 to replace.


Cat

[dudel]

Hearing all these horror stories of lead spillage, makes me glad I tend to stand while reloading. I can move faster if already standing than if seated.

I have nipped a bit of a finger tip while guiding a case mouth into a resizing die.

[str8shot426]

I accidentally started a loading session when I was supposed to be making dinner.

SWMBO not happy.

[gloob]

This is a warning for anyone using a kinetic puller. Be sure to use the correct insert!

I pulled a few 45ACP loads the other week. In the back of my lizard brain, it seemed to register that my hand was sometimes getting pinched. It didn't hurt too bad, so I didn't really stop to investigate how or why.

With only a few rounds left to dismantle, it happened. The round was pulled. I unscrewed the cap. But the cap was stuck to my hand, and I was in severe pain! The cap of the puller had a crack in it, and it was pinching the skin in the web of my left hand. The feeling is a bit like being pinched by a crawfish, I can say.

I tried in vain to ease the cap off with my right hand, but no dice. I ran and grabbed some needle nose pliers to force the cap open. No dice. Finally, I ran back to the bullet puller and reassembled all the pieces, awkwardly twirling the puller around and around to screw it back in. When I had finally screwed the cap down tight enough, my hand was released! Whew.

So in hindsight, I was using the wrong size collet, and it was too big. When I screwed the cap down over the collet, the crack in the cap was being forced open, each time. And each time I unscrewed the cap, I had been playing crawdad pincer roulette. The plastic in these kinetic pullers is incredibly strong!!

[RogerDat]

All I can say is how timely this thread is. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?271749-Came-darn-close-to-a-tinsel-fairy-visit-from-ladle I got lucky the overall force was not greater and results were not worse.

In a .357 magnum DA only revolver I did most of my shooting with the .38 but would always try to fire some .357 just to stay familiar with the feel and recoil. One time I was firing a mix of the two just to confirm not doing anything different (like flinching) with an especially hot .357 that did not seem to be as accurate. Dear wife wanted to shoot a few so I loaded the fired chambers with .38 she hit a .357 and rocked back a step, gave me the evil eye and has not forgiven me to this day 15 years later. Some scars never heal I guess.

[Land Owner]

I cleaned and washed several hundred 223 cases. I took the concave expanded screen from the fire pot, turned it over, poured the wet cases in, and fired up the optional burner on the side of the grill. Then I took my sweet time heating those cases to get the water out fast. Annealing the whole case is a real bad idea. I did not think about those brass primer pockets being softened.

While individually hand priming 50 cases there was no direct evidence of poor primer tension. The cases looked discolored in red, orange, yellow, and white. Loaded mid-level with Win 748, a 55 grain pill, and shot from a bull barrel Handi-rifle, the primers (PLURAL) exited the back of the case, slammed into the bolt face, and OPENED the ACTION. FOUR TIMES I SHOT THAT LOAD before my brain functioned and said enough is enough.

I had shot that same load in that same rifle MANY TIMES before and since, the action never jarred opened. The Primer pockets (and whole cases) on that day were far too soft. I unloaded, deprimed, and crushed them all.

[Echo]

My Offering is a TF visit that never happened. I bought a SAECO furnace, 4-banger mold 2/handles, and a box of solder snippets from an old rummy gunsmith who was retiring. The equipment was well-used, but the price was right. And I showed a very unusual burst of smart - I went through that 8x8x8 box of solder snippets with a fine-tooth comb. And found about a half-dozen small primers. Carrumba! Think what would have happened if had dumped that box into a melt...

[koehlerrk]

I've made some mistakes... worst one was having a 10lb ingot roll off the table and smash my big toe... it turned all sorts of colors and then the nail popped off 3 days later. X-ray confirmed I had broken it, wife made me get it checked when it wasn't getting better after a week. Sooo.. anyone know how good it feels to have a splint taped to your big toe with no toenail? Let's say the only thing that hurt worse than putting it on was taking it off.

[Bongo Boy]

Well, my big story is squibs. Over the past say 5 years, I've had maybe 8 squibs. The first one blew up the barrel on a Sig P220, and it was a bitch getting the gun apart. The rest of them were all recognised before any damage ocurred. I don't have no squibs no more. Just about the most insidious loading error a feller can have. Nasty. A contributing factor is shooting fast...I mean really fast. You shoot as fast as you can for a couple of years, you don't even notice or hear the squib.

[rr2241tx]

Have a plan that minimizes the opportunity to make mistakes, and stick to it. I had determined that a certain lot of military surplus 8x57 shot much more accurately in my rifle if the powder charge was reduced 10% and that the point of impact was something like 18 inches lower at 100 yards than the original load. An opportunity to go hunting arose unexpectedly and having none of the 90% loads for which my rifle was zeroed, I rushed downstairs with the intention of making a box of ammo for the next day's hunt. Plan: pull the bullets, dump powder into powder measure already set for the 90% charge, weigh each charge and reseat the bullets. But, Mr. Wizard got to thinking that if I measured out the desired charge on the scale, dumped the excess powder, then reassembled the cartridge before moving to the next one it would save time and that's what I proceeded to do, 100 times before being called to supper. After supper, I went back down and boxed up 20 for the hunt.

Midafternoon the last day of the hunt the best buck I'd ever seen alive strode into my sendero at about 70 yards and angling toward me. Not wanting to lose a lot of meat I decided to shoot a high neck shot. He went down like a bale of 80s junk bonds! When I got to where he went down, the ground was all torn up but he was gone. Never touched a hair. On the way home, I pulled the empty case out of my pocket and sure enough, the primer was ironed out flat as it could be, just like the original, "too hot" load. I pulled the remaining 99 from that batch and there was 1 more that I had neglected the "dump the excess" step on as well. I saw the buck again a month after season closed, shot him with my index finger pistol. I know I got him that time.

[ColColt]

No real horror stories, thankfully but early on when I first started casting back in the 70's I wore sandals in the summer months and that was a big mistake. One drop of 750 degree lead between the big and index toe was a quick lesson in wearing regular shoes...and long sleeve shirts. If bare skin is exposed lead will see it and jump on that bare spot. The lesson was learned very quickly and adhered to.

[detox]

I was spraying One Shot aerosol case lube too close to my gas hot water heater and a big fireball erupted and quickly went out. Cases were on floor about 4 feet from heater while spraying. I never told my wife, but I bet she could hear my hands playing the drums on the floor.

[detox]

My Lee Drip O Matic emptied all 20 pounds of lead onto wood picnic table. It was hard to get all that thin and solidified lead back into the pot.

[milsurpcollector1970]

shooting an inline muzzle load with loose pyrodex, the slug kept bouncing off the powder charge. Static electricity (I think) set off the powder charge. Almost blew my trigger finger off. After about 6 months I had 80% use of it back. Haven't touched a ML since. Gun club almost kicked me out said I was negligent. I guess I was, experience is a hard teacher sometimes

[milsurpcollector1970]

Was melting some boolits from an estate sale in my 10lb pot when a 22 short that was in there went off. Got lead all over my new carhartt coat and a new pair of shoes . I was able to scrape it off my coat. Threw the shoes away.

[groovy mike]

I tried using "One Shot" lube and destroyed a die with a case stuck in it. About a year later I tried it again and messed up another resizing die. I'll stick to RCBS lube from now on.

[dondiego]

You have to clean your dies of all other lube before you use Oneshot.

[Ola]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?163005-Funny-reloading-casting-stories-and-lessons-learned-the-hard-way

[Blackwater]

I refuse to tell on myself. Well, OK, I have in the past, but the main thing I can contribute here is that if you'll notice, it's always our foresight and GOOD habits that enable us to make a mistake now and then, and still not have to pay too badly for a mistake. That's why we never let a gun, loaded or not, point toward anything we're not willing to kill or destroy. Anticipating the probability of an accident sooner or later is one of the wisest thing we fallible human creatures do. Even the "near misses" are rather invigorating and memorable, and help engrave safety habits in us more indelibly.

[groovy mike]

You have to clean your dies of all other lube before you use Oneshot.. I'll never use it again, but the remainder of the can is in my office desk - 50 miles from my reloading bench so that I can oil squeaky chair springs. It wont hurt anything there.

[BrianL]

shooting an inline muzzle load with loose pyrodex, the slug kept bouncing off the powder charge. Static electricity (I think) set off the powder charge. Almost blew my trigger finger off. After about 6 months I had 80% use of it back. Haven't touched a ML since. Gun club almost kicked me out said I was negligent. I guess I was, experience is a hard teacher sometimes

I had a similar situation when loading my 12 gauge double using plastic shot cups. Not the detonation but the whole charge kept riding up off of the powder.

[taco650]

I've had the tinsel fairy come a couple times when smelting. Also had a squib from not putting powder in the case which locked up my 44mag and required dropping a rod down the barrel and beating the bullet back into the case. Also have had head separation several times with my 303 British. The chamber is fat on my #1 Mk3 and I used some loads I'd made for my dad's #4 Mk1 that had been FL resized. The loads were safe loads and 303's are known for this but it was still my fault because I'm too cheap to buy new brass which reminds me that I need to get some more...

Bottom line, follow established safety rules. In the 35 years I've been reloading I've done this for the most part and its saved me grief. Close calls will happen to the best of us but if you're casting in flip flops and shorts or ignoring legitimate loading manual guidelines and the like, you're asking for serious, potentially life threatening problems.

[olafhardt]

I use to flux with chicken scratch , a mixture of grains, this one batch had some popcorn in it. I don't do that anymore.

[Catshooter]

I tried using "One Shot" lube and destroyed a die with a case stuck in it. About a year later I tried it again and messed up another resizing die. I'll stick to RCBS lube from now on.

Yep, that can happen when you don't read and follow the instructions.

OneShot is great lube, I've used it without a problem for years and years.


Cat

[altheating]

One while casting my pot had to be refilled so while it was melting I decided to sweep up sprues that had missed the tray. I swept them up and dumped them into the pot. Well it seems a lone live primer got swept up with the sprues and as soon as it hit the molten lead it exploded. Thank god there was a bunch of unmelted sprues on top of the molten lead as there was only a small bit of splatter, but the noise was like standing next to a 22lr, sure made my ears ring. Lesson learned, pick the sprues up by hand.

[Foto Joe]

Last week I finally did it, I bagged my first Chronograph. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately)it wasn't a clean kill shot. Apparently I need to cut down on my coffee intake prior to shooting SAA's through the chronograph. I had what can only be described as a momentary epileptic fit and jerked the gun to the right as I pulled the trigger. I knew instantly that I'd completely missed the target stand 20 yards down range but I didn't realize that I'd wounded the chronograph until I heard the "tink" in the distance of one of the sky shield uprights landing on the ground. The sky shields weren't on because it was overcast but the rods were installed. It took close to an hour of searching before I finally found that stupid rod which had a very nice 90° bend right in the middle. In addition to cutting down on the coffee before shooting I'm painting all those rods with Hi-Vis orange paint so I don't have to walk around all hunched over looking for another on in five or ten years.

[Wild Bill 7]

Loading some 38 wadcutters on my Green Machine I had a jam. In a hurry to get going again I didn't clear the machine and double charged one case with 5.4 grains of BE. Bad juju for sure. :oops: Wife was shooting the Clark Custom Wad Gun and was the unlucky one to shoot that round. Needless to say she was done shooting that day. Blew out the case at the base. Lucky for us(me) she was not hurt and the gun survived the mistake I made. Needless to say I now check everything carefully when something happens when loading anything with either machine I have.

[xvigauge]

This is not necessarily a reloading accident, but it involved reloads. I was at the local range shooting my .300 Savage (Remington M722) and my .25-06 (Marlin XL7 bolt action) when somehow, I guess I was not concentrating on what I was doing, I inadvertently placed and loaded a .300 savage round into my .25-06 rifle. It was loaded reformed .308 cases and a 125 grain Nosler Accu-Tip bullet. The gun fired and I even hit the target! Smoke was coming out of the action and the bolt was frozen shut. I pounded open the bolt with a rubber mallet and it opened and the case came out all deformed and split. A few small parts in the bolt were broken, but I could see no other damage. I took it to my favorite local gunsmith and he replaced the parts in the bolt, inspected everything, and test fired it. Everything worked fine. The barrel was not damaged though I expected it to be. The rifle shoots great and is still accurate. Had I used a heavier bullet and a heavier load, I might not have been so lucky. I now usually only take ONE rifle to the range at a time. This is a testament to the strength of the Marlin action.
xvigauge

[popper]

tinsel fairy paid a visit But she doesn't leave anything under my pillow. Darn. Note - wear a cap when casting. Oh, a couple with no powder. And one FC marked 40SW that blew the rim off.

[rintinglen]

I, too, swept up a primer while cleaning up the floor under the casting bench.
Can you say, "BANG."
I knew you could.
I had a spot of lead exactly in front of my right eye on my safety glasses.
PPE saves lives and eyes.

[mongoose33]

Last week I finally did it, I bagged my first Chronograph. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately)it wasn't a clean kill shot. Apparently I need to cut down on my coffee intake prior to shooting SAA's through the chronograph. I had what can only be described as a momentary epileptic fit and jerked the gun to the right as I pulled the trigger. I knew instantly that I'd completely missed the target stand 20 yards down range but I didn't realize that I'd wounded the chronograph until I heard the "tink" in the distance of one of the sky shield uprights landing on the ground. The sky shields weren't on because it was overcast but the rods were installed. It took close to an hour of searching before I finally found that stupid rod which had a very nice 90° bend right in the middle. In addition to cutting down on the coffee before shooting I'm painting all those rods with Hi-Vis orange paint so I don't have to walk around all hunched over looking for another on in five or ten years.


One of THE best tips I've ever read w/r/t reloading and guns and stuff was to replace the metal rods in my chronograph with wooden dowels; that way should I or anyone else ever shoot one inadvertantly, it would simply break rather than take down the chronograph with it.

Turns out my chrono (competition electronics prochrono) uses rods that are almost exactly the same diameter as the wooden dowel; a little sanding of the ends, very little, and there I was.

[Swede44mag]

I dropped a sprue down into my right shoe couldn't think to pull off the shoe so I stuck it in the dogs water bucket.
Left a nice burn blister that has since healed up.
Even after everyone had said do not melt lead in an aluminum pan I had been using a aluminum paint pot to melt down Wheel Weights.
I had the propane fish fryer cooker out set the thick aluminum paint pot on filled up with Wheel Weights fired it up and sat back to watch the WW melt.
I had done it several times with out any problem prior and while watching and adding WW to the pot the bottom gave way and probably two hundred pounds of WW's ran out on the driveway.
All I could think of was I told you not to do it I still am picking lead off my driveway.

But that was not the worst thing to happen.

I was out shooting my Colt .45acp at the 25yard range when I got a terrible burring in my right eye the wife drove me to the doctors office to have it checked out.
The dock said I had a piece of lead stuck to my eye he would try to push it off. I was lucky there was no damage but I did have to wear a patch for a couple of days.
I had my glasses on don't know how the piece of lead got past them but I was very lucky not to have lost an eye.

Another time a friend was shooting his high standard .22lr pistol it spit a piece of lead that took a hunk out of the top of my right hand near the wrist.
He traded/sold the pistol so it wouldn't happen again.

I still cast, reload & shoot just have to be careful.

[youngmman]

I've been fortunate not to have had any serious accidents either casting or reloading, but. This could result in possible eye damage etc. I had refilled the pot and was waiting for it to heat to temp so I left the garage to do some things for 15-20 minutes. When I finished I washed my hands and went back to the Garage, picked up some beeswax that I use for fluxing and threw it in the pot and there was a pop and small lead spatters all over from just the moisture transferred from my fingers to the beeswax. It could have put out an eye.

[Epd230]

I made a batch of Ben's Red last week. Used my smelting ladle to pour the finished product into muffin pans for nice cooling.

Two days later, I smelted a batch of lead. I then used the ladle, still caked with Ben's red. I stuck the ladle right into the melt and was met with unexpected flames. I then quickly back peddled, right off the patio into the soft mud. Feet sunk into the mud and I fell over backwards.

I spilled a little lead onto the patio, but was very lucky and did not get burned. In the end, the only thing I hurt was my pride.

[texassako]

Dumbest accident for me was rolling along casting and a freshly cast bullet rolled off the edge of the bench. Like a dummy, I put out my hand to catch it. A weird one that could have been worse was 2 squibs in .38 Special using Trailboss that I could have sworn had powder since I check the block. The weird part was the 35891 wadcutter did not even come out of the case or even jump the tiny crimp that was mostly to iron out any case flair. Even weirder, I knocked them out at home and the case was full of soot.

[crowbuster]

Worst one for me was the end of a casting day, tired, hot out. I always return sprues and culls to the melt before shutting down. Had taken the apron off as was casting in shorts. Had hiking type boots on, open on top as in not tied at all. always use pliers, had 3-4 sprues in pliers, fell out way high, before I was ready, big blob down the open top shoe on right leg. WOW. I don't dance. But I sure was cutting a rug that day. Poor old dog had been layin in the shade, she pulled her ears back and high tailed it out behind the barn. Lord only knows what was spewing from my mouth as I danced a jig around the yard. finally got the shoe off and pulled the stuck lead off with the pliers. Sure takes a lead burn a long time to heal don't it fellers?