Strange things in the reloading room tonight

[scattershot]

:killingpc
I was loading some .38 special ammo tonight, and as always, I set the powder measure for my charge and threw a few charges after it was set just to check. First couple of charges were OK, and then powder stopped flowing through the funnel.(Dillon 550).

Took the powder dispenser apart, and sure enough it was blocked. A spider had gotten into my powder measure since the last time I used the press, and made his way into the funnel. He was still alive, (fixed that) so he must have been swept into the funnel with the first few charges. Anyway, I reloaded the hopper with powder, and started getting erratic charges.

Turns out, the little bugger left me a present, in the form of a strand or two of cobweb, and the powder was sticking to it.

Took the whole thing apart again and thoroughly cleaned it, and no more problems.

Never heard of that before, but it had me scratching my head for a few minutes.

[noylj]

That and they get in cases and dies and everything else.
Then, wasps build nests.

[CastingFool]

spiders will mess up your propane refrigerators found in camping trailers, too. they make their nests in the burner tubes, blocking the free flow of gas.

[TNsailorman]

I read a story many years ago about a fellow who shot his old Winchester and got a surprise. Shot didn't sound right and he missed his shot badly which was very unusual. When he checked things out, he found the remains of a dirt dobber nest just inside the muzzle about an inch. He also found that the barrel had a ring in it just behind the remains of the nest. Seems his old Winchester had been sitting in a corner of his tack room for some time and nature took its course. I believe the author might have been Skeeter Skeleton but I am not sure about that.

[David2011]

I've posted this before but will repeat. Sorry if you've already seen it. I had some weak shots from my .40 S&W STI several years ago, of course, in a match. The barrel was never blocked but the shots felt and sounded like complete squibs. It turned out that June bugs were crawling into cartridges in the case feeder and dying there, isolating the primer from the powder. I just quit leaving cases in the case feeder until I built an enclosed reloading room in the shop; problem solved.

[LUBEDUDE]

I've posted this before but will repeat. Sorry if you've already seen it. I had some weak shots from my .40 S&W STI several years ago, of course, in a match. The barrel was never blocked but the shots felt and sounded like complete squibs. It turned out that June bugs were crawling into cartridges in the case feeder and dying there, isolating the primer from the powder. I just quit leaving cases in the case feeder until I built an enclosed reloading room in the shop; problem solved.

I had the almost the same thing happen to me at a major match with 38s. It cost me 1st or second place. I ended up with 5th place because two rounds did not fire at all.

When I got home and dismantled the rounds I found charred June bug remains. The June bugs evidently got perfectly sealed between the powder and primer which prevented ignition.

I now keep a cover on the 1050 shell feeder. So far, so good.

[w5pv]

A habit that my Dad taught me and I still do is store your long guns with the barrel down resting on carpet or some other soft material and I use rubber plugs on my pistols and my revolvers I oil and wrap in a thick cloth like a sweat shirt and put in a cloth bag so far I have not had any problems with rust or other problems.

[TexasGrunt]

I had the almost the same thing happen to me at a major match with 38s. It cost me 1st or second place. I ended up with 5th place because two rounds did not fire at all.

When I got home and dismantled the rounds I found charred June bug remains. The June bugs evidently got perfectly sealed between the powder and primer which prevented ignition.

I now keep a cover on the 1050 shell feeder. So far, so good.

RCBS Lock-Out die would have prevented this. It's caught similar stuff in my brass.




I had a mud wasp build a nest at the bottom of the primer tube on my Hornady LnL AP. I couldn't figure out why primers weren't feeding.

[Jack Stanley]

This is a good reason for killing all those eight legged beasties in my dungeon :-)

Jack

[LUBEDUDE]

[QUOTE=TexasGrunt;4081899]RCBS Lock-Out die would have prevented this. It's caught similar stuff in my brass.

............... [QUOTE]

You would think so. I use a Dillon powder check, which can be adjusted to desired sensitivity.

Maybe I ignored the beep because it was chirping too much. But I have since learned how to visually check the apparatus as well.

I agree that the lock out die by RCBS makes it much harder for the human to ignore.

[farmerjim]

I was at a friends camp last fall. He had a 30 carbine standing in the corner. I walked over and looked down at it. The barrel was obstructed with a dirt dabber nest. He cleaned it out before use.