Don't get complacent while reloading

[jimlj]

I know I'm likely preaching to the choir, but don't get complacent while reloading. I'm one of the choir, but I could have had a major problem. I need to listen to the preacher.

I recently purchased a Lee auto drum powder measure. Had it all set up and working good. I was checking every few loads with a scale, and all were right on using CFE223. After about 30 rounds I quit using the scale to check the powder charge as often. After about 300 rounds I stopped and cleaned up the bench. When I did this I twisted the hopper to shut off the powder flow while cleaning. When I started up again I checked the first load or two with the scale and kept on loading, all the while thinking this was so much faster than when I started loading 35 years ago on a single stage press. At about 30 rounds I dumped the powder into the scale pan to find there was no powder. "What's going on here" I sez to myself? Hoppers full. The drum is turning. Luckily I had emptied the bin of the 300 loaded rounds so I only had to break down the 30 or so rounds I'd just loaded after the clean up. Turns out I forgot to twist the hopper to start the powder flow again. The first couple rounds used the powder in the drum and what was below the powder hopper. The first two were the ones I checked. With everything going so smooth I told myself "I didn't need to check as often".

I had got comfortable with the loading routine. Everything was working well. The powder measure was throwing accurate charges. 300 rounds without a hitch. Stop to clean up and reload the primer tray. Back to it WITHOUT CHECKING MY WORK.

No matter how long you have been reloading, check your work. Double check your work. Don't get complacent.

[Winger Ed.]

No matter how long you have been reloading, check your work. Double check your work. Don't get complacent.

After I 'unloaded' about 300 each of 5.56s awhile back because the powder measure & scale lied to me--

I get everything set up and adjusted, then take a break, come back, and look at & check it all again.

[dangitgriff]

Thank you for the reminder.
Glad you caught your error.

[Walks]

I had a powder measure foul up on me once.
Since then I empty the powder measure every time I leave the bench. Except bathroom trips.

I Never leave powder in a measure.

[BigAlofPa.]

I glued my hoppers open. Just with a dab of rubber cement. Incase some reason i want to close the flow off. I had the same thing happen when moving the powder drop on my turret press.

[Dieselhorses]

Amen to the reminder! Reloading requires a certain level of thought beyond "muscle motion" regardless of years of experience. The more systematic the process is, the more aware the reloader needs to be.

[AnthonyB]

I'll share my story of stupid. We all know the rule of only one container of powder on the bench at any given time. I was running several hundred rounds of 9mm on a Dillon 550 using Unique. Stopped that for a reason I still don't understand, but seemed like a good one at the time. I put the Unique bottle on the bullet tray of the 550 and went to the Rockchucker to load 30 Carbine using H110. I had trouble with the Carbine dies not producing enough neck tension and wound up dumping the powder from 50 charged cases back into the RCBS powder measure. I was distracted and thinking about my die problem, and emptied a full powder measure of H110 into my 3/4 full bottle of Unique. I'll never break that one container rule again.
Tony

[ioon44]

The one container rule is my #1 rule, I also check and double check powder charges and scale settings often.

[Wild Bill 7]

All single stage loads I do now I check the powder every five to ten loads just for that reason. Flake powder every five loads and fine powder every ten loads. I really hate to pull ammo because I got lazy. I loaded 100 rounds of 38 special on one of my Green Machines and didn't get the powder measure locked in. I was in such a hurry to get them done I didn't pay attention to the details. Since I'm older patience is good. You can never be toooooooooo careful. :bigsmyl2:

[Digger]

All good points gentlemen ...
Same here with the Lee ..., Mine has been used for quite a while and I fail to watch close .
With every cycle spinning on the Lee , it was slightly moving in the closing direction as with time it can get a little more "loose"
in it's back and forth cycle of off and on.
With that it pays to take it apart once in a while and tighten up the screw for the rubber seals to function with the right tension.
As I have shown before in the "homemade" threads and in one other , I have made a homemade powder check die with very simple construction and yes .... it caught me with my complacency of not watching close enough for the hopper slightly closing on it's own.
lesson learned .

[tomme boy]

Easy to check rifle cases. Just weigh them. I did a similar. But I was just running along and ran out of powder. Luckily it was only 3 cartridges. If it was pistol this may work for some but not all as the weight variance may not be able to show enough to determine if it actually has powder in them.

[Wayne Smith]

I'll post my previous stupidity again for educational purposes. Always double check your powder scale. Make sure each piece is where you think it is. I had a Colt M&P 41 Colt that I had shot a number of times, had a couple molds for it. Was trying a new bullet and had a loud Bang and blood flowing down my face. Blew the forcing cone off and budged the side plate. Still have a tiny piece of that Colt next to my skull. Went home and pulled down the rest of those cartridges. Was supposed to be 5gr BE. I shot 15gr BE! A triple load and that Colt held it. I had to have had the 10gr weight on 10 rather than 0 on my Lyman scale.

Since I had everything needed to load 41Colt I now have a Uberti in 41Colt.

[shaggybull]

I bought a powder cop takes the guess out of the process

[Winger Ed.]

A triple load and that Colt held it. I had to have had the 10gr weight on 10 rather than 0 on my Lyman scale..


I used to think I was fearless--------- until I started reloading .38Special, and saw pictures of blown up guns.

I'd previously only done auto pistols and rifle stuff. Checking the filled case is easy.
You can see at a glance if anything really bad is going on in them.

With some of the .38 loads you can't hardly even see the correct charge way down in the case.
It wouldn't take any great amount of skill to double or triple charge them accidently-
and not know until you pulled the trigger.

[Three44s]

With handguns if I am single staging them, I like to use a load block for charging from my powder measure in a stand. You can eye ball them but for small charges of a dense powder that is not very accurate.

For a cheap easy way to gauge your powder level take a brand new unsharpened pencil. Place the unsharpened end down on the powder without stacking pressure on it. Take a sharp knife and score the wood on the pencil to make a mark even with the case mouth. That will give you a fairly accurate bench mark to judge your powder levels by.

Three44s

[FISH4BUGS]

I have blown up 2 guns in my days. Double charges both.
One was a S&W 76 subgun - built like a tank so no damage. The other was a S&W 3914 - destroyed it.
One of the greatest things I purchased for my reloading is the lighting system that allows you to SEE the powder level before you seat the bullet. (This is from one of our site sponsors)
https://inlinefabrication.com/collections/lighting
I still weigh the powder charges on my Dillon 550 after each 100 rounds - that is ever AFTER visually confirming a powder charge is in the case on each and every round.
Can't be too careful.

[Kenstone]

Marked the hopper...
263402
263403
A silver sharpy is your friend,
:bigsmyl2:

[lightman]

Thanks for the reminder. It helps to establish routines and ground rules. One of mine is one type of powder at a time on the bench top.

[Froogal]

I had a powder measure foul up on me once.
Since then I empty the powder measure every time I leave the bench. Except bathroom trips.

I Never leave powder in a measure.

Neither do I, except for when I KNOW I am coming right back.

[Budzilla 19]

One type of powder at a time . Nothing else , period. And no powder left overnight at all!!! Worked good so far.

[C.F.Plinker]

I put a witness mark on my auto-drum right above the drum itself similar to what Kenstone did. Then I made "open" and "closed" labels and put them on the bottom of the hopper so they would line up with the witness mark to show what position the hopper is in. When I put the measure on the PtX die I position it so I can easily see the witness mark. In that position I can also watch the drum rotate to make sure that the powder was dropped.

I am using it on a Lee ABLP press. The return spring on the measure is quite strong and I always remember to hold the operating handle down with the right hand while I use the left hand to operate the safety prime. This eliminates the possibility of inadvertently throwing a double charge before the auto-advance can rotate the shell plate.

[KCSO]

Years ago I was reloading and checking the powder measure on the Star reloader and the weight was way off on the powder. The amount looked right and it filled the case to the right level, what was wrong? The powder scale was sitting on the bench under the heater vent and when the heater wason it blew down into the powder scale and threw the weight way off.

This was way better than the time a buddy was loading and simply scooped the case through a drum of bullseye to charge the cases and threw HIS rounds into my 5 gallon bucket of 38's! We had to throw away 5 gallons of loaded 38 special.

Check check and check again!

[tankgunner59]

I just recently bought a Lee classic cast turret press set up. I ended up doing the same thing on my second session, but only with a couple cases. Now I look inside each case as I lower the ram after charging it. It doesn't slow me down at all. Thanks for posting, it's a little liberating to know I'm not the only one it has happened to.

[fcvan]

I load a lot of handgun, only recently delving into 300 BO, 308, and 30-06. I use a loading block for placing charged cases which are them checked with a flashlight. For rifle, I use a Pacific powder measure and generally weigh every 5th round and inspect all with a flashlight. For 308/30-06 I weigh them all because they aren't as easy to see into with a flashlight. Anyway, I had some light loads and looked for the problem. I had pulled a round due to a bad cast and just dumped the powder back. I didn't see that the gas check had pulled off or that it went into the hopper. I dumped all the cases and started over to be certain. That was the only time I had a problem and I owe that to my dad teaching me to be 'retentive.'

[marek313]

Visual inspection is your last line of defense and I go by that. Install good lights and look. Whether its progressive, turret or single stage I always look before seating bullets. Large powder variations or no powder are easily noticed that way. Maybe its a personality type but I'm the kind that needs to see it to believe it so for me the only way to make safe ammo is to look every time. Probably why I dont go to church neither but thats off topic.

[Slugster]

NEVER have more than one powder container on the bench. Period. ALWAYS remove powder from the measure after a loading session. I never break these two rules.
Had a friend (no, really) who only ever used two powders in reloading for his two firearms. WW-296 for .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk, and WW-748 for .308 Rifle. You can see where this is going... Anyway after the SBH blew out two chambers in the cylinder, mangled the top strap, and did various other ugly things to his pistol, he called the manufacturer to register his not kind thoughts on the matter. They advised him to send in the offending product for inspection. Since the cylinder was not turnable he had to send it in loaded condition.
Manufacturer had to bandsaw the revolver into two pieces to extract the unfired cartridges. Upon inspection it was found that two of the cartridges were loaded with WW-296, but the other two were loaded with "an unidentified" powder. Oops!
He did call the poor young lady who fielded his first call and apologized to her.

[Conditor22]

A lockout die prevents that, even a powder check die helps.

I use to have a borescope attached to my press, hooked to a tablet so I could see in each case.

Glad you caught it now instead of dealing with a squib at the range. Just a primer can get a boolit stuck in a chamber. (don't ask me how I know)