Was reminded of a valuable lesson this morning.

[mike britton]

I was reminded of a valuable lesson this morning.
It's a krappy day outside, the kids are gone to work, I got nothing to do.
So I grab up my beloved 340 Savage .30-30, a box of reloads and head off for the indoor range.
I have a lot boxes of .30-30, this one was marked 30gr. 3031, 150gr. Sierra indicating it was one of many boxes I had loaded sometime in the past.
I get in my lane, get the target all set up and load a magazine full of rounds.
The bolt won't go home! What the hell!? To make matters worse, the bolt won't open!
I finally get the bolt open and realize that, right at the crimp is a bulge. Not too obvious, but enough to keep the round from going into an apparently tight Savage chamber.
I fumble around in this 20 box, find some rounds that look better and get some shots off.
Long story longer, out of 20 rounds I have 10 that will not chamber in my rifle for various reasons. I have 3 that look as if they had started to fold over at the very bottom of the shoulder?! Add to that 3 dead primers!
Then it dawned on me what I had done. I had been reloading .30-30 several months back and had been interrupted for whatever reason.
Coming back to this pile of brass, I went ahead and primed and loaded thinking I had already resized them!
Apparently not!
Once again I was reminded of what I was taught as a high schooler when I started reloading. When you start a certain lot of brass to reload, do not quit until all the steps are done!!
At the indoor range it was merely inconvenient. With game in my sights I would be going hungry. Defending my family, such a mistake could be life changing!!

[ryanmattes]

Been there, done that. I have a bucket of 200 cast 9mm sitting in my cabinet right now that I somehow forgot to size the slugs before loading. I caught it after I crimped all 200, then did a plunk test. They're still sitting there because I don't have the right collet for the bullet puller, and I'm not doing 200 of them with an impact puller.

To avoid this issue, specifically on larger lots of brass, I keep them in containers and use avery removable labels to write down exactly what's been done to the cases in it. I'll have a bucket that says "9mm, Win, deprimed, cleaned" and I'll resize them, taking a case from that bucket and, after sizing, move it to a bucket that says "9mm, Win, deprimed, cleaned, sized." I know if it's in that bucket, it's been sized. I have a lot of buckets.

On boxes of 20 rifle cases, yeah, I just do the whole box. I can stick a label on the box saying what's been done. If I'm not sure, I'll run them through the sizer twice rather than accidentally skip that step.

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[dverna]

I would be very concerned about 3 dead primers in 20 rounds. Why do you think that happened?

How did you manage to box "3 that look as if they had started to fold over at the very bottom of the shoulder"?

If this is your first rodeo, learn from it...we all screw up...and no one got hurt. It is a "good" lessen when no one gets hurt and nothing gets damaged.

[ih772]

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you figured out what was happening before you had a squib or something similar.

[metricmonkeywrench]

I use lots of post it notes stickies on the boxes to keep track of what stage the brass is in (sized expanded etc) Did have a similar issue with some 30-30, the brass was marked sized, but I neglected to add expanded for cast so there was no neck tension when I tried to seat som jacketed bullets

My process was updated to add this distinction to the notes

[rockrat]

ryanmattes----you might be able to run the 9mm in a 223 size die to give kind of a taper crimp, to the point where your rounds will chamber.

[Soundguy]

I'll bet a lee 9mm face will work too. Carbide sizing ring and all. Worth a try.

[Texas by God]

That's what bullet pullers are for and why we have them. They come in handy for boo boo correction. I once loaded 100 22-250 rounds on a friend's Dillon progressive without checking the fit in my rifle until I was on a prairie dog hunt. The seating die was adjusted too far down and bulged the shoulder enough that they were very hard to close the bolt on. Once fired, they were fine again. Lesson learned.

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[Winger Ed.]

I'd pull the bullets, raise up the de-priming pin, and run 'em though the system again.

[mike britton]

10 rounds...I'm going to toss them.

[Soundguy]

reclaim them at least.

[Screwbolts]

It very well may not be dead primers!!!!!! I have a Stevens 325 and a 322 that will not reliably light LR or SR primers. In both of these rifles I use LP and SP primers and that solved the problems.

I believe the firing pin springs have weekend and that is the problem, when it first was discovered in my rifles I took both bolts apart and changed the springs between them. no change at all. My solution has always been for 30-30 and Hornet cases I use Pistol primers.

[Soundguy]

How are you putting a lpp into a lrp hole and not having it seat too deep or ftf from seating with for pin strike?

Srp and spp are the same size.. Lrp and lpp are not.

[Screwbolts]

@ Soundguy, Putting, Very easily, the few thousands shorter doesn't seem to bother at all. The 325 Rifle now goes bang every time I ask it to. I generally go threw the Process of putting the LPP in the LRP hole by the use of a priming tool of one make or another. The putting tool could be a LEE primer putting tool or an RCBS primer putting tool. I stopped putting primers in on my Redding press or when using my Lyman press. I do all my primer putting using primer putting tools or attachments meant for putting primers. Hope that helps!!!!!!!!!

I have copied and pasted this to show the extreme difference in diameter of LR and LP primers, it is extreme " Give or take a bit, a touch, on average " to be exact.

" Large rifle primers measure about .128 inches tall and .212 inches wide, again give or take a bit. Large pistol primers are a touch smaller at .120 inches tall and .211 inches diameter on average. "( This is a guote from https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/reloading-primers/ A simple search of the net was used to find this, I did not right it! )

I never said the firing pin was to short. I said I have 2 savage 340 type ( Prior model riffle ) that both have fail to fire with rifle primers. After pulling boolitz and de priming the cases, the hit primers were seated in other caliber cases and never once failed to pop it those rifles.

Your milage may very,

Ken H

[gwpercle]

Lesson #2 :
When you go to the range ... always bring more than one gun and one box of ammo .
Gary

[BigAlofPa.]

My Winchester 94 AE is fussy about reloads. If i don't run the press all the way in when resizing. It wont chamber unless i really work the lever hard and fast. Then sometimes it wont fire 1st strike. I been extra carful when loading for it since that happened. So far it's been fine.

[jim147]

Lesson #2 :
When you go to the range ... always bring more than one gun and one box of ammo .
Gary

I like this. In the days before I could just open the door or even window to shot I took one pistol to the range beside Hodgdon. Front site popped out and vanished in the first few rounds.

Now I can just step back inside and grab something else.

[mike britton]

How are you putting a lpp into a lrp hole and not having it seat too deep or ftf from seating with for pin strike?

Srp and spp are the same size.. Lrp and lpp are not.

What language is this LOL?

[No_1]

Large Pistol Primer, Large Rifle Primer, and Failure To Fire.

What language is this LOL?

[Soundguy]

What language is this LOL?

It's reloadin'speak.