Share your hand loading mistakes!

[DLS]

Yep ... always on military cases. Most military grade cases use a sealant on the bullets and primers. Somtime that sealant works really well and glues the top portion of the primer in place.

You will need a primer pocket reamer to make these cases usable. The reamer will also take care of any remaining primer pocket crimp allowing smooth seating when repriming.

 

[billdeserthills]

One of my handloading mistakes was due to my not having ever checked my used scale for accuracy--I made a bunch of sub-sonic .45 acp rounds since the powder weight was a bit too light

 

[crstrode]

Share the dumb things you have seen or done so that others may learn and laugh.

I thought I made a mistake once; but I was wrong.

 

[Yarome]

When I was young, we were participating in a bi-centennial parade on a US Army float. Decked out in full traditional Cav uniforms all the way down to sabers, white gauntlet gloves, and toting trapdoor 45-70's. We somehow came up with the bright idea of using flash paper for wadding (add a little more muzzle flash for daytime effect) in our blank reloads. We had the further bright idea of using thinned wax as a sealer.

You can see where this is headed, right?

For those that can't. Even lightly wax satuated flash paper doesn't "flash" quite as expected. There is a bit of a flame "hang time". First lesson learned. Not all that critical, right?

What didn't occur to us though was.... did you know floats of the day where typically constructed with large amounts of tissue and crepe paper??

Lesson #2 was that little tidbit discovered real quick. Need I say more?



(No one was harmed but it was real exciting for the crowd and not soon forgotten I'm sure. I'm sure the guys with the Air Force float ahead of us has forgotten by now. Or was it the Navy. I forget now myself.)

 

[galvweld]

Decided to try powder coated bullets 9 mm in lieu of copper. Many copper rounds loaded and fired without problems. Only minor adjustments on seating die when using different bullet weight. Used the same sizing and crimp settings for coated rounds.

While shooting Colt 1911 9 mm with Match Barrel first 2 rounds fired accurately. Third attempt the gun only partially cycled leaving hammer cocked, slide locked and round somewhere near chamber. My efforts failed; rescue came from local Deputy with tree trunk forearms. Glad he was at the gun range.

At home micrometer showed one thousandth over at neck (crimp). Measured both brands of powder coated bullets and they were spot on at .356. Now I was confused. Grabbed copper coated (Berrys) 125 gr which have been tried for decades. They measured spot on. Observation and hopeful conclusion are my mistake(s) of seating depth and/or crimp. Just finished pulling all coated bullets to save small pistol primers.

Bullets: Ordered 500 from Gallant in Salt Lake City and 250 from Missouri Bullet Company, Kingsville, MO based on strong recommendation from experienced handloader. Loaded 100 Gallant 125 gr and 50 Missouri 115 gr.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

Not sure if this is a mistake I made, but I found 6 primers ripped apart (the primer walls remained in the pocket and the head ripped off) while decapping some misc .223 brass. All were "CJ 93" headstamps, which I've been lead to believe is Norinco (29 years old I suppose).

I'm new to the forum and couldn't find a general reloading discussion page for this. Hoping to learn more, has anyone seen this before?

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I have had that happen a bit with various headstamp .223.

 

[Dr Prepper]

One of my handloading mistakes was due to my not having ever checked my used scale for accuracy--I made a bunch of sub-sonic .45 acp rounds since the powder weight was a bit too light

Wait... Isn't ALL 45 acp subsonic??? (Pretty sure it is) except maybe the hottest +p in starline cases?

 

[Dr Prepper]

I thought I made a mistake once; but I was wrong.

Bob Ross over here.. Lol. "No mistakes only happy little accident's"

 

[rockicker]

I have had that happen a bit with various headstamp .223.

I've talked to a few folks about this, kinda interesting to see. I'm just going to scrap these, got too much 223 brass to sweat over it..

 

[Wombat of Doom]

I've talked to a few folks about this, kinda interesting to see. I'm just going to scrap these, got too much 223 brass to sweat over it..

My opinion as well

 

[CLT65]

Not sure if this is a mistake I made, but I found 6 primers ripped apart (the primer walls remained in the pocket and the head ripped off) while decapping some misc .223 brass. All were "CJ 93" headstamps, which I've been lead to believe is Norinco (29 years old I suppose).

I'm new to the forum and couldn't find a general reloading discussion page for this. Hoping to learn more, has anyone seen this before?

View attachment 1264669 View attachment 1264671 View attachment 1264670

I've had lots of those over the years, mostly 9mm and 38 special. It seems to happen most often to batches of brass that have sat for a while with moisture in them for whatever reason. I think it has to do with a little corrosion in the primer and primer pocket.

I made a little tool that pulls the ring out, usually works quick and easy, but some just don't come out. On common brass it's usually not worth the bother.

 

[billdeserthills]

Wait... Isn't ALL 45 acp subsonic??? (Pretty sure it is) except maybe the hottest +p in starline cases?

The ammo I made wasn't strong enough to drive the slide back all the way

 

[Caveman Jim]

I was going through and deleting some pictures off my phone and came across this one and thought it was relevant to this thread.
The story behind this pic was I was on a mass 5.56 depriming project and forgot to look at the primer catch tube. Spent primers started hitting the floor and saw the tube was filled to the top, What I didn't realize it was that the ram was also full and when I pulled a tube off primers started flowing so I put my finger over the hole and got a container underneath to catch the rest. What a mess it was.

 

[Caveman Jim]

You're not gonna believe this. It happened again today, except the tube did not fill up it was the ram that got filled up. There must be a blockage in there so it is time to tear the press down, clean, scrub and lube everything.
The pic is after I got them out.

 

[Dr Prepper]

You're not gonna believe this. It happened again today.

What are the odds right? Seems improbable 100%. my co ax stutters every now and then, but it clears when they stack up to the case and force is applied. I upgraded the cheesy styrene plastic catch cup with a bigger HDPE.
I brush mine out every now and then with a pipe cleaner or a nylon brush, I wish there was a smoother transition from the primer hole to drop tube.

 

[NJ Escapee]

Oh man, I wish I had found this thread earlier. Here's a 5.56 I loaded back in 2019. I don't quite remember what is I did.

 

[2ndtimer]

Oh man, I wish I had found this thread earlier. Here's a 5.56 I loaded back in 2019. I don't quite remember what is I did.

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My guess would be trying to seat and crimp at the same time, or seating flat base bullets without chamfering the inside of the case neck. (Don't ask me how I know )

 

[2ndtimer]

Double tap!

 

[Caveman Jim]

Oh man, I wish I had found this thread earlier. Here's a 5.56 I loaded back in 2019. I don't quite remember what is I did.

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Looks kinda like my special Jetson boolit don't it?
I attempted to pull the boolit but instead of lowering the ram I raised it.

 

[Mikej]

Looks kinda like my special Jetson boolit don't it?
I attempted to pull the boolit but instead of lowering the ram I raised it.

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That's worthy of it's own little place on your bench somewhere Jim. Out of the way, but at eye level. I have a couple of goofs. A .38 special, double charged and fired. No harm done, but the brass has an interesting shape, as does the primer. And there's also my 9mm shot from a .40 caliber pistol.