Share your hand loading mistakes!

[elitejake]

So I've been reloading since I was ...... let's say I learned how to reload before I learned to drive.
never in the years and 250k ish rounds have I ever had this happen. Twice in one night.

 

[elitejake]

 

[elitejake]

Ends up gorilla brass is my nemesis. It's been three in a row.
so no gorilla for me. And then looking at my die I see I'm marking the brass really bad. So it's timefor a new die.

 

[Red98422]

All of you guys have me considering never loading bottle neck

 

[elitejake]

For volume it can me problematic. Get it set right and you generally don't have problems. But I've had prob 9k threw that die and I think I messed it up pulling one of the stuck cases. Or it was some thing on the case. It's a slow process if you pay attention and are cautious. Which is a good thing. I've saved a few $$$$ on ammo and when the 300blk came out I was reloading for it and still do. At .17c a round and not $1.17 a round.

 

[ageingstudent]

Had a hard time ejecting some hot .357 workups and pulled out a mallet to use on the ejector rod. Mental note: 1) remove finger first 2) then whack.

 

[elitejake]

Ouch. I thought bouncing the 7-08 die off my toe when I dropped it was bad.

 

[ageingstudent]

Ouch. I thought bouncing the 7-08 die off my toe when I dropped it was bad.

Thank god S&W wasn't stamped on the end of the ejector rod. I'm pretty sure you'd have been able to read it off my finger.

 

[HighlandLofts]

I went shooting Saturday and had a round with the primer put in backwards.

 

[DizzyJ]

I went shooting Saturday and had a round with the primer put in backwards.

I actually had one of those on a factory reload.

 

[ageingstudent]

I went shooting Saturday and had a round with the primer put in backwards.

Hate it when that happens. I think I hate a sideways one more. It ain't right.

 

[nammac]

I went shooting Saturday and had a round with the primer put in backwards.

Been there, every round gets checked as it's primed. No more complete reloads with backwards primers...

 

[Silver Hand]

The biggest problem I had was I started hand loading. That was in about 1970!

 

[Bill Siegle]

Biggest problem I had was getting off my duff and getting started!!!! Aside from that, not resizing new brass caused me some stress with some 45 Colts that wouldn't fit in the cylinder

 

[elitejake]

Silver . I bet you had shell of a great time with the Lyman line pads and slime that had to be used to resize brass. I learned on a rock chucker with RCBS lube and neck powder. Looked like climbing chalk but really fine. I like the hornaday spray on lube. Doesn't contaminate and drys in a couple hours. I do 3-500 300blk at a time.

I just mounted the rock chucker to a inline fabrication quick change plate. I really like the system. Swap between the Hornaday LnL and the RC.

 

[DizzyJ]

Silver . I bet you had shell of a great time with the Lyman line pads and slime that had to be used to resize brass. I learned on a rock chucker with RCBS lube and neck powder. Looked like climbing chalk but really fine. I like the hornaday spray on lube. Doesn't contaminate and drys in a couple hours. I do 3-500 300blk at a time.

I just mounted the rock chucker to a inline fabrication quick change plate. I really like the system. Swap between the Hornaday LnL and the RC.

Yeah. I too started with that thick RCBS snot lube and a tray to roll them on. Talk about a pain!!! Nowadays I think that would make me say forget it!

 

[HighlandLofts]

A frind went shooting with up last saturday and he had a 30-06 bolt action rifle he was useing. Out of twenty rounds he had five that did not go off.
The primers were dented in.
Can these rounds be disassembled with the hammer?
With the primer being dented in I have reservations on useing the hammer method to disassemble them.
How should someone go about tearing these apart.
Some of the guys I talk with on reloading stuff just chuck them in the trash. None of them bother tearing them down.

 

[Mikej]

I forgot to flare several hundred 9mm cases. No BIG deal, but it's a pain to take the 50 brass that were already charged out of the loading block and flare them with the powder in. Then I had to go through and flare the rest of the several hundred that I had processed, minus flaring, for loading. I seem to remember thinking the last time I prepped 9mm that it went pretty smooth?

 

[elitejake]

Highland- I certainly would just chuck them. The bouncing could set them off. The components are not worth the boom you will get. Or the blood you could loose.
I bet he over bumped the shoulder on the brass when he sized them. That caused the case to be short. The 06 indexes on the shoulder. - distance between the back of the cartridge and the shoulder. If it's not correct you get light primer strikes. That will be the case on all rounds built just short of their index point. The belted mags don't have that prob bc they index off the belt. But all rifle rounds with a shoulder can have it happen if not sized correct.
I get them in my new conversion 300blk brass. Just a dent and no boom. Drop it in my Wilson case gauge and it's a couple thousand short on the shoulder.
pistol rounds like 9 and 40 and 45 index off the case mouth. 357,38,44. They all index off the rim of the cartridge.

 

[CLT65]

A frind went shooting with up last saturday and he had a 30-06 bolt action rifle he was useing. Out of twenty rounds he had five that did not go off.
The primers were dented in.
Can these rounds be disassembled with the hammer?
With the primer being dented in I have reservations on useing the hammer method to disassemble them.
How should someone go about tearing these apart.
Some of the guys I talk with on reloading stuff just chuck them in the trash. None of them bother tearing them down.

I've pulled thousands of rounds apart over the decades, with both inertia pullers and collet pullers. The only concern with inertia pullers is with unknown military ammo, like spotter-tracers and such that have a mechanism in the bullet itself that could possibly go off. I've never even heard of a dud primer going off in a bullet puller.

I pick up live ammo off the ground at the range all the time. The first thing I do with it when I get home is pull it apart for components. I've pulled apart hundreds and hundreds of rounds with dented primers. A primer takes a sharp blow to set it off, and unless you're holding the puller backwards and hitting the wrong end, it's just not going to happen.

On another note, why do I pick up and dismantle ammo off the ground? 1. It gets it off the ground at the range. Nobody else will be tempted to pick up and fire someone's unknown reloads. 2. It gets recycled so live ammo doesn't end up in a landfill somewhere. 3. I keep the usable brass and bullets. Good brass gets used. Questionable brass gets recycled (scrap). Good bullets will eventually get used in plinking ammo. Questionable bullets get tossed into the melting pot.