Share your hand loading mistakes!

[Fieryotaku]

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

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[Member 34319]

Mostly just squibs from not paying attention. Or no primer.

 

[HighlandLofts]

I have seated primers sideways, now I look each & every time that they are sitting in the prime tool the right side up.

 

[Capn Jack]

Resetting and decreasing the OAL of a known load not thinking at the time that I was increasing chamber pressure.
It took a few shots and some ruined brass to figure out, why the increased recoil.

 

[Capn Jack]

I found out while trying to work out out a small game load for 30-06....It is possible to reduce a charge so far, the bullet won't come out of the barrel.
Can you say, SQUIB !

 

[Capn Jack]

I got excited and, "Dry Balled" my .50 cal muzzle loader. Luckily I was able to blow out the ball with powder trickled
down through the nipple hole. What a PIA ....Embarrassing too.

 

[Knebel]

I made some bad 12ga that just went "plop"... Probably bad crimps but also there was lots of powder in the barrel that looked yellow!?

 

[Red98422]

Recently...loaded a primer backwards.

I also Forgot a primer.....and still seated a bullet over the powder

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

usually no primer or no powder

 

[nammac]

Backwards primer - guilty - caught before boxing - disassembled for components
Unresized brass - guilty - crushed the brass trying to seat a jacketed bullet

when I was new to reloading many, many, many years ago, I started with reloading 90 gr lrn .380's. I had a few with less than minimum recommended charge that when shot at the indoor range, the ballistic curtain down range caught the round and snapped it back at me... Left a couple of nice round dents in the range door behind me...

I always double check the powder charge and weigh every 10th round, cause I'm now OCD...

 

[ditchtiger]

Belling a .357 case when the die is set for 38 special.

 

[HighlandLofts]

Belling a .357 case when the die is set for 38 special.

Been there & done that.

 

[DizzyJ]

Many over the past 30 years. Luckily none that caused harm to me or any of the guns.

Learned long ago why it's important to flair the mouth on pistol cases, and chamfer the inside of the mouth on rifle cases.

Always check powder level in the case.

Always verify bullet seating depth in the pistol you'll be loading for. Some 9mm chambers are more forgiving than others. Beretta will feed almost anything. Don't use them as a case gauge for other 9mms lol.

Luckily I've never double charged a case, but I have had three squibs in my lifetime from having no powder.

 

[DizzyJ]

Oh, and use enough lube when sizing a case, but not too much as it'll cause hydraulic dents.

 

[awshoot]

View attachment 647961View attachment 647962
Share the dumb things you have seen or done so that others may learn and laugh.

Picture two -- definitely done that.

Picture one, I'm not exactly clear on what is going on -- are you punching primers to pop them next to your open jar of powder?

 

[Fieryotaku]

Picture two -- definitely done that.

Picture one, I'm not exactly clear on what is going on -- are you punching primers to pop them next to your open jar of powder?

first one is a joke about tac welding primers in to make sure they don't fall out.

 

[awshoot]

Recently...loaded a primer backwards.

I also Forgot a primer.....and still seated a bullet over the powder

I once dropped powder into a whole block of cases, no primers.

 

[awshoot]

Insufficient lube resulting in stuck case (if I recall correctly, it was the first time I tried One Shot and clearly didn't apply it correctly). I did get the case out though I ended up breaking the decapping pin in the process.

 

[BrandonQuixote]

Earliest- when I was "18", Loading a stack of 13 dimes in a 2 3/4" shot shell. Shot out of a beat up Mossberg 500. It worked, but wildly ineffective on card board at 15 yards.
Lots and lots of untrimmed 223 brass that wouldn't chamber, half as many with not enough lube resulting in a stuck case and calling them something that rhymes with "Stuck case". Learned that unless your bottle necked cartridge prep takes three time as long as loading them, you're not doing enough.
Double charged a 45 ACP 230gr RN FMJ, Blew the case web out and detonated the round below it. Luckily it was my step mother who fired it. It bent a Wilson Combat mag feed lip and shot it into the ground like a meteor in to her foot. Later, pushing loads real hot, blew one up. Zero damage to the Kimber Custom II (yeah yeah i know) and oddly enough same WC mag. Can't kill the damn thing. My old man holding the the Case from the attempted matricide;
Most recently- Blew up a Gen 3 G20SF pushing 10mm 155gr loads. Cracked the frame from trigger up and over to mid mag well, broke the trigger in half and shot the mag release articulating side into orbit. No eye pro, no damage beyond scarred pride and a slapped-by-a-2x4 feeling in my hands. It lives in a P80 frame now and the 155's are dialed into 1300fps and staying there.View attachment FullSizeRender.mov

Funniest- Loading a Mike and Ike into a primed but charge-less 9x19 case and shooting it out of a Gen 1 M&P. Put a dent in the dry wall.View attachment FullSizeRender.mov

 

[Fieryotaku]

Earliest- when I was "18", Loading a stack of 13 dimes in a 2 3/4" shot shell. Shot out of a beat up Mossberg 500. It worked, but wildly ineffective on card board at 15 yards.
Lots and lots of untrimmed 223 brass that wouldn't chamber, half as many with not enough lube resulting in a stuck case and calling them something that rhymes with "Stuck case". Learned that unless your bottle necked cartridge prep takes three time as long as loading them, you're not doing enough.
Double charged a 45 ACP 230gr RN FMJ, luckily it was my step mother who fired it. It bent a Wilson Combat mag feed lip and shot it into the ground like a meteor in to her foot. Later, pushing loads real hot, blew one up. Zero damage to the Kimber Custom II (yeah yeah i know) and oddly enough same WC mag. Can't kill the damn thing.
Most recently- Blew up a Gen 3 G20SF pushing 10mm 155gr loads. Cracked the frame from trigger up and over to mid mag well, broke the trigger in half and shot the mag release articulating side into orbit. No eye pro, no damage beyond scarred pride and a slapped-by-a-2x4 feeling in my hands. It lives in a P80 frame now and the 155's are dialed into 1300fps and staying there.

Funniest- Loading a Mike and Ike into a primed but charge-less 9x19 case and shooting it out of a Gen 1 M&P. Put a dent in the dry wall.

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