Share your hand loading mistakes!

[Newberg]

460sw CRUNCH.

Can't say I didn't feel it. Thought a case was getting hung up somewhere, did the stupid move and powered through it. Turned out to be the case under the powder die, must have been mis aligned. Hurts throwing 460sw in the scrap bin.

 

[Capn Jack]

You put it on the back of the bench in plain sight as a reminder.

 

[Capn Jack]

Personally, I've taken the .458 SoCom cases I've buggered and windowed them to show just how far some larger bullets protrude past the shoulder into the case when loaded for AR magazines.

Others I know have used them for pulls on lamp chains.

 

[Mikej]

Personally, I've taken the .458 SoCom cases I've buggered and windowed them to show just how far some larger bullets protrude past the shoulder into the case when loaded for AR magazines.

Others I know have used them for pulls on lamp chains.

You could cut 'em down some and used them for pet water dishes.

 

[Capn Jack]

I would have to look up how much these weighed, but they were definitely not, "Plinkers".

 

[RVTECH]

Not MY mistake but Several years ago I was given some old '30-30' rounds and the bullets looked a little 'big' for .30-30.

Well, I was planning on pulling them regardless however when I measured the bullets they were .321 !

My guess is someone used .30-30 brass to load .32 WS as the necks were not bulged. Otherwise if the other way around hopefully they would have recognized the bullets TOO big to seat.

 

[Wyo79]

I got a Dillon 550 awhile back. All went well with the set up for 9mm. I loaded 100 rounds and sent them through my Glock without a hitch. I did notice there was a an ever so slight budge near the rear of the case. But they chambered, fired, and extracted without issue.
That being said, I set out to load up my empty ammo boxes. I went full send and loaded almost 1000 rounds. I recently bought a platypus 2011 and eagerly broke into my cashe of ammo. After half a magazine, I experienced the worst 2011 jam of my entire life.
After clearing it, I proceeded to fire another four or five shots and again had a jam that almost rival the first. After looking into the issue, I believe it's that ever so slight bulge at the rear of the case. I would chalk it up to using all this for Glock ammo, but I've since sold my Glock.
Has anybody ever experienced this and is there a way to resize this without going through and pulling all the bullets as a sidenote, all my loaded ammo are within tolerances per the Hornady manual. My cases are range pick ups so brands vary. There were no signs of over pressure on any of the spent casings and it's only the loaded rounds that are causing the mother of all jams.
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[DLS]

Glock chambers are "sloppy" and do not support the case well. They have tightened up the specs each new version, but are still loose compared to say SIG or CZ.

Do an image search for "Glock Smile". It was especially pronounced on the .40S&W. While not as bad on Gen 4+ it's still an issue.

This larger chamber allow more expansion of the case, making resizing more problematic.

The 9mm case is slightly tapered. This means it's difficult to size near the web and you can't use a push through type of sizing due. If turn cases are out of spec, you are pretty much stuck with pulling bullets.

Do your load fit properly in a cartridge guage? I'm guessing no, but if they do look to the barrel of your firearm.

 

[Camelfilter]

I got a Dillon 550 awhile back. All went well with the set up for 9mm. I loaded 100 rounds and sent them through my Glock without a hitch. I did notice there was a an ever so slight budge near the rear of the case. But they chambered, fired, and extracted without issue.
That being said, I set out to load up my empty ammo boxes. I went full send and loaded almost 1000 rounds. I recently bought a platypus 2011 and eagerly broke into my cashe of ammo. After half a magazine, I experienced the worst 2011 jam of my entire life.
After clearing it, I proceeded to fire another four or five shots and again had a jam that almost rival the first. After looking into the issue, I believe it's that ever so slight bulge at the rear of the case. I would chalk it up to using all this for Glock ammo, but I've since sold my Glock.
Has anybody ever experienced this and is there a way to resize this without going through and pulling all the bullets as a sidenote, all my loaded ammo are within tolerances per the Hornady manual. My cases are range pick ups so brands vary. There were no signs of over pressure on any of the spent casings and it's only the loaded rounds that are causing the mother of all jams.
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Supposedly either a 9mm Makarov die, or a .380 die can fix the bulge. No idea on if you can use it on loaded ammo, or not.

Makarov die:

.380 die:

 

[nammac]

Seems to me that questionable 9mm cases with a bulge or other defect, would best be run through a .380 resizing die before loading to prevent issues down the road. May as well have first quality reloads.

 

[nothanyelljenk]

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

The big mistake I made was not putting the lid back on my powder then I was doing other work and my grinder sent a spark into my powder and boom

 

[gmerkt]

Assuming that all 230 gr. FMJ .45 ACP bullets seat to the same OAL.

 

[Capn Jack]

The big mistake I made was not putting the lid back on my powder then I was doing other work and my grinder sent a spark into my powder and boom

While a,"Teen", I did something very simular while testing some homemade black powder.
Who would have thought the tiny amount I tested would throw a spark into the open two inch mouth of a container almost three feet away.
It didn't explode, but I had the prettiest, but most horrifying fountain I had ever seen, for about ten seconds.