Me first.

8.8 gr Bullseye in .45ACP

A quarter past double charge!

Yep, I did it.

Loaded up some 200gr LSWC with 3.8gr Bullseye Sunday morning. Went to the range. When I touched the first one off, the grips grabbed my palm like a ******* file. What th' . . . ? I put a glove on, and fired a couple more. Just as bad. I knew something was wrong. I closed up the box of reloads and pulled out an older box with 4.7gr of Bullseye. It was noticeably milder, and I had loaded the 3.8 because the 4.7 was too hot.

Back home, the investigation took 30 seconds. First thing I did was look at my scale, an RCBS 5-0-2 balance beam. The 0-4.9 selector was on 3.8. The 5 block was NOT on zero, it was on 5. So I didn't load 3.8, I loaded 8.8 !!!!!

I checked, I still have all my fingers! Gun seems to be okay.

What happened? It was my first production with my new Dillon 550B. When I do single stage loading, I use an RCBS Uniflow type powder dropper. It has calibrations on the adjuster, and I have records of every load I've made for many years. The Dillon powder dropper has no calibrations. You adjust and weigh, adjust and weigh. I'd like to see calibrations on the Dillon, but their design doesn't lend itself to calibration. But calibration wouldn't have saved me, because this was the first time I used it, and would have had no data to compare it to.

I had moved the scale from one bench to another. I assume I bumped the 5 block, and just didn't notice it had moved.

The other thing that got me is that with the progressive, you don't see the powder in the case. Loading single stage, all the cases with powder are examined. A double charge would be noticed.

I'll be more careful to check and double check the settings on my scale before loading, knowing what can happen. I say I'm lucky that no damage was done.

Just once. I was just starting into handloading, having only one rifle, a Remington 700 in .30-06. I didn't know anybody who reloaded anything but shotgun, so I bought a manual, read it and started out. It was fun. I was making good ammo. I had bought 2 powders, Dupont's IMR-4350 and -4895 and following the manual, worked my way up from the published starting loads to the published maximum loads with each and 150 grain bullets.

I decided to try another powder and picked out another (I forget what) that the manual listed for high velocity. With the first two powders, I had only began to see the primers flatten out at the maximum loads, so I decided to "save" time and bullets by starting out at the new powder's listed maximum charge instead of working the load up in increments.

First shot. WHAM!!! Harder recoil and what seemed like a louder report. I couldn't budge the bolt handle. Went home and tapped, then beat on the bolt handle with a rubber mallet. Couldn't budge it with the mallet.

I took it to a gunsmith. When I picked it up a few days later, he told me that when he got it open, the primer fell out of the casing and he had to beat the casing out of the chamber from the muzzle. He told me that it didn't appear to have damaged the rifle but I was lucky. He said, whatever I had done, don't do it again.

I bought a bullet puller and took down the rest of the box. The powder charge was what I had intended, not an overcharge. Even though I hadn't exceeded the manual's maximum for that powder and bullet, the combination was too much for that particular powder lot, bullet and casing in that rifle.

I learned a lot, mainly to follow recommended practices and always work up your charge, regardless of what the book says is a safe maximum, because maximum may be too much for your gun.

Never had a catastrophe with an overload. Worst was some instances of sticky cases.

Had my share of problems with loads being too weak, though. First one was when I stuck a bullet in the barrel of a very expensive revolver (Mauser zig zag) and with the next shot bulged the barrel. I was sick.

Then there was the problem with an 8 inch barreled K 38 I used for silhouetta shooting. I thought my load using 125 gr jacketd bullets was a little high, so I backed off. Stuck two bullets in the barrel. One was just at the muzzle, and I took a pair of pliers and pulled it out. The other was a few inches back and I had no trouble pushing it back with a cleaning rod. Guess I didn't appreciate how much more bore friction there is with jacket bullets compared to cast bullets. Pobably he load would have been OK in a 4 inch barreled revolver . I had no trouble detecting the stuck bullet, though. For one thing, there's no recoil; noting going forward so nothing comes back. Fo another, there's a great blast of glowing yellow gas escaping between the cylinder and the barrel. If you don't notice that, you're blind. I went back to my original load.

Then there was the problem with a load for a Sten (Yes, it's registered). I thought the loads were a little hot and so backed off. The Sten fires from an open bolt; the firing cycle starts with the bolt held back by the sear. When the trigger is pulled, the bolt comes forward, strips a round from the magazine, chambers it and fires it. Then it blows back and repeats this cycle until it is caught by the sear when you release the trigger. I had reduced the loads to the magic point: they blew back the bolt far enough that it would strip a round from the magazine and fire it, but the bolt didn't come back far enough to engage the sear. Great fun; I'd pull the trigger and the gun would fire, regardless of what I did, short of grabbing the bolt handle or pulling out the magazine! And I had 500 rounds of this stuff. I grew to enjoy it, and even loaded up a few Lanchester 50 round magazines. Pull the trigger, hang onto the gun and wait for it to stop gong 'bang'. I then went back to the orignal load.

a buddy double charged 5.5 grains of 231 pushing a 200 LSWC in a brand new Wilson Combat CQB about 12+ years ago.

first two rounds fired.....he thought was oddly snappy.
third round shattered the wood grips in his hands.

Luckily he bought the 1911 knife with matching grips as he took them off the knife and put it on his gun.

He stopped shooting and later pulled the rounds and discovered 11 grains of 231.

he never sent back the CQB and it still runs today.

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if you're gonna be a bear...

Had an overload in .44 40 due to bad load data in an old Speer manual.
It called for 24gr of 2400 to start.
Being before the time I knew almost nothing about loading I tried it.
The shot was powerful ; but only half of the case extracted from my rifles action.
The book clearly stated that load. A mistake that would have been caught by a more experienced handloader.
Happened in 1978.
Jim

I've never had a reloading related issue. The only time I ever even blew a primer was when I used a 5.56 NATO round in a .223 chamber. My fault, not the guns.

I have a LED light that mounts the the center hole of the tool head no my 550B and I sit so I see into every case before I set the bullet on it.

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USN Retired/VN VET
M&P X5

Did the same thing with 231. 3rd shot blew the grips off and the Magazine. A 1914 Colt, 1911 to boot!

Ruger 357 Blackhawk. Six soft lead 148 grain hollow based wadcutters loaded hollow end out. Maximum WW296 load for 150 grain lead semi-wadcutter. Terrific recoil. Hell on targets. Very accurate. Super hard to empty the cylinder afterwards. No damage to Ruger or self. Clean barrel. Lesson learned: Do not disobey the loading manual.

My first attempt at loading lead in 40S&W. I used data for the wrong bullet. The first few rounds I fired out of my Shield felt a bit snappy. Since it was a new load, I was picking up the ejected brass and inspecting it. It was pretty clear it had seriously bulged out into the feed ramp. The barrel was already seriously crudded with lead. Needless to say, I did not fire any more of those.

After some head scratching that evening I figured out what I had done. The loads were a wee bit too hot.

Aside from having to disassemble about a hundred rounds and scrub a ton of lead out of my barrel, no further harm was done. It was a good wake up call.

41 gr of H-380 and a 53 gr HPBT bullet in a 22-250. Speer 9 maximum but too much for my Rem 700, sticky bolt.
About 5-10% of the Russian surplus I shoot in my 91/30 splits the case (fired cases look like magnums, steel will only stretch so much) but no ill effects. The rimmed case keeps the trouble in the strong part of the gun.

I've gotten more conservative with age. If I feel like I have to push beyond a midrange book load, I get a bigger cartridge.

One note for shooters.......

If shooting on a hot Summer day in temperatures around 90 degrees or more............

it is wise to shoot loads that are at least 96% of factory pressures in rifles. Had a bolt freeze up at a local range one year.

I would think the same is true with pistol ammo.....?

After further review, I have decided that poor lighting was part of the reason I didn't see the change on the balance beam. My old bench has lots of lights, my new bench needs more.

25+ years ago I had already reloaded hundreds of thousands of sporting clays shotgun ammunition.
Got involved in handgun shooting and subsequently reloading. Local deputy sheriff loaned me a progressive press. (brand not pertinent).
Found recipe for .38SP and .45ACP using Clays powder.
Nearly destroyed a 1911. Next thing to blown up.
Big boom, magazine blown out the bottom, brass stuck in shooting glasses frame (Decot saved my eye), flying brass slashed my cheek.

Since then I have witnessed three guns blow up. No one injured fortunately. Two of the guns were top quality heavy products with reloads.

Shotguns will tolerate a lot of slop.
Other firearms are less forgiving.

Never let anyone shoot without glasses.

WOrst I ever had was a blown primer & I couldn't tell you why. Overcharge or something inside the case like cleaning media, who knows.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

No, just fear of the unknown. Same reason I don't swim in the ocean.
Reloading is very safe if you pay attention to detail. Most accidents happen when people become handle pullers or just get distracted. Stay focused, follow directions, safer than putting gas in your car while talking on the cell.
Most of the things noted are just failure to stay focused 100% of the time. One reason I rarely load for more than 1 hour. It's hard to stay truely 100% focused for longer periods. Triple check everything, especially when the powder starts flowing. Buy good equip, cheap can get you into trouble quick, especially in powder measuring tools.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Double charge of unique in a model 27 bored out to .45 acp. The results are not pretty! See for yourself.
Big lesson from 35 years ago, gun powder and scotch don't mix well.
I keep it as an ever present reminder!!!!!
No lectures I have heard them all.

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I haven't even really overloaded anything. But I did find a reputable manufacturers 'hot' load for .38 and thought I'd approach that with a starting load that was over what most manufacturers recommend these days. I don't feel that it was dangerous, but when I pulled the trigger it was 'surprising'. I actually dropped back a little toward accepted convention rather than push on to the max load.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

You shouldn't let that stop you. I started reloading with my dad in the late 50's and on my own in the early 70's. I've never had an overload. The closest I've ever come was working up a load of Unique for my 357 mag. Using the then current Speer manual, I started out at the lowest loading and worked up to the maximum in increments, doing 5 cases at a time. Even the minimums were pretty stout, and when I got to the maximum, I noticed the group size was the tightest (25 yards), but the primers were cratered and the side plate screws were working lose. Despite the accuracy, I backed away from that load and never used it again. Years later, I found out that many of the early Speer loads were suspect of being unsafe, or at the least, very extreme. That's the reason why all reloading manuals have a starting point.

What could have been my worst misfortune happened with 9mm loads and a Lee progressive 1000 press. I loaded 300 rounds and went shooting. Just a few rounds in, I had what felt like a dud. I racked the slide and an empty round came out. The first thought was the previous case had failed to eject. Resisting the urge to shoot another round, I pulled the barrel. Inside was bullet, lodged from a case with no powder, just a primer. I borrowed a wood dowel from the range and drove out the bullet. I shot maybe 20 or 30 more rounds, when I had a repeat. After clearing another bullet from the barrel, I quit for the day. I weighed each of the rounds and around 1/2 a dozen that were noticeably light. Pulling the bullets showed no powder. Close exam of the Lee press showed the powder disc would occasionally stick, hence the failure of the next round to get any powder. That prompted me to ditch the Lee and buy a Dillon 650.

The bottom line is, if you watch what you are doing, use recommended safe practices, and never take anything for granted, you shouldn't have any more problems than you would with store bought ammo, and quite possibly less, given the number of recalls I've seen over the years.

BTW: A friend of mine once said there where two types of shooters, those who had experienced an accidental discharge and those who would. I didn't agree with him then and still don't. Just like the rule in real estate is "Location, Location, Location", the rule with firearms is "Safety, Safety, Safety!". Same thing applies to reloading.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

People die in car wrecks, so I assume you walk everywhere.

Loading single stage, charging in a powder block, checking all cases with a flashlight and a great deal of caution should keep a person out of trouble.

Reloading is a satisfying hobby, but I can understand the concern. For me, I avoid progressive presses because of stories like these.

When I was 14, I decided I'd like some buckshot loads for my 20 ga Stevens 311.

I had some Whammo steel .25 cal "shot", so I dumped the lead #8 shot out of a couple shells and filled them up with Whammo.

At the range I put up some cans and cut loose with one shot. Big recoil, not much hit so I shot the other barrel. Same result.

Then I noticed some bumps on the outside of the barrels. Closer inspection disclosed that the Whammo stuff had badly scored the barrels and probably opened the chokes considerably. I was lucky the ribs weren't separated.

Hunted with that 311 for another 8 years until I traded it for a Beretta Silver Snipe.

Get a Ruger Super Blackhawk. You CAN'T blow it up.

Just last week, loading some .44 mag. using a Lee 4-die set which includes their "powder-thru" expanding die. This die allows the insertion of a funnel in case you want to charge during the expanding operation. I never do this - I always charge in a seperate step while standing so I keep the closest eye on the powder, but this day my feet were tired so I sat down, stuck in a funnel and poured the charges as I expanded.

The next step was a flashlight check with all the rounds in a loading block and behold - one obviously high charge right next to an obviously low one. Easy enough to deduce: I had a powder jam in the funnel which I couldn't see due to being on my lazy behind, so that one got shorted and then the next got 1-plus. This was chunky old Unique, and I might add the only funnel that fits in that die is a bit smaller than usual, so this all came together for potential trouble.

Not the fault of the die, the funnel, the powder or anything but my laziness. Either the hot one or the short one could have been big trouble, so thanks to my Dad who taught me to ALWAYS do that eyeball and flashlight check before seating.

Bingo!!!

ALWAYS LOOK!! I have run a 550b for 24 years.

That said, I loaded a "book load" under a 230 XTP in my 1911.
Went outside to chrono, saw 1180 fps for two rounds, quit that "stuff" right now! Primer was FLAT, no firing pin indent. Remember thinking "This IMI brass is some tough...."

I have noticed a difference in some of my pistol loads over the chrony. Also noticed a falling poi and lighter recoil with certain loads in very cold weather. Especially in lower pressure cartridges. Hot days I like to keep my ammo in a cool place. Never noticed anything I would consider dangerous though.

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Trucks and guns.

This ^^^^
some people let their ammo sit in direct sunlight, a big no..no, had that literally beaten into me by my tutor (Army Colonel ret.) when firing my M1A w/LC match ammo many years ago, he would punch me in the arm when I went to reload the mag. "Boy you know better" on and on.. it did change the POI.


Also some powders a rather temp. sensitive than others..

There was a show on about snipers (something like that) A Canadian sniper had run out of his issued rounds and was using US ammo ( 50 cal ). to get that extra range he let it sit in the sun...just a thought..

-Snoopz

I would venture more squibs & dbl charges come from guys using ss press & 50-100 cases in a block to charge. Your technique has to be perfect to not screw up, especially with small charges of uber fast powders. Todays progressives are actually safer, again, if you pay attention.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Funny, sure you can. A shooting aquataince of mine started reloading for his RSBH. He was using BlueDot, by the book, and getting good reults at the upper end with 240gr bullets. Then he bought some REdDot to start loading for his 45acp.
About two weeks later, He blows up is RSBH. Claims it was the gun, not his ammo. I went by his place, he had both 1# bottles on his bench. This was around 1980 when they were in the cardboard cans. The labels look really sim. Imagine what a triple charge of RD would do to any 44mag. Yep, peeled the top strap back & blew the top three cyl thru that. So yes, you can KB a RSBH if you arent paying attention.
Part of my reloading class is showing pics of kb guns to reinf the pay attention element. Seriously, anyone boozing while reloading is a Darwin project.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

For the most part this is true, but some pistol powders are inv temp sensitive. My fav 45acp powder, WST is one. Leave it in the sun, pressures & vel are actually lower. Weird i know, but been proven over the chrono.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I haven't had an overcharge, but the worst mistake I made was doing a by the book .38 workup at the club indoors on a Sunday when no one was around. The powder was too slow for the application (inexperienced and should have asked) and the range had a linex splash curtain. With the ultra low velocity the .158gr round nose bounced off the curtain, came right back across the sights, and popped me right under my nose. Not seriously hurt but had a fat lip for a week and felt foolish as heck. No more testing with a curtain. Paper on the outdoor range only. Shot myself in the face for Pete's sake.

And I can confirm that a .158 grain bullet has plenty of oomph. I could see it coming and it still darn near knocked my head off.

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Trucks and guns.

I haven't been loading long. I haven't had an overload, but I have had an underload - or at least almost did. I caught it. I mis-set the scale, so I'll tell the story here, because I could have just as easily mis-set it on the high side.

I have an old Ohaus 10-10 scale. The single-grain settings are a thumbwheel cylinder mounted on a threaded screw. I set it for 2.8gr when I wanted to set it on 3.8gr.

Part of my checks and balances is, after getting the Uniflow set and measuring consistently, to weigh about every 10th round to make sure things aren't drifting. I was in the middle of a session and things seemed to be going as normal.

Another check I do is look at the scale setting every 10 rounds or so - just to confirm it is set right. After about the 3rd check I noticed it was at 2.8gr, not 3.8gr as I expected. The sobering part of this story is that 1/ I'd set it incorrectly when I set up to load that morning; 2/ I'd checked it multiple times prior to finding the error and it passed my "All is cool." check.

This really drove home that I was *looking* for the right answer when I did my check. Essentially I was subconsciously saying to myself "I know it's right - but I'll check it anyway." I'd made the decision it was set right before I really looked at it.

I'm fascinated by the concept in aviation of using frequent checks to break the chain of mistakes that can happen. It's one of the reasons I like loading: I like the process of establishing a process as well as learning from others and modifying my processes to make them even better.

Thanks for the stories. They help us all learn.

OR

I've never had a serious issue though I did have some .270 Win. loads a few years ago that blew a couple of primers. I think it was an issue with old brass more than an overcharge, but I pulled all the remaing bullets in that lot, trashed the brass and had no problems.

A friend of mine, though, had a bigger problem. He was loading light cast bullet loads in 30-06 for a 1903 Springfield. He was weighing powder charges (Unique) on an unfamiliar scale and what he thought were 1 grain increments were actually 5 grains. So, he ended up with a 5x overcharge. He fired one round. He blew the bottom out of the magazine, split and broke the stock in several places, and we had to use a 4 lb. hammer to get the bolt open. Most of the case was vaporized though we found the imprint of the case head impressed in the bolt face. Remarkably, the bolt and receiver held together and my friend was only peppered in the face with a few small fragments. I don't know what the pressure must have been but the fact that the rifle didn't completely explode spoke wonders for the strength of the Springfield action. Too bad such a great old rifle was ruined.

UniqueTek has a micrometer adjustment for the Dillon. It would be nice for Dillon to come up something similar. I just get it close on my Dillon 550, then drop 10 charges, weight it and then fine tune.

Micrometer Powder Bar Kit™

I made my own and it works great. I can see the level of powder every time.
The Original Powder Mirror

Lights for the Dillon 550. Works great for me. There are other solutions out there.

Skylight LED lighting Kit for the Dillon 550 b | Inline Fabrication

A link for Dillon Press Enhancements from UniqueTek. I also have the Turbo-Bearing kit which I like. It is a bit smoother.

UniqueTek.com - Products for Shooting, Reloading and Competitive Marksmen

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Steve
The Lounge Rant Master

Whoa! I didn't think it could be done! But I never tried TRIPLE charges in mine.

Good point here. Powder management. I never have more than one powder out of the cabinet at a time.

In my case, I use powders that fill the case more than 50%. I try to use my Little Dandy powder measure, if I have an appropriate rotor, or my Uniflow. Always check the drop with a balance beam scale (not every drop). Always check the scale with a check weight. I've never dropped a grain of anything like Bullseye (so far). Always post-check every block of charged cases with a flashlight.

Pay Attention is the key regardless of your setup.

I had one in my M&P 40, hand hurt , no damage to the gun. ever since then I visually check every round before put in the lead, and I caught one or two since

As much as I hate communism, I'll take a saying from the Soviet Union, that they gave their military an unlimited budget and they exceeded it. Give people an "unbreakable" anything, and they will surprise you in ways you can't imagine. IF anything, when I see blown guns in many places on the internet, it seems you see a whole bunch of RSBH. Since people think its indestructable, they treat it that way, with destructable results. Many extreme hot load developers pick those guns because of their strength, and test them to the point the guns simply fail.

When Lenard Brownell, commenting on his work at Ruger, said of the No. 1: "There was never any question about the strength of the action. I remember, in testing it, how much trouble I had trying to tear it up. In fact, I never did manage to blow one apart, he was telling people in confidence that it was a quality action. It was not an issuance of a challenge!

My strategy for safe powder handling with my old Chucker is to take my primed case out of the factory box I put them in, which means they are upside down, then only flip them up into the funnel when the charge is read to be poured. Once the charge has been hand delivered, THEN it goes into the block for bullet seating, never the powder dumped once the case is in the block itself. This process virtually eliminates double charge by procedure. By keeping cases in separate places during the procedure, there is no confusion. Rifle loads are 100% hand weighed every time, and short range pistol loads are loaded with a dipper at conservative loads.

Overloads are the big reason I still take my time, probably too much time, reloading some of my rounds. I've always thought that one blown gun, much less worse consequences, will cost more than the money I'll ever save reloading.

There are soooooo many stories of guys using the wrong powder & KBing a gun. Triple check what you are putting into the powder measure or scale pan. I almost messed up the other night, grabbing a bottle of WSF instead of WST. They look identical but the writing on the label. Since I was using WST data, it wouldn't have been a real issue but had it been opposite, certainly a problem.
Also know what your powder should look like. WSF is about the same size/shape as WSF but black instead of light grey. An automatic headsup. Some tool blew up his & his buddies AR when loading Power Pistol instead of H322. They look nothing alike, not even close.
Triple check your powder delivery system. Beside the only one powder at a time on the bench, all my measures, three on the bench, have labels on the lids telling me what is inside. Pull the lid, look at it, says WST, look at the bottle of powder, says WST, hard to mess that up. Check your scale periodically with scale check wts, not the tare weight that comes with the scale. Check your measure every time you start to reload, even if you checked it before.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I love to reload for the ancient .303 Brit. It's even more fun to try to get reloads to work through oblong chambers, bored out oversize beyond anything passing for maximum tolerance. Lovable old clunks. I was banging away with a P-14 Enfield at the range with loads that I knew to be safe, with moderate loads 150 gr. bullets rather than the 180 to 220 gr. pumpkin balls typical for this cartridge. At each pull the air would fill with blue, oil smelling smoke around the ejection port, so I stopped to examine fired cases and let the smoke clear. Each primer was neatly perforated, as if cut with a hollow punch. All was revealed when the firing pin/striker was unscrewed from the bolt. The firing pin "nose" was completely square as if that machine step was omitted. War time sloppiness on an otherwise finely made piece by Remington. I was thankful for that bank vault action that just kept on running. A bit of judicious stoning to round the striker nose, and all was well.

I started loading the .44 Magnum in 1979, and have never had an accidental over-load. I have had some hot ones I couldn't eject from the cylinder without a little effort, though, back in the early days.

The closest I came to an over-load was with a T/C Hawken and a handful of BB's!

Reloading isn't any more dangerous than a lot of other activities.

When a statement like this is made, I won't try too hard to change the person's mind. Why? 1. It's already made up. 2. More components for the rest of us!

Developped a load for my .44s.265gr leadgc(custom mould)on top of a good charge of H110.Both guns(a Ruger SBH and a DW)shoot them ok with very good accuracy.Easy extraction and primers look good.Load developped from 10% below recommended max and during wintertime(here in southern Qc,winter means anything between 30*F and -40*F from Nov til end of March).
Comes summertime(around between 70*F to 90*F)some brass showed flattened primers(verrrrry flat!) and they were all from the same batch as the ones fired the previous winter.(WW,Midway and RP in that order).
Nevada,we've experienced the same thing,no difference between long or short guns.The laws of physics do apply the same in your neighborhood as in mine.....to bad the laws from our politicians here in QC don't resemble yours!

Qc