Your biggest overload? What happened?

Collects said:
These stories are the reason why I do not reload.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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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.
 
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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.
 
Magload said:
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.
Click to expand...

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...."
 
Nevada Ed said:
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.....?
Click to expand...

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.
 
Nevada Ed said:
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.....?
Click to expand...

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
 
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AlHunt said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Gamecock said:
Get a Ruger Super Blackhawk. You CAN'T blow it up.
Click to expand...

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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Snoopz said:
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
Click to expand...
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Gamecock said:
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.
Click to expand...

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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fredj338 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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fredj338 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Gamecock said:
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.
Click to expand...
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
 
Gamecock said:
Get a Ruger Super Blackhawk. You CAN'T blow it up.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Gamecock said:
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.
Click to expand...

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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Smoking a .303 Brit

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.
 
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