Hum. Guess I messed up.

[brucev]

Loaded up a nice batch of .38 Specials... 158 gr. LSWC over 3.8 gr. of 452AA. Standard Winchester SP primers. Remington brass. Fired off one box. Very excellent on target results. Friday, fired off another box. First round... Squib. Never happened before. Took me forever to figure out that it was a squib as the bullet was ever so slightly kissing the forcing cone preventing the cylinder from opening. Sunday morning I woke up at 5:50 a.m. to get ready for church. While fixing my coffee it dawned on me to check. Taped the bullet back into the case and cylinder opened fine. Tried the same box today. Next round... squib. What gives. I got the powder in 2004 when my brother died. How long before that he had gotten it or the conditions of storage... I don't know. Odd thing today... there was soot on the outside of the case. The primer fired. Apparently the powder failed. I've never had this happen.

Tomorrow I guess I'll make fertilizer out of the rest of this stuff. What a shame. More than two pounds of what looked to be good powder... gone. Really wonder what in the world could have happened to it. First time I've ever had personal experience with powder that failed. Happily, I still have some Unique... and a pound of Red Dot and Winchester 231, so I will be able to keep loading and shooting. But still, I really regret having to dispose of this powder. Thank the Lord I wasn't using jacketed bullets. Jamming one of those things would have been much more difficult to remove.

 

[robertrwalsh]

Happened to me once when I somehow got a piece of heavy paper jammed in the powder measure, it had obviously been in with the powder or somehow landed in there while I was loading. Obviously I did not do a good visual check on the loads before putting the bullets in. (single stage press)

 

[BLUEDOT37]

Loaded up a nice batch of .38 Specials... 158 gr. LSWC over 3.8 gr. of 452AA.... Odd thing today...there was soot on the outside of the case. The primer fired. Apparently the powder failed. I've never had this happen.

Was there any unburnt/partially burnt powder left behind the bullet or in the chamber? Since the other bunch fired okay, I was wondering if these might have been missing the powder & it was a primer only detonation & that maybe the powder is really okay??

 

[arjay]

I made a group of 38s several years ago on a single stage and two rounds had no powder.Never happened before in 25-30 years of reloading.Are you sure there was powder in them?

 

[alwslate]

Really sounds like some other problem besides bad powder. I have
loaded thousands of 38 spl loads with 452AA without a single squib.
Actually I have been handloading since the mid 60s without a single
squib. I do all my loading on single stage. If the powder looks and
smells o k it is extremely unlikely that the powder is the problem.
before you dump the powder pull the bullets from the rest of the
suspect box and check for little or no powder. If you load on any
progressive loader I'm betting there's your problem. If you cast your
own bullets you could possibly have lube contaminated powder.
Pull the bullets and look.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Since you found two squib loads DO NOT FIRE ANY MORE OF THOSE ROUNDS! Sometimes (many times) when you have a case or two with no powder you will have a case or two with a double charge. If the powder bridged and did not drop it could have dropped both charges into the next case. I suggest you pull a bunch and try and find the real problem instead of condemning the powder without proof.

 

[photobiker]

I'm with Angel. I haven't used 452AA but more than once I have had cylindrical powders bridge the opening and drop a half charge and then drop a charge and a half on the next.
If the first ones fired there is no reason these shouldn't, so I don't see it being the powder.
Let us know what you find.

 

[TSQUARED]

I sincerely doubt the powder is the root cause of your squibs. Those WW ball powders have a very long shelf life. I would suspect the powder drop mechanism is at fault.

 

[varmint243]

I think it's time to get a collet bullet puller for your press and pull the loads.
It sux, but it sux a lot less than having issues that may damage your firearm.

If you get a friend to help you, pulling bullets with a collet puller goes pretty quick.

 

[brucev]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I am paying very close attention to what is written. I was loading on a single-stage press using a Uniflow measure that I've been using since 1980. I was checking the weight of the powder charges on a RCBS electronic scale. And at the same time I would verify that charge with a RCBS 505 that was included in the Reloader Special RCBS kit that I bought in 1980. I'm thinking that somehow I must have missed loading some of the cases. The other loads all fired very well. Recoil was completely normal, exactly what one would expect with a standard service level .38 Special load. Accuracy was very good, fifty shots inside the 10 ring at 15 yards fired one handed slow fire with only 6 shots leaked into the 9 ring. I am hopeful that I will be able to use this powder for shooting .38 Special and .45 ACP as well since several folks have said that it would work well in the .45 ACP w/ 200 gr. LSWC's. I have a SA GI 1911-A1, a RIA 1911-A1 and a S&W 625-2 that I would love to shoot with something other than factory 230 gr. RN ball.

 

[brucev]

Re: bullet puller. I tried pulling the bullets using the shell holder on the ram and a pair of pliars but the bullets would not extract from the casing. However, today I will be out making visits at the nursing home and hospital. While out I will be able to go by the range and buy a impact type bullet puller. That will allow me to breeak down the ammo and check for the presence of a powder charge and weigh the charges found.

 

[varmint243]

Re: bullet puller. I tried pulling the bullets using the shell holder on the ram and a pair of pliars but the bullets would not extract from the casing. However, today I will be out making visits at the nursing home and hospital. While out I will be able to go by the range and buy a impact type bullet puller. That will allow me to breeak down the ammo and check for the presence of a powder charge and weigh the charges found.

The collet type puller that goes into your press is better for a lot of bullets.
It also allows the powder to stay in the case when you pull.

 

[Steve in Vermont]

Bruce, I also use a single stage press along with a PM. After charging the cases I visually check them but, as I'm getting older, I don't trust these old eyes. I take a wooden dowel with its diameter slightly less than the casing (.38) and put in the proper charge. I then mark the dowel with a line around the top of the casing. I did this for each load (3.0/3.6/4.8 etc) and marked the dowel accordingly. It takes little time to drop it into each load but eliminates the chance of a squib or double change.

 

[BC38]

Bruce, I also use a single stage press along with a PM. After charging the cases I visually check them but, as I'm getting older, I don't trust these old eyes. I take a wooden dowel with its diameter slightly less than the casing (.38) and put in the proper charge. I then mark the dowel with a line around the top of the casing. I did this for each load (3.0/3.6/4.8 etc) and marked the dowel accordingly. It takes little time to drop it into each load but eliminates the chance of a squib or double change.

What a GREAT idea! I've been reading every post about reloading around here gathering knowledge, tips, and tricks.

I think this one is the best so far.

 

[TAROMAN]

While a collet bullet puller is great for long rifle bullets, my experience has been that they are not very useful for stubby revolver bullets.
Back to the hammer puller.

 

[rwsmith]

I'm with the crowd.....

I'm with the crowd that says if a powder looks good and smells like powder, no red dust or acrid smell, the stuff is probably good. I can't say that 100% sure but I can say about 99% sure. Light a little bit with a match and see if it has any problem burning. Not scientific but if it won't light at all there is something wrong with it.

 

[kwselke]

The collet pullers will not work on lead bullets. Mine will pull 158 gr. JHP .357 bullets in nothing flat. Even the RCBS instructions state they do not work on lead bullets. Since it is stated in the OP that the loads in question are 158 gr. LSWC brucev is going to need a whack-o-mole puller.

 

[Nframecollector]

Happened to me once when I somehow got a piece of heavy paper jammed in the powder measure, it had obviously been in with the powder or somehow landed in there while I was loading. Obviously I did not do a good visual check on the loads before putting the bullets in. (single stage press)

What does a single stage press have to do with careless reloading practices?

 

[growr]

Seems like single stage press owners lull themselves into thinking that their technique is infallible because they do each step at a time, especially the charging step.......

Just MY opinion...

Randy

 

[Nframecollector]

I look inside every charged case twice.