Hum. Guess I messed up.
- Thread starter brucev
- Start date
OP
Well boys... there's good news, and there's bad news.
First the good news. The powder is fine. There were 100 rds. loaded. I pulled down the rounds in the first box, all of which had no powder. I pulled down the rounds in the second box, just to make sure I hadn't double-charged them. They were all fine. I reloaded all the cases with the same 3.7 gr. load. Went to the range and shot a fifty round qualification twice. Scored 246 and 248. The 248 would have been 250 if I hadn't got in a hurry and dropped one round into the eight ring. Looks like my 686 is going to be burning a lot of that 452AA.
Now for the bad news. While throwing powder charges, the measure acted odd. I looked and found a shotgun pellet, about 7 1/2 size, in the powder. I got a fine mesh sifter from the kitchen and screened the powder. In about 2.4 pounds of powder I found almost a tablespoon of lead shotgun pellets. Don't know how those things got in the powder. My brother was an extremely careful person. I'm pretty sure he didn't put those pellets in there. At any rate, I screened the powder using a very fine mesh and removed the pellets.
Then, disaster struck. As I was moving the canister to the table, I messed up and dropped it. Almost an entire large Solo cup of powder spilled on the floor. What to do? What to do? Well... I swept it up and screened it as before. Surprisingly there was just about no foreign matter in the powder. After five screenings, there was not anything beyond a few pieces of dead grass and some cat hair. I set this powder aside and later used it to load the rounds that I took to the range.
Now, in all my 30 years of reloading I've never dropped a open canister of powder. If it were not so hard to find pistol powder, I might have thrown the spilled powder away. However in my area I have in the last year found a single pound of Red Dot and a single pound of Winchester 231. I use the Red Dot along with some old Green Dot and Herco for lead bullet loads in my 1903 and 1903-A3 rifles. I plan to use the 231 in my revolvers. I am however going to have to stretch this 452 along with what I have left of Unique. Hopefully the availability and price of powder for reloading will not continue to be so very limited and high.
First the good news. The powder is fine. There were 100 rds. loaded. I pulled down the rounds in the first box, all of which had no powder. I pulled down the rounds in the second box, just to make sure I hadn't double-charged them. They were all fine. I reloaded all the cases with the same 3.7 gr. load. Went to the range and shot a fifty round qualification twice. Scored 246 and 248. The 248 would have been 250 if I hadn't got in a hurry and dropped one round into the eight ring. Looks like my 686 is going to be burning a lot of that 452AA.
Now for the bad news. While throwing powder charges, the measure acted odd. I looked and found a shotgun pellet, about 7 1/2 size, in the powder. I got a fine mesh sifter from the kitchen and screened the powder. In about 2.4 pounds of powder I found almost a tablespoon of lead shotgun pellets. Don't know how those things got in the powder. My brother was an extremely careful person. I'm pretty sure he didn't put those pellets in there. At any rate, I screened the powder using a very fine mesh and removed the pellets.
Then, disaster struck. As I was moving the canister to the table, I messed up and dropped it. Almost an entire large Solo cup of powder spilled on the floor. What to do? What to do? Well... I swept it up and screened it as before. Surprisingly there was just about no foreign matter in the powder. After five screenings, there was not anything beyond a few pieces of dead grass and some cat hair. I set this powder aside and later used it to load the rounds that I took to the range.
Now, in all my 30 years of reloading I've never dropped a open canister of powder. If it were not so hard to find pistol powder, I might have thrown the spilled powder away. However in my area I have in the last year found a single pound of Red Dot and a single pound of Winchester 231. I use the Red Dot along with some old Green Dot and Herco for lead bullet loads in my 1903 and 1903-A3 rifles. I plan to use the 231 in my revolvers. I am however going to have to stretch this 452 along with what I have left of Unique. Hopefully the availability and price of powder for reloading will not continue to be so very limited and high.
Supplies seem to be trickling back.My lgs had quite a few bricks of Federal Match sp primers last week and the gun show I attended last weekend had several vendors with good supplies of powder for around $30/lb.
Green Frog
Member
Whatever safety procedure one uses will only work as well as it is followed. I find it easy to get distracted while working and put a bullet into a case with no powder... so I like to fill a 50 round block with cases and perform each task to all alike before moving on to the next step (with a single stage or turret press.) After filling all my cases with the proper amount of powder, it is easy to look at the whole tray (with strong light shining in) and find any cases that have a different amount (more or less) than their neighbors.
In reality, the main place I've gotten in trouble in recent years was with a Dillon 550 that bridged powder.
This works for me... be sure and reread the first sentence of this post before you pick a strategy for yourself.
Froggie
I do better loading a block of cases with powder,then looking at them with a strong light.I was loading some 38s one at a time on my new set up this morning and caught myself trying to seat a bullet on an empty case :-O
Bkreutz
US Veteran
This is the reason I got the optional powder check system when I bought my 650. If there's too much or not enough powder in the case, it starts squealing. It's main intention was to warn of double or no charge situations but I've found that if I adjust the system really tight I can get a squeal out of a load that deviates more than 0.1 grain. Really handy system, works much like the earlier post about the marked dowel rod except that it's electronic (and I make sure to check they system before each session to make sure the battery isn't dead or something else has happened).
Put the lime in the coconut & mix them both together
Glad they're shooting good for you now. That's a bummer about spilling the powder, but I think we've all had a fumble, in one shape or fashion, that we kick ourselves for. I doubt "a little dirt" will hurt it.
Did your brother use the 452AA to reload shotgun shells? I'm pretty sure that was the same one I used to use long ago for shotgun shells. Maybe one of his kids was helping him by directly adding the birdshot to the powder, to speed up the process?
Glad they're shooting good for you now. That's a bummer about spilling the powder, but I think we've all had a fumble, in one shape or fashion, that we kick ourselves for. I doubt "a little dirt" will hurt it.
Did your brother use the 452AA to reload shotgun shells? I'm pretty sure that was the same one I used to use long ago for shotgun shells. Maybe one of his kids was helping him by directly adding the birdshot to the powder, to speed up the process?
Steve in Vermont
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Two observations. To paraphrase Murphy's Law, anything that can be spilled will, at some time, be spilled. As to observing the level of powder in a casing, with some (Trail Boss) it's easy. Others, such as BE, is more of a challenge. This was one reason I stopped using BE. We should all ask ourselves: Whatever method I use am I satisfied that every load is safe? And I mean every one, not 9999 out of 10000.
Sorry to hear of the spill............
I think most of us have flipped some primers, powder or bullets onto the floor in out travels.
It cleans up but I noticed the bending over gets a little harder each year, now............. and yes, I dumped some lead shot into a pound of power, too!!
Only did it one time!! Made sure to never do that again. Only one jug open at a time from that day on.
It also helps if the brain is engaged, before putting the feet or hands into motion, since getting older and the eye sight is slowly going.
Way to go with the qualifying..........you young whipper snapper.
I think most of us have flipped some primers, powder or bullets onto the floor in out travels.
It cleans up but I noticed the bending over gets a little harder each year, now............. and yes, I dumped some lead shot into a pound of power, too!!
Only did it one time!! Made sure to never do that again. Only one jug open at a time from that day on.
It also helps if the brain is engaged, before putting the feet or hands into motion, since getting older and the eye sight is slowly going.
Way to go with the qualifying..........you young whipper snapper.
RacinbobSW
Member
Here's my 2 cents worth. It seems that the problem could be with the reloads for whatever reason. Bad powder, mistake, etc. A while back I loaded up 100 .38 spl. on my Dillon Sq Deal. After I was finished I couldn't help but have a feeling something was wrong with the rounds. I rethought everything over and over and couldn't pinpoint what was bugging me. I pulled all 100 just for my peace of mind. My point is, if there's any question what so ever about your reloads, don't shoot them. To this day I still have no clue what was bugging me about those rounds but I was glad I didn't shoot them. It's just not worth the potential risk.
k53
Member
I don't want to speak for the OP, but a lot of posts telling of issues with loading procedures, normally at least 4, or 5 people will ask whether they are loading single stage, or progressive. Im guessing he was heading that question off at the pass.
Glad you tracked down your issue. Im still WAY too new to have dumped my first jug of powder, but reading of others doing it has made me work from smaller containers. Powder jug, into small cup, into measure or scale... that way if [when] I do... its a small amount.
I dropped a small quantity of powder
I use a butter bowl to hold powder I'm working with. Just recently I dumped about half of one that held Unique. I was picking through it a grain at a time to make sure it didn't get trash in it. In a different time I would have just let it go. Things are looking a little better around here. I've been able to buy powder, just not what I want.
I use a butter bowl to hold powder I'm working with. Just recently I dumped about half of one that held Unique. I was picking through it a grain at a time to make sure it didn't get trash in it. In a different time I would have just let it go. Things are looking a little better around here. I've been able to buy powder, just not what I want.
Whenever I'm weighing charges I work from a small quantity of powder
out of an old plastic coffee cup. When using a measure I use a 1 lb
powder jug half filled from a 4 or 8 lb keg unless the 1 lb is all I have.
Sooner or later every handloader will probably spill some powder but it
helps to keep it to a minimum.
out of an old plastic coffee cup. When using a measure I use a 1 lb
powder jug half filled from a 4 or 8 lb keg unless the 1 lb is all I have.
Sooner or later every handloader will probably spill some powder but it
helps to keep it to a minimum.
Hmmm, I use a very similar procedure but my powder drop is mounted to my press. I decap/resize, seat a primer, bell the mouth and drop powder, look inside the case, start and seat the bullet and finally crimp as a final operation.
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This is exactly what I used to do when I loaded on my SS press. I am just starting out loading rifle rounds now (on my SS press) and will resume that technique again.
