My first re-load ogive stuck in barrel

[Mrnurse]

This is why I dont reload or shoot reloads in anything I own, seen way too may Quality reloads from expert ammo manufactures.

 

[jcelect]

Loading trays

When you go to the range, be a scrounger! Look in the trash cans for the plastic trays that many company's use to hold the rounds in their boxes. These make wonderful loading trays. You can do batches of 50, or less, in stages. After the powder drop it is easy to compare the level in each case under good light. Set that tray full next to the press and on to the next step or load another tray! These trays fit US Army ammo cans very nicely for storage and/or transport. Use a piece of cardboard, cut to size, between each layer of trays.
jcelect

 

[ameridaddy]

From what was described, either far too little powder or no powder at all in that cartridge.

....

I'm quite a bit older now and maybe a tiny bit wiser. I no longer subscribe to using tiny charges of the fastest powder for a given caliber just so I can save a dollar. Fast burning powders have their place, but I prefer medium burning rate powders like AA#5 and Unique. Even when loading to mid-range velocity, they fill about 1/2 of the case volume, so it's easy to see powder in the case and a double charge is very easy to see.

We traveled the same road. I LOVE AA#5 for .38 and .45 target loads - for the safety as you mentioned, and it meters so very, very well.

 

[otisrush]

Thank you all for the replies. I've been thinking about the possibility of no powder or low charge, and can't really think how that would happen.

I reload on a single stage RCBS press. I drop the first charge from my RCBS Charge Master digital scale. Once the pan has the proper charge, I drop it by hand through a powder funnel into the 1st case. I move the funnel to the next empty case, and while the next powder charge is dropping in the scale pan, I take the loaded case and run it through the seating die. I make them one bullet at a time. I never load a second case until the previous one has a bullet seated in it.

You're hitting on one (of many) aspects of reloading I'm really intrigued by: The really nitty-gritty details of how we do things......the process steps.

If I'm following your summary above correctly, one scenario I could imagine is you inadvertently moved the funnel from an empty case to an empty case, thinking powder had been dropped when it hadn't. (There have been many times my mind has instantaneously gone off and thought about something unrelated to loading - and when my consciousness is back on the bench - I realize I've been doing things and "not really thinking about it". It's easy to say "Well - I don't do that.", but I think it's inevitable. Do I have that dentist appointment tomorrow? Am I out of cookies? I wonder if I should cut the grass tomorrow or tonight?)

We all need to make our processes that work for us, but I've found I do better if I design my processes so that the steps are very small; not doing too many different things at once. In this context it actually might be safer, for example, to charge numerous cases, check powder levels visually, and THEN seat bullets.....as others have said.

Many people put uncharged cases in the loading block with primers up, and only turn them over when they put powder in. That certainly works for a whole bunch of people. I don't like this method. I put primed cases in a small container on the bench (just all dumped in there). I pick up a case, charge it, then put the charged case in the block. All of my processes move the "to be processed" cases from the left to the right. So no matter what step I'm on (decapping, sizing, mouth expansion, priming, charging, seating) the items to be processed always are on the left. And the completed items for that step are placed on the right.

A few weeks ago I was loading some test loads - just a few rounds. I violated one of my above process methods, and I accidentally seated a bullet on an empty primed case. Fortunately with how many rounds I planned on loading (I realized I had one more seated round than planned) I discovered my mistake before leaving the bench. Scared the &*%# out of me.

OR

 

[mikerjf]

I don't have a powder measure... so I'm always either dipping or weighing with one case at a time. When the powder's in, the bullet goes on and it goes in the loading block.

I only dip for low/med power range ammo. Anything anywhere near a limit gets individually weighed.

Mostly used Bullseye to date so I started out being aware of the double-charge danger and arranged my process to suit.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

I believe you should re-think your loading process ... since you have charged cases AND empty cases on your bench at the same time while you are seating bullets there is opportunity for error. Consider getting a powder measure, there is no real need to weigh each charge once you get the measure set. This allows you to quickly charge the entire batch and then have a step in your process where you grab a flashlight and use it to quickly scan the charged cases in your loading block to be sure each case has an equal charge before starting the bullet seating step.

I am rethinking the way I re-load and I see this as an opportunity to buy a new toy. So now I find myself wondering what's the best, most consistent powder measure out there. I may start a new thread on that one question.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

Good idea

When you go to the range, be a scrounger! Look in the trash cans for the plastic trays that many company's use to hold the rounds in their boxes. These make wonderful loading trays. You can do batches of 50, or less, in stages. After the powder drop it is easy to compare the level in each case under good light. Set that tray full next to the press and on to the next step or load another tray! These trays fit US Army ammo cans very nicely for storage and/or transport. Use a piece of cardboard, cut to size, between each layer of trays.
jcelect

I've saved all my empty ammo boxes over the years and use them for my re-loads now. Never thought about using them as loading blocks.

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

You're hitting on one (of many) aspects of reloading I'm really intrigued by: The really nitty-gritty details of how we do things......the process steps.

If I'm following your summary above correctly, one scenario I could imagine is you inadvertently moved the funnel from an empty case to an empty case, thinking powder had been dropped when it hadn't. (There have been many times my mind has instantaneously gone off and thought about something unrelated to loading - and when my consciousness is back on the bench - I realize I've been doing things and "not really thinking about it". It's easy to say "Well - I don't do that.", but I think it's inevitable. Do I have that dentist appointment tomorrow? Am I out of cookies? I wonder if I should cut the grass tomorrow or tonight?)

We all need to make our processes that work for us, but I've found I do better if I design my processes so that the steps are very small; not doing too many different things at once. In this context it actually might be safer, for example, to charge numerous cases, check powder levels visually, and THEN seat bullets.....as others have said.

Many people put uncharged cases in the loading block with primers up, and only turn them over when they put powder in. That certainly works for a whole bunch of people. I don't like this method. I put primed cases in a small container on the bench (just all dumped in there). I pick up a case, charge it, then put the charged case in the block. All of my processes move the "to be processed" cases from the left to the right. So no matter what step I'm on (decapping, sizing, mouth expansion, priming, charging, seating) the items to be processed always are on the left. And the completed items for that step are placed on the right.

A few weeks ago I was loading some test loads - just a few rounds. I violated one of my above process methods, and I accidentally seated a bullet on an empty primed case. Fortunately with how many rounds I planned on loading (I realized I had one more seated round than planned) I discovered my mistake before leaving the bench. Scared the &*%# out of me.

OR

I think you are right about doing too many things at once. I found myself waiting what seemed like an eternity for the RCBS charge master to trickle out the correct load, so I changed my process to add seating the bullet while waiting.

I think I'll get a powder measure to eliminate that wait time.

 

[rwsmith]

Empty on the left.....

I do things in steps & stages. For handgun powder drop I use my ‘Little Dandy’ with the adjustable rotor. The empty cases are to the right, drop powder, then set them on the left side. Once I have 15-20 or so, I casually look to see general powder level, then set them by the press.

I never have cases near each other where some have powder, some don’t.

...full ones on the right.

 

[rwsmith]

I'm STILL on a tight budget.....

From what was described, either far too little powder or no powder at all in that cartridge.

From the standpoint of economics, the advice given is to use small charges of fast burning powder. That's great from the view of a bean counter, right up until a case gets no powder or worse, a double charge of powder. I used to be one of those who subscribed to the economics of reloading. It was the 80's, I had a part-time job and I was in college. Money was tight and I enjoyed shooting... a lot!

I'm quite a bit older now and maybe a tiny bit wiser. I no longer subscribe to using tiny charges of the fastest powder for a given caliber just so I can save a dollar. Fast burning powders have their place, but I prefer medium burning rate powders like AA#5 and Unique. Even when loading to mid-range velocity, they fill about 1/2 of the case volume, so it's easy to see powder in the case and a double charge is very easy to see.

Necessity is a big factor. But I realize the danger and am extra careful.

One thing the big shortage did a few years ago was got me into buying different powders that became available. So now I don't have to use fast powders and I get the benefits of a nice half full case.

 

[rwsmith]

When ammo gets scarce....

This is why I dont reload or shoot reloads in anything I own, seen way too may Quality reloads from expert ammo manufactures.

...and the prices go through the roof, I take comfort in knowing I can make about anything I need. I couldn't afford to shoot as much as I want to if I bought all my ammo even in the best of times.

You right, there are some quality factory reloads out there, but I got turned off on them years ago when one shot would sputter and the next would kick like a mule. I'm sure things are better now, but I've never messed wiith factory reloads again.

 

[max503]

Thank you all for the replies. I've been thinking about the possibility of no powder or low charge, and can't really think how that would happen.

I reload on a single stage RCBS press. I drop the first charge from my RCBS Charge Master digital scale. Once the pan has the proper charge, I drop it by hand through a powder funnel into the 1st case. I move the funnel to the next empty case, and while the next powder charge is dropping in the scale pan, I take the loaded case and run it through the seating die. I make them one bullet at a time. I never load a second case until the previous one has a bullet seated in it.

After crimping I take every case and drop it into an L.E. Wilson case gauge to make sure it drops in. Only then does it go into the ammo box. Even though is a bit tedious, I load this way so I don't get a double charge or no charge. I'm a bit mystified, but I do appreciate everyone's thoughts.

Like one of you said, I'm fortunate it lodged so close to the feeding ramp. I've been thinking about that all day.

If powder "bridges", then what's left of the bridge goes into the next case with another load. This could cause an overload. I'd be certain this didn't happen to you.

I'm not familiar with your RCBS Charge Master digital scale, so excuse me if I'm missing something.

Does a primer have enough power to cycle the pistol eject a case???

 

[rwsmith]

No....

If powder "bridges", then what's left of the bridge goes into the next case with another load. This could cause an overload. I'd be certain this didn't happen to you.

I'm not familiar with your RCBS Charge Master digital scale, so excuse me if I'm missing something.

Does a primer have enough power to cycle the pistol eject a case???

A light powder charge may but primers only have power to stick the bullet an inch or two into the barrel. I've heard of loose bores and soft bullets almost making it to the end of the barrel.

 

[boatbum101]

Most benchrest shooters use Harrell powder measures . Wonderful piece of equipment but pricey . I use a Redding 10X for handgun & small rifle cases . Some powders meter better than others . Large flake powders like Unique & 700 / 800X are a pain somewhat but unless throwing a max charge are close enough . Generally Accurate , Winchester , Ramshot , Vihtavouri , some Hodgon ( ball type ) will meter more precisely than Alliant or IMR flake type . Also you don't need BHN 18 for 45acp , 12 will work just fine . My loads that I shoot for Bullseye run around 730fps & I use Zero swaged lead which is pretty soft like 8 BHN . I too like WST for target mid range loads .

 

[SMSgt]

This is why I dont reload or shoot reloads in anything I own, seen way too may Quality reloads from expert ammo manufactures.

I cannot count on both hands and bare feet the number of high-quality "expert" commercial ammunition recalls and alerts I've seen. Wrong powders, or/under charges, ammo manufacturers have done it all also.

For the OP, I started reloading in the early '70s, and except for a pair of dud primers from the same package, I never had a bad load--until last year.

I still don't know how it happened, I am pretty meticulous in eye-balling every charged case, rifle or handgun load--but I went to the range with some rifle loads (6mm wildcat based on a .223 case) and midway through a session pulled the trigger and got a resounding click. Like hammer fall click. Ejected the round and it has a solid primer strike. Tried the next round in the mag and click again, same solid primer strike. Had five consecutive duds in a row. The next rounds fired fine.

At home I broke down those five duds and found fired primers and no powder! I didn't ear so much as a pop from those primers going off.

I still haven't figured out how I missed putting powder in five consecutive rounds, and oddly enough, not one of them squibbed and the bullets didn't even budge in COL.

Stuff can happen, even with the best of procedures.

 

[mikerjf]

I had my first dud a couple weeks ago. Just like yours - solid hit, no nothing. Three tries, nothing.

Intended to break it down, but before I did thought Hey, I'll try it in another gun. Boom, first time!

Had just started using some CCI primers (couldn't get my usual Winchester). I guess they really are harder. Gun that failed was a 60-7 with a bobbed hammer, so likely a light hit. I replaced the hammer spring and loaded a new box with CCI primers to test it out next time I go.

 

[1&done]

I am rethinking the way I re-load and I see this as an opportunity to buy a new toy. So now I find myself wondering what's the best, most consistent powder measure out there. I may start a new thread on that one question.

The answer to this depends on what your loading situation is.

If you are loading normal pistol rounds with ball powder then most commercial solutions work fine because the powder meters easily.

If you are loading stick powders for precision rifle then the answer to this question is completely different.

For loading something like W231 in a 45ACP case, I am a huge fan of the Lee powder solutions. Lee uses a thick plastic disc with holes punched in it to set how much powder will be charged into the case. The different sized holes are marked with their internal volume in CC. The advantage of this setup is that once you know which hole to use for a given powder/load, you can go back to that same setting immediately at a later date just by picking the same number. The disadvantage is that you don't have infinite adjust-ability, if you want a 4.1gr charge you may have to live with 4.0 or 4.2 instead.

If it really bothers you then there are tricks you can do like shaving the hole larger to get you from 4.0 to 4.1 but I'm not good enough of a shot with a pistol for 0.1 grain to matter.

Most people and load books always quote powder charges in weight. There is a school of thought that says that really we should quote powder charges in volume. Since small changes in the amount of humidity in the powder will effect its weight but not its burn rate there are people out there who believe that volume of powder is a better metric. This is taking it to a whole other level of retentiveness!

 

[pistolpete10]

When I load with a single stage press I charge all cases whether 10 or 50 and then I look in all cases to make sure there is powder in them and no double charges, then place the bullets in the cases. Make sure you have good light and LOOK in each case. If you choose to do one at a time, LOOK in the case before putting a bullet in it. It's easy to fail to charge one doing them one at a time, very easy.

 

[SMSgt]

I had my first dud a couple weeks ago. Just like yours - solid hit, no nothing. Three tries, nothing.

Intended to break it down, but before I did thought Hey, I'll try it in another gun. Boom, first time!

Had just started using some CCI primers (couldn't get my usual Winchester). I guess they really are harder. Gun that failed was a 60-7 with a bobbed hammer, so likely a light hit. I replaced the hammer spring and loaded a new box with CCI primers to test it out next time I go.

I've used various makes of primers over the years with CCI being my preferred. IMO, if a gun won't fire a CCI primer, the issue is the gun, not the CCI primer. They don't require being struck with the Hammer of Thor to ignite. No gun I've ever owned has failed to set them off on one strike. And that is a number of handguns and rifles.

The difference in hardness is minimal, if at all, and a gun with a marginal firing pin or striker power would be more suspect than the primers.

 

[Drm50]

I think OP needs to be with somebody who is experienced. Sounds like first attempt and doing it on his own.