One mistake I hope to never do again.

[AzShooter]

While loading up some practice ammo I had a small jam on my press. I thought I took the bad bullet off the press but then I got a little distracted and finished reloading it and the other bullets on the shell plate.

Ooops. Got scared that one bullet may have been a double charge. I'm sure I took that one off the press before I continued but then I wasn't so sure.

I had just loaded up 300 rounds into the bin.

I didn't want to throw away all those rounds. Weighing them was no help. I've often seen a variance of 2 - 3 grains in bullet weight as well as the weight of the cases. So unfortunately it was time to pull 300 bullets.

I have a kinetic bullet puller but what a pain it is to do even a small bunch.

I invested in an RCBS Collet Puller. What a great product. I took two sessions over two days to pull them all and didn't find the overcharged round. I knew I took it off the press when it happened, but better safe than sorry.

I mounted the pullet on an old single stage Lee press that I've had for 40 years. Glad I didn't throw it away.

Now I have 300 cases and bullets to put back together.

 

[gwpercle]

You did the hard , but correct thing. Much better safe than sorry , a double charge could ruin your day. You deserve a big ATTABOY !

What you had to do , unloading all those rounds, is what has kept me on a single stage press , too easy for me to mess up.
Load safe ,
Gary

 

[Hang-Fire Hank]

JOIN THE CLUB

That well worn old phrase, "Better to be safe than sorry", comes to the fore again. You did the right thing.

What caliber?

I presume these were jacketed bullets?

Remember to run those expanded case mouths back thru your sizer die again.

Hank M.

 

[Wise_A]

When in doubt, throw it out.

If I have some kind of a problem, the whole cartridge gets removed, poured back into the hopper (no matter what stage it's in), and returned to the resizing die.

 

[SMSgt]

What you should have learned is to not use a powder that will allow a double charge. Make things like that null and void.

 

[Peak53]

What you should have learned is to not use a powder that will allow a double charge. Make things like that null and void.

Unfortunately, that eliminates a lot of very popular and effective powders in revolver cases - Bullseye, Unique, and Win231/HP-38 come to mind. Pulling the bullets was the unfortunate and best option.

 

[johngalt]

I've learned to clear the shell plate whenever I have a stoppage. It's not worth worrying about did I get them all.

 

[Amp]

You did the right thing.
And learned to prevent it later.

 

[Jack71]

I would have done the same thing. It would have been no fun at all shooting that batch of 300 rounds, worrying about a kaboom each time I pulled the trigger...

Thanks for reminding us to be careful.

 

[hdwhit]

SMSgt wrote:
What you should have learned is to not use a powder that will allow a double charge. Make things like that null and void.

The OP doesn't mention which caliber he was loading.

In cartridges that were originally black powder loads, it is common that that there is NO smokeless propellant that would more than fill the case on a double charge.

What do you suggest the OP do for the caliber he didn't specify?

 

[AzShooter]

The OP doesn't mention which caliber he was loading.

In cartridges that were originally black powder loads, it is common that that there is NO smokeless propellant that would more than fill the case on a double charge.

What do you suggest the OP do for the caliber he didn't specify?

They were 9mm in brand new Winchester brass.

 

[Qc Pistolero]

Not exactly the same scenario but about 30 years ago,I had aprox 2000rds heavily loaded I decided the gun could take.It cost me a brand new Sig P226.Conclusion:
A)a bullet puller and hobbytime is less expensive than Sig P226
B)nobody got hurt but could have
C)even though as we found out later the overloads were not my mistake(bought Unique powder but it was repackaged and after running some tests in a lab,burning rate was closer to Bullseye than Unique)I'm the one who made the decision that the gun could take it...which leads us to
D)I might not be bright but I know that now,since I wouldn't redo the same mistake,I'm a little less stupid than before that episode!

So Sir,you made the right decision!
Qc

 

[old tanker]

They say confession is good for the soul. Was zeroing from the bench, .30-06 with 180 grain Sierra BTSP when bolt seemed sticky and primer looked scary. Back to the bench and horrified to see a can of DuPont IMR 4064 where a can of IMR 4350 was supposed to be. Good thing the Model 70 is a stout rifle!

It's been a very long while since DuPont made any powders, but learning to keep only the powder in use anywhere close to the bench and making doubly sure it is the powder it is supposed to be was almost a very scary lesson that has stayed with me.

 

[SMSgt]

My preferred pistol powder is HP-38. A bullet would not seat in a double charge in any of my calibers. Doubtful in a 150% charge.