Reloading horror stories

[growr]

I found this on the SASS Wire the other day and thought it would be interesting to hear others stories of reloading horror......

We have all heard the stories that leave us quaking in our boots and grateful we were not beside the clown when he fired that killer round (killer to the firer not the target).

This one however just made me laugh:lol:

Old time loader explains to new guy that he needs to be precise and careful with his loads and follow the manual to the letter if he is to be safe. Some days later new guy is asking for tips and what equip the old timer uses.

New Loader-"So what tweezers do you use"?

Old Timer-"Tweezers"?

New Loader-"Yeah and just how accurate do I need to be in cutting the grains"?

Very confused Old Timer-"Cutting the grains"????????

It apears the new guy when measuring out 34gr of AR2207 (H4198) was pouring the powder onto a white piece of paper and picking up 34 grains, one at a time, and putting them in the shell.

Thankfully he didnt fire (or rather try to fire) any of these very precise and labouriously prepared rounds

Never underestimate the capacity for human stupidity:blink:

Randy

 

[Qc Pistolero]

The guy is new to shooting;after he had bought a few dozens boxes of .357 Mag,he figures he has enough brass to start reloading.
He walks in the dealer showroom,inquires about what it takes to start reloading.
The salesperson tells him that with a Square Deal from Dillon,some powder,primers and bullets is all he needs and he only has to crank away.He doesn't sell him a balance and a reloading manual.
The guy(who is my friend now)does as being told and merrily starts reloading.Luckily,the next Sunday morning at the range,he is shooting next to me.Pretty quickly,I inquire about the loudenboomer he's got;he tells me he's loaded with H110.Next question,how many grains?He admits not understanding my question and tells me the whole story.
Lesson 2:how to de-reload many .357 Magnums.
Needless to say my now new friend doesn't go to that dealer anymore!

 

[WR Moore]

Several decades ago I was in a LGS in northwestern PA. One to the guys there saw me come in and told me he had something to show me. It was bolt gun with the top half of the receiver ring missing, the bolt body bent upward at a strange angle and the magazine floorplate blown off.

Seems a local guy was reloading on a shoestring and someone had set him up with a slow burning powder (probably 4350 or 4831) and he'd fill the case to the shoulder, install a bullet and proceed to slay deer. After some years, he realized he was out of powder and only remembered it began with a "4". Bought 4227. (went from slowest/near slowest to fastest burning rifle powder at the time) Survived with no injury, except possibly to his undies.

Possibly the same year, was in a large gun shop in Pittsburgh when a guy entered. He started screaming about lousy Colt quality all the way to the counter. There he produced a Diamondback missing the top half of the cylinder. The top strap was bowed, the barrel pointed downward markedly.

The clerk talked to the guy and said they'd sent it back and inquired as to ammunition. Handloads. What powder? Well, he was loading target loads so used Bullseye. How much? Filled the case up to the base of the bullet.

He furnished the partial box he had left. IIRC, HP White tested a couple at over 100,000 cup/psi whatever the system in the late 1960's.

He apparently escaped without a scratch, I expect Colt denied his claim for a new gun. I do recall the gist of what the clerk said after he left, it couldn't be repeated here.

 

[Qc Pistolero]

Possibly the same year, was in a large gun shop in Pittsburgh when a guy entered. He started screaming about lousy Colt quality all the way to the counter. There he produced a Diamondback missing the top half of the cylinder. The top strap was bowed, the barrel pointed downward markedly.

The clerk talked to the guy and said they'd sent it back and inquired as to ammunition. Handloads. What powder? Well, he was loading target loads so used Bullseye. How much? Filled the case up to the base of the bullet.

He furnished the partial box he had left. IIRC, HP White tested a couple at over 100,000 cup/psi whatever the system in the late 1960's.

He's probably the same guy who started the saying''they don't make 'em like they used to''.

 

[bigolddave]

Fellow trap shooter showed up at the Wisconsin State Shoot a number of years ago with his arm heavily bandaged. Turned out he had set his cigar down in a pile of spilled powder.

Another local had somehow managed to set off a tube filled with primers. Was lucky, docs were able to get all the little brass pieces out of his hands.

 

[Goldstar225]

A friend of mine many years back was reloading 9mm with a Lee Pro 1000 (same press I had) and was using a major brand of primers known to have among the most sensitive cups. During the process he had a primer misfeed and crushed one, igniting the chain and the full primer tray. Fortunately he was wearing glasses but his face looked like he'd gone bird hunting with Dick Cheney.

 

[Hang-Fire Hank]

MANY YEARS AGO

Back in the mid to late 80s, we were shooting a pistol silhouette match. Guy on his back (so-called "creedmoor" position) fired the 1st shot out of his Ruger SBH. Right half of cylinder blew off in a 2 o'clock direction. Hit my friend in the face two positions over, who was in the standing position. Gouged thru his cheek & took out a chunk of the bridge of his nose (who knows where his glasses went). Fell backwards into the arms of his spotter, who fortunately was a retired fire dept. Capt. & knew First Aid thoroughly. Friend survived & had extensive "plastic" surgery, but could never even stand the sound of gunfire again. Don't blame him!

Turns out, the SBH owner set his powder measure to drop 24 grs. of H110, but had Unique in the hopper. First shot also ignited a cartridge in an adjacent chamber.

Pretty ugly!

Hank M.

 

[Culina]

I had a neighbor across the street about 15 years ago who was pretty scary. He was in his early 50's and a doctor (veterinary) he was not new to guns but very new to reloading

first incident was at the range, with him one day, he was shooting some new custom bolt action rifle he just bought second hand. He brought some 300 Win Mag ammo he loaded up for it and the first round he fired locked it up pretty good. I was busy shooting my own rifle so when I noticed something was wrong I went over a few lanes to help. All we could find was a short piece of 2x4 so I used that to hammer the bold open then hammer it back to extract the shell. It looked like a 300 Weatherby Mag but he was supposed to take it to a gunsmith to chamber cast it to be sure

A few months later he comes over with a problem, he loaded up a batch of rifle rounds and the bullets were just dropping into the cases and resting on the powder, he couldn't figure it out. Did you resize them? yes, are you using the right diameter bullets? I think so. I forget what the resolution on that issue was but I never went shooting with him again.

 

[max503]

Long story short - had part of a powder charge bridge in the measure. That extra powder went into the next case, along with a normal load, causing a 1-1/2 charge. I always inspect the charged cases before seating bullets so I caught it. I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't caught it!! These were rifle loads. There would have been an explosion in my face!

 

[LDM]

IIRC, when the .454 Casull first came out, some reloading "gurus" recommended a duplex load of a small charge of a fast powder like Bullseye to help ignite a huge load of slow powder like 2400. Inevitably, you had some that got the proportions wrong and destroyed some expensive pieces of fist artillery as well as suffering some personal injury.

 

[M29since14]

I’m starting on my 52nd year of handloading. When I think of all the things that could have gone wrong at anytime along the way I am a little amazed, and grateful, I’ve had no serious incidents. I am not a Catholic, but I wonder if there is a handloading Saint? If there is, I figure I owe him. (Tapping wood now.)

Our local gang just lost a friend who, when he was much younger, disassembled a Model 29 with what we guess was 22-grains of Bullseye. Stuff happens! (RIP, Dave)

 

[growr]

What do you mean I have to use black powder? The powder I poured out IS black.............

So, I am supposed to weigh the powder? With what???? my bathroom scale only weighs in lbs......

Hey Bubba.....you seen my ram rod? I can't seem to find it after that last shot.....

So, how many bb's do I have to put into my 12 gauge? and what is this wad thingy that I hear people talk about?

Randy

 

[RobertJ.]

IIRC, when the .454 Casull first came out, some reloading "gurus" recommended a duplex load of a small charge of a fast powder like Bullseye to help ignite a huge load of slow powder like 2400. Inevitably, you had some that got the proportions wrong and destroyed some expensive pieces of fist artillery as well as suffering some personal injury.

Actually, way back when, not only duplex loads, but triplex loads were used in the .454 Casull. I remember reading about them in Guns and Ammo back in the early 70's.

 

[Wise_A]

I was in the reloading shop one day chatting with the owner about .44 Magnum loads, and mentioned my (at the time) favorite Magnum-ish range load, which was about half the extreme spread of my powder drops short of book max. "Book max" being about the average of what different books had to say.

Old timer overhears this and interjects how us young reloaders don't know what we're doing, how we treat reloading manuals like recipe books, etc etc, and essentially how we have no "guts".

I waited till he finished and left, turned to the owner and asked, "So where did he get that glass eye?"

Without missing a beat, owner says, "Blew up a rifle twenty or thirty years ago."

Our local gang just lost a friend who, when he was much younger, disassembled a Model 29 with what we guess was 22-grains of Bullseye. Stuff happens! (RIP, Dave)

I got two. First is I was in on a club "investigation" into some rube that blew up a Model 629. Of course, he immediately went home and destroyed the remaining ammo before calling anybody. Near as I could figure, he had just got into reloading, and was being "helped" by a buddy, who chatted his ear off and distracted him, leading to a double-charge.

I also saw a 629 no-dash that had had some horrible crime committed to it to "fix" it. It still spat lead all over, and practically had visible endshake as the gun was held in the hand--aside from having been attacked with all manner of torture implement. It was really hard to look at because at the time, I really wanted a 629 (have one now).

I guess the guy saw me cringe, and he explained that it had to be fixed since he shot a steady diet of 300-grain lead bullets--with a charge a couple grains above book max, with a notoriously "Magnum" powder.

More cringe.

"So I took it to my buddy, who's sort of a hobby gunsmith, and he fixed it."

Please God, make it stop. I promise I'll try to be a better person.

"He only charged $X, and I figure I got off pretty easy. I bought this gun brand-new back in...I think it was '79!"

If I'm remembering correctly, I think I just walked away, but my recollection is fuzzy because I blacked out.

 

[TjB101]

These are really good, funny and scary .... keep ‘em coming

 

[Engineer1911]

Old reloader -- just one person

Retired cop, failing mental ability, never reads directions, ZERO mechanical aptitude, has been reloading for 30 years, knows everything about reloading. These events have happened in last 3 years.

"My ammo is good. It fits the case gage." Drops loaded .308 Win round into case gage. Bottom of case is 1/2" from bottom of gage and won't go in any further.

"My ammo isn't too long. I check the length of every cartridge." He shows us the 2 pencil marks on the reloading bench top that he used his digital caliper to measure. Did you ZERO the caliper before you made the marks? Pencil marks were about 1/4" too far apart.

"This is how I store my extra primers, so they are handy to use." Aluminum ash try is half-full of primers; large rifle, small rifle, and small pistol. He doesn't need large pistol. He only loads a few rounds of 45 Long Colt and large rifle works fine.

"I can't prime my cases. The primers don't fit in the press." Cannot comprehend or remember that large primers require large filler tube, large primer tube, and large primer cup on his Dillon 550.

He is also a black powder rifle shooter. At least half the trips to the range end early because he loads the lead bullet before he dumps black powder down the barrel. He lacks the physical strength to use the ramrod to push the bullet down the barrel to seat on top of the powder. "Close enough works" for him. He got mad at Cabela's about 'powder rules' so he bought a case of 25 one pound containers from somewhere. Don't want to know where or how he stores the black powder.

Are you scared yet?

 

[andy52]

Not really a horror story but a while back while reloading I had dropped a couple of live primers on the floor and figured I'd pick them up later.
Well my floor is wood and I use a chair that has hard plastic casters as I was rolling it around I ran over one of the primers a set it off scared the **** out of me.

 

[nachogrande]

SMALL STUFF MOSTLY.

This one may show my age a bit but, ever try picking # 9 shot out of shag carpeting? DON'T use a drill to remove a stuck primer from a primer tube, Yes 1 is enough to split the tube but I did get it out, permanently. 1-Squib (no powder) in 36 years. Smash a finger between the ram & decapping pin.

 

[Marshal Kane]

Was living in the SF Bay area close to the ocean at the time and it was early spring when my neighbor comes over and says he's having some problems with his .45 ACP reloads. Said he had just reloaded 500 rounds and when he was at the range, some went bang but a lot more went pfft and stuck bullets in the bore. My neighbor's progressive press is set up in his garage so I went over to look at it. I asked him when was the last time he used his press. Just recently but before that, it was early last winter was the reply. Primer feed works OK and there's powder in the hopper. Asked the neighbor to pull some bullets and some have powder while others have very little to no powder. I put a case under his powder measure and pulled the handle. Nothing came out. He had left powder in the hopper and during the winter, the powder had bridged due to the moisture in his garage. He was very lucky to find his 1911 wouldn't cycle on the unloaded rounds or he could have fired with a bullet stuck in the bore. Before I left, I told him he had a lot or bullets to pull on his recent reloads.

 

[old&slow]

I probably really shouldn't tell this story on myself.
I'll soon be 67 and a firm believer that God protects the young and foolish.
Back about 50 years ago,, I decided to get started in some trap shooting. Went to a local gun store and purchased everything, according to the owner, that I needed to start trap shooting.

A new Remington 1100 Trap grade ,, a used reloading press, that the owner told me was set up for " trap loads', shot , wads, primers, & powder.

Loaded up a 100 rounds and headed to the trap club. Standing at the first position at the 16 yard line,, the gun was kicking me back to the 17 yard line,, the guy in the 2nd, 3rd, & 4th position was ducking and the empty was bouncing off the 5th guys head..
The old guy on the club house porch was laughing his butt off..
And asked ,, Boy, WTH are you shooting in that thing ??!! ,, I answered ,,Trap Loads ???
He replied , Boy them ain't Trap Loads ,, You better get a book and do some reading...

Book ? The gun store guy never said anything about a book ..
( Sold me a can of Unique , Powder is Powder, Right ?? ,, the press was set up for Red Dot. Thank God he didn't sell me Bullseye.. after doing some reading I found out I was probably loading about 4 dram Duck loads. )

Well, 50 years later I still have all my fingers and toes.. I have several reloading books that I am still reading .. I reload handgun, rifle and shotgun ammo,, shooting thousands of rounds a year. I'm even a certified NRA reloading instructor. And I try to help anybody I know when they are getting started in reloading.. And my first suggestion is ,,,, Buy a reloading book and read it ,,, twice... Before you buy anything else.

 

[Krogen]

Not quite a reloading horror story, but close enough. Our club hosts hunter sight-in every year. We get all sorts of people. Some are less savvy than others so we run a trapline as they come in. We inspect the ammo, check that it matches the rifle, inquire about handloads, assess their experience etc. We only let one rifle in for each person at a given time. We run a rod down the bore to be sure it's clear. You get the message.

So a guy comes in with a muzzleloader. He's new to black powder firearms. He produces a jug of black powder for inspection. He's admitted. On the line we do our best to watch folks closely for safety concerns. We try to help the newbies such as our new black powder guy. It can get busy and it's possible to miss things. Well, this guy produced a jug of smokeless powder we didn't know about and loaded up his muzzleloader. We didn't see him do it - we heard the concussion. The rifle came apart. Good thing there are barriers between shooting positions or the pieces could have taken out an adjacent shooter.

It pays to be aware of what you don't know. Said newbie owed it to himself to study up and get it right the first time. He was very lucky it was only the rifle that came apart.

 

[WR Moore]

There's an ancient myth that you can't overload a black powder firearm-the excess just blows out the muzzle.

Decades ago, I was working in a LGS and took a call from a customer in Alaska that bought a black powder barrel (Green Mountain, IIRC) and the barrel split. I called the maker and they commented that very occasionally, the drill wandered during the deep hole boring operation and left a thin spot. Send it back, they'd look at it. We did, they replaced the barrel, happy customer.

A couple months later, another call from the great north, the second barrel split. At that time I asked what load he was using and he quoted the ancient myth above. He'd work up his loads in the snow so he could see the "extra" powder. With the shop owners permission, I talked to the maker and they sent him a letter stating that not only wouldn't they send him another barrel, they refused to do further business with him. We sent him a letter refusing further business. I don't recall any more business with Alaskans but we figured it was no loss.

I seem to recall a couple stories of folks who decided to store their primers loose in mason jars to keep moisture out and make it easier to use. (probably before presses had feed mechanisms or hand primers existed) I think everyone can guess what happened when they dropped the jar.