Your biggest overload? What happened?

[Gamecock]

Me first.

8.8 gr Bullseye in .45ACP

A quarter past double charge!

Yep, I did it.

Loaded up some 200gr LSWC with 3.8gr Bullseye Sunday morning. Went to the range. When I touched the first one off, the grips grabbed my palm like a ******* file. What th' . . . ? I put a glove on, and fired a couple more. Just as bad. I knew something was wrong. I closed up the box of reloads and pulled out an older box with 4.7gr of Bullseye. It was noticeably milder, and I had loaded the 3.8 because the 4.7 was too hot.

Back home, the investigation took 30 seconds. First thing I did was look at my scale, an RCBS 5-0-2 balance beam. The 0-4.9 selector was on 3.8. The 5 block was NOT on zero, it was on 5. So I didn't load 3.8, I loaded 8.8 !!!!!

I checked, I still have all my fingers! Gun seems to be okay.

What happened? It was my first production with my new Dillon 550B. When I do single stage loading, I use an RCBS Uniflow type powder dropper. It has calibrations on the adjuster, and I have records of every load I've made for many years. The Dillon powder dropper has no calibrations. You adjust and weigh, adjust and weigh. I'd like to see calibrations on the Dillon, but their design doesn't lend itself to calibration. But calibration wouldn't have saved me, because this was the first time I used it, and would have had no data to compare it to.

I had moved the scale from one bench to another. I assume I bumped the 5 block, and just didn't notice it had moved.

The other thing that got me is that with the progressive, you don't see the powder in the case. Loading single stage, all the cases with powder are examined. A double charge would be noticed.

I'll be more careful to check and double check the settings on my scale before loading, knowing what can happen. I say I'm lucky that no damage was done.

 

[BUFF]

Just once. I was just starting into handloading, having only one rifle, a Remington 700 in .30-06. I didn't know anybody who reloaded anything but shotgun, so I bought a manual, read it and started out. It was fun. I was making good ammo. I had bought 2 powders, Dupont's IMR-4350 and -4895 and following the manual, worked my way up from the published starting loads to the published maximum loads with each and 150 grain bullets.

I decided to try another powder and picked out another (I forget what) that the manual listed for high velocity. With the first two powders, I had only began to see the primers flatten out at the maximum loads, so I decided to "save" time and bullets by starting out at the new powder's listed maximum charge instead of working the load up in increments.

First shot. WHAM!!! Harder recoil and what seemed like a louder report. I couldn't budge the bolt handle. Went home and tapped, then beat on the bolt handle with a rubber mallet. Couldn't budge it with the mallet.

I took it to a gunsmith. When I picked it up a few days later, he told me that when he got it open, the primer fell out of the casing and he had to beat the casing out of the chamber from the muzzle. He told me that it didn't appear to have damaged the rifle but I was lucky. He said, whatever I had done, don't do it again.

I bought a bullet puller and took down the rest of the box. The powder charge was what I had intended, not an overcharge. Even though I hadn't exceeded the manual's maximum for that powder and bullet, the combination was too much for that particular powder lot, bullet and casing in that rifle.

I learned a lot, mainly to follow recommended practices and always work up your charge, regardless of what the book says is a safe maximum, because maximum may be too much for your gun.

 

[Cyrano]

Never had a catastrophe with an overload. Worst was some instances of sticky cases.

Had my share of problems with loads being too weak, though. First one was when I stuck a bullet in the barrel of a very expensive revolver (Mauser zig zag) and with the next shot bulged the barrel. I was sick.

Then there was the problem with an 8 inch barreled K 38 I used for silhouetta shooting. I thought my load using 125 gr jacketd bullets was a little high, so I backed off. Stuck two bullets in the barrel. One was just at the muzzle, and I took a pair of pliers and pulled it out. The other was a few inches back and I had no trouble pushing it back with a cleaning rod. Guess I didn't appreciate how much more bore friction there is with jacket bullets compared to cast bullets. Pobably he load would have been OK in a 4 inch barreled revolver . I had no trouble detecting the stuck bullet, though. For one thing, there's no recoil; noting going forward so nothing comes back. Fo another, there's a great blast of glowing yellow gas escaping between the cylinder and the barrel. If you don't notice that, you're blind. I went back to my original load.

Then there was the problem with a load for a Sten (Yes, it's registered). I thought the loads were a little hot and so backed off. The Sten fires from an open bolt; the firing cycle starts with the bolt held back by the sear. When the trigger is pulled, the bolt comes forward, strips a round from the magazine, chambers it and fires it. Then it blows back and repeats this cycle until it is caught by the sear when you release the trigger. I had reduced the loads to the magic point: they blew back the bolt far enough that it would strip a round from the magazine and fire it, but the bolt didn't come back far enough to engage the sear. Great fun; I'd pull the trigger and the gun would fire, regardless of what I did, short of grabbing the bolt handle or pulling out the magazine! And I had 500 rounds of this stuff. I grew to enjoy it, and even loaded up a few Lanchester 50 round magazines. Pull the trigger, hang onto the gun and wait for it to stop gong 'bang'. I then went back to the orignal load.

 

[SW CQB 45]

a buddy double charged 5.5 grains of 231 pushing a 200 LSWC in a brand new Wilson Combat CQB about 12+ years ago.

first two rounds fired.....he thought was oddly snappy.
third round shattered the wood grips in his hands.

Luckily he bought the 1911 knife with matching grips as he took them off the knife and put it on his gun.

He stopped shooting and later pulled the rounds and discovered 11 grains of 231.

he never sent back the CQB and it still runs today.

 

[jimbo728]

Had an overload in .44 40 due to bad load data in an old Speer manual.
It called for 24gr of 2400 to start.
Being before the time I knew almost nothing about loading I tried it.
The shot was powerful ; but only half of the case extracted from my rifles action.
The book clearly stated that load. A mistake that would have been caught by a more experienced handloader.
Happened in 1978.
Jim

 

[MichiganScott]

I've never had a reloading related issue. The only time I ever even blew a primer was when I used a 5.56 NATO round in a .223 chamber. My fault, not the guns.

 

[Magload]

Me first.

8.8 gr Bullseye in .45ACP

A quarter past double charge!

Yep, I did it.

Loaded up some 200gr LSWC with 3.8gr Bullseye Sunday morning. Went to the range. When I touched the first one off, the grips grabbed my palm like a ******* file. What th' . . . ? I put a glove on, and fired a couple more. Just as bad. I knew something was wrong. I closed up the box of reloads and pulled out an older box with 4.7gr of Bullseye. It was noticeably milder, and I had loaded the 3.8 because the 4.7 was too hot.

Back home, the investigation took 30 seconds. First thing I did was look at my scale, an RCBS 5-0-2 balance beam. The 0-4.9 selector was on 3.8. The 5 block was NOT on zero, it was on 5. So I didn't load 3.8, I loaded 8.8 !!!!!

I checked, I still have all my fingers! Gun seems to be okay.

What happened? It was my first production with my new Dillon 550B. When I do single stage loading, I use an RCBS Uniflow type powder dropper. It has calibrations on the adjuster, and I have records of every load I've made for many years. The Dillon powder dropper has no calibrations. You adjust and weigh, adjust and weigh. I'd like to see calibrations on the Dillon, but their design doesn't lend itself to calibration. But calibration wouldn't have saved me, because this was the first time I used it, and would have had no data to compare it to.

I had moved the scale from one bench to another. I assume I bumped the 5 block, and just didn't notice it had moved.

The other thing that got me is that with the progressive, you don't see the powder in the case. Loading single stage, all the cases with powder are examined. A double charge would be noticed.

I'll be more careful to check and double check the settings on my scale before loading, knowing what can happen. I say I'm lucky that no damage was done.

I have a LED light that mounts the the center hole of the tool head no my 550B and I sit so I see into every case before I set the bullet on it.

 

[Stan O]

a buddy double charged 5.5 grains of 231 pushing a 200 LSWC in a brand new Wilson Combat CQB about 12+ years ago.

first two rounds fired.....he thought was oddly snappy.
third round shattered the wood grips in his hands.

Luckily he bought the 1911 knife with matching grips as he took them off the knife and put it on his gun.

He stopped shooting and later pulled the rounds and discovered 11 grains of 231.

he never sent back the CQB and it still runs today.

Did the same thing with 231. 3rd shot blew the grips off and the Magazine. A 1914 Colt, 1911 to boot!

 

[Zebadiah]

Ruger 357 Blackhawk. Six soft lead 148 grain hollow based wadcutters loaded hollow end out. Maximum WW296 load for 150 grain lead semi-wadcutter. Terrific recoil. Hell on targets. Very accurate. Super hard to empty the cylinder afterwards. No damage to Ruger or self. Clean barrel. Lesson learned: Do not disobey the loading manual.

 

[feelinlucky]

My first attempt at loading lead in 40S&W. I used data for the wrong bullet. The first few rounds I fired out of my Shield felt a bit snappy. Since it was a new load, I was picking up the ejected brass and inspecting it. It was pretty clear it had seriously bulged out into the feed ramp. The barrel was already seriously crudded with lead. Needless to say, I did not fire any more of those.

After some head scratching that evening I figured out what I had done. The loads were a wee bit too hot.

Aside from having to disassemble about a hundred rounds and scrub a ton of lead out of my barrel, no further harm was done. It was a good wake up call.

 

[shocker]

41 gr of H-380 and a 53 gr HPBT bullet in a 22-250. Speer 9 maximum but too much for my Rem 700, sticky bolt.
About 5-10% of the Russian surplus I shoot in my 91/30 splits the case (fired cases look like magnums, steel will only stretch so much) but no ill effects. The rimmed case keeps the trouble in the strong part of the gun.

I've gotten more conservative with age. If I feel like I have to push beyond a midrange book load, I get a bigger cartridge.

 

[Nevada Ed]

One note for shooters.......

If shooting on a hot Summer day in temperatures around 90 degrees or more............

it is wise to shoot loads that are at least 96% of factory pressures in rifles. Had a bolt freeze up at a local range one year.

I would think the same is true with pistol ammo.....?

 

[Gamecock]

After further review, I have decided that poor lighting was part of the reason I didn't see the change on the balance beam. My old bench has lots of lights, my new bench needs more.

 

[Sclays]

25+ years ago I had already reloaded hundreds of thousands of sporting clays shotgun ammunition.
Got involved in handgun shooting and subsequently reloading. Local deputy sheriff loaned me a progressive press. (brand not pertinent).
Found recipe for .38SP and .45ACP using Clays powder.
Nearly destroyed a 1911. Next thing to blown up.
Big boom, magazine blown out the bottom, brass stuck in shooting glasses frame (Decot saved my eye), flying brass slashed my cheek.

Since then I have witnessed three guns blow up. No one injured fortunately. Two of the guns were top quality heavy products with reloads.

Shotguns will tolerate a lot of slop.
Other firearms are less forgiving.

Never let anyone shoot without glasses.

 

[fredj338]

WOrst I ever had was a blown primer & I couldn't tell you why. Overcharge or something inside the case like cleaning media, who knows.

 

[fredj338]

These stories are the reason why I do not reload.

No, just fear of the unknown. Same reason I don't swim in the ocean.
Reloading is very safe if you pay attention to detail. Most accidents happen when people become handle pullers or just get distracted. Stay focused, follow directions, safer than putting gas in your car while talking on the cell.
Most of the things noted are just failure to stay focused 100% of the time. One reason I rarely load for more than 1 hour. It's hard to stay truely 100% focused for longer periods. Triple check everything, especially when the powder starts flowing. Buy good equip, cheap can get you into trouble quick, especially in powder measuring tools.

 

[paragain]

Double charge of unique in a model 27 bored out to .45 acp. The results are not pretty! See for yourself.
Big lesson from 35 years ago, gun powder and scotch don't mix well.
I keep it as an ever present reminder!!!!!
No lectures I have heard them all.

 

[rwsmith]

I haven't had a kaboom......

I haven't even really overloaded anything. But I did find a reputable manufacturers 'hot' load for .38 and thought I'd approach that with a starting load that was over what most manufacturers recommend these days. I don't feel that it was dangerous, but when I pulled the trigger it was 'surprising'. I actually dropped back a little toward accepted convention rather than push on to the max load.

 

[Tom S.]

These stories are the reason why I do not reload.

You shouldn't let that stop you. I started reloading with my dad in the late 50's and on my own in the early 70's. I've never had an overload. The closest I've ever come was working up a load of Unique for my 357 mag. Using the then current Speer manual, I started out at the lowest loading and worked up to the maximum in increments, doing 5 cases at a time. Even the minimums were pretty stout, and when I got to the maximum, I noticed the group size was the tightest (25 yards), but the primers were cratered and the side plate screws were working lose. Despite the accuracy, I backed away from that load and never used it again. Years later, I found out that many of the early Speer loads were suspect of being unsafe, or at the least, very extreme. That's the reason why all reloading manuals have a starting point.

What could have been my worst misfortune happened with 9mm loads and a Lee progressive 1000 press. I loaded 300 rounds and went shooting. Just a few rounds in, I had what felt like a dud. I racked the slide and an empty round came out. The first thought was the previous case had failed to eject. Resisting the urge to shoot another round, I pulled the barrel. Inside was bullet, lodged from a case with no powder, just a primer. I borrowed a wood dowel from the range and drove out the bullet. I shot maybe 20 or 30 more rounds, when I had a repeat. After clearing another bullet from the barrel, I quit for the day. I weighed each of the rounds and around 1/2 a dozen that were noticeably light. Pulling the bullets showed no powder. Close exam of the Lee press showed the powder disc would occasionally stick, hence the failure of the next round to get any powder. That prompted me to ditch the Lee and buy a Dillon 650.

The bottom line is, if you watch what you are doing, use recommended safe practices, and never take anything for granted, you shouldn't have any more problems than you would with store bought ammo, and quite possibly less, given the number of recalls I've seen over the years.

BTW: A friend of mine once said there where two types of shooters, those who had experienced an accidental discharge and those who would. I didn't agree with him then and still don't. Just like the rule in real estate is "Location, Location, Location", the rule with firearms is "Safety, Safety, Safety!". Same thing applies to reloading.

 

[SMSgt]

These stories are the reason why I do not reload.

People die in car wrecks, so I assume you walk everywhere.