Huge mistake I made with my Progressive

[Yoder]

I had a couple misfires lately with Federal primers which has never happened to me in at least 10k rounds. I didn't think too much of it, maybe a problem with the primers not fully seating. Next I had a squib round, didn't notice and almost blew up my pistol. It actually bulged the barrel so much it wouldn't fit through the slide. I thought this was due to running without my lockout die after I had to send it in for repair. It turns out I think all of my problems are from 1 stupid careless problem. 380 cases mixed in with my 9mm.

I hand sort my brass so a couple always get by me. I have always caught these in the past with my turret press since it was obvious when you deprimed you could feel it. When you are running 5 cases at a time apparently you don't notice as much. I finally noticed when I was at the indoor range and picked up a misfire. I looked at the back to inspect the primer and realized, holy shit I loaded a 380 case with a 9mm bullet.

When I got home I checked every round I loaded and found two more. This taught me a very important lesson about how serious it is to be super cautious while reloading.

To prevent anything like this from happening again I'm going to do two things:

1. Buy a set of sorting trays to seperate my shells.
2. Inspect EVERY round I load to make sure the case is the proper caliber. I used to do this when I loaded empty boxes, but lately I've just been bagging my ammo. I'm going back to boxes from now on.

I hope this could save someone from making the same mistake and possibly getting hurt. I was really lucky. One more reason to trust my Glock.

[God's Country]

Hmm I'm surprised you didn't notice it when you loaded your mags.

Do you keep your reloads in a box or loose?

[MT1]

This should be noticed when you place the case into the plate/shell holder. Shell holders and shell plates for 9mm and .380 are different. Hornady for example uses a number 8 plate for 9mm and a number 16 plate for .380. If you place a .380 case into a 9mm plate there is excess play (the rim is not snug).

[ForwardAssist]

Glad you weren't hurt, man.

[GrumpyBear]

Glad you weren't hurt, man.

^^^^^^^ This,and thanks for the heads up on the 380 brass mixed with the 9mm.I am a picker upper of range brass and could end up having the same problem if I miss it on sorting.I will be extra careful from here on out.

[Yoder]

I should have noticed loading my mags and also on the press, but I didn't. A 380 really isn't much different in size than a 9mm. Especially when you load it with a 9mm bullet. I was just keeping my reloads loose in bags, but now I'm going back to using boxes. Just by putting them in a box you wind up checking every round.

[MT1]

The rim thickness of a .380 is much less than a 9mm (.045 vs .035). This in addition to the rim being smaller (.374 vs .392) leaves a lot of play in my Hornady plates. It is very noticable when I slide a .380 into the 9mm plate. I am curious if other manufacturer's equipment makes it easy to identify.

Don't get me wrong... I'm not judging. I've made my own silly mistakes over the years. It's easy to sit back and be the arm chair quarterback. Like ForwardAssist said... glad you weren't hurt.

[pahuntnfool]

Add me to the glad you are ok. Also thanks for sharing a humbling story that drives home the importance of focusing while reloading. If I had a dollar for everytime I have had to clear off my LNL and start those 5 shells over or pull a bullet I would be rich.

[BucksCountyBob]

I almost made the same mistake the other day on my Lee Pro1000. It went through the decap and resize step fine, but when I pulled the lever to take it over to the next stage (primer and powder) it kept flying off the press. I put it back in twice before I turned it over and saw that it said .380 on it.

Glad you're okay.

BCB

[Pkspawn]

The sorting trays won't help with weeding out the 380/9/38 super. I have almost 3 -5gallon buckets full of 9 brass. It is 9luger, 9mak, 380acp and 38super brass in there.. All sorted to the "9" tray of those sorters.

Still need to hand pick through them. I can pretty easily spot the 380s and 38 supers.. Dunno how I will handle the 9mak though.

Case's get checked when I sort, but I'm doing this quickly.. They get checked again when I size/prime.. Some calibers I will case gauge, so they are checked again there before bagging. If I am marking brass, they are checked then before bagging. And no matter what, I always check while loading up my mags.

That is how I find the cracked cases, messed up primers, or bad crimps etc..

Faster you get in the process of reloading, the more checks you need to have in place, both before and after the round is made.

I picked up the Lockout die. It is pretty neat, but not perfect, in playing around, I was able to get some under charged pieces to pass through it. Sometimes it just seems to give a little resistance vs locking up totally. I'll use it, won't solely rely on it though.