Your best [or worst] reloading mistakes

[bartomark]

I did a search to see if this topic was done before and found nothing, so here goes. I have read many posts on here and have gained valuable info. I have been reloading 35+yrs. I have also made some pretty bad [stupid] mistakes reloading and am probably lucky to still have all my fingers. Thought I would start this thread so anyone who made dumb mistakes reloading could share them and maybe we could all learn something as well as share a good laugh at each others errors. I'm not looking for blood and gore. Hopefully everyone still has all their body parts intact. Here are my two of my best ones to get started..... I started on a RCBS Rock Chucker loading .38-.357. I mentioned to the guy that sold me the press that I didn't have much .357 brass. He told me to look in my reloading manual and just load .38 brass with .357 loads. Well you can imagine the result. I was shooting a S&W 686 and even being new to reloading I knew something was really wrong. Its a wonder that the gun even held together but lucky for me it did. My second mistake involved the opposite condition, undercharges. I was loading some very light target loads, .38 wadcutters. Close to the minimum charge. I usually used DEWC but picked up some Berrys HBWC bullets. On my first box I was shooting at the target and I didn't see the first shot hit, strange.. I shot a couple more rounds and went to look at the target. A bullet on the ground caught my eye, it was one that I had just shot and it had a strange mark [flattened] on one end. I took a look at my gun, S&W 686, 6" barrel and there was a bullet stuck in the barrel. Apparently because of the hollow back bullet it reduced the pressure and it never left the barrel. Subsequent rounds hit he stuck bullet and knocked it out but the next one stayed lodged in the barrel. Both mistakes happened long ago when first starting out. Ok, I fessed up. Anyone else???

[wanneroo]

I have been reloading for 3 years and have loaded tens of thousands of rounds and so far no major incidents or even minor ones I can think of at the moment. My reloading so far has been commonly used calibers like 9mm or 308/7.62 and also use fairly standard bullets and powder, so typically there is plenty of data to draw from. I also pay close attention to quality control. I clean my brass to like new(easy to spot defects), any brass I find with issues gets dumped. Everything gets checked in a case gauge. Also especially when I move to a phase like powder and seating the bullet, I find if my attention starts to wander or I am tired, I stop for the day. I also label boxes and where I am at in production with that item.

[bamboomaster]

Biggest mistake ever? Using "Midway" brass for .357.

A long time ago, I was the winning bidder on a lot of 1,000 loaded .357s using Midway brass.

What impressed me was the load data on each plastic cartridge box, so I figured, this fellow knew how to reload. I just assumed it was reloading for a Colt Trooper MK III, the only one I have in that caliber.

Very few (less than 30%) of the rounds even dropped into the cylinder. For the ones that dropped in, it was nearly impossible to turn the cylinder because the primers were out a tad too far instead of seated .002 - .003 inside the bottom or the case. So I ended up pulling 1K rounds from their neatly organized caliber containers and also noticed the bulge at the base of the cases - which didn't size out.

So maybe that was old Midway brass, rounds not fully resized, the rounds were made for a more generously-sized lever-action, etc.

But actually, it was just my stupidity - which is why I bring to every auction the full magilla of case gauges I have for different calibers just in the event I meet up with some really cool rounds that appear to be reloaded by someone who knows what he's doing.

Trust but verify!

Hey, anybody here need around 1K of primed .357 Midway brass?

[ianb1116]

I've used large rifle primers in .45acp. Took multiple strikes on each one...annoying.

[gghbi]

I've used large rifle primers in .45acp. Took multiple strikes on each one...annoying.

Now that 45 acp brass can have large or small primers, I had to read that twice to catch 'rifle'. Now it makes sense.

[wanneroo]

When I reload my aim is reliable, reasonably accurate ammo I can use in any gun of that chambering. If ammo will not fit a case gauge, it's probably going to have a big issue chambering in anything. I see many reloaders reject the use of a case gauge, but for $20 to $60 for something that lasts a long time with care and a few minutes of your time, it's a useful data point to eliminate issues especially with completed ammo. I recently reloaded almost a thousand 7.62 and had no case gauge failures I recall. But usually with pistol ammo, probably every 1 out of 150-250 rounds fail for some reason.

[BobGun]

I have been reloading for close to 45 years and have only had two gotcha moments. The first was corrected by pulling 300 .45 Colt rounds. The reloading manual I was using listed a 200 gr load for the .45 Colt and a low powder charge. I loaded 300 rounds without trying any of them. They stuck in the barrel every shot so I had to go out and buy a collet bullet puller. My second mistake did not end so well. I had bought 500 135 gr. .40 S&W Federal bullets that are used in the Guard Dog SD ammo from Midway. I could not find any reloading info for them so I used the info for Speer HP bullets. As is my practice I cut the charge by 10% and seated the bullet to the crimping grove on the bullet. I loaded one in my .40 S&W which was an all steel Astra 75. Well when I pulled the trigger the gun went bang and I felt a like I had grabbed a hornets nest. The grips blew off the gun and the magazine expanded so it would not come out of the gun. The case that was ejected had a split where the chamber was not supported. I now have a gun that is totally useless that hangs on the wall of my reloading room. I am just glad that Astra is a steel gun and not a Tupperware on. I now have 499 of the bullets setting on the shelf as I am afraid to try them again. I talked to my reloading buddy and he thinks by seating to the crimping grove it caused high pressure and with the unsupported case in some .40 S&W it caused the blow out.

[daschnoz]

1. Mistake -- While loading a case worth of SHTF 308 - Not having the resizer die threaded into the press tightly enough. After about the first 100 rounds, it walked out, but only slightly. It wasn't until I tried to chamber one of the rounds in my FAL that I discovered the problem. Rather than pull down 1000+ rounds, I bought a 358WIN die set. I removed the decapping mechanism and ran the rounds through the resizer die. Problem solved, lesson learned.
2. Nuisance -- This one is an on-going issue. The powder drop on my progressive doesn't always return to the "get more powder" position after it drops powder into the brass. As a result, I end up with rounds that have no powder. You would be amazed how far the primer will send a powder coated 9mm cast lead slug into the rifling and how much force is required to get it out. The solution is easy - buy a new powder drop.
3. Money problem -- Not buying enough components.

[cephas]

My most humorous was probably with my first reloads in the 70's. Using a Lee whack a mole I turned out a box of .38 specials in an evening.
Standard wadcutter with a low charge of Bullseye. Was apprehensive about firing them so I donned some heavy gloves and a full face motorcycle helmet.
Anticipation mounted and I fired the first cartridge....pop. Felt ridiculous at that point.
Took awhile for a major mistake and that was just recently. Bought "once fired" rifle brass off an unknown source and loaded without doing a proper case inspection. Had a separation on the first shot.
Buying lead off eBay didn't work out so well once either.

[Yoder]

Worst was loading .45 acp on my Hornady lnl progressive. I have the powder drop right next to the primer tube. I crushed a large pistol primer on one of the small primer .45 cases. When I indexed the press to see what happened the damaged primer went back under the stack of primers and went off. It blew about 80 primers at the same time. Since the powder drop was right next to it, it caught on fire. It looked like a road flare. I'm lucky I didn't burn my house down.

Next, same press loading 9mm. My powder cop die jammed so I sent it back to get repaired. I loaded about 200 rounds without it. At the range I was practicing moving and shooting with my G17. I had a failure to feed. I racked the slide, chambered another round and fired. The slide got stuck and the slide stop spring broke. When I got home I found the gun almost blew up. There was a large bulge in the barrel with cracks. Here I had a squib stuck in the barrel and fired another round behind it. Now I always use the powder cop die and I visually verify powder is in every round I load.