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Old February 19, 2012, 03:00 PM   #1
Kayser
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Not everyone should reload.

Got back from the range today. A couple of anecdotal stories:

- While waiting around, I noticed on the counter a pretty strange looking bullet. It looked like a half fmj, half lead bullet. I looked over at the guy behind the counter and said "is this what I think it is?". He sighs and says yeah, some guy destroyed a revolver via reloads by sending a second round through after a squib. It's puzzling that he would have both lead bullets and jacketed bullets one after the other, but whatever.

- Not 60 seconds later, a guy walks up, looks at the bullet and says "hmm. Yeah, I just started reloading 45 and blew up my 1911". He seems totally nonchalant about this. Then he continues on, "I just picked up a 454 Casull that I'm going to start reloading....". He prices a box of 454 from the store ($65) and confirms to himself, "yeah, I need to reload these". I gave him as serious of a warning as I could about being super careful in the future. He says he thinks he's on a progressive. "It's a Lee something, with 5 holes". "A Loadmaster?" I ask. "Yeah, that's the one". I'm wondering if I should have just told him to stay away from the 454 altogether.

Yikes. Some people just don't seem to have a very strong sense of self preservation.
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Old February 19, 2012, 03:57 PM   #2
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I've found that most times it's better to just ignore people than to try to "educate" them. I just try to remember them and if I see them again at the range get the heck away from them.
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Old February 19, 2012, 04:10 PM   #3
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I could not believe my ears, yesterday....

Lehi, Utah Cabela's...

A customer was asking one of the "reloading guys" where he could get lead shot at a price that wasn't insulting (Cabela's price of $56 / 25 lb is stupid). Rather than telling him that Christensen Arms and Sportsman's Warehouse sell it for $37-41 per 25 lbs, he said something I could not believe:
Quote:
"Just go to one of the gravel pits around here, and ask for the pea gravel. Since we use plastic shot cups nowadays, it won't hurt your barrel at all, and it's dirt cheap."
(chuckles to himself over his pun - but he was dead serious about the statement - then repeated the instructions)

The customer was clearly unimpressed. So, I didn't bother saying anything to him.
But... idiots like that salesman are looked at as experts or even "gods" by some new reloaders.
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Old February 19, 2012, 04:32 PM   #4
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A guy I used to work with and a couple of his friends got together once a month or so to do some bench shooting at his parents farm. Nice place set up for out to 300 yards. His brother-in-law showed up one time with a Remington 700 in .30-06 and one of those Lee hand held “lemon squeezer” reloaders. All he had was 20 pieces of brass, and kept reloading them from his tailgate. I walked over to watch him reload a few rounds. To measure the powder, he dumped it from the can into the brass case until filled, right to overflow, then crunched a bullet down into the neck. Every charge was a compressed charge. A very compressed charge! Needless to say, I didn’t stand close to him when he was shooting. When asked about it, he said that he has always done it that way, then questioned how it should be done. We tried to explain dipper and weigh measuring, but I don’t think he understood. Far as I know, the guy is still alive. How, I’m not sure.
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Old February 19, 2012, 04:35 PM   #5
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I've found that most times it's better to just ignore people than to try to "educate" them. I just try to remember them and if I see them again at the range get the heck away from them.
Absolutely because they are already smarter than we are so they can have at it. Remember, don't rassle in da mud wit a pig cause all you gonna do is get dirty and make da pig happy!!!!!
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Old February 19, 2012, 04:39 PM   #6
Roger G
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Im SORRY I have to agree with Kayser. Its not something that everyone should do. ITS time consuming and boring (but I love it) and it should have one's FULL ATTENTION. NO DIVERSONS. I handload every round and if I think I made a mistake I start over on that round.
It may be my fingers or body that pays for a mistake and I do my best not to make them.
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Old February 19, 2012, 04:56 PM   #7
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All good points and include in them lots of reading up front, finding a friend who reloads and go watch him reload, and read some more out of reloading manuals. I started with Dippers and squeeze, moved to single stage and wood blocks and in 1992 took the plunge into a set of twin Progressives. I had all the necessary things to do Quality Checks on the loaded ammo so it was only necessary to get in step with the presses. I have not had a double or squib, but have had sideways and reversed primers and bullets that do not chamber check. Chamber checking is the final step in my opinion and not enough folks know or do it. That includes chamber checking my "Social Ammo" You cannot do too much research and reading on reloading.
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Old February 19, 2012, 05:49 PM   #8
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Old February 19, 2012, 05:54 PM   #9
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I have a friend that started reloading a year ago. He has frequent squibs. Constantly pulling bullets apart. No blow-ups yet & lots of high primers. I stopped by his house to watch him reload & looked at a box of 100 finished rounds that he said were good to go. Just looking at them I saw at least 6-8 high primers. He always blames his equipment.
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Old February 19, 2012, 05:59 PM   #10
Zach W.
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Met a guy who told me he likes 308Win because you can take any powder, fill it up to the top, load a bullet, and get real good accuracy.

Met and worked with quite a few characters that I would keep far away from anything to do with reloading.
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Old February 19, 2012, 06:26 PM   #11
wild willy
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Reloading is something that you have to pay attention to detail and know what and why you are doing something.I often wonder reading some of the questions posted on this and other forums if some people should be reloading.
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Old February 19, 2012, 07:47 PM   #12
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Most people I know should not do reloading. Just not the disposition for it.
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Old February 19, 2012, 08:17 PM   #13
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"Im SORRY I have to agree with Kayser. Its not something that everyone should do."

I'm sorry but I don't have clue what you're disagreeing with.
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Old February 19, 2012, 08:22 PM   #14
Zach W.
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That one had me scratching my head also chester
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Old February 19, 2012, 08:35 PM   #15
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Common bullet for the 38 spl.
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Old February 19, 2012, 08:42 PM   #16
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Anyone who can't pay attention to detail, or pay attention at all shouldn't be anywhere near a reloading machine. Possibly even a firearm for that matter.
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Old February 19, 2012, 09:02 PM   #17
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Sometimes you need to let Darwin take charge
Yep, some folks just seem to fit into the "too dumb to live" category as they tempt natural selection.
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Old February 19, 2012, 09:24 PM   #18
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I used to work with a guy that was pretty much a slob. Nice guy though, so I invited him to go hunting with me. He said he was a reloader, which I took at face value, but when we got to the hunting location, he was chambering a round by beating on the bolt handle with the heel of his shoe. When I inquired about what he was doing and why, he said that the round was kind of hard to chamber. Well...no kidding...Then he went to beating on the bolt handle again. I stopped him and suggested that maybe that was not a good idea. We finally went to town and got him some factory ammo. He's dead now, but it was not due to a reloading issue. The guy was a Chemical Engineer, like me, so you'd think that he wasn't a complete idiot. Some people should not be reloading. I do believe that.
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Old February 19, 2012, 10:50 PM   #19
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I've met a few "fill 'er up with some kinda powder and seat the bullet" reloaders and at first I thought they were kidding. Sad thing is the guy shooting next to him is in as much danger as he is, mebbe more. If a shooter sits down at the bench next to me with reloaded ammo, we talk a bit. Most folks know what they're doing. If not, I pack up.
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Old February 19, 2012, 10:59 PM   #20
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I'd love to know where people get the idea that "stuff it full and cap it with a bullet" is an acceptable practice. During the black powder era, were compressed charges more common, since black powder doesn't have the energy density of modern smokeless powder? For instance, I can quadruple-charge a .38 Special round (if I decided I wanted to destroy my revolver and my hand). Back when the .38 Special was first developed, how many grains of black powder were typically used?
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Old February 19, 2012, 11:13 PM   #21
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16-19grs depending on granulation and type used, case volume and seating depth, according to Lyman's BP Handbook. Proper charges of BP are about volume and the amount of compression of the powder charge. Air space between the bullet and the powder charge is a big no-no. BP generally needs at least a little compression, some need more. It's a subject that needs careful study before you get started.
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Old February 19, 2012, 11:23 PM   #22
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I got into reloading about 18 years ago. I started out nice and easy,read every load book I could get, got the best equipment I could afford and took my time. I started with.38 sp. and slowly worked my way up. I bought a nice 700 .308 PSS and wanted to load for it. I was in a LGS one afternoon and one of the "good ol' boys" that hung out there advised me on a load for it. I thanked him and went home and dug out my books. He was giving me a load that was 10% above maximum without even knowing anything about my particular gun. I come to find out later he was known to burn out barrels and even had blown up 1 or 2. I learned a valuable lesson in that when in doubt, run as fast as you can away from these nimrods.
It's an execise in futility to argue with those BTDT guys.
Also, I refuse to load for anyone else and I've been asked to several times. Nope, won't do it. Peeses them off but oh well.
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Old February 19, 2012, 11:31 PM   #23
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Also, I refuse to load for anyone else and I've been asked to several times. Nope, won't do it. Peeses them off but oh well.
Same here. If someone's interested in learning, I'll happily teach them - hell, I'll let them use my equipment and components to get started, but if the reloads are going into their gun, then they pick the recipe (subject to my suggestions and approval), and they're the one pulling the lever on the press.
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Old February 20, 2012, 12:31 AM   #24
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To measure the powder, he dumped it from the can into the brass case until filled, right to overflow, then crunched a bullet down into the neck. Every charge was a compressed charge. A very compressed charge! Needless to say, I didn’t stand close to him when he was shooting. When asked about it, he said that he has always done it that way, then questioned how it should be done. We tried to explain dipper and weigh measuring, but I don’t think he understood. Far as I know, the guy is still alive. How, I’m not sure.
Quote:
I'd love to know where people get the idea that "stuff it full and cap it with a bullet" is an acceptable practice.
One of my father's friends follows that exact method with .300 Win Mag. However, he only does it with 4831.
He groups up a bunch of sized and primed cases, pours powder over the top of them, until flush with the case mouths, then crams 180 grain bullets in them.

His reasoning: "I can't get enough in there to cause an overload, and compressed volumetric charges are the most accurate. Why bother weighing anything?"
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Old February 20, 2012, 02:46 AM   #25
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If you saw a guy with waterwings on about to jump into water that you knew to be a frequent hangout for piranha (not necessarily right now or even today, but often enough), how hard would you try to talk him out of it?

Several of the posters here have suggested they would let him go, or perhaps just mutter, "I don't think that's a good idea, dude."

You may not be your brother's keeper, but when I have a chance to do a good turn for someone, I don't turn my back on it lightly. Even when unappreciated, or undeserved.

You owe these nimrods nothing. You owe yourself something. You can decide it that involves kindness to strangers.

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