Hand Loading For Disaster - Page 4

silvrjeepr · January 9, 2011, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacecoast

I had a mean-looking dog think about snarling at me one time. Does that qualify me for the "trouble magnet" club?

Lol That depends. Did he show his teeth?

CrustyFN · January 9, 2011, 10:52 AM

700cdl I'm curious where in West Virginia this happened.

bigautomatic · January 9, 2011, 11:17 AM

Me too.

CrustyFN · January 9, 2011, 11:24 AM

Big are you close to WV. I'm close to Marietta OH.

Clark500 · January 9, 2011, 01:23 PM

I don't think the OP ever mentioned WV. It was Mr. Amamnn that suggested it must have happened somewhere like WV. His ignorance says much.

40s-and-wfan · January 9, 2011, 01:48 PM

"Astronomical!! Holly cow!

I have not been reloading for a long period of time like many of the readers of this forum. I have been shooting and been in the presence of reloaders for many, many years though. In that time I have been very fortunate not to have seen any of the disasters that the OP has discribed.

This activity of loading or reloading requires a lot of attention to detail, such as many hobbies due. If the reloader is lax or becomes distracted then the results can be disasterous.

If there is only one solution to the complex problem of inattentive and careless reloading practices, it would be trying to educate new reloaders to the possible dangers and steer them in the proper direction to gain the neccessary knowledge.

But astronomical, that is a non-discript number that leads someone to believe the practice of reloading is out of control. If the problems with reloading were that severe I am sure Ralf Nadar or someone from our over controlling government would have stepped in and put a stop to what we are doing.

Please come up with a realistic number of accidents that you are aware of. If those numbers are higher than in most other places, then maybe you should check the gene pool of your area instead of the amount of the powder charge in their cases!"

I have to agree with this post wholeheartedly. I've been reloading for years, I learned from my dad who learned from his dad and so on! My grandfather died a number of years back, but in all his years, dads years and mine behind a press we have yet to have an accident of any kind. No double-charges, no missed charges or anything. I'm the only one to use a progressive press and I still haven't had any of the problems you describe here! I haven't even witnessed this kind of mishap.
I personally have to call bullsh** on the 'astronomical' part of things. I think this description of the numbers is pretty bogus. Someone said that if that were the case, some politicians would have stepped in and tried to do something about it. Since that hasn't happened yet, I'm not too worried.

I think these accidents were caused by some unknowledgeable, inattentive idiot who didn't know what he was doing. This type of person belongs in a padded room, rather than behind a reloading press!

CrustyFN · January 9, 2011, 01:50 PM

Quote:

I don't think the OP ever mentioned WV. It was Mr. Amamnn that suggested it must have happened somewhere like WV. His ignorance says much.

Thanks I didn't see where he got WV from. My fault for assuming Amamnn knew what he was talking about. I know a lot of reloaders in WV and none of them have blown up a gun or know anybody that has.

Doodlebugger45 · January 10, 2011, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Thanks I didn't see where he got WV from. My fault for assuming Amamnn knew what he was talking about. I know a lot of reloaders in WV and none of them have blown up a gun or know anybody that has.

WHEW!! Thank goodness!

I feel better already. I did some work in WV a couple years ago. At the time, I really liked the people and the scenery and didn't feel that my life was in jeopardy. After reading these aspersions about that fine state, I started to wonder if I might be worried about getting blowed up or kidnapped or raped the next time I go there.

This thread might have good intentions of course, but this forum is probably not the obvious place to preach about safe loading practices. It seems that safety is constantly being emphasized here in almost every thread. I can only remember a handful of threads where someone brought up a potentially unsafe practice, and the members quickly pointed out the dangers.

Chances are, those idiots who will not follow the practices of all loading manuals will not heed the advice of the members who read this forum either.

mikerault · January 11, 2011, 12:38 PM

I was shooting next to a fellow doing .44 mags. When I policed my brass I noticed on many of his cases that the extractor had actually ripped off a piece of the extractor lip on the brass. I assume this was probably from overloading the round and causing unsafe pressures resulting in expanded brass that was difficult to extract. Needless to say I was happy to stop standing right beside him (on the right) that day...

zxcvbob · January 11, 2011, 12:58 PM

The one dangerous error that you *will* have if you reload long enough is a cartridge with no powder (squib load.) You can have a squib even if you do everything right and the powder measure hiccups. So choose components that will minimize the frequency of this happening and maximize your ability to detect it. And come up with a procedure that works for you to make sure you catch any empty case before you seat a bullet.

(if you do this, you will also catch any double-charges, which are always caused by your screw-up and should be a big warning sign)

AlaskaMike · January 12, 2011, 12:38 AM

Quote:

You can have a squib even if you do everything right and the powder measure hiccups.

I can certainly say I've had that happen to me, although I still have no idea what caused it--I don't believe my powder measure played any part. This particular strange squib of mine happened when I made up my first batch of handloads for my Garand. Nothing special about the load; pulled M2 bullets from gibrass.com over 47 grains of IMR 4895 and CCI standard large rifle primers.

On one of the rounds I heard a click when I expected a bang. I stopped everything and waited for a minute or two with the rifle pointed downrange in case it was a hangfire, but nothing happened. I opened the action slowly and powder spilled out everywhere. The primer had fired with enough force to drive the bullet firmly into the rifling. The amount of powder looked to be enough for the load I was using, but I freely admit I didn't collect it and weigh it. The powder did look completely normal--I noticed nothing like melted globs like sometimes happens with 296/H110 underload squibs. All the other rounds from that loading session fired as expected, and only this one round was a squib.

The only thing I can figure was that something may have fallen into the case without me noticing before I charged it with powder, and sat on the flash hole. While I can't be certain that was in fact the cause, it did make me keep my loading area more clean from that point forward.

January 9, 2011, 10:52 AM	#77
CrustyFN Senior Member Join Date: June 4, 2006 Location: West Virginia Posts: 2,258	700cdl I'm curious where in West Virginia this happened. __________________ I don't ever remember being absent minded.

January 9, 2011, 11:24 AM	#79
CrustyFN Senior Member Join Date: June 4, 2006 Location: West Virginia Posts: 2,258	Big are you close to WV. I'm close to Marietta OH. __________________ I don't ever remember being absent minded.

January 9, 2011, 01:48 PM	#81
40s-and-wfan Member Join Date: March 14, 2009 Location: North-Western Montana Posts: 58	"Astronomical!! Holly cow! I have not been reloading for a long period of time like many of the readers of this forum. I have been shooting and been in the presence of reloaders for many, many years though. In that time I have been very fortunate not to have seen any of the disasters that the OP has discribed. This activity of loading or reloading requires a lot of attention to detail, such as many hobbies due. If the reloader is lax or becomes distracted then the results can be disasterous. If there is only one solution to the complex problem of inattentive and careless reloading practices, it would be trying to educate new reloaders to the possible dangers and steer them in the proper direction to gain the neccessary knowledge. But astronomical, that is a non-discript number that leads someone to believe the practice of reloading is out of control. If the problems with reloading were that severe I am sure Ralf Nadar or someone from our over controlling government would have stepped in and put a stop to what we are doing. Please come up with a realistic number of accidents that you are aware of. If those numbers are higher than in most other places, then maybe you should check the gene pool of your area instead of the amount of the powder charge in their cases!" I have to agree with this post wholeheartedly. I've been reloading for years, I learned from my dad who learned from his dad and so on! My grandfather died a number of years back, but in all his years, dads years and mine behind a press we have yet to have an accident of any kind. No double-charges, no missed charges or anything. I'm the only one to use a progressive press and I still haven't had any of the problems you describe here! I haven't even witnessed this kind of mishap. I personally have to call bullsh** on the 'astronomical' part of things. I think this description of the numbers is pretty bogus. Someone said that if that were the case, some politicians would have stepped in and tried to do something about it. Since that hasn't happened yet, I'm not too worried. I think these accidents were caused by some unknowledgeable, inattentive idiot who didn't know what he was doing. This type of person belongs in a padded room, rather than behind a reloading press! __________________ In a crisis you don't rise to the occasion but rather default to your level of training. Forgiveness is between them and god, it's my job to arrange the meeting! -John W. Creasy (Man on Fire)

January 11, 2011, 12:58 PM	#85
zxcvbob Senior Member Join Date: December 20, 2007 Location: S.E. Minnesota Posts: 4,720	The one dangerous error that you will have if you reload long enough is a cartridge with no powder (squib load.) You can have a squib even if you do everything right and the powder measure hiccups. So choose components that will minimize the frequency of this happening and maximize your ability to detect it. And come up with a procedure that works for you to make sure you catch any empty case before you seat a bullet. (if you do this, you will also catch any double-charges, which are always caused by your screw-up and should be a big warning sign) __________________ "Everything they do is so dramatic and flamboyant. It just makes me want to set myself on fire!" —Lucille Bluth

January 9, 2011, 11:17 AM	#78
bigautomatic Senior Member Join Date: December 18, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 610	Me too.

January 9, 2011, 01:23 PM	#80
Clark500 Senior Member Join Date: February 12, 2010 Posts: 168	I don't think the OP ever mentioned WV. It was Mr. Amamnn that suggested it must have happened somewhere like WV. His ignorance says much.

January 11, 2011, 12:38 PM	#84
mikerault Senior Member Join Date: January 4, 2011 Posts: 109	I was shooting next to a fellow doing .44 mags. When I policed my brass I noticed on many of his cases that the extractor had actually ripped off a piece of the extractor lip on the brass. I assume this was probably from overloading the round and causing unsafe pressures resulting in expanded brass that was difficult to extract. Needless to say I was happy to stop standing right beside him (on the right) that day...