Ever damage or destroy a gun as a result of reloading?

Redhook · March 31, 2002, 05:07 AM

I know this may be a taboo question to ask, but how many of you have done damage to or destroyed a firearm as a result of reloading? If you have, please detail what happened, if you know.

This should be interesting!

-Red-

**Mike Irwin** · March 31, 2002, 08:27 AM

Had I not been using a Chronograph, I probably would have, thought.

Loaded up some .32 S&W Long with some old loading data and new powder.

Velocity was supposed to be in the 850 fps range.

5 shots over the chrono averaged about 1,050!

I don't know how long my 1917-vintage S&W I-frame Regulation Police would have lasted...

Hkmp5sd · March 31, 2002, 09:04 AM

Didn't damage the gun, but sure tried my best to do so. I handloaded a couple of boxes of .380 ACP to ensure subsonic flight for shooting in my Supressed Walther PPK. Not paying close attention to the progressive reloader I was using, I managed to make about 6 rounds with no powder charge when the powder feed momentarily plugged and I didn't catch it. While shooting, once I got to the first bad cartridge and fired it, no hole appeared in the target. With the supressor, I didn't notice a difference in sound, so I thought it was a wild shot. I fired the next round, which slammed into the back of the first bullet which was stuck in the barrel. Lucky, it too had no powder and the primer didn't create enough pressure to blow the barrel.

I mark this one up to just plain stupidity. Now I pay close attention when reloading and also check each round on a digital scale.

C.R.Sam · March 31, 2002, 11:46 AM

HKMP5SD.......boy, talk about odds n luck workin for you.

Sam

Ala Dan · March 31, 2002, 12:22 PM

Redhook, NO I haven't; but thanks for asking. Been handloading
off and on, since 1973.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, Life Member N.R.A.

tawakoni · March 31, 2002, 02:27 PM

That's what got me into reloading. I bought some 30.06 reloads from a commercial reloader. As a reloader, he was a pretty good bicycle repairman. He was teaching his girlfriend to reload so he gave my order to her. She "inadvertantly" used a set of dies that were modified for a particular gun with a very tight chamber. Also, she was supposed to load 'x' grains of 4064 powder but she loaded 'x' grains of 3031. Powder is powder, right?

Needless to say, when I fired one of these bombs the rifle blew into many pieces and caused me some serious but not permanent injury. I still have pieces of metal in my face that work their way to the surface from time to time and it's been 40 years. Eyeglasses saved my vision and my hearing is only slightly impaired but I didn't hear much for 6 months. After that experience I became a reloader. I rarely use factory ammo and never shoot reloads that were done by anyone but ME. Never had a problem with mine.

tawakoni

kurt IA. · March 31, 2002, 10:44 PM

Almost
Did the same as the girl, was loading 32g of 748, ran out, grabed white can with red lable, 296 Very warm load.

WIL TERRY · April 1, 2002, 12:07 AM

I RECENTLY WENT OVER 800,000 ROUNDS LOADED AND HAVE YET TO HURT ANY RIFLE, PISTOL, OR SIXGUN.
GOT ALL MY PERSONAL PARTS WHICH IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT.

Poodleshooter · April 1, 2002, 11:44 AM

Nope. I've been loading for 10 years, and haven't had anything worse than 1 primer blown from the pocket.
Knock on wood!
I wonder if Clark has voted yet? He should get 5 votes for himself alone....

dick w. holliday · April 1, 2002, 12:13 PM

a couple of my buddies with Dillon 550's have--Destroyed a Bolt gun/Destroyed a contender/blew the grips of a Sig/ therefore i use an auto-rotating loader.......Dick

Keith J · April 1, 2002, 01:22 PM

It wasn't a hot load nor was it an obstructed bore but rather bad brass that caused mine. Seems like the 1999 lot of .223 Rem.
Federal American Eagle had some cases with less than adequate web thickness. These cases were heavier than typical commercial .223 cases so I figured I would reduce by 10% and start again. I never had primer blow-outs etc. with this load but decided to be safe anyhow since it was a component change.

The first three rounds landed within an inch of each other at 300 yards. The fourth was about 1/2" lower than that nice group start. The reason for the deviation? That case almost completely ruptured due to the inadequate head support from the web.

The "throating" given to an AR barrel is a slight radius of about 1/32" and the failed brass show the web stopped slightly behind this radius. Sure enough, sectioning others confirmed this to be true. I have received warnings my load must have been too hot and Federal brass is soft, neither of these is patently the cause.

Bolt gunners I have talked to have no problems using it as I'm sure the head has better support.

Damage? The bolt was split and I damaged the upper receiver in removal of the carrier as the bolt was jammed into the barrel extension. The magazine was totaled but I escaped any injury.

renaissance7697 · April 1, 2002, 04:35 PM

I use a RCBS Powder "Lock Out Die".

It WILL NOT let you pass either:

A Double Load
or
A No Powder Load.

That; Mounted on a Auto Indexing Progressive
has kept me out of trouble from Over or Under charges.

Best $40 I ever invested
No progressive loader should be without one.

(Grabbing the WRONG Powder is an Un-Excuseable error.)

Birdhunter · April 1, 2002, 07:40 PM

I came really close loading .38 spl loads on a Lee pro 1000 with Universal Clays. It would undercharge or not charge at all sometimes. While at the range the primer sent the bullet halfway down the six inch barrel of my S&W 686. Luckily I noticed it before I kept plugging away.

Fellow TFL members helped me figure it out.
Now I use only ball powder. No more problems.

Frohickey · April 1, 2002, 08:12 PM

Managed to get a kB! from a Sig P226 with an aftermarket FireDragon ported 40S&W barrel.

Reloads were mild 40SW loads, 5.6gr Unique behind 180gr lead bullet. Small pistol primers. Couldn't find the case head of the cartridge. To this day, I will not use that barrel again. I think that the cause was the barrel. The rest of the batch of reloads fired fine from the factory Sig barrel. It was not a double charge since the powder was trickled up from a scale. It was not the wrong primer since the others fired fine.

WESHOOT2 · April 2, 2002, 10:35 AM

I was unable to get 1800fps for more than one shot using 300g LFP.
Heavy recoil.
Witnesses.
Loud.
Big brass hammer-time.

db4 · April 6, 2002, 10:53 PM

Never hurt a firearm, but...

240 gr. cast bullet over "alot" of 296= 1750 fps out of a 7.5" bisley blackhawk .44. 2 cylinders would turn a fairly competent shooter (me) into a twitching spastic.

Redneck2 · April 7, 2002, 12:36 PM

one was the race gun that was over Dremel'ed. had the feed ramp cut back and blew out the case

the other was a 1911 that had the bullets seated too deep and let the crimp roll over at the case mouth so it wouldn't headspace. Cracked the barrel.

Jonny5 · April 7, 2002, 05:36 PM

Had an interesting experience with a .30 Gibbs a few years back. After the first one got ripped off in a B&E I had another made. I still had some old ammo left from the first one and I figured it would okay to shoot in the new rifle.

Wrong.

Damn near welded the case head to the face of the bolt and got a nice shot of powder gasses and other shrapnel in the face.

That 1 shot went over the chrono at just shy of the 3400fps mark. Not bad for a 180gr sierra.

It took a pretty big hammer to get the bolt open after that.

tonyz · April 7, 2002, 06:45 PM

Heck NO. But I have made some pretty interesting loads. Then there are the match loads that I make, can't find a factory load that will come close.

Tony

Tony Cam · April 7, 2002, 06:54 PM

I loaded up some 148 gr plated wadcutters with 3 grs of 231. I was told they would be fine. I fired 6 rounds and noticed one was sticking out the end of the barrel. I pried it out and looked down the bore and saw another one stuck in there also !!
No damge to the gun or me, luckily. Load was too lite. Now i load em with 4.4 grs and they shoot great.

blades67 · April 7, 2002, 11:29 PM

At least the choices weren't "Yes" and "Not Yet"!

Southla1 · April 8, 2002, 10:11 AM

From actual reloading I have never even came near a KB or damage.........................however..............

one time I was trying to "improve" some 22LR loads and was going to try some bullseye powder in place of the factory powder................a word of caution..............DON'T ! I fired it in my Win 69 and it blew the magazine out plus bent the plate on the bottom of the stock that is around the hole the magazine goes into. It also blew the extractor pin and spring out (I caught hell finding them on my shop floor) and melted the back of the cartridge. No permenant damage but it was a good lesson....................don't screw with some thing that is working!

Brass Rat · April 9, 2002, 09:57 PM

Worst "damage" done was a head-sep in my AR due to overworked brass.

kidcoltoutlaw · September 12, 2004, 01:10 PM

the factory said it was a reload it was but not a hot load.the gun had done it before.i should have got me a wilson case gauge to check the rounds with now i have one for the auto's and pump.no more problems.

HSMITH · September 12, 2004, 08:25 PM

Nope, not ever even close to damaging a gun with reloads. Never hurt myself other than ringing ears either.

I have loosened up a couple guns with several thousand rounds of heavy reloads, but it was to be expected.

View Poll Results: Have you ever done damage to or destroyed a firearm as a result of reloading?
Yes!	30	16.57%
No!	151	83.43%
Voters: 181. You may not vote on this poll

March 31, 2002, 05:07 AM	#1
Redhook Senior Member Join Date: January 25, 2001 Posts: 254	Ever damage or destroy a gun as a result of reloading? I know this may be a taboo question to ask, but how many of you have done damage to or destroyed a firearm as a result of reloading? If you have, please detail what happened, if you know. This should be interesting! -Red-

March 31, 2002, 08:27 AM	#2
Mike Irwin Staff Join Date: April 13, 2000 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 41,388	Had I not been using a Chronograph, I probably would have, thought. Loaded up some .32 S&W Long with some old loading data and new powder. Velocity was supposed to be in the 850 fps range. 5 shots over the chrono averaged about 1,050! I don't know how long my 1917-vintage S&W I-frame Regulation Police would have lasted... __________________ "The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind" -Theodorus Gaza Baby Jesus cries when the fat redneck doesn't have military-grade firepower.

March 31, 2002, 09:04 AM	#3
Hkmp5sd Senior Member Join Date: December 15, 2001 Location: Winter Haven, Florida Posts: 4,303	Didn't damage the gun, but sure tried my best to do so. I handloaded a couple of boxes of .380 ACP to ensure subsonic flight for shooting in my Supressed Walther PPK. Not paying close attention to the progressive reloader I was using, I managed to make about 6 rounds with no powder charge when the powder feed momentarily plugged and I didn't catch it. While shooting, once I got to the first bad cartridge and fired it, no hole appeared in the target. With the supressor, I didn't notice a difference in sound, so I thought it was a wild shot. I fired the next round, which slammed into the back of the first bullet which was stuck in the barrel. Lucky, it too had no powder and the primer didn't create enough pressure to blow the barrel. I mark this one up to just plain stupidity. Now I pay close attention when reloading and also check each round on a digital scale. __________________ NRA Certified Instructor: Pistol, Rifle, Shotgun, Home Safety, Personal Protection, Range Safety Officer NRA Life Member

March 31, 2002, 02:27 PM	#6
tawakoni Member Join Date: November 22, 2000 Location: Dallas, Texas Posts: 68	Yes I have. That's what got me into reloading. I bought some 30.06 reloads from a commercial reloader. As a reloader, he was a pretty good bicycle repairman. He was teaching his girlfriend to reload so he gave my order to her. She "inadvertantly" used a set of dies that were modified for a particular gun with a very tight chamber. Also, she was supposed to load 'x' grains of 4064 powder but she loaded 'x' grains of 3031. Powder is powder, right? Needless to say, when I fired one of these bombs the rifle blew into many pieces and caused me some serious but not permanent injury. I still have pieces of metal in my face that work their way to the surface from time to time and it's been 40 years. Eyeglasses saved my vision and my hearing is only slightly impaired but I didn't hear much for 6 months. After that experience I became a reloader. I rarely use factory ammo and never shoot reloads that were done by anyone but ME. Never had a problem with mine. tawakoni

March 31, 2002, 11:46 AM	#4
C.R.Sam Senior Member Join Date: October 29, 1999 Location: Dewey, AZ Posts: 12,858	HKMP5SD.......boy, talk about odds n luck workin for you. Sam

March 31, 2002, 12:22 PM	#5
Ala Dan Member in memoriam Join Date: August 13, 1999 Location: In The HOT, Humid, and Mu Posts: 6,116	Redhook, NO I haven't; but thanks for asking. Been handloading off and on, since 1973. Best Wishes, Ala Dan, Life Member N.R.A.

March 31, 2002, 10:44 PM	#7
kurt IA. Senior Member Join Date: February 19, 2001 Location: Iowa Posts: 141	Almost Did the same as the girl, was loading 32g of 748, ran out, grabed white can with red lable, 296 Very warm load.

April 1, 2002, 12:07 AM	#8
WIL TERRY Senior Member Join Date: July 6, 2000 Location: BLACK HILLS Posts: 1,322	NOPE.. I RECENTLY WENT OVER 800,000 ROUNDS LOADED AND HAVE YET TO HURT ANY RIFLE, PISTOL, OR SIXGUN. GOT ALL MY PERSONAL PARTS WHICH IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT.

April 1, 2002, 11:44 AM	#9
Poodleshooter Senior Member Join Date: August 7, 2000 Location: Floating down the James River in VA Posts: 2,599	Nope. I've been loading for 10 years, and haven't had anything worse than 1 primer blown from the pocket. Knock on wood! I wonder if Clark has voted yet? He should get 5 votes for himself alone....

April 1, 2002, 12:13 PM	#10
dick w. holliday Senior Member Join Date: January 13, 2001 Location: NC Posts: 589	a couple of my buddies with Dillon 550's have--Destroyed a Bolt gun/Destroyed a contender/blew the grips of a Sig/ therefore i use an auto-rotating loader.......Dick

April 1, 2002, 01:22 PM	#11
Keith J Senior Member Join Date: December 15, 2000 Posts: 469	Yes, but much different reason.... It wasn't a hot load nor was it an obstructed bore but rather bad brass that caused mine. Seems like the 1999 lot of .223 Rem. Federal American Eagle had some cases with less than adequate web thickness. These cases were heavier than typical commercial .223 cases so I figured I would reduce by 10% and start again. I never had primer blow-outs etc. with this load but decided to be safe anyhow since it was a component change. The first three rounds landed within an inch of each other at 300 yards. The fourth was about 1/2" lower than that nice group start. The reason for the deviation? That case almost completely ruptured due to the inadequate head support from the web. The "throating" given to an AR barrel is a slight radius of about 1/32" and the failed brass show the web stopped slightly behind this radius. Sure enough, sectioning others confirmed this to be true. I have received warnings my load must have been too hot and Federal brass is soft, neither of these is patently the cause. Bolt gunners I have talked to have no problems using it as I'm sure the head has better support. Damage? The bolt was split and I damaged the upper receiver in removal of the carrier as the bolt was jammed into the barrel extension. The magazine was totaled but I escaped any injury.

April 1, 2002, 04:35 PM	#12
renaissance7697 Senior Member Join Date: January 14, 2001 Location: Alexandria, VA Posts: 203	Reloaders Best Friend I use a RCBS Powder "Lock Out Die". It WILL NOT let you pass either: A Double Load or A No Powder Load. That; Mounted on a Auto Indexing Progressive has kept me out of trouble from Over or Under charges. Best $40 I ever invested No progressive loader should be without one. (Grabbing the WRONG Powder is an Un-Excuseable error.) __________________ An Armed Society, Is a Polite Society.

April 1, 2002, 07:40 PM	#13
Birdhunter Member Join Date: January 24, 2002 Location: Midlothian IL Posts: 70	I came really close loading .38 spl loads on a Lee pro 1000 with Universal Clays. It would undercharge or not charge at all sometimes. While at the range the primer sent the bullet halfway down the six inch barrel of my S&W 686. Luckily I noticed it before I kept plugging away. Fellow TFL members helped me figure it out. Now I use only ball powder. No more problems.

April 1, 2002, 08:12 PM	#14
Frohickey Senior Member Join Date: February 4, 2002 Location: People's Republic of Kalifornia Posts: 579	Managed to get a kB! from a Sig P226 with an aftermarket FireDragon ported 40S&W barrel. Reloads were mild 40SW loads, 5.6gr Unique behind 180gr lead bullet. Small pistol primers. Couldn't find the case head of the cartridge. To this day, I will not use that barrel again. I think that the cause was the barrel. The rest of the batch of reloads fired fine from the factory Sig barrel. It was not a double charge since the powder was trickled up from a scale. It was not the wrong primer since the others fired fine. __________________ Frohickey -- TFL Alumni SigSauer, if you are listening, MAKE A DOUBLE-STACK 10mm PISTOL!

April 2, 2002, 10:35 AM	#15
WESHOOT2 Senior Member Join Date: February 20, 1999 Location: home on the range; Vermont (Caspian country) Posts: 14,324	BENT 44 REDHAWK / GREAT RUGER SERVICE I was unable to get 1800fps for more than one shot using 300g LFP. Heavy recoil. Witnesses. Loud. Big brass hammer-time. __________________ . "all my ammo is mostly retired factory ammo"

April 6, 2002, 10:53 PM	#16
db4 Member Join Date: December 8, 2001 Location: Oregun Posts: 53	Never hurt a firearm, but... 240 gr. cast bullet over "alot" of 296= 1750 fps out of a 7.5" bisley blackhawk .44. 2 cylinders would turn a fairly competent shooter (me) into a twitching spastic.

April 7, 2002, 12:36 PM	#17
Redneck2 Senior Member Join Date: April 24, 2000 Location: Northern Indiana Posts: 519	seen two recently... one was the race gun that was over Dremel'ed. had the feed ramp cut back and blew out the case the other was a 1911 that had the bullets seated too deep and let the crimp roll over at the case mouth so it wouldn't headspace. Cracked the barrel.

April 7, 2002, 05:36 PM	#18
Jonny5 Member Join Date: April 6, 2002 Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada Posts: 27	Had an interesting experience with a .30 Gibbs a few years back. After the first one got ripped off in a B&E I had another made. I still had some old ammo left from the first one and I figured it would okay to shoot in the new rifle. Wrong. Damn near welded the case head to the face of the bolt and got a nice shot of powder gasses and other shrapnel in the face. That 1 shot went over the chrono at just shy of the 3400fps mark. Not bad for a 180gr sierra. It took a pretty big hammer to get the bolt open after that. __________________ A gun is merely a tool, like a knife, like a fist. Don't blame the tool for the actions of the person using it

April 7, 2002, 06:45 PM	#19
tonyz Senior Member Join Date: January 29, 2000 Location: Wa Posts: 922	Heck NO. But I have made some pretty interesting loads. Then there are the match loads that I make, can't find a factory load that will come close. Tony __________________ Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained

April 7, 2002, 06:54 PM	#20
Tony Cam Member Join Date: December 6, 2001 Posts: 22	I loaded up some 148 gr plated wadcutters with 3 grs of 231. I was told they would be fine. I fired 6 rounds and noticed one was sticking out the end of the barrel. I pried it out and looked down the bore and saw another one stuck in there also !! No damge to the gun or me, luckily. Load was too lite. Now i load em with 4.4 grs and they shoot great.

April 7, 2002, 11:29 PM	#21
blades67 Senior Member Join Date: April 22, 1999 Location: Chandler, Arizona, USA Posts: 6,014	At least the choices weren't "Yes" and "Not Yet"! __________________ Guns cause crime like spoons cause Rosie O'Donnell to be fat! I hunt, therefore I am.

April 8, 2002, 10:11 AM	#22
Southla1 Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 19, 2000 Location: Jeanerette, La. Near the Posts: 1,999	From actual reloading I have never even came near a KB or damage.........................however.............. one time I was trying to "improve" some 22LR loads and was going to try some bullseye powder in place of the factory powder................a word of caution..............DON'T ! I fired it in my Win 69 and it blew the magazine out plus bent the plate on the bottom of the stock that is around the hole the magazine goes into. It also blew the extractor pin and spring out (I caught hell finding them on my shop floor) and melted the back of the cartridge. No permenant damage but it was a good lesson....................don't screw with some thing that is working!

April 9, 2002, 09:57 PM	#23
Brass Rat Member Join Date: February 23, 2002 Location: Deep Southern Illinois Posts: 43	Worst "damage" done was a head-sep in my AR due to overworked brass. __________________ Fighting for positive change in Illinois!

September 12, 2004, 01:10 PM	#24
kidcoltoutlaw Senior Member Join Date: April 13, 2000 Location: bluefield Posts: 735	i had a rem 760 fire out of battery the factory said it was a reload it was but not a hot load.the gun had done it before.i should have got me a wilson case gauge to check the rounds with now i have one for the auto's and pump.no more problems. __________________ It's not just a gun it's the symbol of freedom

September 12, 2004, 08:25 PM	#25
HSMITH Senior Member Join Date: June 21, 2002 Posts: 2,019	Nope, not ever even close to damaging a gun with reloads. Never hurt myself other than ringing ears either. I have loosened up a couple guns with several thousand rounds of heavy reloads, but it was to be expected.