The dumbest reloading thing I'd ever done survey.

[Bosn Ski]

After my very first reloading session, I forgot to close the hopper on my powder measure before pulling it off my press... Powder went everywhere

Today, I went to Bass Pro to pick up a pound of Bullseye I ordered. On the way out of the store, I picked up the container by the cap from the shipping box and promptly dropped the bottle on the floor. The cap broke spilling powder everywhere...and the container is round so it rolled, spilling powder along the way. The manager was understanding and put a rush on a new container for me.

[skizzums]

that freakin SUUUUCKS!!!!! man, I think I woulda cried.

[oley55]

a few weeks ago I loaded up 300+ rounds of 5.56 with 55gr FMJ, and 24.9gr of H335 (or so I thought). I had apparently bumped the large weight on my beam scale to 25gr versus 20gr. End result, I had loaded 29.9gr of H335 and blew some primers and deformed a hand full of case heads.

I have since adjusted my processes to prevent and double check for correct charge weights.

[jwrowland77]

So far the dumbest thing I've done in reloading is....I didn't start earlier in my life.

Of course, I'm about to get into casting so I'm sure I'll have something soon. Lol

[schmellba99]

Probably the single dumbest thing I have ever done, and still continue to do today, is to pass up components with the mentality of "I have enough of XXXX for now, I'll get some later".

Always seems to come back to kick me in the marble sack at some point in the future.

[black mamba]

I used to have a bullet trap in my basement and could load one round at a time and fire it into the trap to check for pressure signs. Cost next to nothing to work up a max load. But one time I loaded 28 gr of 296 under a 200 gr JHP for my SBH and forgot to put my headphones back on before firing into the trap. Old house with concrete basement and 7' ceiling. I thought my head exploded when that round went off, and I had tinitus for over a week. I scared myself good with that one.

[skizzums]

I have a trapbox in my basement too. Very loud, my basement \garage has steel beams and the whole house vibrates after a shot....brriiiiiiinggggg

I must say, I put a lot of work into that box, but rarely use it. Maybe seen 15-20 shots. But I like having it anyway

[Smoke & Recoil]

I'm only bumping this thread to get it active again.....POW !

[jwrowland77]

Got something now.

In post 129, I mentioned I was about to get into casting and only dumb thing I've done is not start reloading sooner. Well, I can cross off not doing something dumb.

The first week of casting was going good. Well, it was a really hot and humid day here in Arkansas, so I decided to not wear the welding sleeves I bought to wear when casting.

I can tell you, that a hot mold can leave a 3rd degree burn pretty quick on the inside of a forearm. I accidentally touched one of my molds to my forearm and talk about hot!!!

Won't ever not wear those sleeves again when I'm casting.

[WhatRecoil]

Buying all factory ammo and not reloading to begin with, my biggest goof. So I decided to repent. Now the dumbest thing one could do is not read every slam one of these posts FIRST, not pausing to laugh at the exploits of 1006, and ignoring the collective wisdom of those who precede us

[gunnny12]

Back in the 80's reloading the Ruger Blackhawk 44, so I was good I thought.
Well hit the range the next day shot about 7 cylinders full , on the next 6 well pulled the hammer and bang saw fire come out the side and front of the cylinder, said wow, well I pulled the rest off, and had to beat the empty cases out the cylinder, till today I don't know what I did, I guess my scale might of shifted a tad on the load weight, using a RCBS 505 scale and a RCBS Powder measure.
Maybe should of stopped , but young , and well young.so maybe foolish.
In the military at the time.
Another one I was resizing the 44 mag cases not enough lube, on one, the press an RCBS Rock chucker was clamped to a brand new Kitchen table in the Apartment, well snapped the end of the table off trying to get the case out, holding the press and the table in one hand, I did get a slight chuckle out of that one though.
Landlady did not think so though.




Jeff

[bungiex88]

Was loading a box of 6mm. First time at the bench for a couple months. Started putting primers in got to 18 and decided to look to make sure everything was good. Ended up forgetting the last time I reloaded was 222 which was the 1st time I used the small primer ram and forgot it was still in. Primers seated just fine except for a small moon on the 1 side of the primer. Loaded up anyway didn't look to bad.

[Mike38]

Just a couple months ago I loaded some 9mm with 122 grain LTC bullets, and messed up bad. For some reason, I loaded 1 grain more powder then usual. Using Titegroup (a little goes a long way) I was pushing lead bullets out at what was very near +P ranges. Needless to say, after about 20 rounds, the barrel was so badly leaded the bullets were key holing at 10 yards. Took me a while to clean the bore, but no damage done.

[Tony Z]

Not the dumbest, but pretty stupid: about a year or two ago, I "organized" components and then forgot I "organized" them! Net effect, I forgot how many primers, how much powder and how many rounds of .22 LR I had stored. Now I have duplicates of duplicates and I'm left thinking "did I hide a cache of cash somewhere, or didn't I?".

[JT-AR-MG42]

Needed a mold to cast Minies for a Colt BP musket I have.

I really thought I had bought a new one several years before, so I went through my
60 some molds one at a time looking in each box.
No luck.

So down to the black powder shop I go and buy a new one.

Got home, walked to the reloading drawer to set it down while I dug out handles.
I set the orange Lyman box right next to the identical one (with dust on it) I had bought years before afterall.

LOL Tony Z!
Upside is that it feels like Christmas morning as you find all the goodies you had stashed away and forgotten.

JT

[David R]

This was an OLD mistake. (1987) My dad had a S&W 624 44 special. It's a great gun. We shot I a lot especially at pins.
one day my dad asked me to fire a few test rounds. I fired 3 and handed it back to him saying "Plenty"

Zoom ahead to 2014. Dad is getting old and I keep finding all his guns loaded in the house.

Mom and I decided to remove all ammo and powder from the house.

Later that year, I bought a new Bulldog. I was burning up my dad's reloads and found one of the 3.

The blow up was recorded and I was spoken to at the club.

I pulled the rest of the bullets and found one more of the super charged rounds. I think the third one was in the cylinder when it blew apart.

I sent the 44 to charter explaining exactly what happened. They sent me a new 44 shipping included.

I now have the Smith 44 special and the Bulldog. Thinking about getting a Charter 45 acp revolver.

No one was hurt.

David

[g.willikers]

Almost buying commercial reloads from a guy at our shooting club.
Until his own revolver blew up as he was shooting it, right next to me.
It looked much like the above picture.

[Kosh75287]

The DUMBEST thing I've done is either inserting a primer backwards (upside down?) or inadvertently seating a 158gr. SWC upside down when reloading .38 Spl. I caught it immediately, and set it aside. After I got through reloading all but a few if the .38s, I got a wild hair and loaded 4 more with upside down SWCs, and set them aside to shoot.

They actually shot pretty well, kinda like not-very-accurate 148gr. HBWCs. A friend noticed the reloads before I fired them, so I explained what happened. He just chuckled.
"w'HELL, boy!" he said. "Y'just invented the world's first BOATTAIL WADCUTTER!" It was funnier, when HE said it

Another shooting acquaintance who was regaled by my friend decided to try the same thing. He fast reported, and with considerable frustration, that results aren't NEARLY as good, if using SWC HOLLOW POINTS.

I never got a straight answer as to why, but he was less than approachable on the subject when I inquired. Since he's a gun owner, I left it alone.

[g.willikers]

results aren't NEARLY as good, if using SWC HOLLOW POINTS.

Maybe some of the powder got into the hollow point cavity and then acted like a booster rocket, causing yawing and tumbling.
He shoulda' checked with NASA for details, first.
They already figured out what not to do a long time ago.

[jolly roger]

Had old Lyman auto primer feed that got "stuck"..knew enough to remove primers before getting stuck one out..pried the stuck primer too aggressively with small screwdriver..it went off sending the primer cup directly into end my my right little finger just under the nail...that hurt a tad...luckily not in face. Threw that junk away.

[David R]

I was looking at a Remington 700 VL in 22-250 used for $599.00. When inspecting the bore, there was no rifling in the beginning. I asked the salesman how much a new one was. He looked it up and said "$599.00" . I ordered it.

Shooting my one box of factory showed it to be what I expected. I started reloading for it getting great results using Win 748 and 52 gr HPBT.

Next I tried cast bullets. I bought a new lyman mold of their latest and greatest 22 cal gas checked bullet. It was a winner. My best target is on the wall in my living room. 5" 14 shot group at 300 yards.

One day at the range I was chrono my handloads.

I put what I thought was a factory 40 grain and fired the gun. I was sprayed in the face with powder, Chrony said just over 4,000 fps. The bolt would not open, so I took it home and tried with a piece of wood on the bolt handle tapping it whit a soft hammer. The bolt handle broke off.

I called winchester telling them my gun blew with their ammo. They said send the rifle and ammo. Next I called remington. They said send the rifle, so I did with a letter attached stating what I thought happened.

AFTER they had the rifle, I did a lot of snooping and checking. What had really happened was the round was a 55 gr jacketed bulled loaded with a 748 size charge of WW 296. Both containers look the same, I screwed up. I had been loading both jacketed and cast.

I wrote another letter to Remington telling them what I had figured out. I came clean and told all. I said you can use my letter as an example of what not to do.

The rifle was shipped back with the usual invoice. They replaced the bolt and barrel.

The last line said the rifle was repaired free of charge to show good will.
This was about 14 years ago. Just this week I shot a 5/8" group @ 100 with that same rifle.

I quit casting about 6 years ago when lead poisening got too high. Now I only shoot jacketed out of that rifle. I still shoot those new powder coated cast bullets out of my bolt action 308 around 1600 fps. I just quit making my own.

David

[DrkMtnDew]

Early in my reloading days i double charged a 38 Special case. I didn't have the same double check processes in place I do now and so one case was completed that shouldn't have been. Fired it out of a Charter Arms Undercover and luckily it cause no damage to me or the firearm. I split the case and flattened the primer and immediately revamped my processes.

[308Loader]

So far (knock on wood) the dumbest thing I have done with my loading gear is wash my die in the ultrasonic with well used turbo case cleaner. I was having fun with my shiny new ultrasonic, cleaned every case I had in the house with it. thinking to my self "it did so well on the brass it surely would clean my die to sparkle goodness." turns out I managed to, for lack of a better term plate my die some what. It came out of the tub black, so in a state of panic I started rubbing it with a cloth. That only made my black steel die look like brass. I then tumbled it for a day in walnut, the thing came out like a shiny tie die brass and steel swirl. Wont do that again!

[sparkyv]

While loading up some 135gr 9mm RN, I loaded two rounds using 380ACP cases. They fired just fine, but I wondered why the handgun didn't cycle properly. Now when I sort my range brass, I shake them in a tray so that they sit base down and I can see both the diameter of the shells and their relative heights.

I was priming some 308 brass using a Lyman hand priming tool and was having a bit of trouble with seating on some of the (ZQI from Walmarts) cases. But I just kept squeezing the tool harder to get them to seat. One finally went BANG! Scared the cr*@)p out of myself, but no damage done. I didn't realize that I needed to ream the primer pockets. Won't make that mistake again.

[Smoke & Recoil]

How about giving a little boost to this thread....
There must be more stories again.