The dumbest reloading thing I'd ever done survey.

[Chainsaw.]

@Smoke&recoil. I wet tumble, mostly. Well upon getting my caliber change kit for my 650 I was excited to load a bunch of 38 being I had nice shiney cases and some good looking PC bullets. Well in my haste I forget to dry the cases WELL.

[Sevens]

drain smith that is a fantastic story! Brought my group here a helluva laugh!

[m&p45acp10+1]

I was loading .41 Rem Mag. I had charged, and seated the bullets. I notice powder on my bench top. I wonder if my powder measure is leaking. I look and check. Find out it not leaking any more the wee bit of a tiny amount that it normally does. So I turn the rounds over in the loading tray to start putting them into the flip top box for storage. I now see where the powder had come from. All 12 had no primers in them at all.

[condor bravo]

Well my worst is the blown up gun variety. Firing a .30 carbine, a round with no powder stuck a bullet in the barrel but didn't notice the reduced sound due to others firing at the same time. The next round of course did its thing and the stock and receiver dismantled into about seven pieces, all projecting forward. Nothing or no one hurt and the best part no one saw it happen. After gathering up and hiding the pieces, a quick trip was made to the gun room to purchase another carbine.

[joneb]

I discovered the one canister of powder on the bench rule the hard way

[F. Guffey]

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.

And if you covered the cases with a plate you could flip the cases and then sort by head stamp.

F. Guffey

[LBussy]

This is not so much a reloading story as a dumb gun story.

My buddy and I were asked to do some work in a rental house for a friend. We had to put in a new flue for the furnace. Well, we were wondering the best (and of course quickest) way to make sure the holes we made in the floor, ceiling and roof all lined up.

"I've got an idea!" I say. Always a bad sign.

I went to my truck and grabbed my A-bolt chambered in 7mm Rem Mag and a fence-post level. Gleefully I took it into the basement and proceeded to make it plumb while the butt was on the concrete floor. It was plumb, I pulled the trigger, and could see the nice round hole it made in the ceiling of the basement.

I went upstairs and all was not well. The hole in the floor lifted a few floor tiles. When it went through the plaster and lath ceiling I guess the shock was a little heavy and it dropped a 3' area of plaster. We went into the attic to check things and it blew a fist-sized hole through the roof (which was good), but lifted up a whole sheet of plywood (which was bad).

As is the case with a lot of you I am sure, I'm amazed I've lived this long.

[briandg]

I use a thin Cigar box, guffy. It's easy enough to find a .38, but sorting out your 9mm isn't so simple. I stack it up in the tray and sort out the wrong ones,then pick them out a few at a time to sort out the unwanted headstamp. I pick them up about ten at a time. Cigar boxes are very useful. Not as strong as plastic.

[Charlie98]

I don't know if 11.5grn Unique under a 215grn .41 bullet qualifies, but my mad lust for FPS momentarily eclipsed my normal reasonable nature. The pistol, a Smith 57, didn't blow up, but it needs a serious tuneup, that's for sure.

[blackwidowp61]

OK, so I got distracted while I was reloading some -06 rounds. I missed charging 10 cases but didn't catch it. Seated the bullets and felt good about getting the job done. Nothing too stupid until I tell you that my buddy shoots nothing but my reloads for hunting whitetail. Well, he lined up on a beautiful buck and all the gun did was burp. Knowing that wasn't right, he let the deer go and checked the gun. Took him a while to clear the squib. He didn't get the deer and lost a day of hunting to boot. He was pretty hot when he called me that night about it. Funny thing is, he still uses my reloads, but he always shakes them before he tries to use them. (Thankfully, I learned a lesson that didn't hurt anybody!)

[Scorch]

10-96, you can't tell stories like that! I'm an old man, dammit! I almost peed myself I was laughing so hard!

My biggest adventure in reloading was learning how to load black powder cartridges. What lube you use matters. I took my newly loaded paper-patched black powder cartridges out to shoot, but within just a few shots the fouling was so hard and thick I could not insert a cartridge in the chamber. Took the rifle home and fought that stuff for an hour. It was like tar!

[jhansman]

OK, I'll play. First rifle, Marlin 336 (.30-30), shooting factory ammo until I discover reloading. First rounds were made not with jacketed bullets, but yes, lead. Managed to squib (count 'em) two rounds before I figured out something was wrong (no bullet leaving the muzzle was my first clue). I was later told I was lucky, and it may be a testament to the quality of the barrel, that I didn't blow the gun up. Don't recall the propellant or amount used, but I ended up selling the rifle to a gunsmith for a pittance, and have ever since made sure I knew up from down on any load I put together. Not a single issue since. Live and learn...

Oh, and one other: after loading primed .223 cases, I use my flashlight and trusty eyesight to ensure each case has the same amount of powder. Sure enough, one just looks too full. "Hmmm.." I say as I pull it out of the tray. Then I dump the "powder" into the scale tray to re-weigh it, and half of it is walnut media! Apparently, it became trapped in the case during tumbling, and stayed there through the priming process. Now there is a hand-written addendum to the "10 Rules" that hang over my bench: "Check for trapped media!!"

[Smoke & Recoil]

With all the new developments during the reloading craze, I think this would be a good time to revive this thread...hoop on in.

[FITASC]

Dumbest thing was running out of components one time a while back in the middle of reloading. Thankfully the local drug store had a great gun and reloading section.

[GE-Minigun]

Was invited to go shooting the following weekend and needed to load some ammo as I was running low. As life always…the week turned into the week from hell at work and I didn’t have time to load until Friday night. Run downstairs, grab my note book with all my loads in it (remember that…ALL MY LOADS), find the load I’m looking for (40 S&W 155gr RN), grab the powder, bullets and primers and go to town…500 rounds later I’m finished. Go to the range the next day and three of the four 40’s I took would not eject the spent case…WTH? Figured out when I got home as I was reading the load information I crossed lines between the 40 and 45…wound up WAY light on the charge to; as mentioned the guns would not eject the spent case; the only gun that did was the USP…some of the casings were rolling down the back of my hand. Learned a couple things and changed how I keep my notes. The USP will eat anything…ANYTHING and now I have a separate note book for each caliber. It could have been worse, could have over charged…

[hounddawg]

married for looks the first time...oh wait dumbest thing in shooting

that would be buying a barrel that I knew only had a lifespan of 1000 rounds or maybe turning the windage right instead of left after my sighters

[Reloadron]

It was maybe 30 years ago my wife bought me a Lee Progressive loader, I forget the model. I had ben doing all my stuff on an old RCBS Rockchucker and an old Lee O press so this was my first foray into progressive. I get the thing all setup primers, powder, brass and away I go with 44 Magnum. Next day I take my Model 29 to the range. The first few went real well and then a pop. Bullet now stuck in forcing cone.

I go see my friend Emery who is working the range. Wood dowel and rubber mallet. I tap the bullet back into the case. skip that and Bang! OK, back in business I return dowel and mallet. Two bangs later and pop again. Back to counter, dowel and mallet again. On my 3rd or maybe 4th trip Emery just told me keep the dowel and hammer.

Took weeks for me to live that down. I had been loading just fine for 18 years right till that press. Likely 1/3 of what I loaded (50 rounds) were missing powder. Still have the press but can't recall ever using it again.

Ron

[hdbiker]

I threw a charge and was about to seat bullitt, when I noticed powder trickling out of unprimed case. hdbiker

[hdbiker]

I emptied my Uniflow of powder measure into wrong powder can, one part of my yard looked real good that summer hdbiker

[Geezerbiker]

I haven't done very many dumb reloading mistakes but have you ever seen what happens to a .357 Magnum case when you run it into an expander die adjusted for .38 Special.

Tony

[Unclenick]

Have you ever seen what running a 45 Auto case into your 44 Mag/Spcl sizing die does?

[Sarge]

Originally Posted by Unclenick

Have you ever seen what running a 45 Auto case into your 44 Mag/Spcl sizing die does?

Creates a new wildcat cartridge!

I've always used a hand priming tool and have. once or twice, seated a primer upside down.

[FunGramps]

Lee-Loader in the 70's. Didn't know squat. Felt that more powder than required would just make my SA .44 magnum more fun.

Never had a mishap, but certainly should have.

[rc]

Accidentally loading a primer up side down. Loading some 40 but accidentally using 10mm data. Gun was fine

[GJeffB]

Reloading .45-70 using a misadjusted seating/crimp die. Got a nice crimp, but when the round came out of the die it had more twists than a slinky.

-jb, this is all just between me and the OP, right