Averted a KABOOM!

[fyrewall]

Some time ago when I started working with stuff that made up ammo and other things my work was carefully supervised and I was required to adhere to regs and was periodically tested.

 

[carlsbad]

fyrewall,
I work in the nuclear industry. I've internalized a lot of the nuclear safety principles and apply them to shooting and reloading.

That said, I don't believe a procedure for reloading could ever be approved in he nuclear industry. The precautions, human performance tools, second and 3rd checks, lessons learned, critical steps, etc would make the procedure expand to be unusable. At best. loading 100 rounds would be a month long job. The only solution would be to contract it out to be performed at the vendor location.

--Jerry

 

[fyrewall]

Jerry,

You are entirely correct, assembling ammo under burdensome regulations and supervision like those found in the nuclear industry would greatly extend the process. I can imagine that your ammo assembly process is very precise and extremely safe. I imagine simple stuff like avoiding double charges of powder might have some commonality with some process in the nuclear industry.

I hate to think what could have happened if the screw up that caused the "catastrophic failure" involved a much bigger item. Possibly, reading some manual or a discussion with another person might have prevented it.

Any body working in the nuclear industry has to be real smart and I admire you for that.


,

 

[mousegunner]

I hate to think what could have happened if the screw up that caused the "catastrophic failure" involved a much bigger item. Possibly, reading some manual or a discussion with another person might have prevented it.

Why am I thinking of the HBO series "Chernobyl" after reading this.

 

[fyrewall]

The fine rifle was destroyed - unfortunate but limited and possibly no injuries. .

Chernobyl (bad effect on N. Europe dairy industries?) - some other smaller but notable screw ups Port Chicago, California, Bergen Norway, Halifax Nova Scotia. I never worked for the nuclear industry but have much appreciation for the potential of long term damage. I don't worry about tsunami's rolling into my house because I selected a location where that would not happen. Possibly, operating regulations at Chernobyl were ignored.

Some what less - I heard of this guy who had an accidental gun discharge into a powder keg (possibly when Hodgdon packed powder in round cardboard containers) and the resulting flare up killed him.

I need some verification on primer stuff and now would be a good time to bring this up - I notice that Federal packages their primers so they are resting sideways in individual pockets, each row separated by a open channel. Was there ever an event that caused a chain reaction primer explosion that caused Federal to package their primers differently?

 

[onelastshot]

I avoid over charges by seating a bullet as soon as the case is charged. By seating a bullet immediately after charging a case you avoid the possibility of a double charge. On a rare occasion powder has gotten stuck in the funnel causing an underchare, the case gets emptied back into the hopper and I start over again. THere's nothing more frustrating than finding out that you've missed priming a case and finding a tiny pile of powder underneath the case.

 

[SWRichmond]

Rifle cases for me always go into a loading block get charged there individually and when the block is full I pick it up and carry it over underneath an overhead light and visually inspect each case for fill. I've been doing it this way for almost 50 years.

Slow down before you hurt yourself or someone else.

 

[rwj]

Remember, all humans are fallible! It doesn’t matter how smart they are nor in what industry they work. The objective of safety and quality programs is to detect unsafe acts/conditions, errors, mistakes, and/or defects before any serious consequences occur. Its ironic that humans create these programs!

 

[fyrewall]

This can't be that difficult, there are only four components to a loaded rifle or handgun round - bullet, brass, primer, & powder.

 

[rebel]

Stuck in the funnel. Happens all the time

My wife asked me that she seemed to hear a series of rhythmic sounds from the room when I reload. I asked her to watch me and tell me what she heard. I , almost unconsciously tap the top of the funnel twice with my pan after dumping a charge and she could hear that upstairs.

 

[Old Tanker]

I totally agree about training. When some folks say, “They didn’t require training when muskets were used.”, I cringe. You had to know how to safely carry black powder, measure a charge, cut the correct size wad, ram the ball securely, charge the flash pan etc. The stray bullet hole through the side of my house leads me to believe that training is required in order to safely exercise 2A rights. We require folks to attend school until age 18 in order to exercise 1A rights.

Good catch but not sure you can put enough IMR-4895 into a 308 case to blow it up . Your basic safe load of 43gr under a 168gr smk is compressed a little . Not sure how much more powder you will get in there and still be able to seat the bullet to the correct COAL . Still a good catch and you should be proud of your self and your reloading practices in being able to catch that .



I think the issue is more no training rather then poor training . There is not really whole lot to train when it comes to basic shooting and safety . You have the 4 rules and the operation of the firearm . It's not like you're teaching calculus . There's not much to shooting firearms and maybe that's the problem . Pretty much anyone including small children can pick up a firearm and discharge it .

It's not the training IMHO it's the nut behind the wheel excepting it that's the problem . I have friends and or know guys that have grown up shooting but don't shoot much any more and there safety is scary and yet they think they are very safe . I have one friend that wanted to go shoot with me that claims he was around firearms his whole life . So I sent him a few safety videos to watch before I'd take him out . After watching them he said he did not want to go because there were to many rules . WOW !!! and this guy has a collage education . Some people just think they know better then the rest of us .

en

 

[T-shooter]

I avoid over charges by seating a bullet as soon as the case is charged. By seating a bullet immediately after charging a case you avoid the possibility of a double charge. On a rare occasion powder has gotten stuck in the funnel causing an underchare, the case gets emptied back into the hopper and I start over again. THere's nothing more frustrating than finding out that you've missed priming a case and finding a tiny pile of powder underneath the case.

I prime all the cases first and put them in a ammo case neck down. Then I can easily see if I miss one or had one go in upside down (both have happened).

Also anything I plan to rapid fire (AR15 with binary trigger) I weigh all the finished rounds on a cheap MTM scale. Within a grain or so is good enough. The reason is to know if there is one with no powder that causes a squib and a KaBoom.

 

[ballisticxlr]

Sweet story...

That the best you have?

 

[Pwc]

I have one friend that wanted to go shoot with me that claims he was around firearms his whole life . So I sent him a few safety videos to watch before I'd take him out . After watching them he said he did not want to go because there were to many rules .

I think it was more a fact of you inferring to him that he was unsafe; friendship may suffer. May have been better to do safety instruction face to face.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I think it was more a fact of you inferring to him that he was unsafe; friendship may suffer. May have been better to do safety instruction face to face.

I wouldnt go either. Thats the goofiest thing ive ever heard. Lost his one last friend over it.

 

[Metal God]

I think it was more a fact of you inferring to him that he was unsafe; friendship may suffer. May have been better to do safety instruction face to face.

That may be the case . As I told him , when rules don't get followed at the range people can die . There is no room for ego there . FWIW the reason I sent him the videos was because he showed me a hand gun of his one day . While doing so he swept me 3 times before checking if it was unloaded ( not that checking if it was loaded matters in regards to sweeping people ) . In his case he needed to see the videos and because of the friendship I thought it better he heard it from someone else rather then me getting in his face about how unsafe he is .

 

[poppadoer]

As a beginner, I may be too paranoid. I throw the charge just below what the load calls for then trickle the final amount on the scale. Before charging each case, I turn it, mouth down over the trickler to ensure it isn’t already charged. Once charged, the case goes directly to the bullet seater. I may relax a little, over time but hope to never get complacent.

That's just being smart,old tanker.I use the same system.If I've only got 20 rounds to load I use the lee dippers and my digital scale and my trickler.Perfect amount of powder everytime.I double check everything.OCD

 

[Iowa Fox]

I like to line them all up in the tray full of powder before i seat bullets. Just like in this case you can spot an issue before its an issue

My golden rule.

Even on the Dillon I look in every case before I set the bullet. Each time that I set up to throw powder I like to keep a charged case for master reference during the process.

 

[jackson1]

Would like believe I am as careful as the next guy. Been handloading for close to 50 years with out incident. Earlier this summer one of my grandkids wanted to load with grandpa. I set up the loader and got everything ready. In my infinite wisdom, I put shot in the powder bottle and powder in the shot bottle. We were talking and I was not concentrating on my job. Loaded 3 shells before I figured something was not right. Riley learned how to salvage shotshells. We are all one false step away from an incident.

 

[Sixgun]

I just posted a week or two ago about excessive pressure and discovered that it was my 505. Everything was zeroed but when I pushed the pan all the way down and released it it read about 3-4 tenths higher. Now if I load 40 grains I use 40 grains of check weights to zero it and always push the pan down and let it come back up. I'll do that twice as long as that needle goes where it's supposed to.