failure to charge a case when loading a lot

[lpreddick]

i am extremely careful but things happen. was loading a large number of cases and a distraction caused me to skip a single case. i have a habit of looking into each case before i put the bullet on it to seat. i caught this one , luckily. now after charging all cases, i shine a small bright flashlight into the cases in the loading block row after row, and all goes well. even though i know everyone has powder, i find myself looking...ocd is a blessing and a curse.

 

[LRPV]

It's always good to double check, and then check again. I put my cases upside down in the loading block and then flip the next one over when it's time. This method results in double charging every now and then which makes it a good thing to use powders that fill the case.
Jason

 

[civil82]

+1, I keep a small flashlight next to my stack of loading blocks underneath the bench.

 

[bozo699]

i am extremely careful but things happen. was loading a large number of cases and a distraction caused me to skip a single case. i have a habit of looking into each case before i put the bullet on it to seat. i caught this one , luckily. now after charging all cases, i shine a small bright flashlight into the cases in the loading block row after row, and all goes well. even though i know everyone has powder, i find myself looking...ocd is a blessing and a curse.

I have no idea what ocd is but this has happened to all of us if we have loaded enough ammo, it's also why we implement rules on our benches, I do as you do, I don't check each individule case but just before I seat I look at all of them with a little flashlight, I also for some reason just before my match in the morning weigh each round, if by chance I would have missed one I would find it then (never have ) my son on the other hand found a whole row he forgot to charge right in the middle of his match, he wasn't happy at all but it was a good lesson for him, luckily he had a cleaning rod and plenty of extra rounds, I was pulling his target and thought he was having trigger problems or something, it took about three minutes to get all ten down range and his target showed it.
Wayne.

 

[KevinThomas]

I've used the "flashlight review" for many years when loading in loading blocks, and it's definately worth the time. Stick to it, and just consider it a routine part of the process. OCD's not a bad thing when it comes to reloading, and I wish more folks would trend in this direction. Believe me, it'd save some minor headaches and some more serious problems if they did.

I load on progressives for many of my rifles, including many I use in competition. Since the flashlight approach isn't really viable on these presses, I took a page from Lake City's process; I weigh my rounds before boxing them. Lake City weighs every round of the many millions they load each and every day before they pass on to final imspection and packaging. The check is made simply to ensure that all rounds have sufficient powder in them to make sure the bullet exits the barrel upon firing. Something about rounds stuck in the bore during firefights making the troops cranky, if you get my drift. Loading up something close to 1,000 rounds before departing for Perry this year, it didn't take me all that long to run all of them across my scale. This was just to make sure they were all within about 1.5 grains of one another, ensuring that I had no uncharged cases waiting to make me look foolish on the firing line. Trust me, I can do that all on my own, without help from defective equipment or ammo, thank you very much.

 

[lpreddick]

bozo699: you have ocd BIG TIME! ocd stands for obsessive compulsive disorder. we that handload and "obsess" over every little nuance during the process of this and shooting have the "healthy" strain of ocd. somebody that cuts a single granule of h 4831 in half has the "unhealthy" strain. enjoy your ocd. weighing cases saved a friend from possibly serious injury. he spilled some 50 loaded rounds of 243s, some with 75 vmax and some with 87 vmaxs. we decided to weigh them and they went into two distinct groups until one was very different. shaking it revealed it to be half charged or less! discharging this one could have resulted in a "detonation"!

 

[amlevin]

I'm a "load one round completely at a time" loader for all my .308 and 30-06 loads.

Powder is dispensed with a Chargemaster and there is a convenient counter that shows as soon as the charge reaches the desired weight. I pay attention to that counter and as I place a finished round in the box or loading block, the "numbers" have to match. Recently finished a row in the box and the counter showed one short. A quick "weight check" of the finished rounds in the previous row showed on "short" over 40 grains. I know that weighing finished rounds won't reveal a small error in the load due to the variables in case, bullet, and even primer, but it sure shows a large discrepancy like "missing powder".

Distractions are a bitch.

 

[Cort]

Weighing each cartridge works well for rifle ammunition but is as effective for most pistol ammunition. A squib rod is a necessary part of my range gear. Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often.

Cort

 

[Win94ae]

I charge the case then seat the bullet right then. Makes it hard to forget and even harder to double charge.

 

[bozo699]

bozo699: you have ocd BIG TIME! ocd stands for obsessive compulsive disorder. we that handload and "obsess" over every little nuance during the process of this and shooting have the "healthy" strain of ocd. somebody that cuts a single granule of h 4831 in half has the "unhealthy" strain. enjoy your ocd. weighing cases saved a friend from possibly serious injury. he spilled some 50 loaded rounds of 243s, some with 75 vmax and some with 87 vmaxs. we decided to weigh them and they went into two distinct groups until one was very different. shaking it revealed it to be half charged or less! discharging this one could have resulted in a "detonation"!

Your right as per usual Lpreddick, I guess I do have it BAD,...BIG TIME!!! ;D
Wayne.

 

[amlevin]

Weighing each cartridge works well for rifle ammunition but is as effective for most pistol ammunition. A squib rod is a necessary part of my range gear. Fortunately, it doesn't happen very often.

Cort

All my pistol ammo is done on a progressive with a powder check station. No powder=nasty alarm. Way too much powder, same noisy alarm.

 

[Johnboy]

weigh dump seat has been the way I reload ever since I started. for rifel

for pistol loading I make sure the chair is high enough to see the powder in the case before I put the bullet in.Plus I put my finger over the case while it rotates to the seatting station so that powder cannot come out.

yeah OCD is the best thing to have when reloading.It helps to keep a safe reloading room up and running.My son hates the fact that I am OCD for that I even sort my pistol brass.He all so hates the fact to having to deprime all the pistol brass before reloading.( for me it helps to keep a CLEAN BENCH ) or having to clean out the primer catcher from under the press.So we do it with a little Lee press that we can remove when done.

 

[dooley]

Many years ago I learnt a trick from an old chap at a shooting range, I mentioned to him that I had doubt's that some of my loaded rounds might not have powder in them as I had been distracted whilst reloading, I said I tried shaking them near my ear but could not tell one way or the other as the load was about 98 percent full, he said try putting each round in a magazine then shaking them near your ear the magazine will act as an amplifier, (it worked) I could easily tell using this method that I had two rounds without powder in them.
dooley (UK)

 

[jonbearman]

I have severe ocd when reloading as I look into each case and when I loading is done I shake each one by listening to one I was absolutely sure of the charge etc.I then wipe and shake each one in my loading room which is dead quiet. However I stuck a bullet in my new 6br I built.It came out easy with only the weight of the rod.It happens to everyone or they arent reloading.I have had factory rounds with no powder.

 

[amlevin]

Many years ago I learnt a trick from an old chap at a shooting range, I mentioned to him that I had doubt's that some of my loaded rounds might not have powder in them as I had been distracted whilst reloading, I said I tried shaking them near my ear but could not tell one way or the other as the load was about 98 percent full, he said try putting each round in a magazine then shaking them near your ear the magazine will act as an amplifier, (it worked) I could easily tell using this method that I had two rounds without powder in them.
dooley (UK)

So how does that work when you use compressed charges 8)

 

[bozo699]

Many years ago I learnt a trick from an old chap at a shooting range, I mentioned to him that I had doubt's that some of my loaded rounds might not have powder in them as I had been distracted whilst reloading, I said I tried shaking them near my ear but could not tell one way or the other as the load was about 98 percent full, he said try putting each round in a magazine then shaking them near your ear the magazine will act as an amplifier, (it worked) I could easily tell using this method that I had two rounds without powder in them.
dooley (UK)

So how does that work when you use compressed charges 8)

It doesn't and if your as deaf as I am it wouldn't matter if it was a half full case you can't hear the powder shake, a few years ago I had a sack full of rounds I knew nothing about and was shaking them to see if they were compressed or loaded or something I can't remember now but after 8 or 10 the wife ask me what I was doing I told her and she said she could hear the powder from clear over where she was, I could hear nothing so I swapped positions I still could hear nothing so swapped back, I shook and she listened the ones she said she could hear I pulled and there was powder the couple she couldn't didn't have powder as a matter of a fact they didn't have primers either I think they were dummy rounds to locate lands or something but it was at that point I knew I had gone deaf from shooting without protection! charge and load can fail because it is easy to get distracted for just a second or the repetition gets to you, IMHO the best bet is to charge 10,20,50,100,1000000 whatever you want and take the time to look in each case for powder, I have screwed up on a whole line before and caught it immediately with this method, personally I don't like to load mor then 20 at a whack and usually just 10 at a time, that way if I hook something and powder spills all over the place I don't have to wonder how much went into the already charged cases and how much is on the counter, I just dump all ten and start over, not to much of a problem but 50 and I have had it happen and so have all of you if you load much at all, so it is usually 10 at a whack for me then inspect for powder then seat bullet, weigh, check concentricity, double check OAL on each one then it goes into the ammo box and I put 10 more into the loading block,....we all must have our loading bench rules and follow them to a tee or mistakes will eventually happen,......I know all to well of this!!!!
Wayne.

 

[dooley]

AMLEVIN, it probably does not work on a compressed load, but like I said it worked on a 98 percent full load, but that was 40 years ago, never tried it since now I am more carefull, most of us over a certain age and after many years of shooting are deaf, although my wife thinks its "Selective" deafness
dooley (UK)

 

[amlevin]

most of us over a certain age and after many years of shooting are deaf, although my wife thinks its "Selective" deafness
dooley (UK)

My wife and I had this very conversation about an hour ago. She talked for about 5 minutes and when done I smiled and said, "sorry, didn't hear a word you said". I haven't seen her for at least 45 minutes ;D

Maybe by dinner time, I'm cooking.

 

[kraky]

So...just how far down the barrel will a primer alone push the average bullet?

 

[lpreddick]

MANY answers, i'm sure. my only one was a .38 spl with a lead bullet (crimped). my son's wife pulled the trigger and it went pop, not BANG. STOP EVERYTHING! the bullet was jammed into the forcing cone locking the cylinder. being lead it was easily tapped out with a wooden dowel. that's when i started looking into each pistol case when loading them in a loading block. easy to see powder. some rifle cases are harder to see powder, esp if the powder is dark...that's why i use the flashlight. my worst possible harmful mistake was to use load data for an original 1800's colt .45 and shot two rounds in a modern uberti reproduction which had a tighter bore. the bullets lodged mid barrel!!! the gun did not blow up. i payed a gunsmith to extract the two bullets which came out as one and the gun was not harmed...lucky me.