First time for everything.

[4xforfun]

Well, after eleventyseven years of hand loading I came across my very first piece of brass with no flash hole. And , of course I didn't find it during initial brass prep...because....well....I didn't do any prep. Just pulled them out of the box , loaded to taste, and went plinking.

Funny thing was, it was like NOTHING happened....all I got was a regular click. I thought I forgot to load a round in the chamber, but when I started to open the bolt I could feel some (normal) resistance...like I was ejecting a loaded round. So....I figured miss fire and waited a min. I went to re cock , but when i did I pulled the bolt back a little, and when I went to close the bolt I got a solid NO JOY!! Won't close. Now I am confused.....did I break the ejector or extractor or something? Puled the bolt out and everything looked normal. I looked in to the chamber and there was a round in there, but no primer. I figured maybe I forgot to prim one. Hell, I forgot to prime 50 one time!! Still confused about why the bolt would not close.

When I got back to the shop I stuck a rod in the muzzle and pushed the round out. I looked at the back of the shell where the primer was suppose to be and it was full of soot. Now I was thinking I forgot to put powder in it. Gave it shake and it definatley had powder in it. Now I am really confused. Took a CLOSER look at the PP....scratched all of the soot out and there it was.....NO FLASH HOLE!! The reason the bolt would not close was the primer fell out when I re-cocked and landed in the bolt lug raceway.

The funny and strange thing is.....the primer went off with obviously enough PSI to blow the PP, but.....I NEVER HEARD A THING!!! The only feedback I got was the normal CLICK

Anyway, bored and sick of all this endless mid March weather,

Tod

 

[Big Mc]

Well, after eleventyseven years of hand loading I came across my very first piece of brass with no flash hole. And , of course I didn't find it during initial brass prep...because....well....I didn't do any prep. Just pulled them out of the box , loaded to taste, and went plinking.

Funny thing was, it was like NOTHING happened....all I got was a regular click. I thought I forgot to load a round in the chamber, but when I started to open the bolt I could feel some (normal) resistance...like I was ejecting a loaded round. So....I figured miss fire and waited a min. I went to re cock , but when i did I pulled the bolt back a little, and when I went to close the bolt I got a solid NO JOY!! Won't close. Now I am confused.....did I break the ejector or something? Puled the bolt out and everything looked normal. I looked in to the chamber and there was a round in there, but no primer. I figured maybe I forgot to prim one. Hell, I forgot to prime 50 one time!! Still confused about why the bolt would not close.

When I got back to the shop I stuck a rod in the muzzle and pushed the round out. I looked at the back of the shell where the primer was suppose to be and it was full of soot. Now I was thinking I forgot to put powder in it. Gave it shake and it definatley had powder in it. Now I am really confused. Took a CLOSER look at the PP....scratched all of the soot out and there it was.....NO FLASH HOLE!! The reason the bolt would not close was the primer fell out when I re-cocked and landed in the bolt lug raceway.

The funny and strange thing is.....the primer went off with obviously enough PSI to blow the PP, but.....I NEVER HEARD A THING!!! The only feedback I got was the normal CLICK

Anyway, bored and sick of all this endless mid March weather,

Tod

Found only one since I started reloading back in 1963. Now I have aged myself. It was win 270 brass. primer pocket but no hole.I was lucky did not load it but put it in the trash. So it can happen. Tommy Mc

 

[Rustytigwire]

Funny how Murphys Law has enough puzzles to keep everyone who really cares on their toes but leaves everyone else alone. Every day one more surprise, one more thing to watch for, one more something to fix. Tired....

 

[Uthink Uknow]

If you stick around you will see everything and unfortunately you will be involved in a lot of it. I had an old Polish Captain who used to say if you don’t do nothing, you won't do nothing wrong.

 

[sdean]

If you stick around you will see everything and unfortunately you will be involved in a lot of it. I had an old Polish Captain who used to say if you don’t do nothing, you won't do nothing wrong.

You will never see everything. There are people not born yet that will see new stuff or make new mistakes.

 

[K22]

Wow - never seen that one and I've been loading since the late 60's - literally thousands of rifle and pistol rounds.

I did have a once only incident a few years ago - I had a small rifle primer that didn't have any priming compound in it. It only ever happened to me once in all the years I've reloaded.

 

[Cemetery21]

Like above, only ever found one since early 1970s - a R-P 223. Fortunately saw it when deburrig flash holes sometime in the 90s.

 

[Bill Norris]

Another really good reason to inspect inspect inspect new cases even if that's all u do before loading.

 

[4xforfun]

Another really good reason to inspect inspect inspect new cases even if that's all u do before loading.

Yah, yah...I know....measure twice and cut once (H Ross Perot...1988).

 

[PatMiles]

Funny how Murphys Law has enough puzzles to keep everyone who really cares on their toes but leaves everyone else alone. Every day one more surprise, one more thing to watch for, one more something to fix. Tired....

You do know that Murphy is REALLY a woman, don't you?