That’s a great idea and I usually have trouble grabbing them out of the slick plastic boxes anyway.I've been handloading since 1968 and have had similar experiences with at least three manufacturers. Now when loading either rifle or handgun bullets, I spread the bullets out on a shop rag prior to seating. It's easy to see any that are not the same as the others and cull the offending culprits before getting anywhere near a case full of powder.
Since doing it this way, no unexpected bummers and no blown-up guns.
Has this happened to anyone?
- Thread starter wyshadow
- Start date
DShortt
Gold $$ Contributor
I'm a fan of the .308 cartridge family. I have a .243, .260, 7mm-08, .308, .338 and .358.
Tell me why attention to detail is important.
When I was younger and dumber, I used to reform LC .308 brass. For all of it. I still find some cases now and again. They go to the scrap bin.
Tell me why attention to detail is important.
When I was younger and dumber, I used to reform LC .308 brass. For all of it. I still find some cases now and again. They go to the scrap bin.
jxb
Gold $$ Contributor
Started doing the same decades ago because we were getting hoards of 2nd's from Nosler and bulk from other places for our sage rat activities, just nice to be able to give them a visual before loading. Nowadays I do it as much to prevent handling any more than just to seat them, especially the custom ones. Easy to dump the excess back in the box without touching them so they stay nice and shiny.I've been handloading since 1968 and have had similar experiences with at least three manufacturers. Now when loading either rifle or handgun bullets, I spread the bullets out on a shop rag prior to seating. It's easy to see any that are not the same as the others and cull the offending culprits before getting anywhere near a case full of powder.
Since doing it this way, no unexpected bummers and no blown-up guns.
Oh and yeah to the OP's topic, I have found odd bullets over the years but luckily always very noticeable.
A couple of years ago, the guy at the bench next to me couldn't get one of his 270 reloads to chamber (not from lack of trying), then couldn't get the round out of the gun at all. Bolt action.
We finally got it out by tapping from the front with a cleaning rod.
There was a definite ring in front of the ogive where it had fetched up trying to go into the freebore.
Me: "Are you sure that's a .270 bullet?"
Him: "I think so.."
Me: "Uh huh.. where'd you get these bullets from? "
Him: "I bought a bunch of bullets and reloading stuff at auction"
Me:"Well, I don't think that one's a .277 cal, it's too big"
It turned out there was some 7mm (.284) stuff mixed in with the .277 bullets, luckily it wouldn't go into the barrel enough to fire it.
When I'm ready to seat bullets, I only seat a dozen at a time. I line up 13 bullets sitting upright next to the press and have a look at them to see if anything looks "different". If not, they get seated, then I line up 12 more sitting next to the last one from the previous dozen. This hasn't failed me yet.
I also weigh the first bullet out of a fresh box, and measure its diameter.
There's no such thing as "quality time" in an ER, the less time I spend there the better.
We finally got it out by tapping from the front with a cleaning rod.
There was a definite ring in front of the ogive where it had fetched up trying to go into the freebore.
Me: "Are you sure that's a .270 bullet?"
Him: "I think so.."
Me: "Uh huh.. where'd you get these bullets from? "
Him: "I bought a bunch of bullets and reloading stuff at auction"
Me:"Well, I don't think that one's a .277 cal, it's too big"
It turned out there was some 7mm (.284) stuff mixed in with the .277 bullets, luckily it wouldn't go into the barrel enough to fire it.
When I'm ready to seat bullets, I only seat a dozen at a time. I line up 13 bullets sitting upright next to the press and have a look at them to see if anything looks "different". If not, they get seated, then I line up 12 more sitting next to the last one from the previous dozen. This hasn't failed me yet.
I also weigh the first bullet out of a fresh box, and measure its diameter.
There's no such thing as "quality time" in an ER, the less time I spend there the better.
DShortt
Gold $$ Contributor
Like these, for example.
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