Ok, my first post here - hi folks.
Seems an appropriate topic for my first post. My worst mistake ever still gives me chills. I was about 14 years old and had just started reloading (I am 56 now, so a while ago) My Dad had taught me reloading and I was excited to go on an elk hunt with him in Idaho. I loaded up a bunch of rounds for Win pre-64 model 70 '06, but was in a hurry. Dad had shown me how to seat the bullets so they were just backed off from the lands in the rifle, and i had done this on my loads. To skip to the relevant part of the story, I ended up filling a bear tag as there were no elk to be found. The bear was rather up close and personal, more of a self defense shot at 20 feet than anything else. Its interesting how time seems to slow down in these situations. I was busy firing at the other bear ( yeah, there were two...it was only 15 feet away) and in a bunch of dingleberry brush with leaves and twigs and all kinds of crap getting into the action everytime i opened the bolt. I remember distinctly a round wouldnt chamber, i assumed due to crap in the action, and when i opened the bolt, i opened it too far and it seemed like in slow motion the shell went spinning off without a bullet in it. I also remember thinking "I dont remember firing that one...oh well, shove the next one in , that bear is close!". I somehow managed to escape a well deserved mauling, and killed one bear. As i was out of ammo, i was running away from the other bear and remembered Dad saying " always pick up your cases so we can reload them". So being the 14 year old intellectual that i was, i am grabbing cases out of the brush as i ran up hill...away from a potentially wounded bear...yeah, i was a runner up for the "dumb bell prize". I finally make it back to camp and i am now shaking like a leaf realizing how close i came to being bear food. As i am going through my pockets, i found one of the cases i picked up on the way up the hill... no bullet in it, and the primer isnt dented. I ask my dad, "how can you fire and not dent the primer?" He of course tells me you cant... he then took my gun and opens the magazine... yup... full of powder. He then chambers one of my reloads and, yup, it was seated with too long of a COAL and when he opened the bolt, it left the bullet in the chamber. He then checks the barrel... nope... no bullet in there. So one of my shots, probably the one i dont remember firing, left a bullet in the chamber. The next round probably shoved its bullet into the case and i fired two bullets at once. Probably the only thing that saved me was a hell for stout pre 64 model 70 and the two bulets were touching each other as they flew down the barrel.... Need I say "dont try this at home kids"?... and for the love of God....DONT HURRY
