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Posted: 8/29/2012 8:09:11 PM EDT
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Today I learned a couple of lessons. I've never had a single failure or issue over 12 years and thousands of rounds and today I had 2 separate problems.
First lesson: I was going to shoot with a friend today and at the last minute I decided to work up a ladder load for my DPMS bull 20 using H335 and W748. Middle of the road charges from my Hornady manual, RP brass, 4 rounds each, 32 total rounds. I was doing this in the morning while trying to get the older kids off to school, so I kept leaving and coming back to it. The first 4 strings went well, then on my 5th one I pulled the trigger on the first round and got a nice click. I waited the requisite 10 seconds or so then jacked out the round. Primer had been struck normally. I pulled the trigger on the second round and another click. That primer had been struck normally as well. I think I must have skipped my double check of powder being in the case before adding the bullet. I always check. I haven't had a minute to pull the bullets but when I do I think I'll find no powder. Never try to load and do other things at the same time. Second lesson: I am trying to work up a load for a friend's .308 using IMR 4064, Varget, and some 748 I had around. 165 Hollowpoint Gamekings. Federal brass. Using middle of the road charges from the Hornady manual (except Varget which isn't in my manual) The 4064 and Varget ran fine. Then we got to the 748 (I think it was 47 gr, I'd have to check, I'm at work now) and after the third round we couldn't open the bolt (rem 7400). Looking at the spent brass I found 2 that had missing primers and bright ejector marks. A primer had jammed into the lugs. I hadn't started at the minimum charge...like stated every manual... to save time and bullets. Lesson learned, at least for me, don't get cocky and start on the high side. I'm going to pull the remaining bullets and reweigh the charges. I load on a Rockchucker and weigh & trickle each charge (even the 748). I'm not looking to get flamed or anything but maybe someone will learn from my mistakes today. |
| everyone makes mistakes. luckily no one was hurt in this instance. i think its great when people share their mistakes and i dont believe they should be ridiculed for them. we are only human and things happen. maybe someone will read your post and when they sit down at their bench they will double check what they were doing. thanks for sharing. |
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the first part (about having other things going on) i just wont reload if its like that. but normally i will reload during the week in the evening. but then again, im single and no kids.
as far as min load... ehh.. i cant say to much. atleast when it comes to rifle rounds. i usually start 1/2 way between min and max when working up a load. the chance of a rifle load being more accurate at min load vs more towards max load is slim to never. pistol rounds ,i will start about .5 gr higher then min. |
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the first part (about having other things going on) i just wont reload if its like that. but normally i will reload during the week in the evening. but then again, im single and no kids. as far as min load... ehh.. i cant say to much. atleast when it comes to rifle rounds. i usually start 1/2 way between min and max when working up a load. the chance of a rifle load being more accurate at min load vs more towards max load is slim to never. pistol rounds ,i will start about .5 gr higher then min. That's kinda what I was thinking, figuring published data is on the skimpy side. Maybe I got a hot batch of 748, seems unlikely though. |
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I would always start with minimum on a rifle I wasn't familiar with. All of my rifles handle hot loads fairly well, but I will generally work up even if only one round per charge weight. My reasoning is that even if I get a great group at the lower end of the scale, I know I will not settle on that load, so why bother grouping it? Just shoot one, and check for pressure signs. Thanks for posting your experiences.
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I would think the primers just didn't go off. If the primer ignited with no powder you would probably be tapping the bullet out of the barrel.
I've had some powder that was hotter than its supposed to be, though I've never popped a primer. It's a great reminder to work up loads properly. |
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Hard to believe. 4 replies and all very good. I hope to add another.
Those AR's will do that to you. I had one failure in 20 years until I got my AR then I did what you suspect. No powder in case. So now I have 2 in 25 years. The 748 thing is a little strange. Ball powder usually works very good in those Remington auto loaders. One thing you may want to look at is the charge weight you used and compare it to other data manuals. I have the Hornady IIRC 3rd edition (1985) and it has some pretty hot data in it. I was getting on my brother's case because a load he worked up was blowing the primers out of my 6mm Rem. The load was over max in a few manuals that I looked at but was under max in the Hornady. He worked it up in February in WV and it was OK. But it's a varmint rifle and on 90 degree summer days it was too hot. |
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I would think the primers just didn't go off. If the primer ignited with no powder you would probably be tapping the bullet out of the barrel. I've had some powder that was hotter than its supposed to be, though I've never popped a primer. It's a great reminder to work up loads properly. have fired 223 rounds with primer but no powder bullet stays in case. OP thanks for sharing these whoops moments are great for the new reloaders that frequent this forum. |
| I had problems with some primers just not igniting ball powders like ballc2 and especially H335 and only in .223 for what that is worth.With the regular wolf primers being the worst I ever saw;sometimes I refired and they went off but it is stupid and a plain pain to go through that. |
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I would think the primers just didn't go off. If the primer ignited with no powder you would probably be tapping the bullet out of the barrel. I've had some powder that was hotter than its supposed to be, though I've never popped a primer. It's a great reminder to work up loads properly. have fired 223 rounds with primer but no powder bullet stays in case. OP thanks for sharing these whoops moments are great for the new reloaders that frequent this forum. I find that odd, though I haven't had it happen yet so I don't know. Hopefully I don't find out! 
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I would think the primers just didn't go off. If the primer ignited with no powder you would probably be tapping the bullet out of the barrel. I've had some powder that was hotter than its supposed to be, though I've never popped a primer. It's a great reminder to work up loads properly. have fired 223 rounds with primer but no powder bullet stays in case. OP thanks for sharing these whoops moments are great for the new reloaders that frequent this forum. I find that odd, though I haven't had it happen yet so I don't know. Hopefully I don't find out! i use a very light crimp from a lee fcd and they stay in there solid. I think we covered this a while ago and there was a few others that confirmed. Now I did it with my 40 and got a nice squib. loudest click I've heard |
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