Anyone ever cause a mistake?

[bearpugh]

i broke my own rule. NEVER shoot another mans reloads. 1st round was a double charge and blew a new kahr cw9 slap apart. luckily no digits lost. btw, kahr cs is excellent.

 

[No2sc2]

From what I understand, a charge below the minimum published will essentially give the powder too long to burn.

Published loads rely on a bullet getting out of the barrel in a reasonable amount of time. If the charge is too low, the pressure builds and builds (and it can keep building to a dangerous level) while the bullet is still in the barrel long past its due time to exit.

I hear this is mainly a problem with high power rifles. Probably not so much for pistols.

That seems to make sense! If the bullet doesn't leave out quickly enough, pressure can build up! I now understand why undercharge is a no-no.

 

[No2sc2]

Before I started reloading and knew anything about squibs, I encountered one. I thought is was a light strike, ejected what I thought was the dud round (turned out to be just an empty casing but I did not pay close attention), fired the next round.......kaboom! Felt like a +p++++! Ruined my barrel but surprisingly my pistol was otherwise unphased. That was from some crap reloads I bought at a flea market. I should have known better. NEVER AGAIN. That was a $150 mistake and luckily no digits were lost.

Dude you're so lucky! I've never had a squib but I learned it in safety class! I'm always cautious of usual bangs! If it doesn't sound right, I strip all of it down and inspect.

 

[bearpugh]

heres how it was explained to me. imagine you're standing in front of a door and kick it in. now a reduced charge is like you running from across the room to hit the door.

 

[No2sc2]

I was training a guy when I owned an ammo company when he almost did something VERY stupid. We had pulled some bullets on loaded ammo and were dumping the powder. I had shown him how he needed to tap the inverted case on the table then visually inspect to make sure all the powder was out of the case. He decided he was going to use a better way. He held the case over an open powder container and was about the hit the base with the handle end of a metal punch. LIVE PRIMER! Needless to say, I stopped him....rather harshly.

He was out the door in less than five minutes never to return.

What a dumbass!

 

[No2sc2]

I had a bad batch of 9 reloads that I bought lots of split cases but the on-line store made them good.

When I started reloading (45 and 9mm at first) I made up no powder, low powder, other errors on purpose. and shot them. (DO NOT DO THIS WITH RIFLE LOADS)
I wanted to see what happened and how they feel, In an auto pistol the no powder would stick a bullet in the barrel but you can tell some thing was wrong because of little or very light recoil. On the light powder you would have feed or ejection issues. So As a reloader when I shoot if any of the following occur I stop and check the gun: Do I see where my shot impacted; fail feed, fail to eject; or something just does not seem right. Much more care to seeing point of impact on a wheel gun since they offer much less feedback to an error since the energy for the load does not have to cycle the gun.

I am shooting for fun so no need to do tap rack and bang if there is a malfunction.

But anytime you reload you must pay attention and take care to do all the checks for correct powder, case length , seating depth and crimp to assure safe rounds
One of the reasons I love the 650 is I can set up a powder checker.

Hmmm yeah handguns have shorter travel. I understand rifle loads are more dangerous but what if you have pistol length gas system? Would it be more forgiven?

 

[No2sc2]

My Grandfather was a gunsmith.

He showed me a barrel (which I wish I had now) which he changed out for a guy. This barrel was off an old colt police positive. The guy had fired and got the first bullet stuck in the barrel. He fired all 5 more and they all got stuck behind the first. The damn thing looked like a pea pod. 6 lumps.

I wasn't a reloader back then, but I knew how incredibly lucky that shooter was.

Wow! He is so lucky and how did he not notice? Did he not noticed his 6 shots weren't hitting? Very lucky. I bet that picture would have been funny to look at! I didn't expect barrel metals would swell up like that! The bullet is softer than the barrel...

 

[No2sc2]

i broke my own rule. NEVER shoot another mans reloads. 1st round was a double charge and blew a new kahr cw9 slap apart. luckily no digits lost. btw, kahr cs is excellent.

Yeah I will be very persistent with loading. I probably won't experiment around. I'll find a manual data and try them. If it's good enough, I'll probably stick with that set up till a new product that's cheaper comes out.

 

[sold7]

Hmmm yeah handguns have shorter travel. I understand rifle loads are more dangerous but what if you have pistol length gas system? Would it be more forgiven?

The rifle powder is slower and position sensitive, so light loads can explode incorrectly burn it does not have anything to do with the gas system it the speed of powder and correct burn.

But the blackout you are loading load much more like a 357 than a rifle round. But light 357 loads can be some issues.
I only did the test handgun loads with 9 and 45 acp using a known non position sensitive forgiving power non position sensitive (titegroup). do not try it with rifles stick to known data you will be fine

Lot of data for the calibers you are loading.

 

[No2sc2]

The rifle powder is slower and position sensitive, so light loads can explode incorrectly burn it does not have anything to do with the gas system it the speed of powder and correct burn.

But the blackout you are loading load much more like a 357 than a rifle round. But light 357 loads can be some issues.
I only did the test handgun loads with 9 and 45 acp using a known non position sensitive forgiving power non position sensitive (titegroup). do not try it with rifles stick to known data you will be fine

Lot of data for the calibers you are loading.

Yup I probably will stick to data for supersonic loads. Everything I do is within 150 yards so I'll be okay. Curious about subs tho since everyone say work up to down. I guess work down till the first problem shows like failure to feed or eject.