"Foiled" again!

[Gadsden]

Here is a harsh lesson learned (AKA: jackass moment ahead!)..
I was reloading .223 on my Dillon 550. Once I get in a good groove I can crank them out quite quickly. After about my 30th round, I noticed that some powder was trickling outside the round. I cautiously did a single round, only to notice now the powder bar locked in place. After taking the whole powder assembly apart, I realized a small piece of the foam/foil "freshness seal" from the powder keg had fallen into the powder hopper and made its way into the die, restricting the flow of powder until it finally backed it up and seized it up. Easy fix.

Now, for the sucky part. I have no ideas which bullets came out fine and which ones got a restricted amount of powder. Obviously I am not going to fire them to find out... looks like I will be hand-pulling 30+ rounds and re-making them. I am pretty sure I got them all, but I am not going to take the chance. Harsh lessons are the ones ya don't forget.

Moral of the story:
*Make sure nothing gets in your powder!
*QA your powder drops early and often!
*Having a bullet puller is a good thing, and having two of them and a g/f willing to help is even better.

 

[MARINE96]

*Having a bullet puller is a good thing, and having two of them and a g/f willing to help is even better.

Why does this have a mastercard type spoof ring to it.

 

[rep308]

Everyone has a reloading problem that wakes them up and make them careful in the future. Have fun pulling 30 .223, I pulled 100 .45 with the little damn hammer

 

[wiskie762]

Try weighing them first see if thiers a difference in weight. Make a round that you know is up to par, Then compare the weight of the 30 rounds you made.

I made a mistake and tried this method and found the mistakes had a noticable differance in weight. ( I ended up pulling most of the bullets even the ones that were the same as my good round. It was my first time trying this method and i wanted to be safe)

Otherwise have fun pulling.

 

[TonyDedo]

This happened to me just the other day loading .45ACP on my Dillon XL650. I lubed the powder scale midway and after loading a couple dozen rounds I noticed it wasn't dropping powder anymore.

The solution is to weigh the cartridges you loaded. Find a round you KNOW was loaded properly (or load a new one) and weight it. Then weigh the questionable rounds. A .223 round with no powder in it is going to weigh something like 20 grains less.

Worked like a charm for me. My "correct" .45ACP round all weighed in around 324gr, whereas the squib (there was only one in my case) weighted in at 319, missing the 5gr powder charge. The difference in a squib .223 will be even more dramatic.

 

[Gadsden]

With the potential differences in the cases, bullets, etc, I rather not risk it by weighing them. Some of them could have been a few grains less instead of having no powder. I rather just chalk it up to a harsh lesson and pull them. (Although getting the bullets out of the casing is a nightmare.. not much mass to continue the momentum of the hammer strike, plus they have a cannalure and slight crimp!)

 

[Dirtypacman]

I have made a mistake like this but in double the quantity of rounds (.45) ... I think I was around 60 in when I realized I had been using an incorrect charge. Took my about 3x as long to pull em all as it was to load them to start with.

Regardless I have never had a problem since because I double triple check .. and will be doing so for years to come.. I don't think you ever become an expert you just get a better feel for the whole process.

 

[WILDCATT]

pulling

get the hornady lever puller.I have used hammer and RCBS but the hornady is the best.pistol bullets may force the hammer method.

 

[1903Collector]

I would just pull em, it's only 30. I wouldn't try to determine which ones may be light by weighing them, I have seen case and bullet weights vary quite a bit in some lots. I tried this once with some 45s. When I measured the individual components some of the bullets (lead) were 5 to 8 grains under and the brass varried about the same.

 

[Gadsden]

I would just pull em, it's only 30. I wouldn't try to determine which ones may be light by weighing them, I have seen case and bullet weights vary quite a bit in some lots. I tried this once with some 45s. When I measured the individual components some of the bullets (lead) were 5 to 8 grains under and the brass varried about the same.

Exactly. All it takes is a bullet to be 1gr heavy and the casing be 2-3 grains heavy to hide a 3-4gr shortage on powder. The brass is "once-fired military", so the lots could vary quite a bit. They are not hot loads as it is, so no need to risk a squib or worse. In the time it takes to weigh them I could probably have them in the hammer and smash them out. Who knows, it may be a bit therapeutic to sit there hitting something with a hammer!

 

[MARINE96]

At least it's only 30 rounds.
I have roughly 400 rounds of .45 my dad loaded over 13 years ago that need to be disassembled. The whole lot is a variety of jacketed and lead semi-waddcutter over various grains of who knows what. He cant remember what powder he used nor did he keep logs back then. I'm not to sure what his reasoning for loading them at the time was. I'm sure as hell not going to chance blowing up my series 70 trying them out.

 

[Flyer007]

I have been reading this thread and all the responses bring up a question.

How does one reload a primed case? I take it these have to be sized again. Do you just remove the deprimer rod from the sizing die?

Thanks

At least it's only 30 rounds.
I have roughly 400 rounds of .45 my dad loaded over 13 years ago that need to be disassembled. The whole lot is a variety of jacketed and lead semi-waddcutter over various grains of who knows what. He cant remember what powder he used nor did he keep logs back then. I'm not to sure what his reasoning for loading them at the time was. I'm sure as hell not going to chance blowing up my series 70 trying them out.

 

[Underwhere]

I made a test batch of 9mm. Chrono'd fine.
I came home and made 2000 rds of 9mm. Chrono'd it and it was way way hot.
I though I'd have to pull all 2000.

Went back to the range to verify and it turned out to be inaccurate chrono readings.

 

[Gadsden]

I have been reading this thread and all the responses bring up a question.

How does one reload a primed case? I take it these have to be sized again. Do you just remove the deprimer rod from the sizing die?

Thanks

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but you should not have to re-size it. I have reloaded ones I have pulled more than once with no ill effects.

 

[Dick]

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but you should not have to re-size it. I have reloaded ones I have pulled more than once with no ill effects.

+1 In the unlikely event you do need to resize them, just remove the primer punch from whichever die it's in.

 

[Fixxah]

Try weighing them first see if thiers a difference in weight. Make a round that you know is up to par, Then compare the weight of the 30 rounds you made.

I made a mistake and tried this method and found the mistakes had a noticable differance in weight. ( I ended up pulling most of the bullets even the ones that were the same as my good round. It was my first time trying this method and i wanted to be safe)

Otherwise have fun pulling.

Unless you have all the bullets, cases, and primers marked with their weight I would suggest tearing all of them down. There is a difference from one component to the next and safety is always paramount.

I thought of trying that once and when I saw the different weights just in the bullets alone I yanked all 200 that I loaded. I needed to know for certain that I could trust the ammo that I assembled. YMMV

 

[1903Collector]

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but you should not have to re-size it. I have reloaded ones I have pulled more than once with no ill effects.

As long as the neck will hold the bullet securely.

 

[MARINE96]

I'm dreading pulling apart the rounds I have. I plan to just reload the primed cases with a load I made.