How complacency lead to overcharged .223 cartridges

[f355spider]

I always double check and weigh powder charges when I start on my Dillon progressive presses and will check every 100 to 200 rounds and always at the end of a session.

Thanks for the reminder.

 

[f355spider]

This brings up a bad memory that is as clear to me now, as when it happened. Back when I was living in Glendale it was around 2006 when Cabela's opened there big new store there. I went to check out all of their guns and reloading stuff. I ended up buying the then new Lyman 1200 DPS electronic powder dispenser "system".

At that time everyone was raving about these new electronic powder dispensers. How much faster, easier, and accurate they were. Plus they were, "cool as hell"... So naturally I had to have one. They also had .375 H&H Magnum brass and bullets cheaper than I could get them for anywhere else, so I bought a bunch.

I picked a load of 66.7 grains of IMR 4064, with a Sierra 300 Gr. Spitzer Boat Tail. I then plugged in and "Programmed" the measure / dispenser. What I thought was strange is this unit required a several minute "warm up mode", before using. So I let it "warm up" way longer than the few minutes required, as I got everything else ready.

And then started reloading. I checked the first several drops with my old Lyman balance beam scale, and they were right on the money. So I loaded a total of 60 rounds, and headed to the range the next day. The first few shots in my Winchester Model 70 were giving me hard bolt lift with flattened primers.

I then switched guns and put 3 more rounds downrange with my Browning A-Bolt BOSS, and got the same deal. Something wasn't right because these loads were under maximum, and there is no way the primers should have been flattened like that.

I called it quits, and when I got home I pulled the bullets from 3 rounds from the same box, and the charge weight was 71.5 Grains..... 1-1/2 GRAINS OVER MAXIMUM! That's a total of 4.8 grains difference from the load I had programmed. While not catastrophic, it was inexcusable... Not to mention outright dangerous.

I ended up pulling the bullets from all the rounds, and what had to be the first box I reloaded was right at 66.7 grains. (The correct weight). But they started creeping up from there. I then pulled all the bullets, collected all the powder, and reloaded all the rounds, checking every one on my Lyman balance beam scale.

I took that electronic scale back, and Cabela's was very good at giving me a full refund. I don't know if I "got a bad one", and I really don't care. Because I have never, and will never trust an electronic scale again.

Are the newer ones better? Perhaps, but I'll never have the confidence to use one again, without checking every charge against a balance beam scale. Because gravity never lies. And that being the case, there is no point in me getting another one. Live and learn.

I rarely use my balance beam, the electronic scale is some must faster and easier. But before you use it each session, you should calibrate it with some check weights. I do that each session to ensure it is reading correctly. Even a balance beam can get out of calibration and should be checked with calibrated weights as well.
https://www.dillonprecision.com/15959

 

[pbm]

Are 'prairie rats' the same as 'prairie dogs'?

 

[wwillson]

Are 'prairie rats' the same as 'prairie dogs'?

Yes. They literally are rats, like you see in the city, the difference is they don't live in the city.

 

[pbm]

Yes. They literally are rats, like you see in the city, the difference is they don't live in the city.

Gotcha.
The biggest rats I've ever seen are NYC subway rats....they grow huge on the food that slobs haphazardly throw away and stay warm underground.

 

[danstraylee]

No one and I mean absolute no one but myself sees or touches my reloading equipment when I am loading grain. And I was trained to never ever walk away and leave anything out. I have a practice of securing everything like I was finished and ready to start a new session with different caliber and different load when I go out the door.

Weighing and loading grain is a high alert life and death procedure. Complacency will get you killed.

So relieved to see you are ok and did not blow the weapon up in your hand. Lesson learned.

BTW this thread reminds me I have some of my stored 357 Black Talons that need to be loaded for an upcoming target destruction competition between friends. I'm going to go just below a bear load at 175 grain. When we were younger and dumber we would modify a hollow point. Bummer with that was accuracy went in the toilet after 25 yards. Those days are long past. As long as my Talon supply lasts I'll continue to use them.

 

[Expendable]

It's a good practice leave the press handle in the down position with all cases in their dies if you ever get interrupted or need to leave the press.
You can pick right back up without worrying you missed or skipped a step.

 

[danstraylee]

This is defiantly an excellent thread for ALL of us to learn from. Quite honestly it could happen to any of us at a blink of the eye.

 

[dubber09]

Hornady progressive press here too but I only load 9mm for pistol. One thing I'd like to mention is that even powder from the same 8lbs jug will differ in a way that powder at the bottom will be more dense and while volume measured by powder measure will be same weight will differ. Always check your powder charge before every loading session, and if those are long sessions when you load 1k rounds or more, then check in between too.

 

[ammolab]

You see a case head separation, which resulted in a face full of very hot high pressure gas. My shooting was done. You can also see a very bulged primer with a rimmed crater and bolt markings on the head.

You had a cartridge case head rupture. A case head separation is from old stretched brass that pulls apart during extraction leaving the forward part of the case inthe chamber. It is an important difference as a head separation does not occur under pressure and the “load” isn’t a factor other than it was one too many loads on a case….in most situations.

 

[wwillson]

You had a cartridge case head rupture. A case head separation is from old stretched brass that pulls apart during extraction leaving the forward part of the case inthe chamber. It is an important difference as a head separation does not occur under pressure and the “load” isn’t a factor other than it was one too many loads on a case….in most situations.

Thank you for the correction. I have had several case head separations, as we reload brass multiple times. Yes, this was a case head rupture.