Had my first reloading accident today - PSA

[Fiveohmike]

when that happens, do all the primers go off at once, or is it "bang bang bang bang bang..."?

All of them when off at once, sounded like a gunshot but louder

[SunsetIE]

FWIW - it likely happened bc you were pushing up on the primer too hard/too fast. Primers need percussion to go off. You can slowly crush them all day long. But strike them hard and bang. Go slower on the upstroke

I've crushed a few on a 550 loading 223 and haven't had any detonations. Surprised me honestly, I expected a bang.

Don't feel too bad op, I was loading 12ga shells on my mec progressive one day and had my powder and shot bottles reversed. I double charged 15 shells before I caught my powder level dropping faster than normal. Would've been a bad mistake.

[Malthusian]

Malthusian -
I put a towel on like a bib . Unreal how much stuff come out when decapping .
I expect it when cleaning primer pockets and flash holes . I even get it [ lots
less ] when hand priming .

- -
Noted

My detonation was a large pistol primer into a small pistol primer pocket via the .45 debacle

I now prime separately, or hand prime, particularly with .45 larger pistol primers

[Mayor McRifle]

That must have been a loud bang. You're lucky your neighbors didnt call the police. Not sure I would want to explain this to them. Not sure where you live but I don't think it will go well with my local police/fire marshal.

Is reloading somehow illegal where you live? Or are you just being paranoid?

[Mayor McRifle]

FWIW - it likely happened bc you were pushing up on the primer too hard/too fast. Primers need percussion to go off. You can slowly crush them all day long. But strike them hard and bang. Go slower on the upstroke

^^People should take note of this.

[tonyjr]

Mine went off like a string of firecrackers .
As for neighbors , they ll know I reload . Two of them have their kids move in and they have small children . Would you keep my pistol in your safe ?
Sure - they both brought them in plastic bags . Right !
I put them in cheap pistol pouches with their name on them .
I few years ago Bass pro had an indoor special / close-out . Buy 3 pistol pouches and get 3 free

[ben-wah]

[Fiveohmike]

Dillon's customer service is amazing. My new parts all arrived today free of charge, 3 business days after this happened

[Steelplate45]

That's one reason I no longer swap out my large primer set up

to small primer. I hand resize and load the small primers on my Rockchucker, then finish the powder charging and set bullets on the Dillon.

Something I did to ease up on the 'Tennis Elbow' from reloading, was weld an extension onto the press handle.

A side benefit of the longer handle is, it slows down the load process a bit, but gives me a lot better feel of what the brass and primer are doing during the handle stroke.

[RestrictedColt]

I know of people who drink beer while reloading as well
Naah,,,,not gonna do it !

I stick to rum & coke, beer makes me lazy and bloated feeling.

Thanks for the PSA. I've gotten laxed in my reloading, no eye or ear protection. Some say that ears are overkill and you only need eyes, but I think the only mishap that would involve eye damage would be a primer pop which realistically has as much or more probability of hearing damage as eye damage.

[RestrictedColt]

I'm surprised no one said it yet.
Buy once, cry once.

Is the primer shuttle on the 650XL directly coupled to the force of the handle?

The LnL AP primer shuttle returns by spring tension so if a primer is caught, the tension is limited and it won't set off the primer.

Unfortunately, I've read quite a few of these chain fires on Dillons, usually resulting in the primer tube putting holes in the ceilings of loading rooms.

Glad you're OK. Thanks for the PSA.

My hard and fast rule is when interrupted, take all cases out of the press and start over. In your case you weren't even at that stage.

Maybe this is why I don't understand how it can happen, I'm a LNL guy. I've stared at the machine wondering how the heck can the tube go off.