I think I messed up, my reloading story.

[surfish95747]

I have never had this happen.
While reloading I might have loaded some charges with way too little powder.

I have normally been reloading using Alliant Blue Dot, but have wanted to switch to Titegroup. I had a little Blue Dot left in the hopper and was reloading the last of that on my 4 turret press. I went too fast and had reloaded probably 6 to 10 loads with little to no powder, live primer and bullet seated and crimped.

I pulled all the loads I thought didn't have powder, made the switch to the Titegroup and then loaded the rest. I go to the range and am going through my boxes, when my M&P all of a sudden failed to eject. I pulled out the magazine, reinserted, tapped, racked, and jammed. I then took all ammo out, safed it, and then took it to the car and found out I had a bullet stuck in the pipe. I must have had a left over round of no or little powder.

I sat the M&P aside until I could get the bullet out and went to my Glock 27. One box went down range just fine (although there seemed to be a lot more smoke than usual, but that was with Titiegroup I am not used to). Next box, same thing happened to my Glock as with the M&P. It confuses me because I didn't think I screwed up on more than 10 rounds max with no or little powder. But this was two different boxes of reloads giving me problems.

Well, I got the bullets out and am now pulling the bullets on the rest of my reloads and going to start over. And go a little slower this time.

Here is my load data.
Berry's 155 grain RNHB
Blue Dot 8.2 Grns
CCI Primer
Federal Brass
1.135 OAL

Berry's 180 grain FN
Hodgdon Titegroup 4.4 Grns
CCI primer
Federal Brass
1.130 OAL

[bumpo628]

I refill the powder hopper when it gets down about half-way. It doesn't work properly when it gets down too low, so I do it a little early.

[emilio]

i cannot say this firmly enough:

VISUALLY INSPECT EVERY POWDER CHARGE!

it doesn't matter what you're loading or how you're loading it, you need to see the powder in there. you'll also get a feeling for how the powder level should look in the case. i rig up a little LED light so i can see the powder before seating the bullet, and every time i inspect i say "powder" out loud so that it feels wrong if i skip a step. i guess powder sensors are ok, but i still might not be comfortable - machines malfunction, my eyes don't.

and do not run a powder dispenser 'til it's dry!

- emilio

[Low-Pressure]

As stated above, make it a habit to check your cases with a flash light. It only takes a few seconds to do it.

[surfish95747]

Thanks, yeah I usually do check my cases, however this one time I didn't and this one time I had problems. Lesson learned. I have the 4 turret press and think I am going to go with a Lee perfect powder measure for a while.

[JST00]

I have a spotlight shining down on my press so I can visually verify charge. I have found little to no powder usually when I let the hopper get low.{as stated before}

[RaymondMillbrae]

UNIQUE-TEK SHELLPLATE ILLUMINATOR



In Christ: Raymond

[Cowboy T]

Glad you caught this in time. Sounds like it was a close call in this case.

One time a while back, during a .38 Spl run, the hopper got low, about . I said, "no problem, I'll remember to fill it back up!" Famous Last Words...of course I got back into the groove and forgot about the hopper. Realized with horror what happened about 60-70 or so rounds in and pulled not just the last two boxes, but did the box before that just to make sure! That's 150 rounds (the last box was all good, but better safe than sorry).

Lesson learned, all right. Ever since, my procedure has been to refill the powder hopper, no matter what, when it's down to 1/4 full. A nuclear bomb could go off and I will still fill that hopper.

[LGB Loader]

UNIQUE-TEK SHELLPLATE ILLUMINATOR

Hey Ray-Ray,

I am leaning on buying 3 of these for my 3 dillons. how do you like them?

I had some little flashlights I rigged up with electrical tape wrapped around like 50 times and it worked for a while but I have to re wrap like every 6 months and I hate the stickiness of it all.

LGB

[RaymondMillbrae]

Hey Ray-Ray,

I am leaning on buying 3 of these for my 3 dillons. how do you like them?

I had some little flashlights I rigged up with electrical tape wrapped around like 50 times and it worked for a while but I have to re wrap like every 6 months and I hate the stickiness of it all.

LGB

LGB,

to tell you the truth, I do not own a light.

I have an XL650, progressive. I cannot double charge if I wanted to. (I crank the handle down - the shellplate goes up for the powder charge. I crank the handle down, the shellplate goes down while rotating to the next position).

The only problem I would have is if there was a malfunction in the powder die (somehow) and more powder gets accidently dropped into the case. But then again, my powder check (in the next step) would catch it.

I think the light is a good idea. But make sure it is a wide beam, and not a spotlight - which will only illuminate the center bolt on the shellplate.

Unique-Tek has some really nice products, so I do not hesitate referring anyone to them.

In Christ: Raymond

[Fishslayer]

Hate when that happens. I sit on a tall barstool at my bench. I can easily look down into the case and see what's up.

It's a PITA but I've pulled more than I figured was necessary just to be absolutely sure.

I never have more than one powder on my bench at a time. Life can get interesting fast if you load up some 2400 size loads with Bullseye.

Glad that stuck bullet didn't turn out worse than it did.

[Sky_DiveR]

Been there done that. I refill my hopper when it gets half-full also. Got one of those coil flashlights at Sears so I can look down into the brass while I load also. I also changed the powders I use so it fills the cases alittle bit more so that a double charge would overflow the case.

You know that you've pulled too many bullets when ya break the inertia puller. First the collar, then the handle. O thank heavens for RCBS. I pull even if I "think" I've made a mistake.

I've gotten a bullet stuck in the barrel acouple of times, too. I caught it since it doesn't sound and/or feel right. I now carry an 8" brass punch, a sectioned copper cleaning rod, and a hammer to the range with me just in case I get another stuck bullet. Luckily I haven't had a reason to use it in along time.

BTW, good to hear ya caught it before anything happened.