Reloading Kaboom Yesterday - Please Learn From This

[negolien]

Sorry to hear but thanks for posting.. any accidents or ND's are great learning experiances for others. Do you own or rent? Wondering if you're renting what the property people are saying. Very glad to hear you only suffered minor injuries and I concur with the static charge reasoning. Loading on carpets probably not a great idea in general but that's just my uneducated opinion as I don't reload.

[GregLafferty]

I normally just lurk and learn but this seems very important and I have a 550 so here's my guess.

The feed tube release end is non-conductive but of course the pin is. If there is a lot of static building up and you have non-conductive shoes you have become a capacitor. The pin is in contact with the first primer and then each preceding primer in turn until you get to the point your hand is touching the feed tube. When you touched the pin you completed the electrical path to discharge the capacitor (you). One of the primers in the vicinity of your hand was not touching the tube on any side so it jumped the gap creating the spark that ignited the primer. Just a guess.

Right or wrong I will be touching an earth ground before loading primers from now on.

[Madpyro]

Just a thought. I bought some fabric spray for static. I own some sweat pants that cant seem to kick the static no matter what I do. So I spay this stuff and its gone. Maybe it could be used on self and around the loader before reloading?

we use the anti static fabric spray in pyro. working with flash powder is scarey when there is static in the air. should work while reloading.

[brassburnz]

As I mentioned in the other thread about primers going off, I've had it happen with a Dillon 1000. I'm surprised your primer tube split in the middle like that. When the primer went of in the 1000, the primers in the tube went straight up and I think the only one that went off was the one in the 9mm case.

I actually had it happen a couple of times with the 1000 while reloading 9mm but that's after literally tens of thousands of rounds.

I can't figure out what would set off the primers in the tube unless there was some type of obstruction.

[Django1970]

sorry to hear that.
clamp a wire from your water pipe or electrical earth ground then run it to your reloaders metal bases, this will prevent any spark.

[rkt88edmo]

Holy crap - good luck to the OP with the plastic surgeon and recovery

[grant22]

Thx men. It's all healed up now. I was back on my dirtbike Dec 20, back to work Dec 23, and have been reloading and shooting for a while now.

Also have full use of that hand including full range of motion and full extension. It took a while to get there but I.m there.

Most important though is to please learn from this and be as careful as you can.

[Cowboy T]

Always a good idea to be reminded of the potential dangers of our hobby.

In my case, full face shield every time I handle primers, no exceptions. Glad you turned out OK.

[Slide Stop]

This thread got weird is putting it mild. Hey it happened freak accident or not the man is standing there with his hand F up. Just because "you" have not ever heard of it happening does that really validate your point?
Once all that's possible (to include the boogie man did it) is eliminated then we should look at it as how as hand-loaders, no pun intended, can prevent this from happening again or at least improve our chances of it not happening. Of course the nature of reloading and the physics that surround us will always be a constant. Once those are reduced we need to make an educated guess, a hypothesis if you will, as to why, and stop walking around with your head in the sand saying "I've been reloading for X amount of years and I've never heard of such a thing". Freak accidents do happen.

[sd_shooter]

Today was the first time I stumbled upon this thread. It should be a sticky!

Prior to today, I was already:
1) Using dryer sheets to cut down on the static when filling and cleaning the powder hopper
2) Wearing safety glasses during all reloading operations

In response to the thread, I will:
1) Buy a pair of comfy leather gloves and wear them when handling primers
2) Buy an ESD mat and wrist strap and connect them to my press
3) Ground the press to my water pipes
4) Buy the Dillon primer filler when funds allow
5) Buy another set of safety glasses that are more comfortable and less scratched than my other pair. I want no excuse to avoid wearing them!
6) Buy an electronic weather station to keep near my reloading gear

Thanks for sharing OP.

[Iggy]

Wow! It could have been a lot worse. I'm glad you still have all your fingers and face.

I didn't read the whole thread, but the could the static also have built up because of the gap between the primers and the primers actually sliding down the tube? Possibly caused by the dry air?

Also, my hornady lock n load seems to have the two tube isolated. Maybe this why?

[tankerman]

You can sell your blue press and get an RCBS Pro 2000 and use their strip priming method instead. All your dies and other equipment will work and you should come close to breaking even on the deal.

It's my understanding that strip priming was created as a result of primer explosions in primer tubes.


I bought out an old time reloader in Costa Mesa maybe 6-7 years ago, he was getting old and getting out of the game. He told me about a very serious primer explosion he'd had a few years earlier where primers ignited in a tube and he was seriously injured.

This fellow claimed to have invented strip priming as a result of his accident.

[fguffey]

I do not know, but, if the primer tube was dropped accidently and the person reached out to grab it folded the tube causing a primer to get crushed, as I said I do not know, what I do know is the tube should be cleaned like a gun barrel, cleaning the tube removes dust, dust and explosions? Grain silos and saw mills, and sugar refineries like the one in Sugar Land, TX..

F. Guffey

[Gunsrruss]

Static electricity

Dragging your butt out of a sofa or cloth chair can do that also. I often get a shock when I touch the safe after getting out of my cloth chair in the gun room. Lesson learned

[Below.Zero]

Wow, that looks REALLY PAINFUL Im sorry to hear that it happened to you, but thanks for posting this as a warning.

Way to turn it into a positive... Hope it heals up soon brother.