First just let me say this about the Encore, it is one hell of a strong rifle. I accidentally OVERLOADED a few cases (I wont say by how much lol ) but is was enough to be a little scary. What I did was accidentally looked at the wrong page for the bullet weight I was loading so I inadvertantly loaded my 55gr bullets at what the book lists for 40gr bullets. I will be the first to confirm the idea that you should NOT load when you can not pay 100% attention to your loading. I have always read that in everything I have read about the reloading process. It always sounded like good advice. But I am here to tell you that if you can not pay close attention to the details when you load, then wait until you can.

My mistake was that I was on the phone with an old buddy who I have not spoken to in a few years so we were just catching up with each other and so on while I was loading. So I was not paying attention to things like I should have been. My mistake was a simple one. But one that could have been very dagerous! What happened was that I was flipping through the pages of my Nosler book looking for the load I wanted when the phone rang. As I said it was an old buddy so we started chatting. Well after awhile I knew we were going to be on the phone awhile and I had to have these loads ready for testing for the next morning so I had to get cracking on em, but I also did not want to hang up (first mistake) so I looked at the book which was open to my caliber and I started working up loads. What I failed to double check was that I was on the correct page for the bullet I was loading. I actually was on the page for a 40gr instead of the 55gr Balistic Tips I was loading. Plus I was loading near max anyway so that made things worse.

Anyway, to make a long story longer I finished loading up about 50 rounds total from 3 seperate powders. So what I ended up doing was overloading my 55gr Noslers at over 1.5+ grains over max all becuase I was looking at the wrong page and did not notice becuase I was not paying attention like I should have.

Now to get to the point about the Encore. Like I said, thankfully I was shooting the Encore instead of some other type of action. With the Encore being a single shot break top type action it has a little stronger action just from its basic design. Well when I shot the overcharged loads the only thing that happened was more recoil, a few blown primers, difficulty in opening the action, and a hell of a lot of soot all over the head of the case, and nice cloud of smoke.

But no damage of any kind or anything negative happened to the encore whatsoever.

So heres my tip for the day.........pay attention when you are reloading and only reload when you can pay 100% attention without interuptions!!!!!
I speak from experience, and thankfully it was a good lesson learned that did not cause damage to my rifle or even worse someone else shooting next to me or myself.

Thanks! It never hurts to get a "subtile" reminder.
Pete

Hello Embalmer,

Your post should serve as a "heads up" to us. I had a period where I was making far too many mistakes in my reloading room, most of them easily avoidable. I evolved a method that helps a lot. Mind you I reload for 11 different calibers so I need all the caution I can muster. First of all I only take out the rifle powder and primers that I'm going to use. Ditto for the bullets. No other components are allowed on my reloading bench. When I'm finished with that caliber everything gets put away, and I start fresh with the next one. 2 cans of powder on the bench is asking for trouble. You don't have to be tired to make mistakes. Weigh scales are delicate and can be knocked off their setting very easily. If your charges aren't coming close, immediately check the setting to see if you've inadvertently hit it. Don't start putting powder in cases you've forgotten to prime. Think you can't do it? You can. Cases that have been primed and powdered are moved to the far end of my reloading bench. Don't even let them come close to unpowdered cases. A lot of the duds we encounter are nothing more than cases we've forgotten to powder and failed to notice. There are three stages to reloading; case prep, case cleaning, and reloading. Keep them separate along with their required tools. These are not major steps, but they can save you much heartache. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I'm still a beginner so I do each step very carefully and double-check, double-check, double-check ...

The trick, I suppose, is not to let go of this good habit further on.

Better slow than sorry

i have been reloading my .45 only a short time (read just under 300 rds) but I came up with what I think is a decent routine that keeps me out of trouble.

prep and clean cases. when they are clean they go into a syrofoam holder that I get from factory rounds, primer up. that way I can see that they are deprimed and clean. I also seperate them into "batches" (ie once fired, twice fired, range brass, etc)

then I prime them and again they get stored primer up in the blocks and again placed in a seperate spot.

then when im charging with powder I take the primed case, fill it, then place it in another block mouth up. this way I know only to take the primer up cases to fill and prevents me from double charging. I also pull random samples to check for consistency in powder mesurments. this includes the first round, one every 10-20, then the last round. (as well as a quick look at all the cases under the light to look for anything "wrong"

then I seat and crimp the bullet and stand them up on the table till I get about 20 or so. then I check the rounds that are loaded for overall length and make sure it seated right then into my ammo case it goes.

so far I have only flubbed one round, that was from not seating it level and it buckled the case. but every other load has shot prefectly.

I need to pick up a crono so I can see how consistent I really am.

Amen to all the above, AND add the following caveat - DON'T GET SO COMFY IN YOUR ROUTINE THAT YOU DON'T DOUBLE-CHECK IT OCCASIONALLY. I also had a routine that I thought was bullet-proof but I'd been doing it so long that a moment's inattention caused me to load Ramshot TAC into some 270's instead of Big Game. Fortunately, it was the starting load for Big Game, which was a blessing. Thank God for guardian angels.

ONLY ONE POWDER, THE CORRECT POWDER, AT A TIME ON THE BENCH!! Rule #1 of safe reloading, the violation of which has probably been the cause of more ka-booms than any other.

R-WEST

Embalmer: Thank you for the timely and important reminder! I am so happy you and then your equipment were not damaged! I started reloading Rifle cartridges when I was 15! And horrors there in that I taught myself! Back in 1962 there were no videos and how to books on reloading - at least not in my area of the world. I literally had to write down questions and when my parents went to town I would run across town to the sport shop and ask the counterman about the next step in creating a homemade 30/06 rund!
Since then I have loaded at least 100,000 centerfire Rifle cartridges and not one pistol cartridge or shotshell!
I agree with you whole heartedly Embalmer - only load when you can pay attention, won't be distracted and I always try to complete my tasks in one sitting. I also stay away from maximum and "a touch more loads" like the plague! I can't remember the last time I loaded a maximum load. I get along just wonderfully without cratered primers!
Thanks again!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Complacency and over confidence will do you in every time.

My experience was w/double charges. Specifically - 28 Gr IMR 4227 is a max cast bullet load for the bullet I was using in 30 06. I had settled on 24 grains as a good accurate load in my O3A3. Well 48 grains will fit nicely if you are not paying attention. Large bang; lots of blood; well stuck bolt; split stock. There is a God and he/she will occassionally look out after fools. I had my glasses on. specs of oil, powder, etc formed a perfect outline of the glasses. Face turned nice shade of blue green. Spouse was disturbed. Friends knew they were hooked up w/an idiot.

Life is good.

Dnn

About a year ago I was reloading late at night. Carefully checked and rechecked my scales, sorted and prep'd 20 cases, charged them all. Went to pick one up to put a bullet in it and the powder fell out... I had forgotten to put in the primers first

-DallanC

ALWAYS, ALWAYS check and recheck your scale with weights or a bullet before you weigh your powder for your load. My dads friend failed to do this and BLOW UP a very strong ruger blackhawk 45 long colt of my dads because of a bent scale. No one was hurt but it could have been alot different. BE SAFE ALWAYS CHECK YOUR SCALE!!!!!