For the second time in my life I started pouring powder in the hopper without clearing the previous powder. I immediately caught myself and discarded all contents of the hopper before beginning again.

Still, I get cold chills when I think about the potential for absolute disaster were I not to catch the error. In the present case, I was changing over from H4831 to Re. 22, which are almost identical in burn rate, so the effects would not have been significant (in fact, I probably never would have known it at the range).

But what if I had been loading pistol rounds and switched over to my .300 Winnie? Somehow I don't think shooting 77 grains of Bullseye would have been a very pleasant experience.

I know I'm telling on myself. Just remember, simple mistakes in the reloading room can have not so simple results!

quote:

But what if I had been loading pistol rounds and switched over to my .300 Winnie? Somehow I don't think shooting 77 grains of Bullseye would have been a very pleasant experience.

no I dont think it would be pleasant at all
glad you cought it before something like that happend

I'm really glad you caught it !!

I make it a practice to empty the powder dispenser after each session. This is done even though I may be using the same powder the next night.



regards....roger

We've all done dumb things at the reloading bench, whether mixing powders, forgetting to charge the case and then seating the bullet on an empty case, pouring powder into an unprimed case, seating primers upside down, and then some others too.

I never ever leave powder in my dispenser..ever. I'm just too paranoid about it.I never have more than one powder on the bench when charging cases. I know mistakes are too easy to make and do all I cna to prevent them..

I'm with Elkman2. I learned the hard way: only one powder on the bench. Also, double check the label on the can, and empty the measure immediately after your done.
When I was much younger I loaded a case full of Bullseye to see what it would do to a Mil Surp Carcano. I set it off by remote control (a long string) and it made quite a bang. Interestly, the bolt held but the barrel bulged, the magazine blew out, and the stock was shattered . The brass was vaporized.
Ah youth!

On the progressive loaders I do leave powder in the measure as I tend to leave them set up for the same caliber for a long time.

However when I do that, I take a primer container sleeve and write the powder charge the measure is set to deliver and the powder type on it before I put it into the top of the tube.

One the stand alone measures I try very hard to leave them empty.

Have been reloading close to 40 years now and I do not want to end my reloading career with that kind of an accident!

GAHUNTER ----- We all have done it to a degree, the most I ever had to pour out was a pound. The way I prevent it now is to keep the same powders in my three different automatic dispensors. Those three powders I use weekly and never put anything else in that dispensor, each clearly marked. All other powders I measure on my old 10-10 scale, one at a time. Good shooting.

I make it a point to only have one powder out at a time. If i know the next day I am going to continue my reloading I will not empty the hopper but rather leave the can out beside it. If for some reason don't get to my reloading then I still know what powder is in the hopper. If I need to change powders, then I empty the hopper and put the canister away before getting out the next powder.

quote:

We all have done it to a degree

No we all have not! Not in 34 years of rifle, pistol or shotgun handloading. Not in bullet casting or case annealing. Not at the range or in the field.

GAHUNTER--having it happen twice? Somehow you're not giving this potentially dangerous sport enough caution.
You'd better step back and pay closer attention. It seems that you're an accident looking for a place to happen. And the loading bench is a terrible place to be lackadaisical.

all the rules are worthless unless one has serious respect for the skills required of a reloader.....

Double check.....triple check.....and keep thing put away after each reloading sesiion

I haven't pulled the mix the powder in the hopper move, but can see it happening.

I'd venture to say the majority of reloading mistakes are due to fatique, ie you're too tired at the end of the day to concentrate on what you are doing. In these instances, it's best to notice your fatique, and simply not reload, or do one of the more mundane tasks like FL sizing and tumbling brass.

Critical tasks require your full attention.

When I ws first starting to reload, I loaded a bunch of 115g +p 9mm, then started changing over to load some 147g, then when and did something else, came back and loaded 250 rounds.... without changing the powder. When I fired the first 147g round I knew something was wrong. I took the gun apart at the range, cleaned it and found a ring in the bbl that I couldn't get clean. Then I noticed that I could actualy feel the slight bulge on the outside of the bbl. Oddly, that's not covered by the warranty. I don't know why that 92fs didn't come apart in my hand, but I'm glad it wasn't some cheap crappy gun. (I think it looks better with that new stainless bbl anyway.)

I am far more carefull now, and that is the only incident I have had in the 5 short years I have been reloading. I work 11 calibers now, But I have to agree, put everything away between sesions, stop if you yawn more than twice, and don't try to reload and watch TV at the same time, even with a progressive.

GA,
Did you ever think about just buying factory loads?

Just rag'n ya!

quote:

Originally posted by ELKMAN2:
I never ever leave powder in my dispenser..ever. I'm just too paranoid about it.I never have more than one powder on the bench when charging cases. I know mistakes are too easy to make and do all I cna to prevent them..

same here. In fact I double check my entire bench before I walk away just to make sure everything is put away.

Rusty,

Hush your mouth!

AS SOON AS I get through loading whatever powder i am loading I always empty the existing powder in the hopper back into the powder container it came from, that away you don't make these kind of mistakes.