Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns reloading ammo warning

I noticed yesterday that one of the rounds I had in my pistol's magazine (which is ammo I reloaded) had the primer in sideways. Just a reminder to check/inspect before loading up the magazine or cylinder.

good reminder, especially for self defense ammo!

Good reminder. I sometimes also forget to give everything a good once over. Thanks for the reminder.

Reno

How do you seat your primers? Do you use a progressive loader?

Just wondering as I know this could happen but would take a pretty big distraction and I don't think I could seat one sideways deep enough to clear the shell holder coming out with either my RCBS JR or RCBS hand priming tool.

I've done it before over the 39 years I've reloaded, but it's always caused issues that immediately led to discovery, so I've never charged and seated a bullet with a primer sideways or backwards.

My dillon 550b will do that if I get a kernel of powder in the little cup that the primer slides out on. I've always felt the different resistance when seating the primer, but it does happen.

With a rifle for dangerous game, we ALWAYS run EVERY cartridge through the action fully, including closing the bolt on each, before they go into the hunting pouch or rifle. This makes good sense as a practice with defensive ammo, too. And, I had not been doin gthis before today, but now I sure will! Few things more dangerous than a wounded perp, maybe on drugs of some kind, looking at you fiddling with a disabled gun in your hands.

I just use my RCBS Rockchucker press with a feed tube. It definately can apply a lot of force.

I quit using feed tubes a long time ago. I believe that 'feeling' the primer in gives a bit of a safety net there, as does being able to see that the primer is chemical side UP before settinig the case into the shellholder.

Still, for combat and DGR ammo, running them all through the action, to a complete cycle, makes much sense.

Years ago I developed the habit of running the tip of my forefinger over the primer as I removed it from the shell holder. I can "feel" if something isn't right. Then I look at them as I box them up. Saves possible headaches or worse. Just the way I do it......

This whole idea of seating each primer with a hand seating tool so one can "Feel" the primer seating is B.S. I have probably loaded 20,000 + rounds of handgun ammo on my Dillon Square Deal Band at least several thousand rifle rounds on my Rock Chucker with a feeder tube, using the ram as a primer seating tool. I have had very few primers set wrong and those that do, I catch on inspection. With either method, you can feel the primer being seated. Just another marketing ploy to get guys to buy gadgets.

With the Dillon, you place all the loaded rounds in ammo boxes and then look across the whole 50 rounds for high primers or if any got set wrong. With the Rock Chucker as each case is primed,you inspect the primer, same as when you load the powder, you check it to see if it looks right, and then when you seat the bullet, you check that.

All basic reloading safety steps, if you don't do them ,in all probability you ought not to be reloading.

I've only tried one hand priming tool & after a couple hundred rounds decided I would go back to the press for priming. And like the guy on the horse above I can feel all my primers seat home. Maybe the key here is having a solidly mounted press.

I use a ram prime.

me too.

Same here.

All of my reloads go into fifty round boxes pointy end down. Pretty easy to check for problem primers at that point.

Thirty five years ago I started reloading on an RCBS press with a primer tube. What a complete PIA! Between loading the tube and dinking with the primer seater!

The Lee Auto Prime was Heaven sent. I absolutely refuse to load without one. I keep a spare in the cabinet in case the first one fails me for some reason.

I use the Hornady Batch primer which is very similar to the Lee....works perfectly

I use the new autoprime hand tools, I have two one set up for large primers and one for small.

Any round that I will hunt deer or up with gets cycled,as does my self defense ammo. Even a deer hunt can get ruined with one round stuck in the chamber.

I too tend to store ammo point down, It lets me see the primers and when I do load work ups I mark different loads with a sharpie on the primer/case head. Its nice to know that if you knock over a box and the rounds spill out you can still know what was what.

Ram, bam , thank you Mam. Work that handle like a fool.
Loading ammo is an art not a speed contest.

Thanks for the warning...

Never can be too careful

Snake