This may be a funny thread. Surely I’m not the only one to be a klutz!

Don’t check bullet seating depth with your Sinclair bullet comparator over your tray of primed/powdered brass. You will eventually drop it or the calipers and have to dump and recharge all the cases in the tray. Darn fat fingers!

Don't leave powder overnight in the plastic hopper of your powder measure, it scores the plastic. To be more accurate, never loan your powder measure to a friend who leaves his powder in the hopper overnight.

If you use the same belling die to bell .357 and .38 Spl cases (or .44 Mag/Spl), be sure to check the die setting when switching from one to other. You don't need THAT much belling on a .357 case.

CHECK the complete wording on the primer box before priming 50 cases of .30-06. Double Check it. Federal Large pistol primers are not Federal Large rifle primers.

And when part of your brain still tries to tell you the priming mixture color doesn't seem right, listen to it...

Don't seat bullets in charged cases you haven't primed.

I guess I'll add another.

Don't have more than one can of powder on your loading bench at the same time. When you empty the Varget remaining in your powder measure into the can of H4831SC it screws up the burning rate.

Don't forget to tighten the retaining clamp screws on your Dillon powder dispenser. When the whole unit, full of powder, falls off the 550b onto the reloading bench, you'll understand why.

Always a good idea to lube your cases before trying to resize them. When it's really tough to get them in the die, stop pushing. Also, not a bad idea to buy/make a stuck case remover.


From a friend, don't get in a hurry when using a universal decapper and somehow get your finger between it and the ram thus running it through the nail on your pointer finger. You will say a lot of bad words and bleed all over your reloading stuff.

Never review basic handloading and safety instructions found in any of your twenty or more manuals. NOT!!

Also, when loading spitzers the pointy end goes up.

Let's see...

1. Don't forget to put the cap in your powder and shot bottles on your MEC 9000. (vacuum's don't pick up # 7 1/2 shot very well)[I know this is the rifle section, just figured I'd that tidbit of hard-earned knowledge]

2. verify powder levels in your cases BEFORE you get the bullet in (pointy end up, of course)

3. when using a 1500 to weigh out your loads, make certain you don't have it on grams instead of grains (unless you're loading via metric loads that is) 50 GRAMS of powder will over-flow your little cup thingy.

4. double check the bullet weight before loading to make certain you aren't putting 100 grain bullets on a 120 grain load, or vise versa.

This, sized and weighed 50 damn charges of powder for a buds 270 moons ago before I primed the cases, this was with the old RCBS [505?] scale and the twisty trickler.

Had to dump that chit and start over, all his fault, he called me in a panic at night thirty and had just got a spot in someones mule deer camp and was leaving the next afternoon.

Do not ever forget to look into the charged cases with a pen light, when loading fast powders into mag revolver cases.

I have never found a double charged case yet...............YET!


Do not go deer hunting with 30-06 loads seated into the lands so tight that when the buck gets away without you taking a shot, and you clear the chamber, you end up with an action full of H4831 and a 165 gr Speer bt lodged in the throat.

But if such a situation should befall you, you might carefully clean the powder from the rifle. Raid your buddy's Honda XL 350 for a cheap pair of pliers. Pull the bullet from a second cartridge. Carefully hold the muzzle in a verticle orientation, while closing the bolt on the debulleted cartrige. Then point the rifle in a safe direction and pull the trigger.

Yep, about thirtyfive years ago, in my beginning days. And see, there is a good reason to load boat tail hunting bullets.

Oh, and one final never: Never leave home on a hunting trip unil you have cycled every round through your rifle once.

When you were changing powders with your chargemaster be sure and close the side port after you empty out the first powder otherwise you'll wonder what that sound is as you're filling it with the second powder and it's pouring all over your reloading bench

Done that a couple of times, I even seated a few primers since at that time I didn't have a bullet puller. Felt pretty nervous doing it Now I have a bullet puller and am more careful.........

Also dumping some IMR 4350 into a can of MRP isn't a good idea either especially if you forget about it

You beat me to it.




P

We have a worthy winner!

Ditto!, done this before myself . This is probably the one goof that everyone has experienced at some point and time.

That's a good one, you will only forget to shut the port once.





Holy ****!

Had similar happen last year. When I tried to unload an unfired load, it was hard to eject. Marks on the case suggested some sand in the chamber. I wiped and blew through the barrel and thought that I had it clean. When later in the day, and leaving a stand, I unloaded a different round and the bullet stayed in the barrel, powder all over. I guess that some sand locked it up. everything was fine after I cleaned up the powder and ran a cleaning rod through the barrel. Lots of sand where we were. miles

Oh yeah, it's getting real good now.

That's one goof that I hope I never do!

Especially is there's a "bone cookie" in that case mouth.

Two questions...
1-What cartridge? Looks like a 30 Blackout.
2-How did it happen? Going full speed on a progressive press?

Just be glad it wasn't a 45 Colt.

If the book load shows the most accurate load is at the book max, you should start testing at book max to save time and components. That part about starting at the min is just to make the lawyers happy. Right?

WRONG! Heed that starting load advice

This!!! And to add a little bit to it, don't reload in a room with with a nice shaggy carpet on the floor! Carpet and rifle powder are not a good mix.

What a great thread!!!

That looks painful

It certainly does. I can't imagine how that's done, except maybe on some automated equipment. Holy Moses.

Momma is fixing dinner. But I just lost my appetite.

My God, that looks painful. I think I would rather suffer scope eye.

Don't seat bullets in charged cases you HAVE primed, if the primer is in backwards.

You can judge the character of a man that takes a picture before going to a doctor...

When the doctor asked how it happened the patient replied, "I can't really put my finger on it."

Don't spend money on gadgets that you don't really need just because some people say that they are "must haves".

I learned that trip the hard way years ago when I first starting using mine.

Just started reloading last year and this was my first goof! Dang!

I worked it backwards. It took me nearly forty years of handloading to make that goof.

Ditto on the side port of the chargemaster. Think it must happen to EVERYONE who has one at least once .

Once was plenty!

Oh the memories lol. My best one is never mix your powders up put them away when your done, I once put a full load of Winchester magnum rifle powder in my .270 Win. It fired and blew the case head off and jammed the action up. Had to beat the bolt open with a log.

Sound advice right there. A log you say.......damn.

I've charged cases that weren't primed. Frustrating to say the least.

I also one time had an incomplete/partial discharge. Don't know what the hell happened but I had a bullet lodged in the bore. I did the same as above. Pulled a bullet, chambered a primed and charged (but bulletless) case in the chamber, looked away and pulled the trigger.

It worked and I continued on with my day.

To add my own: when using a balance beam scale, make sure it is on a solid surface...not something that will flex when weight is put on it. It'll throw that scale off faster than beer goggles.

You guys who jam bullets into lands, eject a live round and leave a bullet behind....doesn't anyone have a small breakdown cleaning rod in their pack?

One tap dropping the rod from the muzzle end , and those stuck bullets fall right out.

Ask me how I know.....

I would list my goofs but there isn't enough space on the Internet, even though my memory isn't what it used to be....

I'll reiterate it's best to stick to one cartridge at a time... Had a couple dozen 300WSM cases charged with 7WSM loads before it dawned on me the hole was too big when I went to seat a 162 AMAX. Dohhh!

Load 500 rounds 223. Then figure out it needed to be trimmed. Wouldnt chamber. Perfect

.

Been there, done that....I have some 95% R15 / 5% IMR 4350. Works great for 308 sight in ammo, but wouldn't want to push any loads near max with that can of powder.

Yep....guilty of that one too😀.

Mountain mariner....is that your finger??? Ouch!

No it's not. Just a picture I found online. I believe the story behind it was it was a motorized Dillon and the guys booger hook was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I've had mine for about 7-8 years and still forget every now and then!!!

Always make sure your loaded rounds fit in the magazine as well as the chamber. Otherwise you end up with a bolt action single shot.

I figured it was a new kind of case lube.



P

I'm constantly finding out how sharp the top of an RCBS seater die can be on my bare arm when reaching over the top of the press for bullets and such on the shelf above. Those threaded shafts poking up from the dies leave a nice furrow in the forearm. I keep telling myself that I'm not going to make the same mistake again.....

Never charged an unprimed case.. yet.. I've charged cases with the primer put in upside down. For some reason that doesn't work well.

Don't forget and leave the measuring cylinder full of powder when you changes powders. Didn't load any this way but threw away a fair amount of powder to fix it when two different powders showed up on the first charge.

Don't blend powders even though Phil Sharpe did this. Tried to even up several old lots of H870. Apparently one lb. was about to go so it ruined all the others.

That looks very painful

That looks very painful. I shot my thumb with a nail gun about 20 years ago. I recommend that for everyone.

I take a 9mm lead round nose bullet, drill a hole in the base, and screw it on the shafts.



I shot through my forefinger into the middle one...I don't recommend it.....


My most painful reloading experience happened when I was polishing the inside of some case necks with steel wool wrapped around a brass brush. I rest the 3/8ths Dewalt on my thigh, and when pushing the case on, I had bent the brush just as the drill hit 900 RPM, and flung the case going Mach I directly into my left nut.

Reloading was temporarily suspended.......

Don't drop a loading block with 50 weighed, charged, cases on the way to seating bullets.

Good thread.

I put some 7mm accubonds in some 270 brass. Caught it before I had a blowup

I'm really surprised this hasn't made the list yet:

If you're going to push shot shell wads into the case with your finger make damn sure you have the allen wrench to remove the wad starter die from the press within arm's reach. Trying to remedy that mistake without the wrench usually results in a swelled finger making anything short of removing the die bloody and painful.

I have smashed my finger seating wads too.