I had two firsts this weekend, with one followed by a second...
I was testing a load with IMR 4955 in my 6.5x55 on Saturday with different primers since I was getting too large of velocity swings with the Federal 210. I decided to try the hotter Winchester WLR and a magnum Federal 215 to see if it could help tame the velocity spreads (and perhaps tighten the group up). Shot #3 of the Federal 215 load gave nothing but an audible "click!". Checked the primer and it wasn't due to a light strike. Tried it a second time with the same result. Dud primer. I don't know how many thousands of rounds I've loaded, but that was my first dud.
Didn't think much of it, as it happens, but it was a little surprising that it hadn't happened before now.
Fast forward to last night, where I was loading up some more of the same with the Winchester WLR, just before seating the bullets I eyeballed to check the powder levels. Looked good. I don't normally shine a flashlight down inside the cases as I can usually see the powder just enough to tell that it's there. For some reason, I went and grabbed a flashlight to double check. No idea why, as like I said, I've never bothered with it before and can usually tell. Lo and behold, case #2 had no powder. I thought to myself how lucky I was that I'd decided to check this time, thinking that was the first time in 11 years I'd failed to add powder to a case...
This morning, I dusted off the Hornady collet bullet puller to pull the dud from Saturday and reclaim the case, bullet, and powder. I pop the bullet off and I check inside the case and I see... nothing!
I try to dump it in the powder scale pan and get a tiny bit of ash. I pop out the dud primer and check it and it looks like it did flame up but I'm certain it didn't fire like normal, but at most fizzled.
My first dud primer on my first squib load. What are the chances? And then followed a couple days later by a near second squib load...
And before anybody asks neither reloading session was rushed, interrupted by children, or had any sort of distraction. I simply screwed up. Twice.
I now have a small flashlight sitting right there on the loading bench, and it will get used regularly. I guess I can't trust my bare eyes anymore.
