Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Seating a bullet with no powder in the case....

I have often wondered...What would happen if you fired a round with no powder in the brass, only a primer. Well, it’s a first...but after 20 years of loading, now I know.
Pulled the trigger and “nothing”. I ejected the round and assumed the primer didn’t detonate. Bullet was still seated to length in the brass. I pulled the bullet and to my surprise, there was no powder in the case and the bullet was all dirty on the bottom from the timer firing. I never heard anything to indicate the primer detonated.
#humbled

Did you have your hearing aids turned off?

You should have heard something and more than likely it would have sent the bullet into the lands of the bore. I've seen it done before, but thankfully never done it myself. I guess chit can happen though. Fingers crossed...

Wrong
I have had exactly the same experience as the OP

Did it once. What bsa says is what happened in my case.

I had a .44 special lock up during a bowling pin shoot from this very thing. Lead slug stuck partially in the barrel and partly in the cylinder. Joe Darbyshire had a short piece of dowel and a hammer, and we knocked it back where the cylinder would open, and extracted the round. Nothing hurt. Could have been worse if it had gone far enough to let another good round follow it down the barrel. miles

Exactly why I visually inspect cases after charging. I charge 10 at a time and do the visual inspection of them as they sit in the loading block before seating bullets.

I loaded the .44 special on a progressive. No chance to inspect. Not sure what happened as I never let the powder run out, in fact I keep topping it off to try and make it meter better, and that is the only time it ever happened to me. miles

I had this happen early this year at the range too. Heard the primer strike with no sound. Assumed a bad primer. Pulled the bullet and there was a sooty, empty case.

Easily corrected with better loading habits.The main one being make sure all your cases are visually inspected to make sure they are charged with powder.

I look in them with a light while they are in loading block after dropping powder in all of em, look in each one as I take it from block to press during seating operation and then shake em before sticking them in the flip top box.

Been lucky so far.

That happened to a friend of mine when antelope hunting. He drew down on the buck, gently squeezed the trigger and nothing. When he racked in a fresh round, the buck trotted off unscathed. Pulled the bullet when he got home and realized there was no powder. Primer did make a sound though. That was quite a lesson he learned, and I took note. Always go over that tray before loading the bullets.

I did it with a TTSX in a 270 and the bullet stuck in the barrel. I couldn't drive it out with a dowel.
Finally packed dry ice around the barrel and was able to drive out the bullet with no harm to the barrel.

If I turn my hearing aids off, then don my hearing muffs, the only way I know that the rifle has discharged is by the recoil.🙄😁

I have had it happen twice. Once years ago with 38 Spec, and the lodged bullet locked the cylinder. That's when I added a bright lamp to my reloading table. The second time was using a friends 357 Mag reloads. The 125 gr bullet cleared the cylinder with an anemic pop, but stuck flush in the forcing cone. That one could have been bad if we had been doing rapid fire.

I use two loading blocks. The empty cases are placed mouth down in one block and the full ones are placed upright (of course) in the second block as I go along. Then, once I’m done, I inspect them under good light. An old timer instilled this practice into me about 50 years ago when I was new at the game and I’ve faithfully adhered to it ever since. May sound a bit over anal but I’ve never had a squib situation.

I use a flashlight to inspect all my cases before seating a bullet.

This ensures that all of the cases have been filled with powder, then stuff like this doesn’t happen - especially when on a coveted hunt. No room for error!

I had something similar happen also. For loading small batches of rifle cartridges it’s very easy to avoid mistakes. Not so much when loading large quantities of handgun ammunition on a progressive press. It’s really unfortunate that progressive presses didn’t have a hole for (1) size, (2) expand, (3) powder, (4) lock out die, (5) seat and (6) crimp. And anything manual index is prone to human error.

Not necessarily. Most of what you hear is escaping gasses, and when none escape, there isn't much noise. I've done it myself intentionally, as well as sticking a bullet with very light powder charges (the right way to firelap with a lead bullet is when they barely make it out the muzzle, that means you get some that don't) - sometimes it hardly sounds any different than dry firing.

I do agree that usually it'll push the bullet into the bore, but if the OP's situation involved pretty high neck tension, and/or a large case, it can happen just as he described.

Did this a couple years ago when loading for my wife's 270. Went to the range before deer season and "click". Waited several seconds and she ejected the round, primer was struck with bullet still in place. Shook the cartridge and no sound. Shook next round and no sound. Didn't powder 5 in a row. Apparently I got distracted when I took the funnel off after finishing a row on the loading block. Picked it up and started one row too far. Thankfully it wasn't during season and it was a good experience for her. I learned to keep a flashlight on the bench and everything gets visually inspected before bullet seating.