Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Why I quit reloading a cautionary tale

I reloaded for over 30years before I moved up from a single stage to a progressive. My strategy on the progressive is to stand where I can visually inspect the powder level on every case before I place a bullet in it. I also have a powder check die installed but that still doesn't take place of a 100% visualy inspection. I would rather load 600rds an hour I'm 100% sure of than 800rds an hour I'm not.
Load them bullet down into 50 or 100rd bullet boxes allows inspection of primers that occasionally get sideways...................DJ

I am always amazed when someone thinks that a progressive does not load reliable ammo yet think that factory ammo is very reliable. Don't they know they factory ammo is loaded on progressive machines?

many moons ago when I was still in the early and ignorantly formative stage of my adult life me and a bud once made a mistake while loading 9mm ammunition with a Lee progresive reloader thankfully the Taurus 9mm did not blow up on what might have beeen a double charge, (i think we were useing lead bullets but all I remember is the flash, recoil and bang) after a bit of head scratching we decided that well yes, drinking beer and reloading was probably in those same catagories as drinking and shooting, drinking and driving, or drinking and operating heavy machinery........so instead of giving up reloading.....

Sorry to hear you gave up reloading because of just one incident. Hope you never screw up while driving, cus walking everywhere sucks. Same goes for muzzleloders as you are basicly "reloading" every time you shoot one.

But in all honesty did you think you were never going to make a mistake while reloading? And yes I have had a few HG rounds go pop, but that was reloading them with a Lee progressive, that i have since sold. If I were ever to buy another progressive it would be one with a powder sensore or not at all.

With the cost of factory ammo being what it is now and will bound to increese, reloading is a matter of nessecity if you plan on shooting in amounts even moderate in number.

I just bought a RCBS compatition powder measure because I simply can not afford the cost of $18-$22 per 50 of 45acp. If the economy ever gets better I will seriously consider buying a LnL as I feel for what you get for your $$$ they are the best progressive for HG rounds.

Quality not Quantity Grasshopper.

The woops was only 1 reason I stopped,I would get back to it if I had the $$$

the way I see it, if you shoot only a little more than the "average guy" out there, you pretty much can't afford to NOT reload ...

it might take a little money up front to get the equipment (assuming you have none at this time) ... but after a couple of years, you've paid for that equipment, as well as getting to shoot more (for the money) than if you were buying factory ammo at roughly $35 per box of 20 ...

ADK4Rick, I can understand why, as a new reloader, a potentially dangerous mistake could make you leery of the practice. That said, I encourage you to give it a try again, but with a single stage press and lots of care.

You have been very polite to those in this thread who, from the safety of their keyboards, have put their responses in a way they never would, I'm sure, in a face-to-face situation.

After fooling with a Lee 1000 for a brief period, I really started reloading on a Dillon 650 and have had my share of bad rounds ( a few out of ~100,000 straight walled pistol rounds). I have several time changed calibers and failed to re attach the link that operates the powder bar, and caught it when I heard the alarm from the powder measure sound.
I have had 2 Kabooms-once in a .40S&W with a fast powder,heavy bullet and not a lot of attention to OAL ( I was younger and in a hurry), and the second time in in a .45ACP -I'm not sure how that happened. Neither pistol was damaged and I escaped injury- but was struck in the shooting glasses by the broken extractor from the CZ 75 in .40. My brother had a single Kaboom a couple of years ago and has not reloaded a round since ( and he's got a lot of nice equipment sitting around gathering dust). I guess that we are different people and have different tolerances for that sort of excitement.
When that pistol/revolver goes pop/click instead of POP I check the bore.
My rifle rounds are reloaded on a single stage press and every powder charge is visually inspected, and I've never had a problem with rifle ammunition.
My points are these- that powder check alarm works, and a good checklist would have prevented that error in the first place. The first Kaboom might have been prevented by a little more knowledge. The second I'm not sure about.
I am certain that I would not have done nearly the amount of shooting that I've done without reloading. I am working on my brother to resume this rewarding hobby, and I encourage you to give it another try as well.
Regards,
DocAitch

Yes he has, and I hope he decides to persue the hobby again. He has already indicated he will, and with kids now, well, mine loved it. Quality time for both parties. Some of my best memories.

I had a bunch of 'pop's using a Lee 1000. I found that the Lee Auto powder measure would 'bridge' the powder when it was under 5 grains and using a flake powder (Bullseye in this instance). It didn't do it every time but one lot of 9mm loads had to have the bullets pulled and the powder inserted. I had to carry a dowel to the range until I go tired of of trying to shoot them and pulled the bullets. Since then I only use 9mm reloads as plinkers and rarely use my Lee 1000. At the time factory ammo was cheap so it wasn't a hardship.

Though I use a Dillon Square Deal, I do just like varmintsinc says, I look in each case. Not hard to do and does not slow the loading process that much. Though I am using a progressive, I am not concerned with mach speed in the loading process. My way may be a bit slower, but is still much faster than a single stage loading press.