A safety check.... or two

American Revival Apparel Company

SkipD

Helper-outer
Jun 8, 2012
703
64
63
77
Southeast Wisconsin
Zip code
53024
I was loading a couple hundred rounds of .223 rifle ammo the other day, and when I was done putting the bullets into a group of 50 cartridges I could not remember if I had done a visual check of all the cartridges to see that I had filled them properly with powder before seating the bullets.

The idea of possibly touching off a cartridge with no powder in it was not a good thought, so I thought about pulling all of the bullets and making absolutely sure the next time around. I gave the problem a little thought and came up with a great idea - WEIGH all of the loaded cartridges. Every cartridge in the whole batch weighed within 1-1/2 grains of each other. Since the powder weight was supposed to be 27 grains, I was then absolutely sure that I had charged every case with powder.

Would this work with small pistol cartridges? If all the cases weighed nearly the same then it should work but with only a few grains of powder, one could not be as sure as I was with the 27-grain powder charge.

The bottom line - don't let something distract your attention during the reloading and allow a mistake to be made. Double-check each and every process as you do them.



Another thing that I've heard of folks doing that scares the heck out of me is inadvertently mixing powder types in the same can. Assume, for example, that you've been loading a particular powder into your cartridges and have powder left over in your measure. You have three or four different powder containers on the bench. Without thinking about it, you open the wrong container and pour the powder from the measure into it. Imagine what could happen the next time you grab that powder container for a loading session.

The bottom line to prevent this gross error: Have only one powder container on your bench at a time and make sure it's the proper one for the powder that you're using for the current batch of reloads. Along the same line of thinking, have only one type of bullet and one type of primer on the bench at a time (making sure that they are right for the cartridges being loaded, of course).
 
R

rayzer007

Guest
SkipD said:
The bottom line - don't let something distract your attention during the reloading and allow a mistake to be made. Double-check each and every process as you do them.

That's a great safety reminder Skip, for not only reloading, but basically any aspect of dealing with firearms. I almost missed a round unloading a snub today! Thanks for the wake-up call!

Ray
 

SkipD

Helper-outer
Jun 8, 2012
703
64
63
77
Southeast Wisconsin
Zip code
53024
This stuff reminds me of what my Grandpa taught me back around 1960 (I was 13 then) when he was getting me comfortable working in the wood shop - measure twice, cut once. It's all about concentrating on what you're doing.
 
M

mukwah

Guest
Focus and patience, two things I find very important and also very hard to do in my older age!! :(
 
M

mukwah

Guest
Sure thing!!!.... As soon as I can remember what it was I was doing :'(
 

SkipD

Helper-outer
Jun 8, 2012
703
64
63
77
Southeast Wisconsin
Zip code
53024
Trigger_1 said:
Gotta be careful with primers too.... :-\

They are also easy to get mixed up with pistol and rifle primers..... :-\
I use standard and magnum primers - even more to get mixed up if one goofs.
 

Fred_Import

Woodsman
Mar 20, 2010
161
1
0
SoCal
Good points, all. I would add to keep the distractions to a minimum when reloading. For example, I don't have a radio, TV, or music playing, or any outside influence while I'm reloading. I try to stay completely focused on what I'm doing at any given time.

Also, when verifying or checking a powder charge with the scale, I check it twice. I do this because I can remember a time when I misread the setting on my scale. Fortunately I visually inspected each case for a powder charge, and at that time it was evident I had screwed something up.
 
D

Denny4kids

Guest
Sounds like we all have great ideas!
I got my wake up call when I had a squib (forgot powder and the primer shot the bullet halfway down the barrel). This was at the Idaho IDPA state match of all places! I now have a better system and have a check list. Den