Lee Loader

Since 1970 I have looked into every case I have charged with powder. That's because I has a squib in 1969. I had driven 1 1/2 hrs. up in the Angeles Nat'l Forest to a popular shootin' spot (I wasn't comfortable at an indoor range at that time). I fired a few of my reloads in my 3" 38 and then got the "pffffft" and locked up the cylinder. Drive 1 1/2 hrs., shoot one cylinder full, drive 1 1/2 hrs. home. Not a fun day and I won't forget. So, I made it a habit to look into every charged case. I don't need any special dies, no special lighting (a Mini Maglite works), or changing my routine, just look...

mikld wrote:Since 1970 I have looked into every case I have charged with powder. That's because I has a squib in 1969. I had driven 1 1/2 hrs. up in the Angeles Nat'l Forest to a popular shootin' spot (I wasn't comfortable at an indoor range at that time). I fired a few of my reloads in my 3" 38 and then got the "pffffft" and locked up the cylinder. Drive 1 1/2 hrs., shoot one cylinder full, drive 1 1/2 hrs. home. Not a fun day and I won't forget. So, I made it a habit to look into every charged case. I don't need any special dies, no special lighting (a Mini Maglite works), or changing my routine, just look...

I do the same as I am to scared to damage my guns, but it would be so easy to do. I only use a single stage so that helps me but if I used a turret or a progressive hard to see if powder dropped before bullet gets seated.

Doesn't cost anything at all to take a look. Remember, that mushy thing between our ears we
call a brain is the best insurance we have.

What powder charge were you throwing?

357cyrus wrote:What powder charge were you throwing?

CFE-Pistol 5.6 gr 115gr CMJ bullet
I don't know what the charge actually was.
I do check every 10th load on the RCBS 505 scale, I guess that allows the other 9 to get screwed up.
Today I loaded some 9mm with my Lee Turret and the Pro-Auto Disk. Checked the charge with RCBS 505 and my new Hornaday G2-1500 (which I recommend). When there was a difference, it was only 0.1gr.
I will be over cautious from now on and check each weight at least for a while.

I have a scale comparison chart I made for myself. All four of mine are within 0.2. Not precision but OK.

Poppop wrote:I was at my local reloading store this evening and purchased an inexpensive Hornaday G2 electronic scale.
I know it's cheap but I don't care about accuracy, I will use it to check weight of finished rounds to be sure they all weigh pretty much the same. If I find a 3-5 gr. difference, I will check further. This will allow me to complete the turret process without stopping.

I use a 38SPL mixed brass - the difference in brass alone is sometimes 4.5grn - so unless you have your brass pre sorted and pre weight for comparison, I would not recommend the weight of complete bullet method.

I had a "semi-squib" twice, once the bullet hit the 1/2" plywood target and bounced off without even damaging the paper and another time the bullet fell to the ground about 5 yrs in front of me - that looked like the gun just spat out the bullet - I got a great chuckle from that.

But, on the serious side, because of that, I switched from TiteGroup to Bullseye for 158grn bullet in 38SPL - big difference in volume that allows me to see the powder down the long cartridge.

larryw wrote:Doesn't cost anything at all to take a look. Remember, that mushy thing between our ears we
call a brain is the best insurance we have.

I've read probably a bazillion threads over the years (mostly the last few years) on this subject alone. Fella's hanging all kinds of lights on their presses, powder cop dies, (I have two of these, I'll get to that later) lock-out dies, drillin' holes for mirrors, video cameras and more, and all to do one thing. To check for powder in the case. On some presses some of these may be a good idea, Dillon presses come to mind, they drop powder at the rear of the press which makes it difficult at best to see into the case prior to bullet seating. I had a couple of the older RCBS Ammomaster presses that were the same way (hence the two powder cop dies I now have "somewhere") The Loadmaster and the Hornady LNL both charge the case right in front where it's easy to look into the case (if you're sitting high enough to look down on the press). That's just one of the reasons I prefer to stand when running progressive presses. I've read some folks disparage the powder cop die because "you have to look at it each cycle of the press to make sure the "rod" raises to the proper height"... and that "they" preferred the lock out die cause' then they didn't have to "watch" it (the die) , if a improper charge was detected by the die it would just lock up the press. My thought to myself when I read stuff like this is, "what the heck else are these guys doing that makes this a problem"....look at the equipment available today, man, great stuff for sure, but maybe someone with a years experience (or less) maybe shouldn't crank up a Hornady Ammo Plant.... Or a Dillon 1050. Lot's of room for error on these machines and I'm really kind of surprised we're not seeing more (or they're not being publicized) of KB's and other issues. This is getting real close to a rant, and waaaay to long, so .........

I know all these tools are available, dies, scales, lights etc. We rely on these and something still can go wrong with any of the above. When we rely on our brain and eyes to look at each charged case we may become complacent after a while especially when everything is going OK.
I know for myself that I can't concentrate too long on looking at each case. I guess I have to practice.

Simple.

More than one way to skin a cat.