Reloading press confessions...Dumb ass move while at the press.

Dang doesn’t sounds fun.

Had a whole block of 50 rounds full of measured powder. Bumped it with my big hands while moving something else around on the table. Powder went everywhere. Had to redo em all.

Forgetting to raise the ram on the Dillon 650 when I'm hand throwing powder....

Also had a whole block of 50 full of measured powder and as I picked one up to seat a bullet I noticed some powder in the block and then no primer in the case. The whole block of 50 full cases had NO primers. I still can't figure out how I didn't notice what I was doing much sooner. I was late at night and I was kinda tired, but still. . ..??? Apparently, I had assumed I had already pre-primed them. All that time wasted, late at night and tired, I was not only pissed, I felt pretty stupid.

Ouch! I bet that didn’t feel good.

It seems every time I get on my press I either commit all my brain power to what I’m doing and I’m not careful to my hand placement or I’m not smart; believe is the latter. Because I’m forever pinching a finger or that piece of skin between your thumb and index finder!

zeroz said:

Well, just stopped the bleeding and need a break because my finger is sore as shit. Was just doing a major 223 decapping session. Ripping through casings pretty fast, only lowering the ram enough to get the case out and a new one in. After God knows how many it was getting pretty monotonous and my mind was wandering. Somehow even with the muscle memory built up over the last hours, I somehow left my hand on a case when I pushed the ram up. Index finger was on top of the case for some reason and I pushed the decap pin right into my knuckle, down to the bone. Trying to think how the fuck I managed to do that. I am usually crazy attentive when reloading but this rapid decapping got the best of me. First time I have drawn blood on the press; first time for everything I guess. Hopefully its the dumbest thing I ever do at the press. If so I guess I'll be happy.

What dumb ass move have you made that you want to admit to? Surely I'm not the only one that's been caught slippin' and been bit.

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had that happen to me , had some friends over whilst out in the garage . decaping 223 same thing , bit of a slip up as i was looking away had the decap pin push through my Index finger nail . In pain i asked my sister who was closest to me at the time " pull the ram up" . what does she do she pushes it down ? decap pin passes right through my finger nail . now i have a permanent 223 case mouth scar on my Finger print

Oh yea, done that.

Progressive loading 9mm... trying to crank out enough for a match the next day. Didnt realise I was out of primers in the feeder... 64... 64 cartridges with powder pouring out of the flash holes.

On my single stage, I used to think neck only sizing was cool. Got cartridges for my ARs mixed up, loaded 50... for the wrong gun... went to the range to load test... none would chamber... didnt bring the other AR... total waste of a day. I FL size everything now, unless I'm experimenting with shit.

I've also jammed my finger in the press more times than I care to count. My kid likes helping me with the ram, so sometimes he gets a little ambitious and smashed my finger in there. Not fun

please clean that injury site well....and make sure your tetanus prophylaxis is up to date

Blood sacrifice to the reloading gods.

Beware of lead poisoning.

How about the rookie mistake of adding powder to a case that doesn't have a primer yet?

straightshooter1 said:

Also had a whole block of 50 full of measured powder and as I picked one up to seat a bullet I noticed some powder in the block and then no primer in the case. The whole block of 50 full cases had NO primers. I still can't figure out how I didn't notice what I was doing much sooner. I was late at night and I was kinda tired, but still. . ..??? Apparently, I had assumed I had already pre-primed them. All that time wasted, late at night and tired, I was not only pissed, I felt pretty stupid.

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Did that the other day when doing load dev. Fortunately I noticed after the first 3-4. Couldn’t figure out why a couple kernels were falling in the floor after I seated the bullet.

If you're not bleeding, you are not reloading, lol.
I'm at about 5 or 6 puncture wounds from presses, seating bullets, pulling bullets, even adjusting that jaw opener on a coax. It only stings for a couple minutes, then a day later when you apply pressure to it.

Pouring powder into a dispenser when the evac valve is open. Yeah that was fun.
You guys trying to give yourselves an AO with the decapping pin, that makes me cringe just thinking about how that felt.

Well, let's see here... assorted reloading bench confessions.....

Putting powder and bullet in unprimed casings?

Yes

Knocking a tray of 50 primed and powdered 7mm RemMag casings over, spilling powder fuckig everywhere?

Yup

Jamming through 9mm and somewhere after the 400+ area you look up and see your powder hopper ran out of powder in the last 10-15 rounds... and all your rounds you just made are in a 50 cal ammo can with about 2000 other 9mm rounds.

Yep

Dropping a couple live magnum rifle primers on the concrete garage floor, thinking you'll get them later.... later comes, you move your chair..... POP!!

Yes... ears ringing for about 20 minutes after that'n.

I have done both, forgot the primers before dropping powder and forgetting to close the powder drop door on my scale before loading the hopper. I have done both enough times to feel stupid for doing either.

I did this same thing twice in about a 4 month span. Last one burst straight through my fingernail. I'm more conscience now of where I'm placing my fingers. No more feeding cases with a finger over the mouth.

I've avoided catastrophe (or even major annoyance) with rifle/pistol reloading. Shotshell reloading - not so much.

Anyone who's reloaded more than a handfull of shells on a progressive press has spilled shot. And that "anyone" knows what it sounds like when the vacuum cleaner's powered carpet attachment encounters that shot on carpet.

But my brand-new wife didn't. She thought the vacuum was blowing up.

We got married about the time Winchester started dinking with the length of their .410 2.5" skeet hulls - they shortened the case by about a tenth of an inch. Just enough to make it really hard to fit 1/2 ounce of #9 in it and get a good crimp. I would say, "I'm gonna go load some shells." She would say, "Which gauge?" If I said, ".410," she would either leave or shut herself in a room with something loud enough to where she couldn't hear me cuss.

A buddy of mine had the hydraulic ram setup on his presses. He switched gauges... fills up the hoppers... and commences to loadin'. First round, he hits the pedal to cycle the press... and discovers he hadn't fully seated the hydraulic line. Table, wall, etc. instantly covered with oily fluid.
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Hope your finger heals fast.

Decapping pin through the index finger nail.
Pouring powder into dispenser with dump valve open.

Seated bullets on 15 cases that didn't have any powder in them. Now my procedure involves weighing all loaded rounds after I get a batch done.

Using the priming arm on my T7 press, i had put a primer in upside down, lifted the priming arm to remove the primer and flip it over, dropped the priming arm and it swung to the 6 o'clock position and set the primer off. Blasted my finger burning it lightly, busted the primer arm up, and made me almost shit myself. Glad i had safety glasses on, as i always do while priming cases.

zeroz said:

Well, just stopped the bleeding and need a break because my finger is sore as shit. Was just doing a major 223 decapping session. Ripping through casings pretty fast, only lowering the ram enough to get the case out and a new one in. After God knows how many it was getting pretty monotonous and my mind was wandering. Somehow even with the muscle memory built up over the last hours, I somehow left my hand on a case when I pushed the ram up. Index finger was on top of the case for some reason and I pushed the decap pin right into my knuckle, down to the bone. Trying to think how the fuck I managed to do that. I am usually crazy attentive when reloading but this rapid decapping got the best of me. First time I have drawn blood on the press; first time for everything I guess. Hopefully its the dumbest thing I ever do at the press. If so I guess I'll be happy.

What dumb ass move have you made that you want to admit to? Surely I'm not the only one that's been caught slippin' and been bit.

Click to expand...

I've done the same thing.. hurts like hell!!

Forgetting to close the powder drain on your Chargemaster... and then dumping a pound in the hopper... Yeah...

davere said:

Forgetting to close the powder drain on your Chargemaster... and then dumping a pound in the hopper... Yeah...

Click to expand...

First time I filled it. Thinking damn where does it all go?

davere said:

Forgetting to close the powder drain on your Chargemaster... and then dumping a pound in the hopper... Yeah...

Click to expand...

Literally happened on a new pound of imr 4451 for me. I had emptied the 4350 out in preparation for the new brand and forgot to shut the Evac valve. I heard this loud trickling noise and to my horror, my powder was everywhere. Needless to say I spent 20 minutes with a pair of boxers and a vacuum trying to get all the powder out of the carpet in the spare room ??‍

I’ve done too much dumb stuff to list.

I showed up to a match with a reload missing a primer. It had powder and a bullet, but I had missed putting the primer in. Powder was leaking from the flash hole. That's my most egregious reloading error.

Well, fuck. I forget to close the hopper drain on my chargemaster just about every time I use it. I don't know how much powder I've spilled that way. I have gotten pretty fast at twisting it closed...

Annealed a case with a primer in it once. Swore I had checked it twice. Hershey kiss.

Popped a primer while seating in a tight pocket. I should have stopped at first sign of resistance.

And yes, I've poured out a half pound of powder through the charge master drain.

Also have a scar from decapping pin into forefinger as described.

500 .308 cases prepped and ready to powder and seat bullet. First 50 powdered, after seating a couple bullets OAL looks short. Go to pick up case and bullet pulls right out. I did not check my Neck Sizing die at start, the collet was stuck in closed position so all 500 cases had partial sizing. After knocking out the live primer, sizing, reprime I was back to where I started. It was a great evening at the bench.

Howzabout annealing a primed piece of brass in my AMP? Ruined them skivvies!

Was changing sizing dies in a bullet sizer and had the handle fall. The top punch punched a perfect hole in my thumb nail!

Forgot to close the drain on my Chargemaster.

Detonated a primer with an original Lee Loader.

I've either been lucky with my fingers or have a good work routine. So far I have not deprimed a finger! Last Summer while it was hot I deprimed a 20mm ammo can of 9mm's, about half that many 38's and 357's and hundreds of 223's, 308's, 30-06's and a bunch of other stuff. I had about 2 gallons of fired primers at the end of August!

davere said:

Forgetting to close the powder drain on your Chargemaster... and then dumping a pound in the hopper... Yeah...

Click to expand...

Fuck yeah. Always causes me to scream for awhile.

I don't know if this counts.
When I was building my bench I was installing Oak trim as the fascia.
The plan was to cover it with formica then route out a nice beveal to reveal the Oak.
Well,I had a finish nail hit something and come out and hit 3 of my fingers.
I was lucky as hell as I didn't hit any bone.
After spending 4 hours waiting for the Dr to take it out.
I opened the surgical Pack, found some pliers and did it myself.
Dr came in and thought I was crazy,then he says- "Did It HURT"?

50 cases full of powder, no primers. Not enough lubes on the case when sizing. To much lube when sizing. Not keeping good records.

I annealed about 20 primed cases once. Not one went off thank F. Realised later how lucky I was.

I very recently was having one of those nights that I was having trouble sleeping so I went down to work on some reloads about 25 test rounds I wanted to make. I carefully measured out 4 different charges of H4350. Got done, no primers, poured the powder back, primed the cases and again carefully measured out the powder. I went to seat the bullets it dropped right in. I was working with 6.5CM brass the whole time when what I wanted was 6mm. Gave up went to bed.

You guys missed the Fourth of July here one evening. Spilled some powder as most of you did, but when vacuuming it up off the wooden floor of the loading room, the vacuum found a live primer from an earlier mishap. The wind-mill inside the carpet style Kirby, with a hose attached, set off the primer. Use your imagination for the rest. New vacuum for starters.
Don't vacuum up primers with this style vacuum cleaner.

Sizing and depriming is where it happens. I have a small scar on one finger tip which is about a 9mm radius. C type manual press, got into a rhythm, and was a little slow getting the new case into the shell holder before the other hand, on auto pilot, rammed the charging piston on the upstroke again

Then there was the commercial reloader I knew who smoked. Put a cig out in his ashtry one day and there was live primer that somehow got into the ashtray...

Only a 'bang' and ashes flying there. No flaming vacuum bag and fireball to contend with.

I was cranking through 45acp on the 650 when I tried to fit a large pistol primer into a small primer 45acp case . Set off about 75 primers and turned the plastic primer push rod into a missile. When the smoke cleared and I was able to hear again . I called Dillion for my replacement parts.

My most common is smashing the left index and thumb with the shell plate setting bullets to be seated on the square deal in a mind numbing load session.

Second would be not paying attention to the primer tube in said loading session.

My latest was loading a batch of 40 '06 with exactly 5gr shy of enough powder. Good ole beam scale misread! And I KNEW it was wrong because my power throw measurement was off. Always trust your gut...