The dumbest reloading thing I'd ever done survey.

Hey, with all the people on this forum, have the only mistake makers
already stepped forward ?

Come on folks, don't make the last three pages completed...as in we are
the only bone-heads to ever do something dumb.
 
When I first got back into reloading about two or three years ago (I took a ten year break, but I've been reloading since my early twenties), I decided to build my ultimate reloading man cave and bought some Dillon 1050s and a 650. I then had dancing visions of attaching Posness-Warren motors to each of the reloaders, but then I saw pictures, like the one Taroman posted. I'm glad I never bought the motors.
 
Smoke and recoil: Just like it sounds. Loaded 38 spl and 125 gr JHPs and each round as a squib. Hammer fell, primer popped the bullet into the bbl and powder everywhere. WW296 and H110 same results.
 
I've probably lost a few pounds of various powder through my RCBS Chargemaster by simply forgetting to close the drain valve.

Happens about once every 2-3 years or so, just long enough for me to forget. It has been a painful mistake at times.

I also loaded up a bunch of different loads for my .45 ACP one time with the same round - then promptly forgot to take a few minutes and label them. So I had a whole lot of rounds that I didn't have a clue which powder or powder charge was in them. That was fun....
 
I have 2 but both were pretty minor. I was flaring .38 special cases prior to seating cast bullets and stuck in a .357 case by mistake. It made an interesting funnel...

The second was using too much Alox when tumble lubing bullets for my .45 ACP. I was loading them on my Dillon 550B. The first dozen turned out great so I stopped inspecting them and kept on cranking out ammo. The COL was getting shorter as the Alox was packing up in the seater die. This became obvious as I was putting the rounds into plastic cartridge boxes. I ended up pulling a couple hundred rounds and loading them again.

Mistakes happen but if you're careful and double check the finished product, the little stuff will be caught...

Tony
 
Gotta new shiny Thumblers Tumbler, wow super clean brass!!! After over heating some LC 5.56 in the oven while trying to speed up the drying process I decided to air dry my next batch. Loaded 300 round of .40s&w that I thought was dry. About half went click... I got good at malfs for about a week. Never again.
 
Not me, but next position over at a comp shoot idiot had pistol powder in an AR case. Said the first two rounds felt odd. 3RD round caused the T handle to break my nose as the gun became a non-assembly of parts.
 
After a long night of reloading leaving my basement reloading room trying to carry everything back upstairs in one trip I managed to drop an 8lb keg of powder on the stairs and it managed to hit just so it knocked the cap off and spilled about 5 lbs. of it all over my stairs.
Needless to say I wasn't the happiest person in the world going to bed that night!
Also had a 45acp squib a while back-but what made that squib really bad was me and a group of guys had gone out on a group shoot and my buddy towards the end of the day asked to shoot my 1911 happy to comply I handed him my gun with a box of my reloads and went back about my shooting-10 minutes later he hands me my gun and I put it away after checking that its clear. That night I'm on my loading bench replacing all the 45 I shot that day and decided to use that gun as a chamber gauge-first reload wont chamber I adjust my dies and try again second and third same problem finally look down the barrel and Found my squib, Don't know who I was more mad with myself for the squib or my buddy for not saying something didn't seem right on his last round. After that day I learned my lesson from now on when someone is shooting one of my guns I make it a point to watch for any malfunctions and more importantly my reloads are for me and me alone-I won't be responsible for someone else getting hurt because of my hobby!!!!
 
While we're all admitting our mistakes, I'll confess too.

I seated a bullet out too far & left it stuck in the barrel & dumped powder all over the magazine compartment. I did this not once, but twice, several years apart, both times while hunting! The first one was real hell to get out without a rod handy. The second time I used a trick I read about to get it out. I carefully loosened the bullet on another round & removed it then while holding the rifle vertical I eased the case full of powder into the chamber. Then simply shot the bullet out.

Now I cycle all my hunting loads for the field but I have never had the problem again in many, many years.

...bug :)
 
Smoke & Recoil

I don't think he was much of a friend at all. Could of ended a lot worse had the bullet lodged a little deeper in the barrel. Not so funny thing is he owns about 5 1911's and shoot's about once a month so it's not like he didn't know what to watch for! That was a while ago and I've yet to go shooting with him since..
But I did learn to check for light through the barrels from then on when I clear a firearm..
 
Annealed a bunch of .308 casings , one of which somehow had a new primer installed.... BANG !!!

Shot the primer clear across my workshop, and put a small hole in the side of a steel gallon container of Mineral Spirits that was on a shelf ! :eek:
 
During cleanup, I put about 1/2lb of H335 "back" in a full 1lb bottle of Benchmark... thread here for your enjoyment:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=560814

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