close call with a dubble charge today

[mitchell]

the bad news is i'm stupid . i was up late last night loading up some rounds for the 17 hornet ai to take to the range today and zero with.  well my load is 10 grains of lilgun and a 20gr bullet, well i was trying to get too much done and just threw a few of my last loads just to hurry instead of weighing each of them and get done . well on one of them i put a dubble charge in . shot it today at the range , it blow the primer shot crap all over my face and arm (i was shooting in a tank top)  but thankfuly the gun was completly fine just goes to show these handis can take a beating.


well just take this story as what NOT to do.

[chipmunk]

 As a friend of mine once put it:  "Good job not dieing." 

You got lucky the gun handled it!

I left out the powder once but I've never doubled it.  Hopefully I never will.  After my no throw I started weighing my finished cases.  Time consuming but if I ever catch one it will be worth it.

[petemi]

I'm just happy you and the rifle are o.k.  I could see me doing that. kinda spooky.  I'd love to shoot in a tank top...I'm still in insulated coveralls.  I did see my first mosquito today....so there's hope.

Pete

[AtlLaw]

The good news is no real harm was done!   

I posted something over in the reloading forum very similar, but I caught my mistake and pulled the loads!     Can't be reloading when tired or distracted! 

[petemi]

Richard, you and I spend a bit of time tired or distracted.......mostly distracted...speaking of which, do you have a way to make shims out of plastic bottles???  I'm glad you're still circulating among the live folks.

Pete

[MGMorden]

After my no throw I started weighing my finished cases.  Time consuming but if I ever catch one it will be worth it.

You know I never even thought of weighing the finished rounds before.  Only time I noticed a potential goof up was then I was loading up some 6.5x55 rounds.  I normally zero my scale with the pan on it, then set it at whatever charge I want and then balance my charges before loading a round (for rifle cartridges anyways - for handgun I'll get the dispenser set and use that after I weigh about 10 consecutive charges that come out correctly).

Anyway I had set my desired charge (around 51 grains IIRC) and made around 40 rounds before going back inside (I load in the shed out back).  Came back a few days later and noticed that the scale was sitting 10 grains (1 notch) higher than I'd thought it was last time I used it.  My gut instinct was that it had gotten bumped sometime between then and when I loaded, but just to be safe I pulled all the bullets, threw away the powder (I don't reuse powder from a pull), and reloaded the rounds again.  A bit of work, but I just didn't want to take any chances.

[Rustyinfla]

 Glad you're OK Mitchell. That was a hard lesson learned the easy way. Shows the importance of wearing glasses as well. I guess with that little .17, the only way to check them would be to weigh the finished cases. You sure couldn't look down inside. Man I love my .44's.

  I really am glad you didn't get hurt.

[petemi]

Rusty, your signature line fits all of us from time to time.

Pete

[quickdtoo]

I'm glad all is well Mitch, but it couldn't have been a double charge, 20gr would be a compressed load with a load density of 139-156% depending on your actual chamber specs, in order to do that you would have powder spilling out before you seated the bullet which I'm sure you would have noticed!!  100% load density would be about 12.8gr, 10gr is a 78% load density in comparison. The case holds 13.71grs water according to Quickload, 15.3gr according to Ammoguide, even using their higher spec, a 100% density load would be 14.3gr, with the 20gr Berger, a 105% load density 15gr load would produce over 89kpsi, a 20gr load would produce over 390kpsi....if it was possible!  Just a guess, but likely you shorted the previous load a little and the powder remaining in the measure ended up it the following charged case. Stuff happens when you're alert, add in a little fatigue and things can get hairy quickly. I've only double charged a case once, fortunately it was the powder spilled all over the loading block that showed me the error!!  That was right up there with forgetting to prime cases before charging them, sorry to say that I've done that more than once.

Tim

[mitchell]

ya your right there is not way it was a dubble charge it wouldnt all fit in the case i'm just saying there was a lot more then should of been.

i just looked at the case , the primer pocket looks like you could put a large rifle primer in it now

[trotterlg]

It could also have been a very light charge and it detonated, that has killed people also.  Larry

[Sourdough]

The last step before I load bullets is to take a flashlight and look down every case with powder loaded.  If any look higher or lower than the others I recheck the weight of the load.  Before I started using an electronic scale the old style powder measures would sometimes not dump the full charge.  Then it would show up in the next charge.  Have seen that happen many times.

[dpe.ahoy]

This is another reason I really like my Lyman DPS 1200 powder measure, weighs each charge it meters out.  DP

[Graybeard]

Something to think about when using cartridges with tiny holes in them is bridging. I learned that lesson well loading for the .410 shotgun where shot bridges badly and more especially so if larger than #9. Powder too can bridge in and the .17s is a definite concern.

It will usually manifest the way you experienced and as Tim mentioned. Some of the powder charge will fail to drop and then the next cartridge will get that little extra plus what it was supposed to do. I long ago learned my lesson on such and developed a final check to help prevent it. The check has saved my butt a number of times.

I normally fill the block with cases but whether full or partial I count as I drop charges and my count MUST equal the number in each row at the end of the row as well as at the end of the block. I think shine a bring lght into the cases with the block tilted at enough of an angle to see into the mouth of each case. ALL must look the same or those that don't and those on both sides of them in the charging sequence are pulled, dumped and loaded again.

[rickt300]

I made a similar error years ago using a Lyman powder measure.  The rifle was a 788 Remington in 243, the pressure was enough to blow the primer and damage the extractor but other than that the rifle was unharmed.  No gas reached me at all.  I second using a flashlight to check powder levels and I haven't used any sort of measure other than dippers since.

[bigvarmnt]

Very Glad you are alright. About 14 yrs ago I bought a bunch of 10 mm auto from a reputable guy at gun show. Shot almost half of them and (it happens Real Quick) Gun made funny sound and face felt funny and bloody. Slide wouldn't move. Bad thing is my cousin and I shot a couple of rounds, a couple weeks earlier without eye protection. Dealer refunded me for the remaining (old and can't remember, think 250) and agreed to have my Colt fixed. I told him I would never trust that gun again and gave him the difference to upgrade to a new Gold Cup. VERY VERY LUCKY and DUMB! Glad everything turned out OK.

[snakeman]

Good to hear that nothing more serious happened.


snakeman

[zoner]

here's a way...charge the cases and put em in a loading block...before you start seating bullets take a piece of dowel thats a diameter close to inside diameter of case,drop it in a charged case and mark the dowel at the case mouth...now you have a calibrated dipstick you can drop in a charged case and visually look at....if the mark and the case mouth don't line up there's a problem...i am not saying you should measure powder with this method,it's just a way to prevent double charging or seating a bullet in a empty,primered case

[Matt3357]

Good idea Zoner.  I was trying to think of a good way to do this on my loading block for 223.  I plan on making 50 of these sticks and as I charge, put a stick with a mark in the case, that way I can't double charge and I know that all are charged. 

Thanks,
Matt