why I don’t reload
Most gun kaboom stories start with I was using some reloads.
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
Uncle Pays the Bills
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December 30th, 2009 at 11:00 am
I have encountered things of this nature, when I started reloading, a friend who introduced me to it, told me a story about a local idiot whom on his own decided to start handloading and did so with no books or instruction. Seems tha man had no concept of the weight and measurment system. He started with 357’s and since he didnt know to measure the powder(or that powders had different burn rates) he just opted to “Scoop” the cases full and go from there. He quickly learned that a full case would not hold a bullet. The guy dumped enough powder to get the bullet into the case and ran out into the backyard to test his new loads. surprisingly, he fired a full six rounds of this magic ammo. The results were a broken frams, a missing top strap and a crack in the backstrap. Amazingly, he only had some minor powder burn s from the over flash, but the gun was TOAST. Reloading is great for lots of things, but like any craft, it requires proper training/ usage of the equipmment and of course observation of basic safety. I dont even buy ammo anymore, I load everything but rimfires, and I get great results. In todays economic armageddon and the attacks on liberties and gun rights, I think at least the knowledge and ability to use it is esential. But to each thier own. BUY MORE AMMO
December 30th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Kinda the same way most car accident stories start with “I was driving my car ”
December 30th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Wow. The two reasons most often given for reloading at home are cost savings and customized performance. As for cost, after you buy your equipment and spend your valuable time, are you really saving enough to pay for that potential KB? As for performance, are you really going to make a better cartridge than Peter Pi (in the case of centerfire cartridges) or the folks producing the myriad commercial hunting loads for shotguns? Maybe, if you have the knowledge that Spook45 alludes to. Maybe.
December 30th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Hmmm. What are the odds of a barrel obstruction on that one? It looks like the bolt got rammed back into the receiver.
Too bad – that *was* a sweet sixteen…
December 30th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Jay, I agree – the point where the barrel is shattered is well ahead of the chamber and that makes it look a lot more like a barrel obstruction.
December 30th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
He oughta be in jail just for destroying a nice A5 that way…
December 30th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Squib load followed by a not-squib load? How far would the primer push the wad and shot charge? Looks similar to what happens when someone loads a 20 gauge shell followed by a 12 gauge shell in a 12 gauge SG.
Eagle 1
December 30th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
It only takes proper equipment – and care. Weigh the cases, ALL the cases, before and after they are charged. And if your memory is bad, write the weight on the case before you charge it.
Even though shotgun shells are relatively heavy, a good scale like an Ohaus Dial-a-grain and even most cheap $15.00 digitals will easily tell which cases are under or over charged. And yes, it takes five or so extra but not unpleasant minutes to weigh out a hundred charged shells.
At a guess – but from something I have seen before, this was the second shot. The first was primer only, and the shot charge was still in the bore when the second round was touched off.
Too bad – it appears that shotgun had been a faithful companion for many years.
Stranger
December 30th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
An accident with reloading happens for same reason as an firearm accident: negligent operator/reloader. If you don’t trust yourself to be careful or safe enough, by all means relegate this duty to others, but please don’t lay this incident at the feet of the many responsible reloaders.
December 30th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
This is why I don’t shoot other people’s reloads.
December 30th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I’ve been reloading since the middle 70’s and have never had a problem. I’ve always been terrified of being the subject of that kind of article, so I have evolved a system or two: I break the process into steps, and especially the powder/bullet part is done separately. That is, I charge the case and seat the bullet only. The before/after is done at another time. Also, my reloading sessions have been wife and kid proofed, as in No Interruptions, None, Ever. In the rare cases when someone managed to break into the Cone Of Silence, that was it for the day: I put everything away and resumed it at another time. And even though it slows everything down, I set the measure under the needed charge, and trickle in the rest. Yep, I hand weigh each and every powder charge. Very slow and very safe.
Srsly, Unc, if’n you can get up and go to work every day and can successfully raise children, not to mention writing clear and complete sentences for your blog, you are capable of safely reloading ammo. But please wait until there are more primers available for sale: as it is, I’m more that frustrated by guys who think they have some sort of valuble heirloom for sale.
๐