One silly little grain

[Lee T.]

Sharing a story of caution -
A couple months ago I was making pretty good headway loading a 50-round batch of '06. I'm never in a hurry and am totally satisfied weighing each powder load with a RCBS 5-0-5 scale. I was about 10 rounds in, something didn't seem right. The scale was acting up - the beam was 'sticky' and inconsistant. I checked the level and zero twice, it changed each time. I was at a loss. So I took the beam off the base - it seemed normal until placing it back in position and I saw the culprit.
One stinking grain of Varget had jumped itself into the balance bearing and was jamming the pivot knife edge. Oh Son!! that'll mess things up for sure! Slowing down the pivot could result in potentially serious overcharges.
Guess what I now check every time I open a bottle of powder??

[Matt Anthony]

I wish more reloaders would tell the stories on "happenings" when they have been reloading. It makes all of us more cautious and attentive to how important weighing actually is.
I believe today in our world, there is too much time spent on how it can be done faster, when in reality it takes time to reload to do it right. Short cuts can cause the "happenings"! I enjoy reloading so it doesn't matter how long it takes, I am doing something I like to do!
Matt

[joem]

I was loading .223 on my Dillon 650. All cases were sized, trimmed and checked for OAL. Making good progress and when a out of spec charge goes to the safety powder check a alarm sounds. Case is removed from press, charge weighed and if correct returmed to electric case feed. close to the end of the batch a lone case kept sounding the alarm. weighed each time and back to the case feeder. Finally it's the only case left. AGGRAVATION extreme and I bang the case mouth down on the table and look in to see a stick split in half. It must have gotten there when the case hit the ground but decaped normally. Now I look in each case.

[JimF]

. . . . .
One stinking grain of Varget had jumped itself into the balance bearing and was jamming the pivot knife edge. . . . . .

That's exactly WHY there is a photographer's lens brush on my bench . . . . EVERY time I set up the scale, the pivot points get a brushing! . . . EVERY TIME!

[mikld]

Thanks, I wouldn't have thought of looking at the pivots. I had a problem with my Lyman/Ohaus scale; the .1 grain poise jumping out of the groove if I lifted the pan off too quick or bumped the beam when replacing the pan. The poise would jump towards the heavier end and subsequent charges would get heavier. The first time I noticed this, I had to dump 35, .44 charged cases because I didn't know when the "jump" occurred and went .3 gr. heavier with a 2400 load. I know .3 gr wasn't too bad, but I wanted them all the same...

[Tuna]

As Matt said, take your time. A close friend of mine one evening was in a hurry to get a box of .357 magnums loaded he grabbed the powder, set up his powder measure and loaded them with 15 grs. of 2400 with a 158 gr. JHP. He also took so .38 spl reloads with him.
After firing a box of .38 spl he then loaded 6 rounds of .357 and when the first round was fired the world according to him turned white and his hands were stinging. When he had recovered he opened the cylinder of his model 19 S&W and what was left of a primer sprinkled out into his hand. The case did come out easy but was split from head to the mouth of it. When he had recovered he realized something was wrong with the ammo so he stopped the .357 and fired a cylinder of .38 spl. He could not get one case out of the cylinder. He stopped by my house and I pushed the case out with a rod and the mouth was belled. I then took one of his .357 rounds apart and as soon as I saw the powder I knew he had loaded not 2400 but 15 grs. of Bullseye powder. All because he was in a big rush so take your time and always double check everything your doing. Better to be safe then sorry. Oh the cylinder was intact and not damaged except for the one chamber. At that time it cost him a bit over $100 for repair but I have to say that S&W held together very well and he was very lucky.