what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

I'll tell on myself first.....only to help rookies out there. I some how got distracted when changing from pistol powder to rifle powder. I guess I didn't clean all the pistol powder out of my powder measurer. At the range the ol 6mm nearly knocked me off the shooting bench. The case wouldn't let the bolt release and a whole raft of problems happened. My rem model 600 never shot quite as good after that day. I'm lucky I didn't kill myself........ Now go ahead tell on yourself don't leave me thinking I'm the only idiot in this forum.

RE: what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

About 15 years ago I was loading up some 44 mags when my father came to visit me. I continued to to prime my cases and set up my powder measure while talking with dad. What I didnt realize at the time is that I transposed the load somehow.

I was loading up some 225gr hollowpoints with (at that time) Hercules 2400. The correct load was a book max of 20.5 grains of 2400 with the 225 grain bullet but I wound up setting my Uniflow to drop 25.0 grains. Well I loaded 150 rounds of that, I dont dont why but I did catch the mistake later on that day.

Something in my feeble mind told me to re-check the powder charge and luckily I did. I put them in a marked container saying "OVERLOADED, DO NOT USE. Later on I pulled all the bullets and was able to save em and the powder and load them up right. I dont knowif the 4.5 grain overload would have hurt my super blackhawk but I was glad that I didnt find out either!

I would suggest that it's nice to talk to folks but they can be a hazardous distraction at times. Be carefull, keep your mind on what you are doing and maybe take a break if distracted by something or someone.


doubleA

RE: what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

I emptied a half full powder measure in the wrong powder canister. Expensive fertilizer. Good luck.

RE: what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

I locked up a Remington 700 (.22-250) and on another ocassion I locked up a Winchester push feed M-70 (.220 S) ..I had to remove the barrel from the M-70 to remove the case.....to this day I don't know what I did wrong........but I sure did something wrong.

RE: what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

Been there, now all powder is kept in a seperate place in the house and 1 type is brought out for the load I'm working on then put away before another is brought out.

My absolute worst mistake was double charging a 357 mag load with 700x
back when I 1st started handloading.
To this day the remains of a S/W Revolver hang above my bench with a sign that reads
"LETS BE VERY VERY CAREFUL"
I look at it just before I pour powder in the hopper and when the cold chills go away, I thank God for watching over me, then I resume loading.

It took me about 10 years to get rid of my flinch after that experience. Seems like the nano second before the trigger broke that moment would flash thru my mind causing my whole body to tense and jerk.
Today I check and double check. Then I check it once more before seating the bullet.

Handloading is a pleasant hobby but never forget that it is a Deadly one too.

Be Careful Please

Wes

RE: what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

Been there done that!

I was quick to find out that it doesn't take much to get sidetracked. I set there at the bench one day with my mind on something else and pressed about 10 bullets in primed cases with no powder in them. I had the scales out the powder measure and the trickler full of powder i just never put any in the case and started loading. Felt like a total dummy once i realized what i had done.

Made another mistake one day not at the loading bench but at the shooting bench. One thing i learned and learned quick was to never try to shoot a 30.06 and a 25.06 together on the same bench. I had loads worked up for both guns and was doing some shooting. I was shooting a 5 shot group and had shot 4 shots with the 30.06 and the 4 bullets were nearly touching. I guess i got excited about the good group and was rushing to put the 5th shot in the target and just wasn't paying attention and picked up a 25.06 round and settled in and fired. The shot didn't sound right or feel right and man talk about a flyer. I didn't know what happened but after about 10 seconds i realized what i had done. I picked up the 25.06 and the ammo and took both back in the house and continued on with the 30.06. I guess i didn't mess up anything because it still shoots great. That was several years ago and i have never shot them both together again and never will.

RE: what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

Same here for all. Ruined a pound of powder. First started reloading, ruined a bunch of brass with hydralic dents with too much lube. And of course stuck a case or two in a die. Locked up brass in a 300RUM because I shot TBBC and used matchking data. Then to compound it, I dropped all loaded rounds before marking, and tryed weighing but the deviation of the brass was more than the max and min loads.

but the worse one of all. Using a Lee 1000 loader, ran out of powder and loaded up a few 357sig rounds with no or little powder. Went to the range and remembered to watch for it. But a buddy shooting with me didn't know, chambered the round, shot, and it ran in the barrel about 1/4". Thanks goodness it blocked loading another round by mm's. If not could have been bad.

RE: what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

I read the manual wrong and triple charged about 500 rounds of 38 special ammo. I caught it before I fired them. I just dug a hole and buried them. I also loaded a box of 308 shells with bullets for the 303. I was lucky enough to catch that one before shooting them. I locked up a 700 Remington 30-06 with an under load of 4320. That load however came from one of the top reloading quides.

RE: what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

Well, I just got started handloading, so I haven't made any noteworthy mistakes yet. But when I do I'll let ya'll know about it...if I live. [:o]

Mike

RE: what's your biggest booboo.....be honest?
 

I double charged a .38spcl with trueblue. Lots of extra recoil and noise but my gp-100 survived. I'm glad it was a .38 load and not a double magnum load.