Be careful metering out our powder

[sniper7]

pretty cool to see the cutaway of the barrel and the projectiles in the barrel.
luckily those were subsonic or that would have ended extremely poorly.

good lesson and just another reminder to be careful with reloads on both spectrums; full power and subsonic.

[theGinsue]

Reloading can be very safe, if you follow all of the safety guidelines - like using established (published) load data and never exceed the manufacturers maximum load - at least not until you've really got plenty of reloading experience under your belt (personally, I've never seen the need to exceed the max loads.

[car-15]

I've reloaded a few rounds myself in the past week...scared to death to actually shoot them

careful is the key, i've reloaded and shot countless thousands of my reloaded rounds over the years, without any trouble. I stay below the max load stated in up to date manual's, I keep the door closed and phones and tv's off, so I have no distractions, and hand dump every powder charge in every case with my little tin powder pan. I use the lyman 1200 dps dumper/scale combo, double check the charge weight every 50 rounds with my slide bar scale, and after I fill my plastic tray I look at all of them in the light to double check if they all look even before going further, another trick that i have learned is to use a powder that consumes more than 50% of the case volume, so a double charge is imposible without a spill over.

[SA Friday]

careful is the key, i've reloaded and shot countless thousands of my reloaded rounds over the years, without any trouble. I stay below the max load stated in up to date manual's, I keep the door closed and phones and tv's off, so I have no distractions, and hand dump every powder charge in every case with my little tin powder pan. I use the lyman 1200 dps dumper/scale combo, double check the charge weight every 50 rounds with my slide bar scale, and after I fill my plastic tray I look at all of them in the light to double check if they all look even before going further, another trick that i have learned is to use a powder that consumes more than 50% of the case volume, so a double charge is imposible without a spill over.

This is not a mechanical failure on part of the firearm, reloading equipment, nor the powder itself. This is a reloader pushing things to the limit and not wanting to take a systematic approach to the reloading with the proper precautions.

It happens... It's learning from failure.

I've reloaded hundreds of thousands of pistol rounds that took less than 50% of the case volume (9mm 147gr bullets, titegroup powder). You look in each case, every time. I have yet to have a double charge or squib with this load, and only one squib ever. I caught it before it left the machine.

[theGinsue]

Sooo, I'm actually thinking that this thread really belongs in the Reloading Forum (http://www.co-ar15.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=103).

Either way, good info folks.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Slam down the gavel and ban the OP, Ginsue... You gotta exercise that power once awhile.

[theGinsue]

You crack me up.

I'm more inclined to give a good verbal tongue lashing (What? Huh? Oh, wrong site.... Never mind).


You see, I'm very OCD and have one of those "everything in it's proper place" sort of personalities. I get these nervous ticks when things are out of place - which is never good with a loaded .45 in my hand.
<joke>

[SA Friday]

You see, I'm very OCD and have one of those "everything in it's proper place" sort of personalities. I get these nervous ticks when things are out of place - which is never good with a loaded .45 in my hand.
<joke>

There are just reasons to not say stuff like that.

[Molon_Labe-1775]

Looks like a .22 caliber threaded for a suppressor, based on the load description, I gotta think .223/5.56. I just ASSumed it was an AR variant of some kind...

If I read that right.... 4 grains of powder? That's not a .223 round with 4 grains of powder. Those are in the range of pistol loads.

[OgenRwot]

This is a reloader pushing things to the limit and not wanting to take a systematic approach to the reloading with the proper precautions.

This is exactly right. No reason he should have gone full auto (if this was the case) or kept pulling the trigger. Sure a suppressor makes things quiet, but not THAT quiet.

If I read that right.... 4 grains of powder? That's not a .223 round with 4 grains of powder. Those are in the range of pistol loads.

Yep, and it's a pistol powder as well. However, it's a very voluminous powder so it takes up quite a bit of room in the case. It's designed for revolvers and lever action rifles like the 30-30 etc. It is common practice, however, to use pistol powders in 223 and 308 for subsonic rounds.