Acautionary tale

[Dave 101]

A few weeks ago I decided to reload some .308 , I had 27 Lapua cases so I thought I would reload them with 168 gn Sierra match kings and save them for a long range test firing when I get my Enfield 7.62 back together .

All was going well till some brain fade I suppose for some reason I decided on 47 gns of Viht N140 , I have never used 47 gns before and have no idea why I chose that amount of powder , normaly use 39 gns maybe 40 with a heavier bullet .

So on completion of this reloading session I labelled them and enterd the details into my reloading log , then the penny started to drop , a moment of fear and non believing goes through the old brain box . So I had a look at my reloading manual Oh **** springs to mind , Max load 43.5 gns of powder .

So today I have just pulled them all , glad it was only 27 , and reloaded using 40 gns .

Glad I realized my mistake before it was to late .

If in doubt check it out , losing a few fingers or worse isnt worth taking a chance over .

 

Dave

[henry d]

:o That could have been a shocker :o

[Vermincinerator]

I have only ever overcharged a batch of cases once and that was back in the pistol shooting days using my Springfield Armoury Factory Comp 1911A1 in .38 Super.

 

I was completely unaware and soon found out about my bungle on firing the first and only shot of the session

It came to light on returning home that i had overcharged by 5grns! :o

 

On my beam scales the large counter weight pointer always lined up in between the 5grn divisions rather then on it and when adjusting the scales to set the powder measure, i dropped into the wrong notch, put the pointer the wrong side of the division and did not notice it.

Instead of charging 6grns of Hodgden HS6 i dropped 11grns into the case :o

 

On firing, apart from the huge bang and large flash i only got hot spatter in the face from the disintegrating primer, luckily the range rules made sure every shooter wore safety glasses or maybe things could have been worse.

 

Amazingly my pistol was still in tact all be it soildly locked up and refusing to go back into battery, persuasion with a mallet and a brass drift had it functioning again.

I can only be thankfull that the specially ramped match barrel installed in this pistol to deal with the high pressure of the .38 Super round saved the day.

 

Needless to say the scales were ditched after this and a new set acquired.

All 100 rounds were pulled and reloaded with the correct charge of 6grns,(treble checked as well) ready for next weeks session, which was a great success with the gun functioning flawlessly and me shooting well

 

Ian.