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I needed to load 200 rounds for a match last week. I wanted to do it early in the week but Stuff kept happening. The night before the match I managed to crank them out, and it was probably the most miserable reloading experience I have had in about 6k rounds so far.
It took me much too long to switch from 9mm back to .45ACP. I forgot to case lube the first group of brass, so running the machine (a Dillon RL-550B with carbide dies) was a pain. The shellplate bolt, despite cleaning, kept tightening as the platform turned, binding things up so I had to loosen it by hand. So on and so forth.
Nonetheless, I finished with two hundred loaded rounds. I handed off the bucket of rounds to my girlfriend to case gauge and box things up for our match.
In the end she handed me two rounds back. One was clearly not crimped. The other had the bullet sitting way too high, like it had never been set. My heart sinking, I looked through the boxed rounds. Sure enough, I found one with the old spent primer still in the brass.
I must have double-turned the shellplate and forgot to run the handle on one go around. :aargh4: Now for the worst part---I had three of the affected rounds in my hand, but the fourth was unaccounted for, and that one had to be the one on the powder station. I have, with near certainty, one squib needle somewhere in the 197 round haystack.
I shot my P239 in .40S&W the next day; the g/f dragged out some saved up factory ammo for her 1911. Now I have to find said needle in said haystack.
Yes, I could run every round through the bullet puller; this idea appeals to me about as much as beating my head into a wall repeatedly for a couple of hours. I thought about weighing, but the problem is we are talking about 4.8gr of powder and I am pretty sure I get at least that much variation just in the empty shell weights. (My empty .45ACP brass seems to hover in the 86--92gr range.)
Anybody got any bright ideas?
Last question---how hard is it to remove a squib from a barrel? I've never had a squib before when shooting.
Thanks for any help, folks.
It took me much too long to switch from 9mm back to .45ACP. I forgot to case lube the first group of brass, so running the machine (a Dillon RL-550B with carbide dies) was a pain. The shellplate bolt, despite cleaning, kept tightening as the platform turned, binding things up so I had to loosen it by hand. So on and so forth.
Nonetheless, I finished with two hundred loaded rounds. I handed off the bucket of rounds to my girlfriend to case gauge and box things up for our match.
In the end she handed me two rounds back. One was clearly not crimped. The other had the bullet sitting way too high, like it had never been set. My heart sinking, I looked through the boxed rounds. Sure enough, I found one with the old spent primer still in the brass.
I must have double-turned the shellplate and forgot to run the handle on one go around. :aargh4: Now for the worst part---I had three of the affected rounds in my hand, but the fourth was unaccounted for, and that one had to be the one on the powder station. I have, with near certainty, one squib needle somewhere in the 197 round haystack.
I shot my P239 in .40S&W the next day; the g/f dragged out some saved up factory ammo for her 1911. Now I have to find said needle in said haystack.
Yes, I could run every round through the bullet puller; this idea appeals to me about as much as beating my head into a wall repeatedly for a couple of hours. I thought about weighing, but the problem is we are talking about 4.8gr of powder and I am pretty sure I get at least that much variation just in the empty shell weights. (My empty .45ACP brass seems to hover in the 86--92gr range.)
Anybody got any bright ideas?
Last question---how hard is it to remove a squib from a barrel? I've never had a squib before when shooting.
Thanks for any help, folks.