Happy to be alive - A Warning!

[6MT]

Thank you everyone for your comments. I wanted to post this because I want to tell everyone to be careful. I thought I was always careful. But things happened and I didn’t notice a most important part. Reloading can be deadly if done improperly or if mistakes are made. (You should see my process with small charges of ball powders. I have three checks to make sure I haven’t double charged a case.)

But in my case above, I screwed up bad. Now my rifle is sitting on a line waiting to be fixed.

[harbl_the_cat]

Glad your okay!

For non-reloaders, here's how ChatGPT summarized the post:

The post recounts a personal experience of a shooter who accidentally loaded incorrect ammunition, using the wrong powder in their 6.5CM rifle. As a result, the primer blew out and caused damage to the bolt. The author reflects on the mistake, acknowledges the potential danger, and urges others to be cautious when reloading ammunition to avoid serious accidents.

[harbl_the_cat]

What bullet were you using? Looking at Hodgdon's reloading data, you would have just been over max if you were running a 95 grain pill, but 3.8 to 9.1 grains over using anything else they have data for...

https://www.hodgdonreloading.com/hodgdon/hodgdon-varget

Not a criticism, but one thing I always do is write down my load everywhere: in my daily journal, on my targets, on post it notes I put in my range box, and on the stickers I put on the ammo I put away in deep storage.

Because I reload in bulk, I always do visual QC, noting the shape of the powder I'm loading as well as the approximate fill in the cases.

Depending on what I'm loading, I'll weigh the charge at different intervals.

Progressive loaded pistol ammo, about every 20-30 rounds.

Turret press loaded rifle ammo, about every 10-15 round.

Hand press loaded rifle ammo, I weigh out every round.

I also have dedicated power drops for whatever I'm loading, and reload in very large batches to avoid accidental powder mixups.

For example, now I'm hand loading 19.4 grain of IMR4198 with IVI brass 5.56, with 68 grain Hornady Match. I know the IMR4198 is a medium sized stick powder with a distinct smell to it, and I use a Lee Powder Perfect Measure specifically to drop that powder.

I'm also loading 25.2 to 25.6 grains of Winchester 748 with CJ brass .223 with 55 grain FMJBT Berry's on my Lee auto indexing Turret press with a Lee Auto Drum Powder measure, and that it's a very small spherical powder.

Lastly, I'm loading 4.9-5.1 grains of Winchester 231 with my own 200 grain LSWC's with mixed small primer .45 ACP brass also with a Lee Auto Drum Powder measure, and that it's also medium flake powder.

Each of my presses are on physically separated stations, where the required powder is stored unintuitively for the other stations... actually, I'll make a video about this.

Reloading is really all about quality control and attention to detail.

We all make mistakes, myself included, but if you are disciplined in your quality control in your reloading, that tends to translate into much more attention to detail on the range and for accidents to be rare (or to never happen).

So to the guys saying you'll never reload, that's understandable... but there's risks to everything we do in life...

Learning to mitigate those risks builds tremendous character...

Thanks for sharing 6MT...

It's a good reminder to always be diligent when you get behind the press.

[harbl_the_cat]

Stay safe guys and don't be discouraged when accidents happen because other people make mistakes

Learn from them instead and thank God for their courage and decency to share their experiences.

[6MT]

What bullet were you using?

Thanks for sharing 6MT...

It's a good reminder to always be diligent when you get behind the press.

Um...the 6.5 bullet I use is a 140gr.

[Grimlock]

Mistakes happen to everyone. Sharing them helps others not make those mistakes.
The worst I've done with powder mix-ups is dumping the "waste" mug by my scale in the wrong can. Annoying, but didn't hurt anything.
Happy you're safe.

[6MT]

Equipment update:

The action, bolt, and barrel are write-offs. The chassis, trigger group, and brake survived.

Again, I’m happy to be alive. The action did its job of venting the pressure. It was a catastrophic failure, but no explosion.

So as my gunsmith said, 60 cents worth of the wrong powder is a pretty expensive lesson to learn. Sh1t!

[3MTA3]

Glad you made out ok- sorry you lost some gear. but amazed on how much of a mistake a good rifle will tolerate without failing more catastrophically.

[2012Cvoguy]

Dang, just seen this! Glad it shook out well all things considered! Stuff is just stuff, even though it stings in the pocket book at least it’s not eyes, fingers or worse. The post is a perfect situational awareness reminder, Thank You and enjoy the rebuild.