Stupid mistake

[OLDVET]

Saturday morning, I decided to load some .45 ACP shells for my upcoming Sunday morning trip to the range. Just as I was about to setup my press and begin, my wife comes into the garage and tells me she wants me and the family to go to lunch in about 1 1/2 hours. This puts some pressure on an otherwise casual happening. I loaded the primers and Winchester powder into my Dillion 550B and proceeded to load 100 rounds. As I was removed the unused powder from my Dillion powder canister back into the Winchester powder bottle, I discovered I had used Winchester 748 instead of Winchester 231 in all of the shells I had just loaded. The idea of unloading 100 .45 ACP with a kinetic bullet puller was no fun.
I have reloaded for over 25 years. Loading everything from shotgun shells, high power rifle cartridges, down to .380 ACP loads.

I share this bright moment in my life, to show the new people who have been inquiring about reloading, that it only take a few minutes of distraction to be a big problem. I was lucky that I noticed my mistake prior to actually shooting any of these loads. 5.3 grs. of Win. 748 might have worked in a 1911, but I value my fingers more than to take a chance. Reloading is relaxing for me. Discovering I had used my rifle powder to load my .45 ACP shells had a puckering effect.

Keep it same. Keep it fun.

 

[Vaquero]

Glad you caught it.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[deemus]

Wow. Good thing you caught it. That could have been bad.

 

[Dawico]

That sucks. Make your wife pull them apart since she is responsible.

And let us know how that works out for you.

 

[Shorts]

Oldvet, thank you for the reminder. I'm not a reloader yet, prepping to be however. And this is probably the most important aspect I am concluding from all the reading I am doing. Attention to detail and no distractions.

Glad you found the error and can get it corrected. Your example is taken well. Thanks man.

 

[45tex]

Thanks for the "word to the wise."

 

[Charlie]

Pull about 5 or 10 at a time whenever you are loading again. Or not.

Glad you caught it though. Thanks for the post (hopefully it will help me remember).

 

[TexasRedneck]

Ouch......sorry to hear it, but glad ya caught it!

 

[Jeffrey]

Find somebody with a marlin Camp .45?

 

[OLDVET]

All the bullets were diassembled, reloaded Saturday night, and shot Sunday morning. I was shooting on paper bay one while you other TGT guys were spread out other places at the range.
What really warps my pecker is the fact I store my rifle powder and rifle primers on shelves on the far right side of my workbench. My pistol powder and pistol primers are stored on shelves on the far left side of the workbench. They are at least 6'-0" apart. I keep my powder scale and hand primer tools on the right side, so I guess when I got my powder scale out to use, I grabbed the rifle powder without thinking.

Oh well, no harm no foul. Just a few hours of wasted time and the frustration of banging a kinetic bullet puller on my concrete garage floor.

 

[Amistad]

Diligence and caution are never out of style at the reloading bench!

Amistad

 

[ROGER4314]

Well done on catching the mistake and in sharing it with the members! Sometimes, we learn best from our failures.

You might have even gotten by without damage by using the rifle powder in a pistol. The slow powder may not have worked well but it probably wouldn't explode. The reverse is tragic. Using fast pistol powder in a rifle is nothing but a bomb!

Glad that you weren't hurt!

Flash

 

[OLDVET]

Now every time I go into the garage and look at my reloading area, I drop kick my own butt.

 

[ROGER4314]

Please don't be so hard on yourself. This little error and your willingness to report it honestly may have saved a life. I believe that there's a reason for everything. Maybe someone needed to read your thread and you became the vehicle for teaching him/her what they needed to know.

Flash

 

[mosin]

not anything I have to worry about right now but what makes a powder specific to a pistol vs a rifle?

 

[subseashooter]

Please don't be so hard on yourself. This little error and your willingness to report it honestly may have saved a life. I believe that there's a reason for everything. Maybe someone needed to read your thread and you became the vehicle for teaching him/her what they needed to know.

Flash

This.

It all happens for a reason.

This time it wasn't meant to be so that all your other fingers were out of the way for your pinky-nose-picking habit.

 

[Wooduck1954]

Nice catch

 

[ROGER4314]

what makes a powder specific to a pistol vs a rifle?

Excellent question and this "stupid error" was the vehicle by which a member can clarify some misunderstanding. See? This thread did some good already!

The powder burn rate is the biggest factor in powder selection (but not the ONLY one). I'll edit this post and link a burn rate chart after the post is done.

As the primer lights the powder, it burns, not explodes. It's a fast burn but it's still a controlled, predictable burn.

As the bullet proceeds up the barrel, it relieves/reduces pressure as the volume of the gas behind it increases. With the bullet moving, the cavity containing the gas is getting larger so pressure is dropping. Meanwhile, the powder is still burning, which increases the same pressure in that cavity. Ideally, the powder burn rate will exactly equal the loss of pressure and length of the barrel determines how long that burn will be.

Using a very slow powder in a long barrel will result in unburned powder when the bullet exits the muzzle and a fireball results. Using a very fast powder in a long barrel will result in extreme pressure spikes as the balance mentioned previously is upset.

When you load for a 2" barrel, it requires a very fast powder like Bullseye, Red Dot or WW231 so it is consumed before the bullet exits the barrel. Otherwise, we get that fireball. In a 4" or 6" pistol barrel, a slightly slower powder like Unique will be better. The classic load for a 44 magnum is 2400, which is pretty slow powder. Elmer Keith developed that 2400 load.

The best plan is to follow your loading manual data. Some of the best sources are from the powder companies. They spend millions of Dollars to research this data.

The worst case in reloading is to take a super fast pistol powder like Bullseye or 231, fill a rifle case with it and the result will be our KB or KABOOM! I doubt if any rifle could withstand that. The reverse, like old Vet did is less dangerous. He substituted a slower rifle powder in a short barrel. No doubt there will be a fireball of unburned powder but this is less dangerous. Not good....just not as bad.

I'll snag that powder burn chart.............

http://www.reloadbench.com/burn.html

There are other factors in powder selection, too. Bullseye requires a tiny amount of powder for a 9mm or .45acp. It's easy to double charge with Bullseye because there's plenty of room in the cartridge case. A loader may choose 231 or Red Dot because the volume of powder for each round is greater and a double charge will overfill the case and make it noticeable.

A slower powder will accelerate the projectile less quickly and reduce felt recoil to the shooter.

In rifle, I use IMR (Improved Military Rifle) 4895 for most cartridges. That is a powder made of tiny tubes of powder. Recently, I changed to 748 in .223 because the IMR 4895 clogged ("Bridged") in the tiny neck of the .223. 748 is a ball shaped powder which flows through the case neck better when loading it.

Hope that helps! Excellent question!


Flash

 

[OLDVET]

What he say? I am kidding.
His points are well made. My original intent was to show that anyone can make a stupid mistake. Never take reloading for granted. I have learned a few new things from following this thread. Be safe and keep all of your fingers.

 

[caleb7]

not anything I have to worry about right now but what makes a powder specific to a pistol vs a rifle?

I was considering asking the same thing. It seemed at least two of us learned something today.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick!" ~ Theodore Roosevelt