I'm no expert on this subject, and am as likely as another to blowup my own gun someday, if not tommorow. Ken Waters leans heavily toward the idea that the use of pistol powders in rifle cases invites blowups, his reasoning is that it is so easy to double charge a case, an advantage to using very slow powders for reduced velocity loads, it is difficult to double charge a case that is already full.
The answer, if there is one to this, is simple, double check EVERYTHING that you do when reloading before going to the next step. It is far easier to dump powder from a case that has not had a bullet seated in it..... Another possible but often overlooked way of bursting a gun, particularly revolvers, is seating a heavy bullet on a charge for a light bullet. Take for example seating a .44 300 grainer on a charge meant for a 200 grainer......
In a recent issue of Guns magizine, an article described the loading a batch of pistol ammo using a rifle powder. At least the right direction to make this mistake....the author attributes his fault to having two powders on the bench at the same time (one of those rule #1's don't ever do this things) and the fact that the two powders, Hodgdon powders, wore similar looking labels. Always look twice and read aloud, don't glance and think is the proper conclusion to draw here.
There are two kinds of reloaders, those who have botched a batch of loads in some way, and those that are going to. Most of the time Lady Luck smiles on us and relieves us of paying the full price of our mistakes. The surefire way to experience a burst chamber is to think yourself above making mistakes.
