Finally forgot one...

[corbanzo]

Had a misfire today.  Though it was a bum primer, got home, pulled the bullet, turned the case... yep, a little soot came out and that was all.  Primer fired, no powder to light.  Luckily it was in a .458 lott, big enough case, the primer pressure didn't move the bullet from the case mouth. 

OOPS.

[Graybeard]

A great many years ago, back in the early '70s I believe it was, after a similar incident I instituted a policy I still follow to this day. I place my cases in a load tray and drop charges from a powder measure. Even if they need to be weighted I still use the tray to set them in once powder is charged.

Before seating bullets I tilt the tray under a bright light and look to verify all have powder and that all powder levels appear the same. If any do not look the same I dump the charge examine the case and recharge. If it then still looks different that case is discarded and never again used.

The one time I failed to discard a case that the powder level looked different in even after verifying the charge to be correct I blew up a TC Contender .44 magnum barrel. I still do not know why that case was so different but it had a S&W headstamp and ever since I refuse to load any case with that headstamp.

[stimpylu32]

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger , anyone that has been loading for more than a day has had something happen , it may take 20 years or it may take 20 min , just another point that we need to ALWAYS keep our mind on what we are doing .

It took 25 years before I had my first complete case head seperation of a round while a buddy of mine had it happen with the first box of ammo that he ever loaded , one just never knows for sure . 

stimpy

[jhalcott]

  I do as GB ,and eyeball the cases I had one 45-70 case that seemed to be over full once. I dumped the case in the scale pan and a dead yellow jacket was on top of the pile!?? We had a nest of them under an awning earlier that year. NOW I eyeball BEFORE I charge the case with powder, and again after.
  Many years ago I got into a spat with the wife .I decided she could argue with herself and went to the loading room. I found a load I wanted to try and got the components all ready and on the desk. I spent a few minutes carefully adjusting the powder measure. When I dumped the first charge into the case it DID NOT fit!?? I reread the recipe and noted that every thing LOOKED right. So I dumped a 2nd charge. SAME results??? I muttered some nasties and REALLY looked at the recipe and pointed at each item as it was named. 150 grain bullet, check! 4350 powder, check! 50 some thing grains in the scale pan, check! 30-06 case, whoa!!? why was I holding a 30-30 case??
 Moral: Do NOT argue with the wife and try to reload!

[Bigeasy]

That's why progressive reloaders make me nervous.  Twice I have had .38 spl target loads jam during fast double action shooting, fired only by primer power.  Both loaded on progressive machines, one by me, one by a friend.  What scares me is if a powder charge is somehow missing, then its just as likely there could be a double charge, right?

When I load now, I watch each case to make sure it has been properly charged.  Its pretty easy to see if one is noticeably short or over.  I prefear a single stage for most of my reloading, placing all charged cases in loading blocks for inspection prior to seating the bullet.

Larry

[qajaq59]

With me it is checking the scale all the time. I once somehow hit the counterweight and moved it without noticing. I then proceeded to load about 20 cases before I did see it. I checked them all and found that only the first three were right. The rest were 3 gr high! Boy, that will scare the blazes out of you.

[aldar]

I do just the same as Graybeard does now, by visually inspecting each round after charging. i don't use a progressive press and i weigh out each charge, but once i came up with a short charged round. no idea how it happened but i might have bumped the scale. in any case i look at each round now.