[Tommycourt]

Sunday is my range day so I went and took 2 SR1911's with me. I had my LWCommander and my standard SR1911. I was double tapping @30 feet with 3 rounds in the mag. My first round hit the bullseye but the second round was really HOT!! It was as if I had double charged the round. I use RCBS Handy Dandy rotors and am extremely careful when pouring powder. I set the brass in my wooden blocks and have a procedure I go through meticulously, never changing the way I load. Some of my rounds are old and I am wondering if possibly the round could have split when the firing pin hit the primer. I could not find the brass after I shot and I looked immediately, but at the range brass is all over. I am shooting Berry 230 plated RN, 4.7 grns. of Bullseye and my COAL is 1.255. If I would have double charged the round I would have seen it when I set the bullet. Does any one have any ideas of what may happen if a round splits when detonated? It's the only thing I can think of. Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. Out of 175 rounds I fired, I just had the one round.

Tommy

P.S. I was shooting my LW when this happen and immediately I checked the barrel and bore and it showed no signs of damage. The rest of session went well.

 

[greg_r]

I have had cases split and never knew they had split until after I fired them and was picking up my brass. The brass just gets brittle after being worked sometimes.

I use a lot of Unique when loading. I have found that in the event of a double charge it will overflow the case. I have never used Bullseye in 45acp, so I can't say how it sits in the case, but seems like you have a procedure in place, so a double charge would be unlikely as long as you followed it.

I loaded my first squib not too long ago. My son was firing my 995TS when it went pop instead of bang. Lots of unburnt powder. Don't know if it was a bad primer, contaminated powder or what, but when you have a problem with one of your reloads, it gets your attention!

 

[MagBlackhawk]

Many years ago I had a Remington .357 mag factory load split upon firing.
Like greg I didn't have any idea it had split till I looked at the brass. It felt and sounded normal when fired.

If you're positive it was not a double charge ..... could something have been wrong with the primer?
Never heard of a primer being WAY too hot, guess anything is possible though. ???

Some of the slower powders can detonate if they are under-loaded. You wouldn't expect Bullseye to react that way as it is a very fast powder.
Truth is I'm clueless on this one. :headscratch:

 

[DrDenby]

Hey Tommy,

I have no ideas.

But, if you still have some rounds from that batch, you might want to pull the bullets and reload them. Just to be safe.

Doc

 

[phideaux]

Tommy, Ive known you long time, and how meticulous you are,

But,

Only thing I can think of would be somehow, a super , excessive crimp....




Jim

 

[VThillman]

I energized my super-computer doppelganger - and he said "Bzzt, burp, insufficient data."

 

[buster40c]

VT you have such a way of saying it like it is.
BTW Tommy how did that HOT round shoot? Was it right on accurate or did it go wayward?

 

[Tommycourt]

The round hit the bullseye or close enough to it to verify it was a good load. BUT Jim has a good point, there might be a possibility that I had more of a crimp on the round than normal. As stated, some of my brass is getting old and brass does expand. I have a little more of a "feel" for the crimp on Perfecta and Federal casings. When I say feel, I mean it seems to take a little more pressure to get the crimp on the round than other rounds. That suggestion sounds very valid to me and is a distinct possibility. I wish I could have found the round to verify what it looked like after firing. I am using my Herter's bullet seating die so you can tell when the round is a little harder to seat. When I seat the bullet I try to make sure the bullet is in alignment with the casing however at times the do "tilt" a little. That increases the pressure to seat the bullet. If any one else has any opinions or comments please feel free to express them. I am open to all ways of thinking. I appreciate the responses I presently have.

Tommy

 

[SavageGuy]

When you say it was really hot, do you mean louder? Or harder kicking? Or both?

 

[spikedriver]

Could there have been excessive headspace? I've had notably hot rounds in my AR that were steel cased, and blew the primers almost all the way out of the pocket. The steel case dimensions were off just a tiny bit, and steel doesn't expand like brass to seal the chamber, and voila! Overpressure...I know steel wasn't your problem, but maybe somehow something similar happened?

 

[Oldhand]

I use the Little Dandy rotors also, before putting any bullets on cases with powder I run a flashlight over the cases to insure the same volume of powder. I also weigh every 10th round to insure proper charge.

 

[SavageGuy]

Hey Tommy, are you 100% sure it was a brass case?

 

[Oldhand]

Tommy, I have also noticed that the first charge out of the powder measure is 1/10 grain more than the following charges. This is after loading powder in the powder measure.

 

[greg_r]

I always run a half dozen or so charges through the measure before checking the charge, just to sort of prime the pump.

 

[Tommycourt]

Savage,
To tell you truthfully I can't remember if it was brass or nickel plated. I swept and swept that floor but sometimes the .45 will throw the rounds 10 ft. from the firing line.

Handy,

I have also noticed that on my scale I do about 3-5 readings before I run my brass and I have the same thing- there is a tendency to have a grain or even 2 difference. I recalculated my scale yesterday and I could not get it to calibrate. I tried for over an hour along with 6 different batteries. It would not calculate properly so I called the factory. We went through the procedure like the pamphlet stated and they finally said they would send me another scale for N/C. When I load my rounds I have a strict procedure I go through so I am loading the same way every time and then I check with my light to make sure that the level is about the same. I also check the COAL and powder charge about every 5 rounds. I am beginning to think that since my scale was not properly weighing, I could have dumped more powder than I thought and it was one that I did not gauge. I shot 175 rounds that day and I had only the 1 round that was HOT. To tell the truth it shook me up enough that I checked my pistol and pulled it down on the firing line. When I got home and cleaned it, I checked it again.

Greg is right! I think that you have to run some rounds through your scale first to get the pump to prime. I also pulled my primer apart and thoroughly cleaned it. There is a multitude of things that can go wrong and I try to be very meticulous so when I have a bad round, I go back to the drawing board and start all over again.

Thanks to all for your contributions. They are greatly appreciated.

Tommy

 

[SavageGuy]

^^well, the only conclusion I come to is too much powder. Whichever way it happened, at least nobody was hurt and your gun is okay! I know that you are a safe reloader and your method of loading is very consistent and safe. I don't think you can really blame yourself, just some of your equipment.

 

[SavageGuy]

I always run a half dozen or so charges through the measure before checking the charge, just to sort of prime the pump.

I do the same.

On the other hand, I really like using dippers. Can't really over charge, unless you scoop vs. dip. (Unless you accidentally double charge, of course! But I always charge the cases from my loading block primer side up and then put them back right side up) I use dippers for my .357 and .38 target loads as well as my 150 gr .30/06 loads.