Broke one of the cardinal rules. Shot an unknown reload. Grabbed a couple reloads that came with a new toy when I went out to check a newly mounted scope. BAD IDEA! But, it happened. First round just felt like a stout load. Second looked like this when I opened the action-
Complete case head separation. Gun held it.
That was incentive to do what I should have to begin with. Spent a couple hours pulling 140 rounds apart. What I found is powder charges that varied by as much as 9/10th of a grain. The lightest charge measured exceeded the book max for the powder I am 99.9% sure was used by a minimum of 3/10ths. Btw, the powder, even though I am very sure of what it is, will NOT be reused as that would break another rule of reloading-NEVER USE AN UNKNOWN POWDER!
This was the 2nd time in my life I broke that rule-NEVER fire a reload that is not properly labeled from a handloader you know and trust! The 1st time I shot an unknown was back in the 90s. Fortunately, it did not have a bad outcome; but it was still stupid!
I put this out there to help those who might not know any better, and as a reminder to those who do. DON'T SHOOT AN UNKNOWN RELOAD!
Bullets pulled, brass necks resized, time to go load some SAFE rounds.
Complete case head separation. Gun held it.
That was incentive to do what I should have to begin with. Spent a couple hours pulling 140 rounds apart. What I found is powder charges that varied by as much as 9/10th of a grain. The lightest charge measured exceeded the book max for the powder I am 99.9% sure was used by a minimum of 3/10ths. Btw, the powder, even though I am very sure of what it is, will NOT be reused as that would break another rule of reloading-NEVER USE AN UNKNOWN POWDER!
This was the 2nd time in my life I broke that rule-NEVER fire a reload that is not properly labeled from a handloader you know and trust! The 1st time I shot an unknown was back in the 90s. Fortunately, it did not have a bad outcome; but it was still stupid!
I put this out there to help those who might not know any better, and as a reminder to those who do. DON'T SHOOT AN UNKNOWN RELOAD!
Bullets pulled, brass necks resized, time to go load some SAFE rounds.