Wear Eye Protection

[AusTex]

Just want to re iterate the importance of wearing eye protection while reloading.

I had a .223 shell explode in my dillon 650 today. Ive loaded thousands and thousands of rounds over the past 5 years.. and never thought it could happen. It did and it sure scared the SH*T outa me.

I was in the middle of a 100 round batch and I went up seated a new round and on the down stroke I just heard a incredibly loud pop and powder and debris hit my face.

My ears were ringing, my face hurt, and I was shocked. I have no explanation on how it happened. Only thing i can think is that right after i put a primer in a round, charged the round, then on the down stroke the primer must have not been seated all the way in the round, or seated at an angle and pinched on something while the unit Indexed, causing it to go off. This theory though is still just about impossible

wear your safety equipment!!

 

[cuate]

Glad to learn you are ok following the Dillon mishap !! Yep, safety glasses
are a top idea....I use older, cheaper reloading machinery and have never experienced an accident but I wish I had the bucks for Dillon !!!

 

[Libertarian_Longhorn]

You reloaders have more patience and balls than I do.

 

[TxEMTP69]

good to know, looking to get into reloading when money and equip is more available

 

[Bullseye Shooter]

Some of us older fellows who wear glasses all the time tend to forget to tell folks to wear eye protection while reloading and shooting. One of our club members had a .243 case fail the other day on the range and he got a face full of debris. Luckily he was wearing glasses so the most he got was a small scratch on his cheek.

AusTex, glad you're okay. Have you checked with Dillon on possible causes?

 

[AusTex]

I have not yet. I have been swamped with work and just from loading thousands on the machine i know something happened none related to the unit... I primer must have been jammed somewhere.. or user error.. in my opinion about the only thing that could have happened. I think the stars aligned.. weak primer pocket, user error, etc etc.

 

[MadMo44Mag]

Glad you are ok!!!!
Had a similar incident years ago where the primer flipped on it side and when it came into the next station the primer popped. Luckily there was no powder in the round yet!

 

[TexasRedneck]

Dang - glad you weren't hurt! I've not had one do that yet - but as noted, it CAN happen. I'm wondering if maybe you "short-stroked" and indexed another primer into position, which then set off the other as you brought it down.

 

[Texas42]

Glod your ok.

 

[medalguy]

It was likely the culmination of several factors all aligning just right to cause the accident. Most accidents are not the reault of a single factor but several. You're right on in that reloaders should ALWAYS use eye protection.

Bullseye, you're right about remembering to wear glasses BUT they need to be safety glasses. Regular glasses won't afford very much eye protection if you have an accident.

 

[junkyguns]

I have heard of the primers in the tubes setting off a chain reaction and makin a mess of things but I havent had any go off yet out of close to 100K rounds loaded I have had them go in sideways upside down double stacked flattened you name it .

I am a lucky person I suppose, I have used the lee auto prime hand primer and got a few stuck in some way and even taken the brass with the stuck primer out and driven it out with a punch ....No Bang !

but it is fun lighting pyrodex pellets and making the smoke bombs out of them lol !

 

[glock9]

There have been other reports of chain reaction primer detonation that are unique with the Dillon 650s. [url]http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-118164.html[/URL]