Reloading screwup by yours truly

[Dave Waits]

Well, went shooting today. took 150 rounds with me,an older box I reloaded about three weeks ago and two boxes I reloaded last week. Loaded the oldest box first and fired all fifty rounds with normal reliability and accuracy. Then opened the first of the two newer boxes of reloads. Loaded three mags, and shoved one up the chute. Fired the first round and got a FTRB. Slide stopped about a 1/4" shy of battery. Pushed it into battery with my thumb and fired again. Same result. WTF! Did it four out of the next ten rounds!

Hmmmm, Maybe the chamber is dirty. Tore it down, scrubbed it ,reassembled and loaded up another mag.Fired three rounds then on the fourth it FTRB'ed again. Double-WTF! Checked the gun out again, nothing amiss. That's when I finally noticed it, a loaded round laying on the bench that didn't look right. Picked it up and saw the problem, there was a blob of lead right on the casemouth impressed into the brass.

Checked about fifteen other rounds in the box, same thing. Damn! Knew right away what had happened, either the Expander die wasn't screwed in all the way or it had backed off. I load Bevelbase bullets so, nothing felt different but there sure was! The casemouths weren't Expanded(Belled) and as the seater sat the bullet it shaved lead off of the side and then the crimper smashed the lead into the brass. It was barely noticable but, it was enough to keep the gun from going into Battery. Spent the next hour at the range, sitting there with my Gerber, scratching lead blobs off of the cases. Reloaded the mags and shot, every round fired perfectly fine. Have to wait til next Sunday(Reloading Day) to check the Expander Die.

Always check your Dies before each operation.