Well that stinks....

[mrcabinet]

I decided to re-stock my .223 supply last weekend. I did my typical 20 test drops, and they were all at 24.5 grains. At around 320+ rounds, I noticed that the Lee Auto Drum wasn't rotating fully every time. Something was impeding the travel, which is unusual, since it's normally very consistent. Sadly, I have no idea when it started, which means all of them needed to be pulled. All I had on hand was a Grip N Pull and an archaic kinetic hammer, neither of which I wanted to use for this many pulls.

I ordered a Hornady Cam Lock puller on Monday. It arrived yesterday, so I set it up and started pulling them last night. Out of the first hundred or so, I've found everything from spot on, to 1 grain over, to all the way down to just a few flakes. Most have been in the 12 - 15 grain range. Once I get them all pulled, I'll take the powder drop apart, clean it, and re-lube with graphite.

Bottom line is that I deviated from standard procedures, which is to re-weigh the drops every 10 to 20 rounds. It is a reminder that just because it hasn't happened before, doesn't mean it can't happen. Oh well, at least all that brass is primed now!

[M1A4ME]

Never had to pull a batch of .223 loads but I spent 3 afternoons with a batch of .357 SIG loads and a kinetic bullet puller undoing a different mistake that resulted in overcharged powder levels (looked in the book, saw something like 5.6 grains and then set the scale and powder measure up for 6.5 grains.)

I still do two things after charging 50 cases.  One is a visual check with a small bright flashlight into the case mouth to compare powder levels in the cases.  Then I grab everything that doesn't look right and do a scale check.  If there is less than 5 that look odd I grab a random case so I still get 1 of 10,  If I have more that look funny I weigh the powder charges on more than 10.

Glad you caught that.  Stuff happens, mechanical sometimes.  Brainfarts other times. 

[Wobbly]

Oh, go ahead and use the hammer-style bullet puller...

[mrcabinet]

Ha! Too late, Wobbly!
To add insult to injury, I had been dumping these wayward rounds on top of 500 or so that were already in an ammo can. So I had to skim off a layer at a time, until it got to a point where they were all looking good. I then weighed a bunch to make sure I was gtg. I only pulled an extra hundred or so, lol.

[cracker57]

I guy I know said he had a bunch of 44 mag rounds that a friend of his reloaded for him. He asked me if I wanted any and a gave him a strong NO. He sent 100 rounds with another friend to give me. They had the "recipe" on the bag, pulled 3 and they did not match the "recipe"
. Now I have 97 more rounds to pull with the hammer.
  Hate pulling rounds. Not the 300 plus you had to pull but still a PITA.

[tdogg]

That is the worst feeling.  It's such a pain to rectify too.  There is no easy fix.  Especially since you were adding them to the "pile".  Now your going to question shooting those original rounds till they are gone.

I've relaxed my QC procedure with the Dillon equipment.  I still stop and check but it is less frequent (maybe every 30-50?).  I get really consistent drops with my Dillon powder drop and Sport Pistol.  Once setup, it holds within +/- 0.05 grain pretty consistently.  It helps that I have a Mark 7 Autodrive and the uniquetek powder bar.  The consistency of the autodrive and the precision fit of the powder bar really make a good combination.  It is better then I ever had on my Hornady powder drop.

I don't mix reloading sessions.  I've kept old bullet boxes and use those for my reloaded cartridges.  I generally run 300 rounds per session and that amount fits perfectly in the box.  I load up 300, case gauge them in the Hundo, mark the case head with a blue sharpie, and dump them in the box with a label.  Anything that doesn't pass case gauge gets put in the practice pile (unless it is apparently damaged).

Cheers,
Toby

[mrcabinet]

I spent the last few evenings reloading all that I had pulled. I was so paranoid that I was laser focused on the powder drop on every pull, and checked the weight every 25 rounds. No way was I going to pull that many rounds again, lol.
And yes, I did go through and weigh every round in that ammo can, just so I could sleep at night.

[FireMoose]

I always visually check the powder level before putting a bullet on top. I've glued a pivoting dental mirror to my turret press and I use the turret hole after the powder drop for a flashlight.