My first double charge? Just may be my last.

[charlielikesczs]

https://imgur.com/ZhCld3K


First off no one was hurt. Other than a gun and my pride. I humbly and shamefully ask the experts, what did I do wrong? I assume a double charge. I have reloaded maybe 10k rounds total between 9mm/45acp/.38/.223. But I,by no means, consider myself an expert.

The load data for these was:
 45ACP
 5.2 gr(or 10.4?) of winchester 231
 mixed range brass
 Hornady 200 gr xtp
 O.A.L- i dont remember the exact length but i did set them in sig 1911 chamber until the base of the cartridge was flush with the
 barrel hood?
 Dillon 550B progressive

My first two mags shot well.  Then, on the 3 magazine, the first round cycled normally, then a big bang. Not sure where the casing that caused this went.  I looked around briefly for it but quite frankly I was too busy counting fingers and checking my drawers to care much at the time.

I assume a double charge and that I lost concentration/focus while reloading this batch. I know I had been finding a few 45 casings with small primers slip through(which messes up the whole rythym).  I am usually very diligent with looking into each casing before placing the bullet but  as they say, "1 awe sh*t negates 1000 atta boys."

I know most of you folks are alot more experienced than me. But for those who are new to reloading something like this will shake you to your core and make one wonder about the value in reloading. I will probably have a significant flinch for some time when pulling the trigger and I may just have some reloading equipment up for sale. Probably not but I'm considering it.
So I'll ask again, what did i do wrong?  What can be done to prevent this from happening in the future? Double charge for sure orwould anything else cause something like this?

Also concerning the pistol, Should I send it out to Sig for examination? The action appears to cycle smoothly/normally. Nothing is swollen/bulged/cracked that I can see other than the grip panels. But I do worry about the chamber integrity.

Be safe. Please do be extra cautious when reloading and wear those safety glasses without fail! Because you never know.
My hope is someone other than myself can learn something from this.

[Crawl]

Not offering any insight, just commenting to follow along and say that I like your attitude. Happy you're okay and still have all your OEM body parts!

[Duke Nukem]

Wow.  Thanks for posting this, it helps to share both the good and the bad.

  I don't know how it happened, or what exactly happened . . I don't use a progressive, but isn't it harder to double charge when using them?

[timetofly]

What my untrained eye focused on was the two cartridges in the lower part of the picture.  I'm wondering if the projectiles set back and caused over pressurization?  Perhaps someone else could chime in on this.

[Crawl]

It's really easy to miss primers or dump powder twice using a professive if you get in a hurry or distracted or don't have a routine. However, with the powder I use for 9mm, it's always obvious when I double charge because the projectile essentially will not seat.

I haven't loaded with 231, so idk how much room there would be in the case for a bullet to seat with a double charge.

[charlielikesczs]

What my untrained eye focused on was the two cartridges in the lower part of the picture.  I'm wondering if the projectiles set back and caused over pressurization?  Perhaps someone else could chime in on this.

The projectiles set back in the casings were the top two in the mag. I'm sure this happened as a result of the "big bang". They were not like that when i loaded the magazine

[2bfree]

First, the 550 is not a true progressive, it is a manual advance press. Second, you can triple charge a 45 case at 5.2 231, it will be right to the rim but it will fit. I am going with a double charge. One thing I learned early on with my 550 was if you have to stop just empty the press of all cases as it is easy to charge the case have a problem with priming and by the time you have that worked out it just natural to prime the case and keep on going. Glad you were not hurt, lucky the 45 is a low pressure round.

[charlielikesczs]

2BFREE, Great advice on clearing the shellplate if there is a snag or an issue! Now I realize that the pennies i was trying to save are just not worth it. Can anyone  recommend any powder that is not as "dense" as W231? Just asking because it would be nice to have some powder that would overflow the cartridge if another inadvertant double charge were to happen.  I did not realize that you could fit 3 charges in one casing.

[Rock-it3]

I'm not suggesting anything, just asking, but would barrel/chamber damage be expected from a double charge? is it possible that it fired out-of-battery, causing the magazine and grips to blow out?

[charlielikesczs]

I'm not suggesting anything, just asking, but would barrel/chamber damage be expected from a double charge? is it possible that it fired out-of-battery, causing the magazine and grips to blow out?

Great question. Not sure either. But this was my first go around with reloading hollow points. Up to this point, everything else I loaded and shot through this particular gun was round nose 

[painter]

How did you determine the OAL for your loads?

[larryflew]

Not suggesting any specific powder but one of the deciding factors for which powder i am going to use is having a nearly full obvious visual with the powder I select.  Example would be Unique for 9mm overflows with double charge. Probably not a "best" powder nowadays but works fine and i bought a lot way back when. Used in 32, 380, 9mm, 45, light 44mag.

[charlielikesczs]

How did you determine the OAL for your loads?

I use the barrel/chamber plunk? test. Its difficult to explain. I basically drop a bullet and casing in the chamber(with the barrel removed) and set the OAL  so that the casing is flush with the "barrel hood/lug?-the longest part of the barrel on top". For the first few, i start too long and when its flush, i set my seating die there
Forgive my ignorance, but this is the method i have been using. Like I said, I am no expert. 

[painter]

How did you determine the OAL for your loads?

I use the barrel/chamber plunk? test. Its difficult to explain. I basically drop a bullet and casing in the chamber(with the barrel removed) and set the OAL  so that the casing is flush with the "barrel hood/lug?-the longest part of the barrel on top". For the first few, i start too long and when its flush, i set my seating die there
Forgive my ignorance, but this is the method i have been using. Like I said, I am no expert.

That's the correct method, but you didn't mention any allowance for OAL deviation. Typically we subtract ~.010-.015" from the plunk test result to allow for rounds that might vary.

I think Rock-it3 might be on to something with his wondering if you had an OOB incident.

If you have any of these rounds left that weren't in the magazine when the incident occurred, I'd be checking the length.

[charlielikesczs]

Thanks Painter. I was definately not subtracting .010-.015. I do have about 100 or so more rounds from that batch and I will definitely [check] the length on all of them