MrPCHead Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Hi folks As embarrassing as this is I feel compelled to share my recent unpleasant experience so that hopefully others can avoid a similar misfortune. I've been shooting USPSA for the last year and began reloading about six months ago. I have had excellent mentoring both here on the BE forums and locally (Upper Connecticut River Valley/New Hampshire) and have had good results from reloading 9mm minor and .45 major. I have taken an interest in 3-gun and decided to start loading .223 in hopes of finding a good load for use this summer. I decided to try Varget powder with 55gr FMJ bullets. I began at the low end of the powder charge (25gr) and worked my way up. I was approaching max load and still not quite making it to minor PF so I ordered some Ramshot TAC since it is a lower-volume powder. I decided to try the 27.5gr compressed load anyway since everything was working fine so far and I was still within spec. The trouble came from breaking one of the cardinal rules of reloading: having more than one kind of powder in the reloading area. I had the Varget in a large jug on the floor and for some reason I moved a very similar jug of Titegroup out of storage and placed it right next to the Varget. From above they are identical. The result is that I inadvertently used Titegroup instead of Varget. On my next trip to the range I set up the chrony and took my first and last shot of the day. It didn't help matters that the shot was through my Kel-Tec SU16C instead of the AR I had brought. I'm still not sure why I did that. The result of all the above was an enormous detonation that split the bolt carrier open, ripped the lugs off the bolt, disintegrated most of the upper and lower receivers and injured me significantly. I was very lucky to be wearing Shooter's Ear glasses but I still sustained a fractured orbit, a cut over the eye requiring ten stitches, massive hematomas in and around the right eye and and shards of metal and plastic in my head and right hand. After a lengthy visit to the ER and several followup visits to Opthalmology, ENT and my GP, everything is going to heal OK. The right eye is now back to tracking with the left and the retina is perfect. So, my mistake nearly cost me my right eye. Please, PLEASE read and follow a good reloading manual and never have more than one powder anywhere near your press. I returned to shooting pistols a week later and yesterday shot the AR for the first time since the accident. It was a little scary but caution is a good thing at this point. I hope this helps somebody. William Daugherty Plainfield, NH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay870 Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Wow, that is terrible. Glad to hear you are okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Holy Cow! I am so very glad you are OK. I don't need to tell you this, but this could have been worse beyond imagination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s_gorilla45 Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Wow. Glad to hear you are going to make a full recovery! I keep my powders on a shelf and make it a point to only have one on my reloading bench at a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigpops Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Thanks for sharing. Glad your OK. It's the swiss cheese theory....when all the holes line up bad things can happen! I will take heed to your warning, especially as I grab a bottle of powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPCHead Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share Posted March 18, 2010 Thanks Kevin I'm sure you are right. Much, much worse. Let's hope somebody, somewhere reads this and takes it to heart. William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rvb Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 That's quite a story. Hope you have a full recovery. Something I do as a final "sanity check" is to look at the powder hop and make sure the new stuff I am pouring on top looks like the stuff that's already in the hop. Those two powders look very different and it would be obvious through the clear sides of the hopper that something is wrong. It's not a fool proof method, but after double checking the container label is what I want, it's something proactive I can do... just a thought. -rvb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Wow! glad you were more seriously injured. You may feel embarrassed to tell it, but the truth is, it can happen to anyone. hopefully this story will remind everyone to be extra safe and for the love of God, wear eye protection! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenchwrench Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Glad you are going to be OK and sorry to hear of the mistake! I just went out to the reloading area and marked the caps of all my powders with their initials and numbers. Thanks for sharing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Hefta Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 I am glad that you had the courage to share your story with us and that you are going to be alright. I only reload 9mm and recently stepped up to .40SW and I was very nervous shooting the first loads that I came up with, they were hot 190+ PF but not as hot as yours thank God. I only recently started wearing safety glasses when reloading, never even thought about it until I read some of the posts on this forum. Thanks to all that contribute to this very important forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbxdm9 Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Your courage to share will probably save significant injury to others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhglyn Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 William is a friend of mine and one of my USPSA "students". I am glad he posted this experience to the BE forums for all to see. My hope, and I know his as well, is that someone out there will learn from his mistake and, hopefully, will not make the same one in the future. Luckily, he is going to be fine and he can now feel good about posting this for all to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benos Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Wow, I'm glad to hear you are back on the range William. I nearly lost my left eye long ago when I blew up a M1 Carbine, shooting at dusk without glasses. It was dusk and the only glasses I had were dark sunglasses. So I took them off so I could see better. I was young and foolish then. Never fired a round without glasses since that moment. I'll move this (and leave it linked here) to the main Reloading forum so it will get more exposure. be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AWLAZS Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 William post the picture of your gun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPCHead Posted March 18, 2010 Author Share Posted March 18, 2010 William post the picture of your gun. This is what remains of the upper receiver. The Aimpoint was torn off the top rail. The lower was simply gone. I'm not sure what actually hit me. William Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neomet Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 William, glad you are recovering and that it appears you will heal fine. That is just one ugly, scary picture man. Ouch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PINMAN44 Posted March 18, 2010 Share Posted March 18, 2010 OMG!!! I hope you are going to be okay! that is crazy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CZinSC Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 Wow, thank you very much for sharing. I'm just now getting into reloading and trying to absorb all I can. This is going to the top of the pile of things to remember. Glad you are ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 Very, VERY glad to hear you were not permanently injured! Scary stuff!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt2ace Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 (edited) ACK! Thanks you for sharing this one with us William. I am working on 9 major loads with 3 different powders. Your experience reminded me to put away ALL powders except the one I am loading that day. Glad to have you back on the range. Edited March 19, 2010 by matt2ace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParaGunner Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 Glad you made it with no serious injuries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 That's another reason I love the 550! If you have the tool heads set up, it's kind of hard to dump other powders in them. Other thing is, all of my powders come in different shaped bottles. Glad to hear you are ok! I wonder what the PF would have been? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob DuBois Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 Thanks for sharing, we can all learn from this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninefan Posted March 19, 2010 Share Posted March 19, 2010 (edited) Quickload says that a 90% full case of Titegroup (18 grains of powder) would be 140,000 psi. Had the rifle held together the power factor would have been 174 (3165 fps) for a 55gr bullet. The pressure impulse is way too fast for Titegroup, thus the lower than expected velocity. That's just a little over the 55,000 psi SAAMI max... My understanding is that proof loads are only 20% over max (66,000 psi). Edited March 19, 2010 by ninefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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