IDPAshooter Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 (edited) I was reloading the other day and did not notice my powder run out on me. I had just finished a run of 20 or so rounds of which I know most had powder. I tried to speed up towards the end and was not looking at all of them for powder (which I usually do.) By the time I noticed the empty powder funnel I had already dumped the 20 rounds in my box of rounds waiting to be case gauged. Is there anyway to check loaded rounds for powder without having to pull them? PLEASE HELP! Edited March 17, 2007 by IDPAshooter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianH Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Load a round with a bullet and primer, no powder and weigh it. Then weigh the others. It should be your powder load off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlmiller1 Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 I would say first thing, keep that batch separate from all your other ammo. If it is a batch of 20, just set them aside & pull them or shoot them on days when you are working only on single shot drills. If it is 100 or so, that makes it lots harder. Have you tried shaking the round up by your ear to see if you can hear the powder? If I absolutely was positive I could hear powder, I would use them only for regular practice, nothing more. If I couldn't tell at all, I would pull a few now & then, & shoot some but only while practicing slow fire or single shot stuff. I would also just go ahead & get out the squib rod & have it handy. I would absolutely positively keep those separate from all other ammo you may have on hand & be very careful if I shot them at all. Many folks will just say toss them but my cheapness comes in & I would find a way to use them, but carefully, or I would pull them. I'm afraid I wouldn't toss them out. I'm just too cheap but I am also pretty fond of my body parts. Good luck, lesson learned? MLM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Not really..... Not with enough certainty to satisfy me anyway....You might get them all by weight differences only but if you are loading mixed brass I would worry. So how many loaded rounds are now suspect? Weight em - sort em by weight and shoot em for practice only and be careful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AikiDale Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 If you don't mind the hassle and are very thrifty pull them. Otherwise throw them away. Weighing them sounds oh so scientific and all but I would venture to guess your quality control over brass, powder, primers and bullets was not of such a high standard you can count on an accurate enough measurement to justify the risk. Let us know how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iainmcphersn Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 If you're using mixed headstamped brass, the best thing to do is pull them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
38superman Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 (edited) In my experience weighing them is not the answer. The cumulative weight of a bullet, primer, and brass can easily vary more that the typical powder charge weight. Grab a handfull of cases (even out of the same case lot) and weigh them. You may be surprised how much they will vary. If a cartridge weighs light there is no way to know if its due to missing powder, or tolerance stackup in the other components. If a cartridge weighs normal it could still have powder missing due to a piece of heavy brass giving you a "false positive". The only way to be sure is to pull the bullets. Tls Edited March 18, 2007 by tlshores Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDPAshooter Posted March 18, 2007 Author Share Posted March 18, 2007 Well we were originally talking about 20 or so rounds but since I dumped in my "to case gauge" box prior to noticing at this point we are more in the 100-200 range. If I would have been able to isolate the 20 first off this would be a non-issue I would have weighed them and anything suspect just pulled. Oh well! In regards to lessons learned, it is better just to stop when you have something pending than try to speed up and finish the primers left in your tube. Would not be in this mess if I had just stopped before those 20 rounds. Reloading should be done without compromise like the 6,450 rounds before this happened. Go Figure! P.S. Mixed Brass and 4.9 grains of powder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMS42 Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Pull the bullets--all of them. I did the same thing. I weighted the bullet, weighted empty unprimed cases with the same head stamp, weighted the loaded cases. It didn't make any difference. I had powder in cases, that according to weight, should not have had powder. And I had squips in those that I thought had powder. I ended up pulling over 500 bullets. My excuise was that I couldn't see the powder in the measure due to clouding of the hopper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFD Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 That's why I glance at my powder measure every time I add primers. I'd pull the bullets because there's way too much variation in the weight of brass to reliably find out anything through weighing. Having to pull bullets is nature's way of saying "pay attention" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry White Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 I dont know what you will do about the ones you already have, but the real answer is to look in every case, every time. Look, set the bullet and seat it. LOOK again at the next one. Set up a mirror or a light or however you wish do it, but LOOK, every time.-------------Larry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Well we were originally talking about 20 or so rounds but since I dumped in my "to case gauge" box prior to noticing at this point we are more in the 100-200 range. If I would have been able to isolate the 20 first off this would be a non-issue I would have weighed them and anything suspect just pulled. Oh well!In regards to lessons learned, it is better just to stop when you have something pending than try to speed up and finish the primers left in your tube. Would not be in this mess if I had just stopped before those 20 rounds. Reloading should be done without compromise like the 6,450 rounds before this happened. Go Figure! P.S. Mixed Brass and 4.9 grains of powder. Jose, Good choice on the safe route! A while back I tried to figure out some load inconsistancy that I was seeing with a certian brand brass (.40) . It turned out to be case volume variation. During the testing I weighed quite a few cases and found that the extreme variation was greater than the load that you are throwing! Be Safe, Chuck PS: Welcome to the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDPAshooter Posted March 18, 2007 Author Share Posted March 18, 2007 Having to pull bullets is nature's way of saying "pay attention" I like it. I may just be using that quote or a variation thereof in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flatland Shooter Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Having to pull bullets is nature's way of saying "pay attention" Printed in large letters and posted above my reloading bench. Its one of those keepers we find on the forum once in a while. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted March 18, 2007 Share Posted March 18, 2007 Eh give em to a revolver shooter, from what I have seen at IDPA matches alot of them dont put powder in their cases anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtrooper Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 I have the Dillon low powder warning device on both my 550B and my 1050 but I load standing up and look at the powder charge in each case before seating the bullet in case of a powder bridge or whatever. Once you train your eye it dosen't slow you down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin c Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 The five P's (at least it is for loading on a SDB): Pull to size/decap/charge/seat/crimp. Push to prime. Pick up a case and bullet. PEEK into the case taking the bullet. Place the bullet on the case, and the empty case in station #1. and repeat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Bell Posted March 30, 2007 Share Posted March 30, 2007 Well we were originally talking about 20 or so rounds but since I dumped in my "to case gauge" box prior to noticing at this point we are more in the 100-200 range. If I would have been able to isolate the 20 first off this would be a non-issue I would have weighed them and anything suspect just pulled. Oh well!In regards to lessons learned, it is better just to stop when you have something pending than try to speed up and finish the primers left in your tube. Would not be in this mess if I had just stopped before those 20 rounds. Reloading should be done without compromise like the 6,450 rounds before this happened. Go Figure! P.S. Mixed Brass and 4.9 grains of powder. Every manual in existance tells you not to allow distractions when you're reloading. In making your mistake, you've not only proved the point, but proved you're as human as the rest of us. I don't know of any way of testing to see which, if any, shells lack powder unless, as someone else suggested, you can shake them and either feel or hear the powder move in them. You pretty much have three choices. You can toss them, which I'd be disinclined to do, pull them, which would be my choice, or use them for accuracy or mag change practice, loading one round per magazine to make real sure you don't pull that trigger on a live round behind a squib. I presume I don't have to tell you to take an appropriate diameter dowell with you if you decide to shoot them. Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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