Friday, February 17, 2012

Least. Favorite. Chore.

It always seems like a step backwards to pull rounds apart.

Out of spec!
As a final quality control ... I run all loaded rounds across the digi scale. Any that fall out of the predetermined weight range, get pulled. This lot of 16 was culled from a run size of about 250. Found five squibs in the cull. And that's what makes the drudgery worth it.

2 comments:

Underground Carpenter said...

Hi Art,

Having no experience with reloading, all these rounds looked good to me. So if the weight is out of tolerance, are you worried that a round might be under or over powered? Have you always checked the weight, or did you start after an incident of some sort? Is it dangerous to pull rounds apart? Does it damage the brass, or can you re-reload without problem?

Dave

Art said...

Hi Dave ... Good questions.

Yes ... these rounds had a powder charge of 5 grains. If I get a round that's 4 gr. or more over/under of the average ... it may have no powder, or double powder or something.

The incident in question was letting my son take guns n ammo on a range run with friends. He was highly embarrassed to fire a squib (round with no powder) lodging a bullet in the barrel. Had to teach him how to clear that malfunction when he got home.

Decided then and there to do a final QC weight on ALL my reloads. The factories do it. I should too.

See my post here; http://failure2neutralize.blogspot.com/2010/09/reminder-to-self.html for a picture of the inertial bullet puller I use to safely disassemble ammo. Basically a hollow plastic hammer.
And yes ... all the components can be reused. Bonus!