Overcharged? . . . Yikes!

[Prof Young]

Loaders:

See pic below.

Here's the data.
Firearm is a Rock Island 1911 45 acp.

Bullet is:
Titegroup 5.2 grains (Well that's what it was supposed to be.)
Berrys Plated 200 grain (45 acp)
1/2 crimp
Brass stamp is 45 AUTO R . P

The blast blew the mag out of the gun. That's it below the ruptured case. Mag release still works post-blast.
Scared the crap out of me (figuratively not literally).

The cause was surely an over load, but I'm not sure how it happened.

The bullets in that box came from three different reloading sessions. I was down to about the middle of the box when I got this one.

Course of action is to disassemble the remainder of those bullets. Take the gun apart and inspect it well. Rethink and improve my safety measures.

I "always" set/check my powder throw at the start of the reloading session and then check it again after a couple dozen cases. Sometimes I have to reset it by maybe one tenth of a grain. Oh, and I use a lee auto drum powder measure.

I make a visual check on the powder in the case and I'd think a double load would be very evident. I'm guessing I didn't do the visual check on this one.

Actually, if I have a finished bullet in my hands, and my mind has wandered and I realize I don't know for sure if I did a powder check on that bullet . . . it goes in the reject box.

I'm sure I made a mistake here and didn't catch it.

No injuries. Showed it to the range owner and he too thought it was an overload.

Thought and comments appreciated.
Life is good.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Excellent on NO INJURIES. Bummer on the gun.

...but I'm not sure how it happened.

A common sentiment I have seen expressed with other kabooms.

 

[BJung]

I'm glad you're okay. Sorry about the gun.

 

[ammo.crafter]

Blast

Had a triple charged 45acp round blow up in my Colt model 70.

It blew out both hand grips and locked the slide.

I did get some facial burns.

The ammo manufacturer was aware of the manufacturing defect and so advised the recipient of this specific ammo run and advised them to return the ammo.

Apparently that group sold the lot to a distributor which eventually ended up at my LGS where I purchased it.

 

[RC20]

Always my concern on my pistols, easy to get too much in those cases.

My rifles, no, overcharge = overflow (pretty much).

Mostly I miss one, but I kind of like it as it confirms I am not flinching! Bullets don't go into the barrel unlike the pistols (which I do look at for but I don't load pistol much)

 

[jimbob86]

Titegroup 5.2 grains (Well that's what it was supposed to be.)

Another victim of Titegroup/Titewad ..... the 45 case is big enough to allow double charges of these .....

Rethink and improve my safety measures.

Sugestion: Stop trying to squeeze another few rounds out of a pound of powder and use one that's bulky enough to make a double charge obvious.

Every single one of the pistol Kabooms I am aware of in my local monkeysphere involved high energy, low volume powders ..... starting with "Tite-" .... "but I can get x more loads per pound of powder!!!!! It saves me x cents/100 rounds!!!!" Yeah, factor in the possible medical bills, gunsmithing/new guns and new underwear .... everything has a cost.

 

[mehavey]

When using low volume powders, I always use/insert a short wooden
dowel marked at approx case mouth height for the powder volume.

I put all empty cases in a bowl, take them out one at a time to charge
them, and then place each the loading block.

I run a full-loading-block-at-a-time, and run that dowel into every case,
all at once, before starting bullet seating on any of them. ~60sec/block

I'm a devout paranoid....


.

 

[krunchnik]

I have used Bullseye for the better part of 40 years-the key is adherence to paying attention-not quit using a powder that works well for what it was designed for.

 

[Prof Young]

Hadn't really thought about rounds per pound . . .

Thanks to all for the thoughts and help.

JimBob I hadn't really thought about rounds per pound. I've been using titegroup because it came to me that all the pistol rounds I load may be loaded with titegroup. So I bought some in bulk.

Hmmm . . .

The depth dowel is a good idea too.

I think the gun still works. Haven't cleaned or inspected since the incident. But it dry fires just fine and the mag catch was not damaged.

Happened over a week ago and the whole thing still freaks me out. Yikes.

Life is good.
Prof Young

 

[HiBC]

A couple of suggestions.
Set maybe 9 cases in a loading block. Intentionally double charge one or two of them.
Now do the visual check. Especially in 45 ACP, the difference between a single and a double charge can be quite subtle.
While I will agree that Bullseye can be a very economical,excellent powder for 45 ACP, each handloader needs to their own failsafe process.

I'm not saying anything bad about Bullseye,I'm just more comfortable with a bulkier charge.

I've also found its hard to double charge if you pick up one piece of brass,visit the powder measure,visual,then set it in a "charged" loading block.

Holding a loading block full of brass and going down the rows ,charging the whole block can bite you.I quit doing that long ago. No accidents,but doing the visual check of the whole block I did find an occasional double...and it was not obvious. More like a suspicion.
But you figure out your own system.
Glad you are OK. Educational!!

 

[Mike38]

I use Titegroup exclusively in .45acp and .38spcl. Both cases have volume enough to allow an unnoticed double charge. But, I also use a single stage press. So my charged cases are placed into 100 count loading blocks, and before bullet seating I visually inspect the powder level in each case. I stand up, look down into the case mouths with a flashlight. A double charge can easily be seen. If the powder level looks even a tiny bit high or low, it gets dumped back into the hopper and case gets recharged. This is the reason I use a single stage press. I don't trust Turret or Progressive presses. In 25 years of reloading, I've never blown up a gun, knock on wood.

 

[totaldla]

Good ol Titegroup - the color of soot and one the most dense powders. Responsible for more KABOOMs than any other powder in the last 30 years.

 

[mehavey]

The powder isn't.
The loader is . . .

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Hmmm . . .

The depth dowel is a good idea too.

With due respect to the gentleman who suggested this, for a handgun load like .45 ACP I think it's a lousy idea. Loading for handgun plinking (or serious practice, for that matter) isn't at all like loading precision rifle rounds where your primary concern is maximum accuracy. Except for bullseye shooters, most people who load for semi-auto handgun shoot anywhere from 100 to 500 rounds in a range session, and load similar quantities per session at the loading bench. The OP said he uses the Lee Auto Drum powder measure, so I'm going to guess that he's loading on a progressive press, or maybe a Lee Turret press with auto indexing. There is no loading block involved. The case goes into the shell plate empty, gets decapped and resized, then flared and charged, then has a bullet seated, and then gets crimped, all with a couple of pulls on the handle.

Using a loading block, charging each case by hand, placing it in a loading block, and then checking each one with a dowel would make it a week's work to load up half an hour's worth of ammunition.

 

[Metal god]

Happened over a week ago and the whole thing still freaks me out. Yikes.

Yeah I bet it does , freaks me out to cus I use Titegroup . Haha they think it's bad in a 45acp , hell I use it in 357mag . I can't even see the charge in the bottom of the case when on my Lee CTP . I actually went to throwing the charge off press into a 40SW case to see/confirm the amount then dump/drop it into the 357 case . I like the powder but every time I read a thread like this it freaks me out a little as well . It's my fastest powder I use and I've been thinking about going to something else but like Prof I use Titegroup in multiple loads for ever handgun cartridge I load . That's a whole lot of new load development If I change . I was thinking Bullseye or WST ???

 

[Hammerhead]

Glad you're okay Prof.

 

[zeke]

If not done previously, with a 200 gn bullet and rp cases, might want to load a dummy round without powder/primer and check for bullet set back. 45 acp is pretty forgiving round, but titegroup is not a very forgiving powder.

 

[mehavey]

Using a loading block, charging each case by hand, placing it in a loading block, and then
checking each one with a dowel would make it a week's work to load up half an hour's
worth of ammunition.

If you're loading single stage, anyway, it'd not that big a deal.

Pick up case, hold against drop tube, swing handle up/down, place case in block,... pick up case.....
The extra dowel action is 60 sec/block. (So I chalk your "...week's work..." up to literary license )
What price your hands & eyes?

And if you're running progressive with a powder/process you do not trust at start... well you've made your choice.





Time-motion, that single stage process runs me ~30-40 minutes/50 rounds, start to finish.
Each action/all cases as a set:
Resize/expand/prime/charge/check/seat. I consider it man-cave Zen time anyway.

 

[std7mag]

First and foremost, i'm glad you were not injured!

When you do take the gun apart for inspection, check the barrel also.

Local gun shop has a barrel cut in half lengthwise to show the 6 bullets lodged halfway down the barrel. Rifle in question was a 223, but they only stopped shooting due to the magazine blowing out.

While shooting rapid fire with my 1911, i had a squib load. Luckily i recognized it & didn't pull the trigger again. Bullet stuck halfway down the barrel.

It's not just the overcharged ones that can get you!

 

[lugerstew]

Not sure if it would blow up a gun, but could it be possible that there was one 230g bullet in that box of 200g bullets? It would be near impossible to detect the difference between the two visually.