In preparation for this past weekends IDPA championship I loaded up 200 9mm rounds. My go to load had been 4.5 grains of Titegroup in front of a 115 gr. copper clad bullet. I had experimented with 3.4 grains of Titegroup using a 135 grain bullet but ran out of them and went to the 115 grain.
On the very first stage of the shoot last Saturday I began to experience gun malfunctions - specifically smoke stacked cases and failure to feed. This continued throughout the first and second stages which required 17 rounds each stage. On the second stage I had more live rounds on the ground than I sent downrange due to the failure to eject and feed issues and ended up not shooting three of the 10 targets.
When I came home I pulled several bullets from the cases and weighed the powder charge(s). I discovered that I had forgotten to change the powder measure when I converted back to the 115 gr. bullets and thus had loaded them with only 3.4 grains of powder. A woefully inadequate powder charge for that grain bullet caused the gun malfunction(s) and effectively ended any chance for me to have a competitive day. What occurred to me later on was that I was very fortunate not to have a bullet stick in the barrel (squib) with a subsequent round also going off with catastrophic results.
I'm not a newby to reloading - and I routinely weigh my powder charges but obviously became too complacent. So . . . . . . . .as the title states "Let's be careful out there." It only takes a small lapse in concentration to have things go wrong.
On the very first stage of the shoot last Saturday I began to experience gun malfunctions - specifically smoke stacked cases and failure to feed. This continued throughout the first and second stages which required 17 rounds each stage. On the second stage I had more live rounds on the ground than I sent downrange due to the failure to eject and feed issues and ended up not shooting three of the 10 targets.
When I came home I pulled several bullets from the cases and weighed the powder charge(s). I discovered that I had forgotten to change the powder measure when I converted back to the 115 gr. bullets and thus had loaded them with only 3.4 grains of powder. A woefully inadequate powder charge for that grain bullet caused the gun malfunction(s) and effectively ended any chance for me to have a competitive day. What occurred to me later on was that I was very fortunate not to have a bullet stick in the barrel (squib) with a subsequent round also going off with catastrophic results.
I'm not a newby to reloading - and I routinely weigh my powder charges but obviously became too complacent. So . . . . . . . .as the title states "Let's be careful out there." It only takes a small lapse in concentration to have things go wrong.
