It happened to me

[Kaptoe]

I also pit the powder canister

I also put the powder bottle on the bench where I can read it. I am also looking for some data for Reloader 25 in the 257 Bee. I am still shooting factory rounds butI use RL 25 in my 7 mag. Any help would be appreciated.

I don't use RL 25 in my 257wby. I use RL22 68gr which is midpoint min/Max and get 3575 to 3600fps with a Barnes 100gr ttsx seated at 3.18 inches. Shoots .5 moa

 

[JASmith]

Not the powder goofup but almost as bad. I load and shoot 6mm Rem and .257 Roberts. Went to the range with both rifles and settled down and started with the 6mm. Then put it down and picked up the Roberts. First round not even close to the target, second shot no better and a dust puff off to the left. Puzzled I looked over and wth I was still pulling rounds out of the 6mm box. Yup, the 6mm will chamber and fire in the .257 Roberts because they come from the same cartridge family.

Did that with 270 Win in 30-06 with the same symptoms. Embarrassing and a reminder that the old eyes ain't what they used to be so have to double check.

 

[Accumark]

Another area to check is to make sure all your cases have powder in them before you seat the bullet. Years ago when I was shooting Long Range Handgun Metallic Silhouette I was loading hundreds of rounds for competition. I was loading rounds for my XP-100 in 7mm IHMSA (257 Roberts necked up to 7mm) for the big International Match in Idaho Falls. I was on the firing line with a perfect score going when my next shot landed in the dirt 50 yds in front of the 100yrd target. The sound of the shot also sounded like a .22. Turns out there was no powder in the case. Thanks God that the primer gases were enough to push the bullet out the 15" barrel. Ever since then I take a flashlight and check the cases before seating bullets.

 

[Timnterra]

My first ever reloading experience was almost a catastrophic failure. I was at my wife's grandad's garage and he was showing me the ropes of reloading. I had a .45lc pistol and 200 rounds to load. We thought we were loading 7gr of unique into his old school Redding balance scale. After we got all those loaded, we switched over to 30-06 and couldn't get the scale to show over 7gr. Perplexed we took the beam off the scale and realized there is a flag that swings, under the pivot point, in an oil or water bath to slow the beam down. That flag was bent and touching the side of the scale preventing it from moving. After straightening the flag we weighed the pan of imr4350 we were going to load in the 30-06 and it was around 45gr. We then decided to pull one of the 200 .45lc bullets to see how much we had loaded. It was 18gr of unique behind that 230gr bullet. Which is more than double the max book load for my non-ruger pistol. In this case loading more than one caliber at a time saved my pistol at best and possibly my life.

 

[greenejc]

So After thousands of rounds, i made a mistake and somehow grabbed the reloader 15 instead of reloader 25 for my 257 bee. Fired one round at minimum charge ( thank goodness) and the bolt was locked up something fierce. The rifle appears to be ok. Always look at your bottle twice I know I will for now on!

I put the bottle behind my powder measure, and a slip of paper in the powder measure with the powder being used written on it. I try hard to be careful of what I'm using and to measure all charges, too. There is no too careful.

 

[greenejc]

Me to, & make sure its the only bottle on the bench to!

Reloading is one of those things that you have to have 100% concentration for with 0 distractions, plenty of time, not be tired or fatigued & recheck, recheck, recheck & recheck again plus follow a strict process.

Even under those conditions you can make a mistake but hopefully its not life threatening.

I did something recently that surprised me, I was loading 50 rounds of 300wsm for a trip & when I git to the destination & loading the magazine I noticed powder in the MTM box & thought what the hell.
I had not put primers in 5 cases, even though I count the exact number of primers to number of rounds I am making into my hand priming tool & move unprimed case from a block/tray into a new one once primed.

It turns out I only fired 1 shot that trip but anyway still not happy with myself about that mistake!!

Been there, done that. Got the t-shirt

 

[Gibbshooter43]

When I started reloading about 100 years ago (or so it seems), my mentor began with his list of safety steps. He drilled those steps repeatedly till they became second nature. Then he reminded me to never take "second nature" for granted. In the ensuing years I've been fortunate enough to avoid the mistakes that could have been costly, either physically or to the equipment. I thank Paul every time I sit down at the bench for getting me started the right way.

 

[Nickie.01]

I was pulling bullets, numerous rounds with the same bullets, but totally different powders.
Was into the 5th set when nature called, when I came back H1000 was on the bench, pulled 5 bullets before I realised I was pouring out RETUMBO. That was 5 300WM cases went into 1lb of RETUMBO.

The other incident I witnessed was at a gun club shoot where one guy, notorious for poor gun handling safety, incorrect procedure on the firing line, etc etc, fired 5 rounds of 25-06 through his 270 before someone pointed out the soft report of the rifle. He then proceeded to fire a 270 round while the range was in a ceasefire at his feet saying that sounded more like it....unbelievable.

Cheers.

As a Range Officer I would have to remove that individual. We have the safest sport but with no room for people who endanger others.

 

[Sparkey]

I was loading last night, and suddenly had that "foreboding" feeling.....and took another look at the canister. I was OK....but, it certainly pays to be certain! memtb

Exactly , One setup at a time,
and love the quote at the bottom.

 

[SmallHoles]

On my Mec 9000 shotgun loader I have a label on the powder tube.
Kept me straight...

I have separate powder measures for each caliber I load on my Dillon XL 650 (mostly pistol calibers) and each is labeled with caliber, powder type & charge.

I use a RCBS ChargeMaster 1500 to measure charges for rifle calibers and like others here, keep the bottle next to it when I'm loading.

When I'm done loading, I pour the powder back into the original container rather than leaving it in the powder measure.

 

[DF7753]

So After thousands of rounds, i made a mistake and somehow grabbed the reloader 15 instead of reloader 25 for my 257 bee. Fired one round at minimum charge ( thank goodness) and the bolt was locked up something fierce. The rifle appears to be ok. Always look at your bottle twice I know I will for now on!

Nomenclature is quite important, specifically where mistakes can be lethal.
To that end I have noticed on this forum the tendency by many to use their "pet names" or abbreviations or acronyms and assume everyone understands.
I assume you were loading for a 257 Weatherby or WBY.
I bought my 257 Weatherby in 1975 and have shot it enough that I had to re-barrel it. In all that time I never heard it referred to as 257 bee until your post.
When dealing with firearms, ammunition and especially reloading, attention to detail and correct identification is crucial.

 

[RAGGED EDGE]

Long ago and far away a father and son took their Remington 760 Gamemasters in .270 Winchester caliber to the range after a night of reloading. All I really know is the bullet was a 150-grain round nose. The dad gave a round to his son and told him to take a shot. There was a horrible explosion when the kid pulled the trigger. The stock was cracked, the magazine was on the ground, and the action was bulged. Puzzled, the dad loaded a round and touched it off in his gun. Same outcome. Neither was hurt, probably due to gasses being directed downward through the magazine well. Turns out what was thought to be IMR-4831 was actually 4198. Both guns were junk. The guns ended up on display in a gun shop owned by friends of mine as an example of extreme carelessness when handloading. You cannot be TOO careful.

 

[Bob Wright]

After a serious over pressure situation I had to analyze every element of my reloading process and every component. I found many things that were causing errors, big or small. The final check of my powder I discovered Varget kernels mixed into a pound of another slower powder. I share a reloading bench and it could have been either of us. I own everything so it's on me.
My guess is after a reloading session, the Varget was tossed into the H4831. I found it by laying out a sample on a paper plate. Grey shade is different and stick diameter/ length is too.
Using that pound of powder for fertilizer.
It happens to us all in some form. Murphy visits every now and then.

 

[nicholasjohn]

Glad your o.k.
When I'm reloading I have the bottle setting right next to my scale so I can see what powder I'm using.

I do that, too - and only one bottle on the loading bench at a time. Everything else stays below the bench, and I put up a sticky-note right in front of me, written in black magic marker, with the load written on it - "57.5 grains H-4831." I also only load when I'm the only person in the room. Social hour and libations are for after the loading bench is all buttoned up for the day. I learned long ago that I don't deal with distractions as well as I like to think I do, so no TV or radio playing while I'm loading. This may seem like overkill to a lot of guys, but I still have all ten fingers.