Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

[oneshot onekill]

I just had something a little scary happen whilst I was reloading today. Several months ago I purchased... From a Hide Member... 310 loose 168gr. SMK projectiles. Today I dug in and started using them. I was about 20 rounds into seating them on top of 42gr. of IMR4895 in some full length, small-base sized brass I planned to run through my new SCAR17. As I seated the next round I noticed it seemed a little tight and I heard a crunch at the bottom of the stroke. At first I thought nothing of it and chucked the round into the box with the rest I had just finished. Then I thought... "Wait a minute... That one felt heavy." I decided to weigh all of the rounds I had just made just to be safe. They were weighing in at around 394gr. each. Brass, bullet, powder and primer. Then I found one that weighed a whopping 416gr.!!! WTF! Then I found another, and another. Three altogether!!! I pulled the projectiles and discovered, much to my dismay, that those 3 projectiles were 190gr. SMK's!!! After looking at them next to a 168 it was pretty obvious but DAMN! What if I were not paying that close attention? What if I was closer to max on the powder and wasn't paying close enough attention to hear the crunch or feel the weight difference? Could have easily blown up one of my rifles and caused serious bodily harm!

Moral of the story... If you buy projectiles that are not in a Factory-Sealed box, weigh the damn things before you use them!!!

 

[BCP]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

Aren't the 190's a quarter inch longer?

 

[former naval person]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

Good caution...I bought an unopened box of 500 Sierra 180's some years ago. Found a whole box...100...of 190's in there. It is good to pay attention. JMHO

 

[oneshot onekill]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: BCP</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Aren't the 190's a quarter inch longer? </div></div>
Yes, absolutely. But when you're just plucking them out of a box one at a time to seat them... And you assume they are what they're supposed to be... You don't even notice how much longer they are. At least I didn't.

 

[MontanaMarine]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

The 190s are about .156" longer than the 168s.

 

[20Incher]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

Im always worried about that when I go to Cabelas .For some strange reason people like to open the boxes and look at the bullets.Never know if they threw one back in the wrong box.

 

[tomcatfan]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

Did you let the guy know who sold you the bullets? He may be shooting messed up rounds as well. Good catch though.

 

[Dsniper]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

I bought a couple of boxes from the gun shop that had fallen behind the shelf and busted open. They were several years old and were discovered when moving something around. I always go ahead and weigh those bullets for this very reason. It only takes that one mistake to loose an eye or other appendage. Glad you caught it!!

 

[Timo Turl]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

Thanks for the heads up, hadn't thought about that so appreciate the warning.

 

[DocB]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

Good day,

You should probably measure OGL before loading as well. I had a similar experience last week with the same circumstances. Only problem was both types of bullets weighed the same, biggest differences were the base of the bullet and the OGL.

HTH,
DocB

 

[Mudcat-NC]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

Hate to say it, but its possible to get a odd ball different projectile in a box of factory bullets too. Need to check them all if you want to be safe.

 

[gme]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mudcat-NC</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Hate to say it, but its possible to get a odd ball different projectile in a box of factory bullets too. Need to check them all if you want to be safe.
</div></div>

I once opened a box of Berger 6mm 105's and setting right on top was a 7mm 180, no mistaking it for the rest of them

 

[Jason280]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

Had it happen once with some bulk 77gr SMKs, which had quite a few 80gr bullets mixed in.

 

[oneshot onekill]

Re: Buyer Beware... A cautionary tale.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Savage 10fp</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Did you let the guy know who sold you the bullets? He may be shooting messed up rounds as well. Good catch though. </div></div>
No I didn't... Mostly because he was selling his 190's too and those were the heaviest projectiles he was selling. If anyone else got the wrong projectiles, they were too light. I figure that's not dangerous but still should be checked.