All reloaders should read this -

Damn! One lucky feller!

 

This demonstrates why the NRA says not to even use incandescent light over the bench. I shudder at some of the really stupid things I managed to slip by without injury

 

I read a story similar to this in an issue of Dillon's Blue Press magazine some years ago. A fellow was reloading shotgun shells in his backyard shed and knocked over an eight pound keg of Red Dot into an electric heater, the glowing filament kind.

He said he saw where it was going and didn't even try to stop it, just ran like hell out the door. Next thing he knew he landed on his back on the ground, but wasn't hurt. Yelled at one of his kids to call the fire dept.

I have an electric space heater in my reloading room, but it's the type that uses the electric elements to heat oil and the elements are completely enclosed. It looks like a small radiator. The fins don't become nearly hot enough to ignite powder.

 

On another forum I was advised to keep my primers separated from my powder as a safety measure. OK, so I moved them as far apart as I could in the garage, so now the primers are safely stored next to the gas cans and the powder right next to the oxyacetylene tanks. Problem solved.

 

Well, ...... I’ve got a slightly different take on this. I reloaded for a good 40 + years. In all that time and thousands and thousands of hand/reloads I only had 3 squibs — Three! I’m reasonably certain that I didn’t, ‘short’ the charge; so I think those three dud cartridges had some sort of case contamination problem that dampened the powder charge and prevented the cartridge from fully igniting. I have no idea how many times I worked with my several reloading presses; but I’m sure the number is, also, in the thousands. Know what? In all that time and through all those loading sessions:

WHEN I RELOADED, I RELOADED! I didn’t listen to the radio; I didn’t watch the TV; I watched my reloading presses and powder measures. Every 25 rounds, or so, I’d stop and reweigh the powder charge. I was always leery of bringing large kegs of powder into the house so the powders I usually bought were all in 1 lb containers; and I stored the powder and ammo, separately and well away from the reloading room.

The lighting fixtures over both my benches were dual tube fluorescents; so there wasn’t a potential problem there, either. In my wildest dreams I would never have keep any sort of radiant glowing heat source near either the reloading equipment, or the ammo room; and I always kept primers in the original packaging until I was ready to use them.

I realized that working with 100 primers at a time was, somewhat, risky; and I tended to stay away from hand priming devices. The best reloading tubes where the heavy steel tubes that Dillon Precision uses on their machines; and, still, two of my reloading acquaintances had blackened holes in their ceilings over their reloading presses where a tube of primers had gone off like (to use their words) a gun or shotgun blast!

I think that I stayed out of trouble while reloading for all those years because of two principal factors: (1) I was careful; and I always paid strict attention to what I was doing. I never took anything about reloading for granted; and, (2) let me be perfectly honest:

I WAS ALWAYS VERY AFRAID OF RELOADING.

I was scared the first time, my reloading mentor and a good friend allowed me to use his press all by myself. He’d spent almost a year teaching me, over and over again, the things I need to know; and I learned on a single-stage RCBS, ‘Rockchucker’ press and stayed there for more than 3 years before I purchased my first Dillon progressive.

It’s safe to say that I didn’t like reloading; I LOVED IT; and I never lost my initial fascination AND fear of the process! Every cartridge I ever turned out was visually (and measurably) perfect. In 40, some odd, years I knew 3 men who had accidents in their reloading rooms; and there was also another man who fired a squib right next to me on a firing line; and, if I hadn't been there to insert my thumb in front of his falling hammer, (Yeah, I actually did that!) I am 100% positive that he would have blown the barrel off his Sturm-Ruger Blackhawk.

Everybody’s always thought that I hand/reloaded because I’m a shooter; but that’s not really the truth. I reloaded because I was fascinated with the skill and craftsmanship required to make your own ammunition. I think there were years — years — when I stayed in shooting only because I needed more brass to reload; and I’ve, probably, got tendonitis and mild arthritis in my hands today because of all the overuse (and abuse) repetitive hand/reloading did to my body.

The victim of this horrific accident says that he was texting and reloading at the same time — That he allowed himself to become distracted is a foregone conclusion. He wasn’t just distracted; he was mega-distracted; and when it comes to hand/reloading THAT is the, ‘kiss of doom’ right there! Texting, red hot radiant heat source near the press and in very close proximity to (What?) an 8 lb keg of gun powder!

He doesn’t say; but I’m wondering whether or not the victim is a smoker? NOBODY should allow himself to reload like that — Nobody. Perhaps it sounds harsh; but, as far as I'm concerned, the victim has nobody to blame for this tragic event, but himself! He really should have known better. From an industrial safety course that I took many years ago:

THE FOUR MAIN, OFTEN HIDDEN, CAUSATIVE FACTORS BEHIND EVERY ACCIDENT:

(1.) IMPATIENCE. A personal unwillingness to do things right, to follow standard safety procedures, and/or take the prerequisite and normal amount of time to do things properly and, ‘by the book’. ('I got ‘a get home by 6!’ or, ‘The game's going to start in an hour; and I just wanted to finish everything up before I sat down to watch!' )

(2.) IMPULSE. Just wanting to get the job done so that you can hurry up and move onto something else is the beginning of a great many accidents! (‘Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time; and I thought it might be turn out to be a better way to do things.’) or, because I actually know somebody who did something like this, my own personal favorite: (‘I didn’t see the harm! It’s a popular shortcut; everybody uses it!’ )

(3.) IMPROVISATION. Just get the job done! ('I thought I could get the job done with the tools we had on hand!' ) ('Yeah I knew there was a slight risk of fire; but who would have thought something like this was going to happen!' ) This popular excuse almost sounds like the Will Of God; doesn't it!

(4.) IMPORTUNITY. Fearlessness has, probably, killed and wounded more people than the other three factors combined! (It's always the careless, the reckless, and the inattentive animals that the predators pick-off, first!)

 

Brings back to mind, one of the important lessons from my Navy years, working in Engineering: ATTENTION TO DETAIL.

If you're distracted, you can't do that. So don't allow any distractions. Same as when you're driving, shooting, or doing anything else that could easily, and quickly, become lethal....to you, or someone else!

 

I have no heater in my shack.
I also will not reload butt naked sitting in a metal chair in a lighting storm.

 

My earliest experience with gun powder was learning how to remove it from cap gun caps blisters on a roll.
being they had their own ignition you had to work very carefully not to scrape the powder and keep all your free powder a good distance from the area your working . One little miss handling and all is lost.
My brother 5 years older then I had burned his face with gun powder, his friends had talked him into lighting. I knew what it was capable of. this was about 60 years ago.
Routinely I turn over my powder cans when ever I visit them ,and keep them in the coolest area in the house.
Ideally , fuels need to be stored in soft storage rather then in steel storage. the greater the force it takes to break apart the wider the damage.
Bullets alone merely pop open their energy is minimal due to the bullet only slip pressed in place .
Great as steel ammo boxes are ,not fond of the idea of them being full of powder in a fire.
A vessel that is locked closed is a whole different story like a bullet lodged in a barrel and firing another behind it. You don't want to be there.