Blood and Gore — Injury After Pistol Powder Loaded in Rifle Case
This is a grim tale. A man almost lost the use of his right hand, and did suffer terrible injuries to his fingers. All because he picked the wrong bottle of powder off the shelf. We have run this story before, and we will continue to run it every year, as a caution to our readers. This mistake is easy to make, but the consequences can be dire. Always, always double-check your powder labels before you start the hand-loading process. If you don’t, you may not have a hand to load with next time…
Similar Labels, Disasterous Consequences
The shooter, Denny K., was assembling some rounds for his brand new 7mm-08 Savage hunting rifle. He thought he was loading with Hodgdon Varget. Instead he had filled his powder measure with Hodgdon TiteGroup, a fast-burning pistol powder. The labels are similar, so the mistake is understandable. But the results were devastating. Here’s what 41 grains of TiteGroup can do in a 7mm-08:
Posting on the Firing Line, in a thread entitled “Lucky to Be Alive”, Denny writes:
“This is the hardest post to post. I know if I had read it a week ago my comment would have been: ‘You have no business reloading’. I had everything perfect, except pouring the wrong powder in the powder measure. I type this slowly with my left hand, embarrassed but … possibly saving someone else a tragedy or, like me, a long drive to the Emergency Room and surgery to save my finger.”
CLICK HERE for bigger, more graphic photo of injury.
The Still-Sealed Bottle of Varget
Denny did not initially comprehend exactly why the kaboom happened. He thought maybe his new Savage rifle was at fault. Then, on his return home, he discovered something…
Denny wrote: “The seven-hour period it took to go to ER, transport to Trauma Center and surgery made me think it was a Savage rifle issue. Brand new rifle, new brass, triple-checked loading data. The next day I was humbled when I realized the Varget powder was still sealed.
I knew what powder to use. I thought [Varget] was what I used. Not until the following day did I realize the Varget was still sealed.”
At that point, Denny realized what caused the accident — “operator error”. He knew he had to warn others about using the wrong powder: “I knew I needed to share my mistake, even though it is embarrassing, just to remind people. I’ve been reloading for 30 years…”
Editor’s Comment: Denny was not a novice reloader. His experience demonstrates that this kind of mistake can be made by any hand-loader, even one with decades of experience. Be safe guys, take your time when you load your ammo. Remove powders from measures after your loading sessions (pistol powders can look very similar to rifle powders). And by all means CHECK the LABEL on the jug. As the TiteGroup label says: “A little goes a long way.”
It’s not a bad idea to separate your pistol powders from your rifle powders, or perhaps even load for pistol in a separate part of your workshop.
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- Pistol Powder in a Rifle Cartridge — The Handloader’s Nightmare
- Bloody Disaster — Loading Pistol Powder in Rifle Case
- Need Powder? Chris Hodgdon Talks About Supply and Demand…
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Tags: Emergency, Explosion, Fingers Lost, First Aid, Kaboom, Pistol Powder, Reloading, Reloading Fail, TiteGroup, Varget
I Pray for a speedy recovery, thanks for the info. Copied the pictures and will post them over my reloading bench.
“a little goes a long way”
Considering Titegroup flakes and Varget stick kernels don’t look anything alike, this fella must of shut off all his senses during that reloading session.
Live and learn. Sometimes the hard way.
I wish him no long term damage.
This story is from a while back.
Also pray for a speedy recovery.
This fear is why I have made it point to keep all powder out of sight. When I reload I have to get the powder from behind me and I leave the can on the bench as reloading. So I am always seeing it and is an ‘oddity’.
Also when labeling the reloads I make it a point to grab the can to write the powder used, not my memory.
Accidents will happen, that is why we call them ‘accidents’ (I still have a piece of shrapnel in my little finger from an accident). As stated by Denny, hopefully his article will make us all look at our processes and do what we can to minimize the chances of these accidents.
Thanks for sharing. It was unselfish of you to share your experience. It goes to show that even for veteran reloaders, reloading is a serious matter with bad consequences if one makes a mistake. Speedy recovery buddy.
Last night i noticed I had dropped CFE pistol in my RCBS powder drop. Where I was supposed to put CFE223
I went on the internet to see if I could get away with this ..and low and behold this post came up
I have a thousand rounds to pull apart and powder to throw out. Thank god I noticed …
I keep all my powder separate from my reloading area, and keep pistol and rifle powder separate. As others have stated, I also keep whatever powder I am using right next to the scale so I have a visual reminder every time I throw a charge. There is an adage…”it is not if, but when”. I do everything I can think of to minimize or eliminate the when.
I only use a powder measure for pistol reloading. For rifle I hand dip each charge, so i open the can each reloading session. It is too easy to make a mistake when you are using a powder measure for everything.
Had a good friend been loading for 50years. Beam scale bumped up 10grs. Remington 700 6mmAI came a part, he was lucky, stuff in his eye, stock blew, floor plate GEE WHIZ.
When I loaded rifle bullets, someone comes in the garage I STOP til they leave. ONE powder on the loading bench at a time.
I dont reload pistol ammo. Its too cheap to bother. and therefore I only own rifle powder that is all similar in burn rate and “probably” wont kill me when (not if) I do something stupid.
I was shooting trap after dark on a lighted range when another guy next to me fired his Over and Under. The recoil looked like he had fired a 300 Win Mag. Fire blew out around the breach.
I asked him what he was shooting ; he had used pistol powder to reload.
I packed up and left. I hope he didn’t blow his face off.
Rule #1…ONE powder on the loading bench at a time.