Another Safety Practice

[ET1]

Like MikePal I try to be organized with my powder loads. I use plastic powder vials that are translucent so I can see the level of powder in each vial. My first vial is double checked with an electronic scale. This then becomes my comparison vial or as Mike would say go-no go gauge. All my load vials are then placed in a shotshell box in a specific order with a table chart added identifying what each row holds.
As I use each vial it then is returned to the shotshell box inverted to keep a better count of loads used.


Another aid I use is the old plastic boxes that Hornady originally supplied their 250SST bullet and sabot combination. Utilizing these boxes keeps the range bench uncluttered and allows monitoring shots I’ve taken with a quick count that should match.



There was one incident where the count didn’t match and had me concerned. One time I pulled a vial and set it down to engage in a chit-chat. When I returned to continue shooting, I did my witness mark check and the bore was empty. Quick head count of vials and bullets didn’t match being 1-vial short. Oh crap and wasn’t going to do any shooting until that vial was found. It turned out the vial had fallen over and rolled just out of sight. Sigh of relief when the vial was found and the numbers now matched up. I attribute this to short-term memory loss, chuckle.
Guess what I’m expressing is that my comfort range is dependent on detailed awareness at the bench. At any given time should I feel uncomfortable at the range I stop and find out the source of the discomfort. The last thing I want is a screwup that could be costly.

[MikePal]

You sound like me Ed....started to worry more about my memory, especially with a dangerous hobby, so I have gone out of my way to make it as safe as possible.

I found some plastic 'treat' tubes at a garage sale and was able to pick up some glass bottles that fit perfectly in the tube with a bullet and primer. So I am able to put together each load in the house and take them out to the range. Then I only have one in front of me at a time with the contents for each load. Keeps things in order and prevents duplication or missing a component.

[ET1]

Mike
I like your organizing for bench shooting that is more stringent than mine.

[finsfurfeathers]

Awesome advice guys for new and old practitioners of the sport. True ambassadors keep it coming

[Fox]

Mike
I like your organizing for bench shooting that is more stringent than mine.

It works really well for hunting too, everything is together, a lot less risk in screwing things up when you need that 2nd shot.

[sharps4570]

I like MikePal's organization.

For me, shooting BP is a small time affair although I really like it. I use BH209 charge tubes to carry pre-measured charges (by volume).

I tend to use the ramrod witness mark as a final check since my rifle is zeroed with one bullet weight (250gr) and powder volume (110gr of BH209). I do use a different rod if I play around with the powder a bit which isn't often.

If the range goes green before I'm able to take the shot - I will use the rod to reconfirm again once I return to the bench.