it pays to pay attention.

[1Shot]

I was loading up 15 rounds that I had shot up in the past little bit to fill up my 50 round box for my Oden Works barrel AR 6.5 Grendel. When it came to setting up the seating die I screwed the die into the press and backed the seating stim out a ways because the last time I used it I was loading different bullets. Like usual I just took one the loaded rounds with the 120 Sierra Pro Hunter bullet out of the box and placed it in the shell holder and raised the ram and then screwed my seating die stim down until it stopped. With my first round I always stop just short of fully seating the bullet and get my dial caliper with my stony point bullet comparator on it and measure and then seat a little more until I get what measurement that I want just to make sure that everything is set right. It usually is right on the money from the previous loaded round usage. Yesterday when I measured with the comparator I came up with a way too long measurement. I then measured the COAL and it came up as 2.250 which was correct but the base to ogive measurement was way off too long. I measured some of the previously loaded rounds and they showed the same comparator measurements as the round that I had just loaded which were way too long but the COAL was 2.250 average as it should be. I began to think had I wrote down the wrong comparator measurement or what. THEN IT DAWNED ON ME. I had the wrong comparator insert in. I had loaded up some 223 Rem. the other day and used the 22 comparator insert and it was still in the comparator. I put the right 26 cal. insert in and to my amazement the measurement was correct. It pays to pay attention. If I would have tried to seat the bullets to the 1.256 that it was supposed to be with the 22 comparator as my measurement insert that was measuring 1.280 I would have ruined some bullets.

[Mad Charlie]

%#it sneaks up on ya sometimes...
You're not the only one, believe me. In my 44 years of stuffing cases, I've had a few that could have turned out
"poorly" if I hadn't double checked. Luckily, I have learned how to refine my procedures and not rely on memory.
Things like clearly marking things and making and dating notes etc. I still double check anyway.