New to reloading

[FlyingDtnt1]

I was running 11 grains of Blue Dot over a 155 grain Speer TMJ, which is a starting load. When I fired this round it made puff noise and sounded like it might be a squib.

[The_Shadow]

One thing that needs to be done, is to insure the insides of the cases are clean and dry!  I have seen where people are using liquid methods of brass cleaning, not that, that is a bad thing...however insufficient drying or in some instances the water can develop a surface tension as a contained a bubble of liquid that will not dry out easily.  This type of bubble, sort of seals itself inside the casing and it is only broken by the powder charge which dampens the interior powder charge and can also kill the primer itself.

I have found many things inside of casings to include but not limited to, spiders and webs, sand, dirt, rocks, other smaller brass cases, moisture, using dry media tumbling you can get media stuck inside the flash hole.  The bottom line here is case inspection, using a case neck brush can help sweep the inside of the casings to loosen most debris.

I always check inside each and every case before the powder goes in, yes it is a slower process, but I load each and every cartridge like it is Match Grade / Hand Weighed so I see inside that case as the powder is poured inside.  Yes I am ANAL!    But I also know I have done everything to insure the best possible ammo. 

[sqlbullet]

Even if it didn't ruin your powder or primer, it would likely ruin your day if the round went off.  The expansion ratio of water to steam is nearly double that of nitrocellulose to gas.  Adding a grain of two of water would have a serious negative impact on pressure.

[Kenk]

Absolutely, when it comes to hand loading, serious anelness is always your friend

[Graybeard]

Blue Dot doesn't meter all that well in a progressive press either. It also runs better with heavier bullets, in my experience. Short bullet + light charge could equal poof instead of bang. Sounds like it made enough pressure to at least drive the bullet out of the barrel?

The scorching on the outside of the brass is definitely indicative of a low pressure round. I see that all the time on downloaded .45s.