Need help with my 9mm loads

JDube

JDube

Regular
Rating - 100%
34   0   0
Location
Estrie, QC
Hey guys, I'm fairly new to reloading (only a couple thousands so far) and I am facing some really annoying issues. Since a couple of months (don't have much free time + work injury) I have experienced FTExtract, FTeject and FTFs with my loads. My first 3000 went flawlessly. Here is the technical stuff:
Guns:
Sig P226 ST 9mm
Sig P226 Elite 9mm

Press:
XL650
Station 1-4: standard Dillon dies (including powder measure)
Station 5: Lee FCD (Had issues both before and after

Current load:
124gr FMJ bullet (Cam-Pro)
3.9gr Bullseye
1,15 OAL
0,742 brass length

My first loads before and during the beginning of my issues were lower pressure rounds at 1,168 OAL with 3,9gr of BE and they were perfectly fine so I do not think low pressure is the problem here. Really don't know what to do now. Fired some Speer Lawman and another guys load and they both were perfectly fine with 0 malfunctions. (beside slide not always locking back on last round) Any cues?
 
Last edited:
The most common cause of failure to fire in reloaded ammunition is not seating the primer to the bottom of the pocket. The primer should be BELOW flush in the primer pocket, you really want to bottom out the primer seater. What happens when the firing pin hits the primer if it's not bottomed out is that the primer seats itself deeper taking away energy from the strike. As far as the FTE's go how old is your brass - I've had issues (primarily with Rem-UMC) where I had reloaded the brass to the point where there simply wasn't enough rim left for the ejector to grab. Also, your loads are light - according to the Lee book the start load with a 125 grain jacketed bullet is 4.7 on an OAL of 1.150 the short OAL can cause feeding issues and will boost pressure levels, so that the round appears to be more workable than it is. The slide not locking is (99 times out of 100) your thumb bumping the release when the gun recoils - check your grip, place your thumb slightly outboard from where you have been and odds are it'll go away.
 
I meant FTF as Failure to feed, never had a failure to fire (yet). I also did a typo for my OAL, I am at 1,15" OAL so no problem there.

I thought the loads might be light but as I wrote, my first 3000 or so were loaded with the same amount of powder for a longer OAL. Doesn't it mean my first loads had even less pressure? As you can probably tell, I don't really have anyone to coach me... :p
 
JDube said:
I thought the loads might be light but as I wrote, my first 3000 or so were loaded with the same amount of powder for a longer OAL. Doesn't it mean my first loads had even less pressure? As you can probably tell, I don't really have anyone to coach me... :p
Click to expand...
Not always. The burn rate is often influenced by the load density. Low density loads can build high pressure due to the powder flashing off all at once rather than burning progressively. I'd try a couple of things:
Increase the charge weight to mid-book value.
Set the OAL to the middle of the range, somewhere around 1.130
Make sure your brass is in good shape.
 
Will load some today with different specs and i'll hit the range tomorrow for tests. I'll get back with, hopefully, positive results.
 
Ok, so I tried the suggestions above. I'm writing this coming back from the emergency room.

When I started loading more powder in the cases yesterday I payed close attention to every case. Turns out 1 out of 4 was arriving at station 3 with pretty much no powder in it. After a good cleaning of the crappy Dillon measure, I still get some rare extreme variations in the amount of powder (1 out of 75 was 3.5gr instead of 4.3gr), probably due to a code 16.

Anyway, went to the range today and tried my 150 loads of 4.3gr with an OAL of 1,14". Here is the result:

img3406q.jpg


0 malfunctions in 150 rounds, with both pistols. Thanks a lot!
Btw I'm coming from a work injury follow-up at the ER, not related to the excellent advice I received here ;)
 
JDube said:
When I started loading more powder in the cases yesterday I payed close attention to every case. Turns out 1 out of 4 was arriving at station 3 with pretty much no powder in it. After a good cleaning of the crappy Dillon measure, I still get some rare extreme variations in the amount of powder (1 out of 75 was 3.5gr instead of 4.3gr), probably due to a code 16.
Click to expand...

I had the same problem about 2 years ago. One in 15 or so would be way under or missing and I didn't discover it until I got to the range and started shooting. All I can say is I am glad it was me shooting the revolver instead of someone else.

When I took the powder out of the measure there was a small piece of plastic about 1/2 the size of a dime in the powder measure. It was clear and it came that way from the factory. How it got in there or where it came from I will never know. So once in a while it would work fine and other times it would throw a weird or no charge at all.

Other than something foreign in the powder hopper, make sure the return rod is fully returning to ensure that the measure is being reset each time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom