9mm bullets seating crooked?

furfaro

furfaro

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This is my first time reloading 9mm. My plan was to just reload cheap round nose, but I'm having trouble finding those in the stores, so to make sure I was at least prepping my casing right, I bought a box of 100 Hornady XTP (Hollow Point) 90 grains.

I am using a Lee 3 die carbide set. When I go to seat the bullet, the bullet is crooked. Also, sometime, the case will bulge out.

Is this a problem loading with Hollow points. Did I not open up the case enough to begin with?

Any ideas?

Thanks
 
The sizer does not flare the case mouth, the powder/expanding die does.

Screw it down more and it will flare the case more.

You should be able to sit the bullet slightly into the case, and it will stay there on its own.

Crimping will remove any further belling in the case, but usually it isn't necessary with 9mm.
 
furfaro said:
These are the instructions I followed
http://leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/Pistol3.pdf

I assumed the full length sizer would open the mouth to the proper size?
Click to expand...

Nope. The sizer on a pistol die leaves the case mouth a bit small. Lee use a flow through expanding die to open the mouth and slightly flair the case mouth to recieve the bullet. Dillon use a powder funnel to do the same thing,or use the swager back up die. RCBS and Lyman use a seperate die.
 
Look at step #3.

That is the die that is going to expand the case.

1) Be sure that the expander plug is indeed inside the die, as it can fall out if you don't have either the powder measure, or funnel adapter screwed in.

2) You have to have either the funnel adapter or powder measure srewed into that die for it to work.
 
Going to try that now. Thanks.

And I'm only using 90gr because everything is sold out everywhere. Waiting on an order from JoBrooks for 125gr
 
Looks a lot more even now, but I had to seat it quite a bit to do so. Now there is a bulge in the case where the bullet is seated. I'm guessing it is seated too far?
 
Check your manual for minimum overal lengthe for that bullet. A bulge in the casing can be pretty common, it can be rid of with the Lee Factory Crimp die. You don't want to seat too deep, and minimum overall length also depends on the powder you are using.
 
You need to read a good reloading manual (ie The ABCs of RELOADING) to have a better understanding of reloading.

Reloading can be dangerous, not knowing how the dies work, proper bullet size and COL is asking for trouble.
 
Don't waste your money on a lee FCD for the 9MM cartridge. The die is an answer to a problem that does not exist. All it does is swage down your bullet as it resizes your case.

Take Care

Bob
 
The bulge is normal.

If it is below the case mouth where the bullet is seated, and is just an outline of the base of the bullet you have nothing to worry about.

The bullets you are using are really too small for 9mm, and too short to seat deep enough while maintaining an appropriate overall length.
 
I know the bullets are a bad size. It was 90 or 147. That is all that is in stock. The OAL seems to be Ok. I suppose I'll load a few to see how it works and try to sell the test. Thanks for the input.
 
Order some Berry's plated 124gr projectiles. I order from Custom Reloading Service here in BC.
 
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