9mm loading questions please help

rambo86

New member
EE Expired
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
hello I thank you for taking the time to look at my post .

very basic set up for a first time hand loader yeah ive made out 400 rounds so far in the last 2 weeks or so on my single stage lee brech lock challange press . I do intend to move up to A Dillon Xl650 soon but wanted to under stand the basic's before i made a s**t load of worthless ammo.

Oh yeah about those 400 rounds that i pressed out every single one went bang and that was in a good way i mean bang .

my QUESTION IS ABOUT CASE LENGTH NOT OVER ALL CASE LENGTH BUT JUST ABOUT EMPTY 9MM BRASS CASE LENGTH . Do i trim or do i not trim ?

i dont mind trimming each one by hand with my lee case cutter stuff but how short is to short for 9mm case "just the brass " and why is it that my once fired brass seems to be about about 0.745ish and when i cut with the lee trimmer it goes down to 0.738 is this to short ? or is this good for when i add the crimp because on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9x19mm_Parabellum

they say that the brass case alone is 0.754 and any my s**t that has be once fired or twice fired is 0.745 etc .... i know brass shrinks some times but then how would using the lee case length gauge and cutter and shell holder do me any good when my brass is coming up much shorter .




in the end with out going on and on and pissing you ppl off do you trim straight walled pistol brass #1 and number 2 if you do not then how do you get a lets say uniformed load when adding crimp. when the case are slightly different in length . or am i being way to picky cuz i thought being a gun nut meant being picky and paying attention to detail?




I thank all of you how have taken the time to read this and reply . I do have a reloading book I have the Lee book second edition and i also use hogdon.com for some of my powder load data . so have the hogdon anual load manual but its more like a guns and ammo mag lol . going out soon to get spree and Lyman 49th relaoding books .

thanks


R:d:
 
Hi rambo, I admire your style. You're going about this right.

In theory, brass flows when sufficient pressure is applied to it as in when firing and resizing. The flow tends to result in longer brass, hence you have to trim. This is how things will work when you're dealing with necked rifle brass for sure.

Straight walled pistol brass tends to maintain its original length however. Primarily, this is due to lower pressure firings (maybe), that it headspaces on the case rim and that it is not subjted to the extruding action of an expander ball when resizing.

You seem like a methodical guy so you might like to spot check the lengths of some of your brass as you reload initially, just for piece of mind. In no time you'll verify that your pistol brass isn't growing.

Enjoy!
 
If sort by brand , 9 out 10 are the same lenght if not it's no more .005 taller or shorter.
I leave that small marging to my COL this way the bullet will not go deeper when seating

I never trimmed a pistol brass

Keep on Shooting
 
The trim-to length is .751". Max case length is .754". Anywhere in between is fine. It is best to have your cases all the same length, however at .745", you don't need to trim.
Wikipedia isn't a reliable source of info. Follow your manual.
 
I've been reloading 9mm for 5years and never trimmed a single case....:runaway:

FYI if you get LEE factory crimp die you case length isn't 'critical'.
 
And by the way there isnt anything wrong with your reloading set up, it works just fine, Dillons are nice but like you said every round went bang without a Dillon.
 
hey thanks guys

. yeah crimping is no problem when i first started i over crimped like it was not to be expected . when i purchased my lee case length gauge and shell holder for 9mm the guy sort of laughed at me i did not think anything of it . yeah the round i am loading for now are going to be for my black badge and i want really good ammo so i didn't waste my money . I guess you could say i am a lil obsessed with uniformity. oh yeah i did not mention that the first 400 rounds that i was so proud of all where not trimmed but had everything else done to them

ok thanks dudes. Hope black badge goes well and all my rounds go pop and are placed where i want them to be

Rambo
 
Back
Top Bottom