Just how tight do I need to hold my powder weight?

rubberdown

rubberdown

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EXTREMELY new to reloading and finally picked up powder, primers, scale, Lee pro 1000 etc etc, and started playing with my new toys tonight.

I found a recipe for my bullets and using the lee auto powder measure I need to find a disk that gives me 4.3 grains of powder. Problem is the 4.0 hole gives me 4.0 to 4.3 and the disk hole 4.3 gives me 4.3 to 4.5 grains. I filled several cases and weighed the powder from all of them and want to be sure I dont blow up one of my guns, so tell me, am I over worrying about these few points of a grain when at the starting load range, or should I try and find out why it is coming out different by .02 to .03 grains?

another question, when setting my over all length, I was given a distance of 1.087", what sort of tolerance should be held on this, meaning if my first few rounds come out plus or minus 0.010" should I pull the bullet apart and redo it, or is 10 thou close enough?

LAST question, at the above weight of powder, this powder is pretty high up in my 9mm pistol brass, looking like it will leave just enough room for the bullet, is this normal,does this sound right?

Thanks GN
 
For pistol. 0.3gr is a significant amount of fast powder, especially if it is near max. Not a big deal of medium speed powder, not at max.

OAL should be adjusted to fit the mag/chamber of YOUR pistol. It can be longer or shorter than that in the book.
 
OAL must be important since it also changes the pressure though right? to short and maybe to much pressure, isnt that right?

I did manage to load 20 good rounds and 1 bad round, heres the bad one, gonna try to google a solution while I wait for some advice here ;)

badbullet.jpg
 
Once you have your seating die adjusted do not change it. Seat a few bullets with it and make sure they chamber in your firearm without hitting the lands and that they load into the mag.

With my loads I work them up from the starting load and shoot them over a Chrony to ensure that I am not over max speed while watching for pressure signs on the case. Using this method I make sure that I have loaded heavier powder weights then what my powder thrower will drop using a disk in range of the published min and max.
 
Do you have a kinetic bullet puller?

Pull the bullet,
Remove the powder,
Gently push the pimer out of the case using your decap/sizing die.

Do not push the primer back in without removing it first as you probably have powder in the primer hole.
 
Just ordered a bullet puller on line along with a golden rod dehumidifier. Seems every time I need something, I look through the online supplier of what I need and find more stuff to spend money on :)
 
rubberdown said:
I found a recipe for my bullets and using the lee auto powder measure I need to find a disk that gives me 4.3 grains of powder. Problem is the 4.0 hole gives me 4.0 to 4.3 and the disk hole 4.3 gives me 4.3 to 4.5 grains.
Click to expand...

I would load the lighter load first and try it to see how your pistol likes it. Just because someone else says 4.3gr is the magic number doesn't mean your gun(s) will agree. It would help if you posted all your load details so we could see how close to maximum you are running and with what components.


Mark
 
mmattockx said:
I would load the lighter load first and try it to see how your pistol likes it. Just because someone else says 4.3gr is the magic number doesn't mean your gun(s) will agree. It would help if you posted all your load details so we could see how close to maximum you are running and with what components.


Mark
Click to expand...

True enough. Here goes..

Guns I will use these reloads in are a S&W MP9mm and a JR Carbine 9mm

Bullets are
125gr LRN
124gr Berry's plated RN

Mixed brass from Wolf Bullets

Win 231 powder @ 4.3grains

CCI Small pistol primers

C.O.L. (OAL) 1.090 (+/- 0.005")

I think I mentioned everything.

Now I'm working on my crimp and seems I went from no crimp to too much crimp
 
mmattockx said:
I would load the lighter load first and try it to see how your pistol likes it. Just because someone else says 4.3gr is the magic number doesn't mean your gun(s) will agree. It would help if you posted all your load details so we could see how close to maximum you are running and with what components.


Mark
Click to expand...

True enough. Here goes..

Guns I will use these reloads in are a S&W MP9mm and a JR Carbine 9mm

Bullets are
125gr LRN
124gr Berry's plated RN

Mixed brass from Wolf Bullets

Win 231 powder @ 4.3grains

CCI Small pistol primers

C.O.L. (OAL) 1.090 (+/- 0.005")

I think I mentioned everything.

Now I'm working on my crimp and seems I went from no crimp to too much crimp
 
Win 231 should meter well out of the disks.

Well I can think of a few things that can cause power to hang-up.

I have 6 lee 1000s they all work, well enough that I have no plans to replace them. I've loaded 25K out of my 9mm press alone....

Make sure that you are moving the handle fully to the top and bottom of each stroke. Also pause for a second at the top and bottom of each stroke.

Is your powder system clean? Its a problem with Lees. They usually come from factory with a bit of preservative in the power die. Take it apart to its smallest piece blast with gun scrubber or if you have one of them new tangled sonic cleaners that would work too.

Is your powder system lubed? There are quite a few moving parts. The whole press was half the cost of the closest competition. Now you know where Lee saved a few buck and passed the savings on. I found that after running 1000 rnds through a lee1000 that the powder system loosens up, all the small parts wear in and powder starts to fill in the odd void as well as giving the whole system a "polish". After 2000 rounds the weight of a half full hopper will reset the powder disk. After 10000, the empty hopper will reset the powder system. You can cut those numbers quite a bit if you do the following. What I like to do is spray the entire unit (when it's in pieces) with gun scrubber, while its still wet I sprinkle graphite lube all over everything. (wear an old shirt and do this in the garage, not the kitchen) once everything is well coated, re assemble the powder die etc. and just play with the thing. Move arm up and down etc. make sure that the rubber gasket that seals on top of the disk gets a fair bit of attention. This is the one single part that is responsible for most of the "stickiness".

This is also advisable for the entire press. Graphite lube is your friend. I find a light oiling on the ram and linkage is also helpful, but you want to keep all oil away from anywhere it could contact cases, powder or primers..... For obvious reasons....

If that doesn't work let us know. I'm having morning coffee and and I really don't feel like writing an essay right now......

Cheers!
 
I have been using a Lee Pro 1000 since 1991 without any issues. As far as the auto disk measurer goes, for powders like Win 231 and bullseye even H110, I found a little static can cause the powder to hang up.. I have developed the habit to have a small handle screwdriver beside my press and when I'm at the down stroke to drop the powder, I use the screwdriver handle to gently tap the disk to ensure all the powder falls. Furthermore if you are having an issue with the powder measurement you want falls between disk sizes, you can spend 10 bucks and get the adjustable powder bar. It has a screw adjustment that makes the hole bigger or smaller and works just great on the auto disk.. I use this and still use a little tap to ensure all the powder falls.
 
I agree on the WW231 metering well, my Lee turret press with auto-disk measure would hold that charge to 4.3gr +/-0.1gr at most, with 90+% of charges being bang on. The Hodgdon site says that max load is 4.8gr of WW231 with a 125gr FMJ bullet, so you aren't very close to that with 4.3gr under the cast and plated bullets.


Mark
 
I use 1.087 OAL (works in my chamber) and 4.3gr W231, but I might bump it up to 4.4 and see if it runs any cleaner.
 
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