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Hashhockey69

Hashhockey69

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Fellow GN'ers,

Just having an issue with my recipe. I’ve been reloading 9mm for a few months now with no issues I'm using a Lee's classic turret press. I had my recipe down to a T and everything was solid. As a reference this is what I load:
124 gr Copper Plated Cam pro
5.2 gr Accurate #5
S&B Brass
CCI # 500 primers
OAL: 1.135

The issue that I’m having is that for some unknown reason when I seat the bullet it makes a bulge on the casing, you can pretty much see the whole outline of the bullet on the casing. Usually just on the one side of the casing. Now, when I started reloading this would happen once every 10-20 rounds and the deformed ones would still chamber and fire just fine in my CZ75.

The issue is that it’s now happening every 1-2 rounds. They all look distorted, I've rolled them on a flat surface and they are still straight but I mean that’s not normal. Anyone ever run into this before and knows how to fix it?

My dies haven’t changed so I really don’t know what it could be. I changed my OAL recently but it wasn’t doing that initially so now I’m stuck. I know its not because the bullet is seated to deep because I used to load with a 1.105 OAL…

Any feedback is appreciated,

EDIT: WITH PICS:
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Thank you,

HH69
 
Last edited:
JOJOPINTO said:
Did you recently change bullets or has the size of them changed?

you could try a lee factory crip die to put them back into shape also...
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No still the same bullets and casings. And I do have a factory crimp die, which is awesome but doesnt fix the bulge or the outline of the bullet halfway down the casing.
 
I would check seating depth again. I had this issue when seating to deep in case.
I would also check indexing as the case my not be center with die when seating bullet.
 
Did this start happening with a new purchased batch of bullets?

I'd do some measurement. See if the cases measure correctly and that the bullets do too and are not mislabeled.

I reload 44mag on lee, which is a very similar process and cannot fathom why that would happen.

Does your resizer die need to be cleaned? Perhaps it's possible if you are sizing dirty brass crud has built up in the die making it size them narrower the normal. That seems like a stretch tho.
 
Conte said:
Did this start happening with a new purchased batch of bullets?

I'd do some measurement. See if the cases measure correctly and that the bullets do too and are not mislabeled.

I reload 44mag on lee, which is a very similar process and cannot fathom why that would happen.

Does your resizer die need to be cleaned? Perhaps it's possible if you are sizing dirty brass crud has built up in the die making it size them narrower the normal. That seems like a stretch tho.
Click to expand...

Good tips thank you very much. Ive measured the bullets and they are what they should be. Also I did not change bullets, its the same batch as before.

I did clean my die and it was really dirty! My first few hundred rounds I did not have a tumbler so the dirt must have gathered. That did help a little bit, made about 5 without the same issue. Its still there just not as bad. So there is something else thats causing it.

Is it maybe that the brass aint solid enough?

@F55: I dont thinks its the seating depth because I used to seat the bullets even deeper and it was fine... The indexing is possilbe, il have a look. Thank you for the advice.
 
if you have some of the olf ones look at them measure them campro has changed they're 45 twice in the last year and i hade issue with on style that was more domed then bullet shaped i think they are out source contracts to another company or something i know CRAFM stoped carrying them for reasone like this
 
I posted about the same problem with 9mm a couple of months ago. i load range pick-up brass and when it started to happen to me it was because I had run into some S & B brass. That was the only brass that bulged. I am guessing it has something to do with the brass case wall thickness.

I got a Lee factory crimp die and found that even without having to screw the die all the way in, it would iron out the bulge.
 
Well it seems to be a little better now. Il just get over the fact that they looked screwed up and just shoot them because they still shoot and chamber just fine. A few people have told me that S&B brass is "weak" and this occurs often but that threw me off because my first 300 rounds or so that were fine were also S&B brass. Either way thanks for the tips everyone, very much appreciated!

@granderite: Your saying your crimp die fixes the bulge? How does that happen? The bulge is halfway down the cartridge?
 
Its called neck stretch and its perfectly normal and totally harmless. I've shot about 3000 between the wife and myself that all looked like that and I've got about another 6000 more loaded up. Good question, but dont worry about it
 
There's some good advice above.

As noted, your brass is a tad too small for the bullet, which then expands the brass a touch. If they feed OK, chamber OK and fire OK, then it's purely cosmetic, I think.

Try backing off your sizing die until you don't get 'the bulge' when loading (I'd experiment with unprimed rounds) and see how it cycles through the pistol. If you can get to that stage, try loading some with primer and powder and see. If I had a choice between the bulge and bullets not being properly in place, I'd take the bulge anytime.
 
They are starting to look better with the cleaning of the die, and backing out the sizing die a bit.

I had no idea that it was all cosmetic. I feel way better now, and they are my most accurate load so I was hoping not to hanve to change anything.

Thanks again guys.

HH69
 
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