Newbie. 9mm grouping badly

Had the same issue - was shooting a 'classic' Hi Power, it took me a month to get it shooting decently, now it's very very good. I can tell you what I did.

First of all, you must use jacketed bullets with the Glock; don't even try lead. Lead bullets and polygonal rifling don't mix. You're using jacketed bullets already - no problem.

Second, use the caliper to measure the diameter of the case mouth after you crimp; it must be at (or close to) SAAMI spec. The 9mm headspaces on the cartridge mouth, so the diameter must be correct; no less, certainly no more or you'll run into feeding issues. You use a taper crimp for 9mm - roll crimp is a no-no.

Why it's shooting all over the place? Could be several reasons - 9mm is a pain to reload, I recommend you get a gauge block and verify that all your reloaded cartridges fit fully in it - but in my case, I was not pushing the bullets fast enough. I use fast powder - tightwad, which you can't even find 9mm pistol reloading data for; you might try Vihtavuori N310, Bullseye or Red Dot - and what clued me in was that like you, I was shooting foot-and-a-half groups at 20 yds; by 'n by, I realized that the outermost hits were often keyholes. This meant that the bullets weren't spinning fast enough to gyro-stabilize; and the only way to spin them faster (other than installing an expensive custom match barrel with a tighter twist) is to push them faster. In my case, it took literally 0.1 grain more tightwad and the pistol started shooting like a champ.

For a slower powder, you may need more than 0.1gr - WITHIN documented max loads, of course - but try more powder; that may solve your problem. And chrono your loads, so you know what velocities work.
 
so I'll ask again, why crimp 9mm pistol ammo, or better yet who crimps and why?

It's very important to crimp small capacity pistol cases - if the bullet sets back as a result of hitting the feed ramp slightly too hard you'll get an extreme pressure spike caused by reducing the case capacity. Pressure spikes in uncrimped 9mm cases have been seen as high as 50,000 psi - 16,000 above CIP standard. Additionally, properly crimped (taper crimped/post sized) rounds feed more reliably, and ignite more uniformly.
 
I to, tried reloading for the Glock with crapy results. I tried 124 and 115grain.......I tried OAL from 1.11 to 1.15..........I tried Bullseye powder from 3.2 up to 4.2.......NO luck. I then tried LAW MAN ammo and it was dead on !! Lawman ammo really flies Fast,..my reloads were to slow.
I tried my reloads in My CZ Shadow and they worked Great. sold the Duty gun and kept the Shadow.
 
Someone a few replies back suggested you flip the seating button around. As noted it's got both a flat and coned side. It sounds like you're on your way but if you didn't flip the seating core over to suit the bullet you may find that it gets a bit better again.

Commercial 9mm is somewhat shorter than what you're reloading to. More around 1.15'ish. That's to fit guns with shorter chambers such as CZ. So don't be afraid to make your loads a touch shorter for OAL. And that, along with using the right side of the seating die's button, might aid in keeping the bullet lined up better in the casing.
 
Problem is fixed. It was my first shot at reloading and after some help adjusting the variables it's now grouping great. Thanks everyone.
 
so I'll ask again, why crimp 9mm pistol ammo, or better yet who crimps and why?

I am guessing you dont flare the case mouth.

I had G17 and shot both lead/jacket bullets and had to flare the case so that it didn't shave the bullet. If i left the flare the round would not chamber so used taper crimp to remove the flare.
 
The flaring and also the bullet being pushed into the case bulges the case a bit and can cause the round to not chamber properly, and like it was mentioned before, the bullet could get pushed Into the case further than it should be upon a round getting roughly chambered (semis are pretty violent with ammo) and that can create unsafe pressures
 
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