No go in case gauge

[dearslayer]

I’m not sure if I’m dealing with the much mentioned bulge that I’ve read about. I loaded about a 100 rounds last night before work and when I check them in the case gauge at least 8-10 of them won’t drop in all the way. If the bulge is the problem what is the best way to check the cases before reloading? Does dropping them in the case gauge before sizing work? It’s a pain to have to take 10 rounds apart. It's almost as if the rim of the case is to large in diameter to fully drop in the gauge.

 

[yomomma]

Lee bulge buster...

 

[Janeau]

Bulged case..yep need to be processed - be a rollsizer - Redding or Lee bulge dies.

 

[ted_dent]

I have found that after several reloads 9mm case rims seem to expand a bit which prevents them from dropping into the case gauge. A bulge buster type die should swage them back down so they will fully drop in but to be honest 9mm is so cheap and plentiful when my cases get like this they go into the scrap case bin. It's not worth having FTEs or FTFs for the sake of a 3 cent case.

 

[dearslayer]

Ok so what is the best way to prevent it prior to loading the case. Should I run all my cleaned empty cases through a Lee bulge buster BEFORE reloading. I was on the Lee precision website last night and it stated all the calibers that it was for but 9 mm wasn't one of them. Am I missing something? I'm not concerned with saving any bulge cases as I have enough 9 mm to last me a long time, however it is a pain to not know it's a bulge case and I have to break down the loaded rounds after the fact.

 

[tiriaq]

The ultimate cartridge gauge is the barrel. Remove the barrel from your pistol and drop the round in. If it seats, you won't have any problems. This "plunk" test is fast and easy.

 

[dearslayer]

The ultimate cartridge gauge is the barrel. Remove the barrel from your pistol and drop the round in. If it seats, you won't have any problems. This "plunk" test is fast and easy.

I totally get what you're saying but the point I'm trying to make is I'd rather not load bulge cases to begin with, but right now there's no way to tell until after they're loaded and do the plunk test. If they don't plunk I then have to take apart the loaded round. I'd rather prevent it from happening in the first place if you get what I'm saying.

 

[I Dont Care About You]

The ultimate cartridge gauge is the barrel. Remove the barrel from your pistol and drop the round in. If it seats, you won't have any problems. This "plunk" test is fast and easy.

Exactly

I totally get what you're saying but the point I'm trying to make is I'd rather not load bulge cases to begin with, but right now there's no way to tell until after they're loaded and do the plunk test. If they don't plunk I then have to take apart the loaded round. I'd rather prevent it from happening in the first place if you get what I'm saying.

How did we manage to load 9mm for decades before those stupid case gauges came along to tell us the ammo we loaded and shot wouldn't work in our guns?

Throw that stupid gauge away and just load your ammo. As long as the cases are fully resized, they will work just fine. In the 100's of thousands of 9mm rounds I have reloaded over the last 36 years I can't ever remember one that wouldn't chamber due to a "bulge."

 

[yomomma]

I totally get what you're saying but the point I'm trying to make is I'd rather not load bulge cases to begin with, but right now there's no way to tell until after they're loaded and do the plunk test. If they don't plunk I then have to take apart the loaded round. I'd rather prevent it from happening in the first place if you get what I'm saying.

Use Bulge buster with loaded rounds

 

[dearslayer]

Exactly




How did we manage to load 9mm for decades before those stupid case gauges came along to tell us the ammo we loaded and shot wouldn't work in our guns?

Throw that stupid gauge away and just load your ammo. As long as the cases are fully resized, they will work just fine. In the 100's of thousands of 9mm rounds I have reloaded over the last 36 years I can't ever remember one that wouldn't chamber due to a "bulge."

I don't have the same amount of experience as yourself and I would consider myself still a rookie with lots to learn. That's why I seek the advise of the more experienced.

 

[Snider shooter]

I bought a bunch of gun stuff a few years ago and a 38 Special gauge was amongst it. About 5% of my reloads wouldn’t fit so I started getting guns out and actually testing if they fit my guns. I never knew I loaded so many bad rounds. I took them to the range and fired everyone of them separately from rounds the gauge said good to go. I couldn’t tell any difference in group size between the two batches. The gauge is somewhere in a box in my loft. Gauges are junk. I use my guns as a gauge. I have 5 handguns that can shoot 38 Special all of them chambered those so called bad rounds. I will never purposefully buy one.

 

[Potashminer]

I will support Post #11 - I never re-loaded for handgun, but I have re-formed rifle brass from one cartridge to another - many times - objective is does the product fit the rifle's chamber correctly or not - not too long and not too short - some intermediate gauge is supposed to be an aid to that, but you can not even get two rifles with identical chambers, so how is "one-size-fits-all" gauge supposed to work? Outfits like SAAMI list Minimum and Maximum dimensions - anywhere in between is to spec - so if that gauge is near minimum and your chamber is near maximum, or vice-versa - you are getting "false" information as to whether a particular round will fit in your chamber or not.

 

[dearslayer]

I have used the barrel from the pistol many times to do the punk test however this particular time the pistol was locked away in a safe upstairs and I was in the basement so I figured I'd just use the case gauge. After reading these posts I decided to get the barrel from the pistol for the plunk test and sure enough, out of all the rounds that would not fit in the case gauge all but one fit in the barrel of the gun. Only the one round sat a little proud of the hood.

 

[dearslayer]

Use Bulge buster with loaded rounds

I watched the video and read some of the comments. One person made the comment that I've attached. What exactly does he mean by it?

 

[Paul_T]

I quit testing my pistol rounds in a gauge a few years ago. Specifically for 9mm the bulged cases that fail the gauge test will feed and fire in all of my 9mm pistols.

 

[I Dont Care About You]

I have used the barrel from the pistol many times to do the punk test however this particular time the pistol was locked away in a safe upstairs and I was in the basement so I figured I'd just use the case gauge. After reading these posts I decided to get the barrel from the pistol for the plunk test and sure enough, out of all the rounds that would not fit in the case gauge all but one fit in the barrel of the gun. Only the one round sat a little proud of the hood.

I guarantee you 100% that the single round which didn't "plunk" in your barrel will chamber and fire just fine from the magazine. The energy of the closing slide will be more than enough to ram that round into the chamber and lock up the action. You won't even notice a difference.

Throw that stupid gauge in the garbage and move on with your life.

 

[I Dont Care About You]

I watched the video and read some of the comments. One person made the comment that I've attached. What exactly does he mean by it?

No idea. in 36 years of loading 9mm, I have never heard anyone make such a comment.

I've also never heard of a "carbide crimp die". I think he is confusing sizing dies with crimp dies. There is no real need to crimp 9mm. A properly set up seating die will bring the case back to straight (remove the flare).

 

[dearslayer]

In the video he says that the bulge buster set up has to be used in conjunction with a Lee 9mm Makarov crimp die and not the regular 9mm luger crimp die . I just want to know in case I do decide to order the bulge buster for future use if needed.

 

[yomomma]

No idea. in 36 years of loading 9mm, I have never heard anyone make such a comment.

I've also never heard of a "carbide crimp die". I think he is confusing sizing dies with crimp dies. There is no real need to crimp 9mm. A properly set up seating die will bring the case back to straight (remove the flare).

Yah no idea either. I use cast bullets so I flare my cases, as above, I set my die to remove the flare.

Just remember, you have to work out what works best for you. I have done just fine without a 9x18 die

 

[I Dont Care About You]

In the video he says that the bulge buster set up has to be used in conjunction with a Lee 9mm Makarov crimp die and not the regular 9mm luger crimp die . I just want to know in case I do decide to order the bulge buster for future use if needed.

I've never used a bulge buster. Never felt the need to.