Not so good at the range tonight

bluesclues

bluesclues

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First off, I am brand new to reloading. And this weekend was my first attempt at reloading 9mm for my NP 29. I made 300 rds to test tonight.

This is the set up:
Winchester brass (once fired by me) tumbled for 2 hours.
125 lead RN from Wolf
5 gr Unique powder
Winchester small pistol primers
Mec Gar magazines
Norc NP 29

The problem: In 100 rds I had 5 double feeds. And the slide would not lock open on the last round.

Precurser: I have never had any jams previously using WWB in 4000 rds. And the Mec Gar magazines have worked flawlessly before tonight. The gun was quite lubed up though, as I have been away from home almost 4 months.

Any sugestions on what's going on here? I am giving her a thorough cleaning because she is down right filthy. It must be this powder, in a hundred rounds she was dirtier than I have ever seen her compared to 3 times that many rounds with the WWB.

Thanks for any advice

Blue
 
Double feeds are usually the result of to little extractor tension. About the only way I could see a problem with the reloads is that you did not resize the brass fully. This might be a result of not having your sizing die low enough so it touches the top of the shell plate when you are resizing. What I would suggest you do is run through some store bought rounds and see if the problem happens with them. If it does tweak your extractor. If not measure a store bought at the web and the crimp and compare it to your round.
 
Walter, I think that the sizing just may be the issue... thanks.

Robert, I have fired hundreds of factory lead reloads from Wolf and have never had it this dirty before. I will compare the rounds closer.

Thanks for the replies.

Blue
 
I must be confused...a double feed to me is not the same as a failure to extract...

Double feeds and slide not locking back on the last round (if it did before)...sounds like a mag problem to me...

BluesClues...was it a double feed or was the spent case not extracting? Are the mags new, or have you done anything to them recently?
 
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Quigley,

The problems were all double feeds. The mags were purchased about 7 months ago. After the last time to the range before last night... I had taken all the mags apart and cleaned them. Last night was the first time being used since their cleaning. These mags have worked perfectly before I took them apart...

Blue
 
I have some Mec Gears that I use in my CX4 Storm and I don't really like them...besides the rough edges, I find the feed lips to be a little thin.

A double feed is generally an indication that the front of the feed lips has opened up to much. If you have a micrometer, measure the inside distance at the back and then at the front of the feed lips...

The front should be a few thousands wider then the back but not much more.

Cheers
Craig
 
Quigley,

The Mec Gars have performed extremely well... Having taken apart all the magazines this AM I discovered that one of the mags had the spring in backwards (me embarrased).

I have given the pistol a good cleaning. Checked all the mags. Compared my reloads to factory for size and lenght. I am going back to the range later this week and will post how things turn out.

thanks again for the input

Blue
 
Good chance it is the gun is dirty. Does not take to many rnds for a 9X19 to become dirty & especially the rifling through cast bullets, but that is all we use at our indoor range.

Try going down a few tenths in weight of powder. Then they might not tumble or it can be the depth you have seated the bullet. After all you are shooting indoors & probably at 20 yds & not 50 yds or more.

Compared to 38Spl or 45ACP ,9X19 are tough to come up with good reloads.

Also I start low & slowly work my way up 2/10ths of a grain at each time it might just be 10 rnds at each change. In that way if I fire & the slide barely moves, up to a bit more powder in the next few rounds & some start to stove pipe or will not lock the slide. Finally at something that seems to cycle. THEN it is into seating of the bullet, to different powders & such.
 
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Before going further, try your gun with factory ammo again. Mag and gun issue should be fixed first.

As for the ammo, 9 MM work best when loaded close to factory spec.
5.5 grain of Unique is the maximum for a 125 grain Lead loaded to an OAL of 1.150
Your load of 5.0 grain might be on the weak side of the equation. I will try it at 5.3 up to the max. Pressure are low with Unique, you might consider a faster powder such as Bullseye for your load.
 
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