I was loading some 124gr cast bullets for my 9mm today and encountered a problem. With the 4.1gr Red Dot load I'm using,OAL is supposed to be 1.150. However, using the barrel to check them, I have to push them in to 1.085 in order for them to sit flush. Even then, a bit of thumb pressure is sometimes required to make them sit properly. Is this going to cause trouble?The load is still .4gr under max.
Problem loading 9mm
- Thread starter xxclaro
- Start date
The powder charge may be under maximum but in a short case like the 9mm, when you reduce the OAL from the recommended length, the internal space goes down and pressures will go up VERY fast.
A few years ago I saw a new reloader do that with a .40 S&W. The first round blew his Glock to the point where it was a write off. He was not injured too badly.
Anyway back to your situation. If the cases are resized properly & you do not bell the case mouth too much and then have a taper crimp, the rounds should chamber.
Check your reloads against a factory load & see if you can find the problem.
IMO, don't shoot what you have reloaded.
A few years ago I saw a new reloader do that with a .40 S&W. The first round blew his Glock to the point where it was a write off. He was not injured too badly.
Anyway back to your situation. If the cases are resized properly & you do not bell the case mouth too much and then have a taper crimp, the rounds should chamber.
Check your reloads against a factory load & see if you can find the problem.
IMO, don't shoot what you have reloaded.
What i would do is check the diameter of your bullets with a micrometer. It should be .355 . If it is correct then i would check your crimp. You don't want to crimp the 9mm too much because the cartridge head spaces on the cartridge edge... but you have to correct the bell from the powder stage.
One thing i have done by mistake is to load a bullet with no lube on it. This is a bullet that did not go thru the sizer.. it stuck in my gun and screwed up a match... will never do that again...
Hope this helps..
RDG
One thing i have done by mistake is to load a bullet with no lube on it. This is a bullet that did not go thru the sizer.. it stuck in my gun and screwed up a match... will never do that again...
Hope this helps..
RDG
I am new to 9mm reloading but it sounds to me like a resizing or crimp problem. As was mentioned above measure the width of the cases and make sure that you are setup to do a full resize on your cases, then adjust the crimp on the seating die.
My OAL with 115 gr fmjs that I use for my Glock 17 and Norc 213 is 1.145-48 and they feed fine, drop in and fall out of the barrel when tested.
One thing that helped me was to check the taper crimp with a bright flashlight to see if there was any bell left in the case and then adjust the crimp to remove it.
One other thing that comes to mind since you are using cast... Have you checked the bullets to make sure that they are all uniform and the correct size and free of burrs or excess lube?
Cactus
My OAL with 115 gr fmjs that I use for my Glock 17 and Norc 213 is 1.145-48 and they feed fine, drop in and fall out of the barrel when tested.
One thing that helped me was to check the taper crimp with a bright flashlight to see if there was any bell left in the case and then adjust the crimp to remove it.
One other thing that comes to mind since you are using cast... Have you checked the bullets to make sure that they are all uniform and the correct size and free of burrs or excess lube?
Cactus
That difference in OAL is VERY significant.
Just giving an OAL is completely irrelevant, because you can load short with a lighter/shorter bullet. A bullet the same weight but a longer profile can give you SUBSTANTIALLY higher pressures.
I did an analysis of this using QuickLoad about a year ago, and initially a couple people took me to task over it. Then someone (Boomer I think) tried a number of loads and kept decreasing OAL, and he was VERY surprised at the results. He confirmed that pressures increased tremendously (dangerously) with relatively small decreases in OAL, keeping everything else constant.
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=320822
And a bit of a rambling discussion here, but there are significant notes about setback and pressures, along with Boomer's experiment as one of the last posts.
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=322686
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Do you have a buildup of lead in the throat, just ahead of the case mouth in the chamber ? Scrub the bore with a bit of JB or Flitz (abrasives) to make sure there is no lead buildup. If the gun has a tight chamber, this could make the difference.
