[SSN Vet]

9mm Luger that is.....

But with all the insanity going on, I broke down and bought supplies and dies to do so...

Hey, it only took Factory Sales 10 weeks to ship my 4-die set!

So here's my plan..... please comment if I'm on solid ground here.

Range pick up brass..... tumbled and sorted by head stamp.

Berry's 124 gr. plated bullet

W-231... somewhere in the 4.0 gr. to 4.2 gr. range.... depending on where the Auto-Disk gets me.

I'll crimp seperately, using just enough with the FCD to take the bell out of the case mouth.

Pull some bullets to make sure my crimp isn't putting a ring in the plating or sqeezing the bullet down.

Sound reasonable?

anything I'm missing or should be watching out for.

[Claude Clay]

i load plated to replicate SD rounds [6.6gr Power Pistol FWIW makes a cor-bon 124gr] and to help a friend feed his glock. otherwise LRN [bulletworks $58/thou] does me fine. bullseye [4gr makes factory round] is good for short bbl guns. 231 being a slower powder needs 4" or more bbl. as to crimp--push the nose of a loaded round against a wood stud [perhaps 60 lbs of force] and if it dont move than is ok. no cutting ring-around-the-plate is good. no neeed to sort by head stamp unless you wish to make +p rounds look different visually for added safety. i cull the chrome cases for that.

[Marlin 45 carbine]

pretty much ditto #2.
BullsEye or Red Dot are the best I've used for cast slugs.
Power Pistol for jacketed.
and I 'cull' the nickel cases for 'premium loads' for nephew and buddys.
check the price on the 'premium' S-D rounds:what:

[748]

Try to use at least 4.2gr you wont like it if you end up with light loaded dirty burning rounds.
231 is an over all clean powder, just don't push it.

[ClemY]

Due to the tapered case, 9mm is a little more critical of crimp to ensure you don't get bullet set-back during cycling of the gun. To ensure that I don't get set-back, I use dies that size the case a little excessively so that when the case is belled, there is a bit of a wasp waiste to the case. The bullet is then seated against the waist and taper crimped.

[Walkalong]

No amount of crimp will make up for poor neck tension.

A light crimp is all that is needed. It is for chambering/feeding purposes, not to hold the bullet, although the crimp does help a little bit.

If you do not have enough neck tesion, check to see if your expander is opening up the brass any. If it is not, your sizer is too big and is not sizing the brass down far enough. If it does, you can chuck it up in a lathe or drill press and sand it downand polish it a bit (220/320/400/600 grit) to get better neck tension.

[Hikingman]

Congrats!

Don't under belly the case;
4.2 of W231;
6/10 of one turn or a bit over halfway with the FCD (light);
My Walther P1 loves these with 124 Berry's or 124 FMJ.

:D

[flipajig]

im using w231 at 4.4grns and 125grn lead rnd nose and im verry happy with the perfomance. as for your crimp it stick to the advice given. i dont sort by headstamp but i spot check my case leanth. I dont want to load to long of a case. Keep your headspacing in mind.

[RustyFN]

Sound reasonable?

anything I'm missing or should be watching out for.

Looks good to me. W 231 in my manual is 4.0 start and 4.4 max. You didn't mention a OAL. This is just me but I load 124 grain RN at 1.135 and HP or FP at 1.12. I also don't sort brass I just load it mixed head stamp.
Rusty

[SSN Vet]

great replies guys....

thanks...

[xsquidgator]

If I recall correctly you cast, don't you? Why buy bullets when you can make boolits!?

I use W231 and off the top of my head you're right in there with the charge, especially if I recall correctly that you use cast lead data for Berry's plated bullets. I use 4.3 W231 (don't remember which lee disc it is but it runs 4.3 to 4.4 grains for me) under 125 grain LRN or LTC boolits. Lee 2-cavity mould. These go about 1050 fps in my Ruger P85, good accuracy well good enough for IDPA anyway.

Sorting brass by headstamp is a good idea but I've never bothered. Like the coneheads used to say, "Consume mass quantities!"

[Deer Hunter]

124 grain flatpoints over 4.5 grains of Unique with Wolf small pistol primers.

Works for me!

[The Bushmaster]

SSN Vet...If you have a quality 9mm X 19 with a fully supported chamber and not a Glock. Don't be afraid to boost that W-231 up a bit. My favorite 9mm X 19 load with a 124 grain Rainier Plated HP is 4.7 to 4.8 grains of W-231. And for information purposes Sierra Load data manual Edition V Second printing lists 125 grain bullet with W-231 as high as 5.1 (maximum) grains. Lyman's 48th Edition shows a maximum of 4.4 grains. The reason I recommend Lyman Load data manuals for beginners is because it IS so conservative that beginners will have a hard time getting into trouble. I haven't loaded below 4.6 grains of W-231 for my 9mm X 19's in years...

With plated bullets you are O K up to 1200 fps. Some have had good success at higher fps. Have fun with W-231. It is a very viable powder for 9mm X 19 and clean burning too.

[50 Shooter]

The only rant I have about reloading 9mm (okay I have more) is the price of brass! Since when is 9mm brass worth more then gold?! I see people trying to sell it for $40 per thousand!!! I can't believe people would pay that or try to charge that as the metals prices have dropped through the floor.

I remember when it would sell for $10 or less for 1K. Good thing I have thousands of it stored in ammo cans so I don't have to pay these rediculous prices. Just feel for anyone that's getting into reloading ANYTHING right now.:mad:

[RustyFN]

The only rant I have about reloading 9mm (okay I have more) is the price of brass! Since when is 9mm brass worth more then gold?! I see people trying to sell it for $40 per thousand!!! I can't believe people would pay that or try to charge that as the metals prices have dropped through the floor.

I remember when it would sell for $10 or less for 1K. Good thing I have thousands of it stored in ammo cans so I don't have to pay these rediculous prices. Just feel for anyone that's getting into reloading ANYTHING right now.
I guess I never thought about that. I don't know anybody that buys 9mm brass because it's all over the ground at the range free for the taking.
Rusty

[something vague]

That's not always possible for those of us that live out in the sticks without ranges. Thankfully I have bought enough 9mm rounds over the years, before I started reloading, to keep me going until the ones I have wear out. But the day will come when I will have to buy brass or buy the unavailable 9mm factory rounds and use the brass. But the later doesn't seem to be an option at the present time.

[Steve H]

anything I'm missing or should be watching out for.


one thing - do yo have a supply of primers?

[SSN Vet]

If I recall correctly you cast, don't you? Why buy bullets when you can make boolits!?

Yes, I'm set up for casting (though I don't often find the time to do it)...

But for starting out, I wanted to eliminate the extra variable and bought 1,000 Berry's.

I'll eventually spring for a mold and cast my own....

As for primers... I managed to get in on a group buy that was coordinated by a friend, so I picked up 2,000

As for brass.... 9mm is all over the place were I shoot. I filled a couple big coffee cans a year or so ago and haven't bothered picking it up since.

Carefully disassembled, cleaned, reassembled and dialed in my Lee 4 die set on a spare turret the other night.

Made up some dummies and then pulled the bullets to see if I was scraping off the copper plate. And though I'm barely belling the case with the expander, the bullets looked good.

I also chamber checked my first couple loads and had such a warm fuzzy feeling, that I went ahead and loaded 100 w/ 4.5 gr. of W231, seating them at an OAL of 1.15"

I've loaded 38 spc. with W231 in the past, but I had forgotten how well it meters in the Lee Auto-Disk. All my random checks were spot on at 4.5 gr.

All I need now is a patch of sun this weekend and I'll let 'em rip!

[rfwobbly]

....Berry's 124 gr. plated bullet

W-231... somewhere in the 4.0 gr. to 4.2 gr. range....

I've had excellent results with that very combination. You will too.

Berry actually makes 4 different 124gr bullets for the 9mm. You might like to try all 4:
• Round Nose
• Flat Point, Flat Base
• Flat Point, Hollow Base
• Hollow Point

The HP has the greatest engagement with the rifling (longest body dimension). The hollow base is a new product.

You may also like to try VV N320 with these bullets.

[1SOW]

I haven't actually counted them, but a large coffee can holds abououout 800 9mm cases.

I actually pay $10 to shoot at a local range so I can pick up 6-700 cases (or when my back gives out) before I leave.