Reloading 9mm bullet to big using. 356 Berrys 115gn flat point

What's the COAL?

Crimp isn't going to seat the bullet deeper.

Keep seating deeper.
If the sized cases fit, the bullet is not deep enough.
Some bullets have a rather blunt ogive and must be seated deeper.

Further evidence is the stronger crimp being ineffective.

The bullet may be a poor match for your barrel.

Nicksterish said:

When I fill it up with powder

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What type of powder and how many grains?

If you look in the loading manuals, you will see what the OAL of the finished round is supposed to be. That will get you loads that work all day long.

What manual are you getting your recipe from? It should list the OAL of the finished round so you know how deep to seat the bullet.

Something you need to know is if the bullet isn't seated straight it also won't plunk or pass the case gauge even if it did before you loaded it.
You will see a distortion in the case where the base of the bullet stops and if it is crooked you will only see it part ways around the case.

To me the .356 Berry's means it's a plated bullet, It doesn't mean much to me in 9mm. Most all of the plated bullets are good to 1200fps which is about the top end of 115gr 9mm loads.

What is the COL that sticks out the end of the gauge?
Where did you get that COL?
What gauge are you using?
Have you read the gauge instructions? To gauge COL with case gauges that I’m familiar with, you don’t just drop the round into the gauge. You set the gauge and the round on a flat surface, base down.
You are working your load up from the starting load given in your reloading manual, right?
Which manual do you have?

Demi-human said:

Keep seating deeper.

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Obviously while going back to starting charge weights. When changing things always start over at starting charges.

The truncated cone has a longer bearing surface, which results in full caliber diameter of the bullet contacting the lands sooner, at a shorter cartidge overall length, than other more gracefully pointed bullets.

It also puts less free space in the case, increasing pressure.

Make a powderless and unprimed cartridge to test with. You can always use it later.
You have a bullet puller/mallet, right?

Knowing the charge is fine, but it won't make the cartridge fit.
How are you liking the CFE Pistol powder?

Is this for your S&W?

No information on....
• the gun
• the bullet
• the OAL
• the recipe

► My friend, we can't help you when you supply no details.

You must be laboring under the impression that all gun barrels and bullets are exactly the same. That would be a huge mistake. That's like believing all automobiles are exactly the same.

The truth is all gun barrels and all bullets are radically different. That means 1) every bullet-barrel combination gets a unique answer, and that 2) sometimes the answer is 'that combination won't work' in your gun.
.

Get one of the cases that won't fit and go over the entire case with a Sharpe marker. Push it in the case gauge to see where it is rubbing.
Also, knock one back apart that doesn't fit and Mic the bullet just to be sure.
You said your cases plunk after resizing, that means the resizing die is doing it's job.

Also applied a heavier crimp

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I'm wondering if your crimping to heavily already. You should only be crimping enough to straighten the flare of the case back out. The crimp doesn't hold the bullet in the case with a 9mm, it only straightens out the flare so it will pass the plunk test or the gauge test if your using one.
Like everyone else here says, the neck tension holds the bullet when dealing with cases that headspace on the mouth of the case instead of the rim, or shoulder.
If you have the die down to far you could be bulging the case at the bullet and belling it out.
Back the crimp die off until you can feel the flare on the case after the bullet is seated then start bringing it down until the flare disappears, you can check this by dragging the jaws of your dial calipers up the case where the bullets seated and when it comes off the case you won't see the dial or numbers jump up.
Something else, when you set up your seat/crimp die, use the shortest case you can find. Then all the rest will be taper crimped properly.

Are these all the same head stamp?

Do the larger diameter cartridges have any bullet setback when plied to the benchtop?

It is strange that some are measuring out at a larger diameter.
I will suppose the bullets are the same. Now, why is the diameter different?

Are some of your cases that much thicker? Are they being expanded the same? More than the others somehow?

Are all the bullets the actually same size? Any Berry's Bullets I've used were spot on, but they could have missed the final sizing strike.

Maybe your Bulge Buster is not busting the bulges back enough. I see the case numbers are straight on the offending rounds. Nine millimeter is a tapered case, not straight walled.

Time to remove the barrel and try the cartridge at each step in the cycle.

I don't think a carry gun would have a tight chamber. If it does, I would send it back to be remedied. Nothing good there...

Nicksterish said:

Ok, I measured with my micrometer.

Good ammo measurement:
.377 bullet and case at the neck of the case.
O.A.L of ammo: 1.072
Rear of the rim: .386
Rear of base before the rim: .387

Bad ammo:
.381 bullet and case at the neck of the case.
O.A.L of ammo 1.072
Rear of the rim .388
Rear before the rim .388.

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What is considered good vs bad ammo? Rounds that plunk vs those that don't using the same batch of projectiles?

BTW, I bulge bust my loaded rounds...

Are all the bullets the actually same size? Any Berry's Bullets I've used were spot on, but they could have missed the final sizing strike.

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I expect they are spot on also. That's why I'm wondering about how far down he has his crimp die. I bottomed out my seating die once with my RCBS carbide dies and bulged the case once.
Just another suggestion.
I agree, this doesn't make much sense. Looking for scratches from the case gauge with a case covered with a Sharpie marker will tell whether the finished round is hanging up on the mouth or the base.
That would be a good starting point.

You are using a FLAT POINT bullet.

It is probably as simple as your OAL is TOO long

Where did you get 1.072"?? Try seating it a tiny bit shorter

Pictures are worth a thousand speculations.

Walkalong said:

bullets are seated crooked, start them as straight as you can, over crimping causing issues,

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This is my guess, too.

The Wilson case gauge isn't generally going to measure bullet profile, so this probably isn't solely a throat/land interference issue (which is certainly common), which would be dealt with via seating depth.

The OP says he's using Berry's bullets. I assume he means the plated ones. I have certainly experiences polycoated bullets being so bulky that they plump up cases too much for a tight gauge... but not plated. That's a possibility, but unlikely.

The OP doesn't say what brass he's using. It's possible that some extra thick brass is simply too big to fit once it is expanded by the bullet. But that’s not super common.

Thus, the most likely explanation for a small number of mystery won't-gauge-after-seating rounds is that a crooked start to the seating knocked a bulge into the side of the case that then got partially ironed out by the body of the seating die.

I am leaning towards the Berrys bullet being larger than Hornady XTP, or Xtreme etc. The Berry's OD is .356" while standard is .355". Try another projectile to know for sure.

My first thought is too long. When I went to the Berry's Flat Point bullet I had to reduce length significantly to get them to plunk into the barrel. Found that in both the 9mm and the 45acp.

Set up a dummy test round. As you are already testing an empty case sized case then prepare one with a flair that will accept a bullet. W/O seating a bullet adjust the seating die to remove just enough flair to where the empty case will seat in your barrel or gauge. Now seat a bullet, slowly increasing the seating depth until the round will fully seat.

I don't have a case gauge so I just use the barrel.