Reloading 9mm Luger

Not to hijack this thread but when you check the case in the guage is it done with the bullet in place.

joneb said:

Well I'm late to the party and I'm not sure if this has been addressed yet, but case length is measured after sizing?

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Yes. The SAMMI spec is for a piece of new brass that is all ready to be primed, charged and seat a bullet.

ATLDave said:

Lots of good information so far. I'll just add the following observations:

• I load and shoot a significant volume of 9mm ammo these days. Some of it is relatively soft, minor-PF stuff, but a lot of it is is 9MM Major (over book, built for special USPSA race gun). With non-major loads, brass lasts a very, very long time - at least from the good headstamps. With major loads, 2-4 firings is all I get before the primer pocket gets loose or it stops gauging even after resizing because of expansion near the rim.
• With 9mm's tapered case, it is critical that you get the die all the way down to the shell holder. If you have a tight-chambered gun, even a hair's breadth of clearance when the ram is all the way up has the potential to cause problems.
• I don't ever measure cases, much less trim them. I do case gauge all loaded ammo - every round. Things that don't gauge with ease get marked as practice ammo - and I try not to re-collect that brass after shooting. Things that really don't gauge well get thrown away (this is rare).
• I've never measured crimp. I crimp enough so the rounds will plunk. Like others, I like a nice coke-bottle shape on the sized brass such that I can see where the bullet base is - it's like a VPL for ammo!

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I'm new to reloading and have assembled maybe 6000 9mm rounds my biggest struggle was pt. 2 on ATL fine post. I had a difficult time making reloads that were super consistent in Springfield 1911 chambers.

The members here explained how to set my sizing die under load. Lots of experts here have giving tons of good advice.

Enjoy the addiction.

Someone has probably mentioned this trust your barrel over a case gauge for determing what will and won't chamber and cycle through your weapon.

Walkalong said:

Either way, but if it has a bullet in place it can fail and it might not be the cases fault. I gauge all of my 9MM brass, and none of my loaded rounds.

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I used to gauge after I loaded but figured out that it wasn't necessary. The gauge before loading tells me the case is still usable. If it won't gauge I just chuck it. 9 and 45 isn't much of a problem in most barrels if the case gauges before loading if your bullets and barrel meet spec.

I'll say, I haven't given much thought to 9mm reloading.

I have a Dillon 550 and bought their components for 9mm, I got the stuff, ran once fired brass...and that was that. I load 115g Berrys, Missouri Hi-Tek, and Hornady HAP. I mind the charge, the seating depth, and a plunk check random pulls from the finished bin when I'm done. I haven't had any issues thus far.

CoalTrain49 said:

I used to gauge after I loaded but figured out that it wasn't necessary.

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My preference, since I fire a fully loaded round, is to check loaded ammo in a Hondo/Shockbottle case gauge block. It does 100 at a time, and that way I can eliminate any other issues that might come up such as bulges or just case mouth nicks due to a slight mis-alignment on the progressive. The heavier bullets in a 9mm can bulge quite a bit, but still gauge ok. Again, just my preference, if whatever works for you is working, neat!
To the OP, I’ll echo most of the others, I don’t measure or trim 9mm. I used to measure some but found most were at or below trim length due to shrinkage. Crimp is just enough to remove the bell or flare and gauges ok.
I don’t know if your SA is like mine, but I found it’s the one 9mm I have that severely limits the rounds OAL even with a RN projectile. Good luck in your reloading!