Crazy Horse
Member
GM everyone,
There was another thread concerning 9mm flare and taper. I didn't want to hijack that thread as this question pertains to crimp.
I know 9mm calls for a taper crimp.
Yesterday I was at a match and twice I had my reloaded bullets (ACME lead round nose 125gr) got jammed and I couldn't clear the round as the slide was stuck causing the SO to stop the run. He looked at my bullet and indicated that it may be too tight a crimp causing it to jam.
After the second jam, I switched over to my jacketed reloads. No issues with those whatsoever. I reload both of those types of bullets under the same press. The only difference is in the OAL. The lead bullets get 1.090 (plunk tested) OAL and the FMJ bullets get 1.120 OAL. I've tested both of those OALs several times when reloading and Lead bullets need a shorter OAL to pass the plunk test.
I have a Hornady seat die and because of my 5 station press, I have been seating and crimping with the same die. Having to use a separate taper crimp would require me to remove the powder cop (which gives me piece of mind on my powder). I do have a Lee taper crimp for 9mm, but was debating on whether I should remove the crimp altogether and just go without it.
In the past folks recommended keeping both steps separate, which is why I bought a Lee 9mm taper crimp die. As time progressed, I thought I was doing well enough, and removed the taper crimp and combined both steps with the Hornady seating/crimp die. Until now. The only thing that causes me concern is why it only occurs with Lead bullets and not jacketed bullets (Lead is .356 and Jacketed is .355).
There have been past threads where folks have indicated not using any crimp for 9mm reloads without issues. Does anyone here currently reload 9mm without any crimp? Any issues?
At this point, I've decided to only use FMJ reloads in future matches, but with shortages abound would like to get LRN bullets working properly JIC.
TIA
CH
There was another thread concerning 9mm flare and taper. I didn't want to hijack that thread as this question pertains to crimp.
I know 9mm calls for a taper crimp.
Yesterday I was at a match and twice I had my reloaded bullets (ACME lead round nose 125gr) got jammed and I couldn't clear the round as the slide was stuck causing the SO to stop the run. He looked at my bullet and indicated that it may be too tight a crimp causing it to jam.
After the second jam, I switched over to my jacketed reloads. No issues with those whatsoever. I reload both of those types of bullets under the same press. The only difference is in the OAL. The lead bullets get 1.090 (plunk tested) OAL and the FMJ bullets get 1.120 OAL. I've tested both of those OALs several times when reloading and Lead bullets need a shorter OAL to pass the plunk test.
I have a Hornady seat die and because of my 5 station press, I have been seating and crimping with the same die. Having to use a separate taper crimp would require me to remove the powder cop (which gives me piece of mind on my powder). I do have a Lee taper crimp for 9mm, but was debating on whether I should remove the crimp altogether and just go without it.
In the past folks recommended keeping both steps separate, which is why I bought a Lee 9mm taper crimp die. As time progressed, I thought I was doing well enough, and removed the taper crimp and combined both steps with the Hornady seating/crimp die. Until now. The only thing that causes me concern is why it only occurs with Lead bullets and not jacketed bullets (Lead is .356 and Jacketed is .355).
There have been past threads where folks have indicated not using any crimp for 9mm reloads without issues. Does anyone here currently reload 9mm without any crimp? Any issues?
At this point, I've decided to only use FMJ reloads in future matches, but with shortages abound would like to get LRN bullets working properly JIC.
TIA
CH