ARGH!!!!!

Like your first response said, if they feed and chamber fine then shoot them. It’s not that big of a deal. Try to be more consistent the next time you reload.

You sound like you could increase the depth of your expander a little. My bullets are sitting in the case before seating by .070-.080. They go in strait and that little flair is removed when taper crimping.

Captain Quack said:

Speer 13 (my go to manual) gives me 5.6 - 6.3 for Unique so I thought I would start in the middle. I'll double check the seating ring. I'm just using the seater for seating. I backed the die itself back a couple of turns so there wouldn't be a crimp at all. Just the seating. Could that cause it? I'm not sure if it's a round nose seater or not. It's the one that's standard with the lee set. Just to make sure I have it right. The bullet should be sitting completely upright in the case before it goes up into the sizer correct? Shouldn't be any significant tilt to the side? I think I might be getting a bit sloppy with that in the excitement to hear them go plunk into the akrobin at the end.

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You are absolutely correct. The Speer data for 115 grain TMJ is 5.6 - 6.3. I was looking in Hornady 115 grain FMJ. My apologies.

A Lee Factory Crimp Die is a taper crimp die. You must be putting a flare in the case in order to get the bullet started straight. If you're backing out the die a couple of turns, how are you getting the flare ironed out?

Captain Quack said:

uhm...... That's a VERY good question. I didn't think of that at all. I figured with the FCD I wouldn't need to worry about that. So just set the seating/crimping die enough to take the flair out of the case after I put the bullet into it?

Captain Quack.

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FCD should take care of the slight flare needed to start the bullet. I flare mine just enough to start without shaving.
Did you take your street die apart and clean it? While doing that check the profile of the seater stem to the bullet.
You were probably given the correct answer in the above comments.
Good luck.
Be sure to let us know the results. It helps with everyone's knowledge bank.

I don’t know much about Lee dies, and so have taken the liberty of attaching Lee’s instructions for a 3-die and a 4-die set.

https://leeprecision.com/files/instruct/Pistol3.pdf
https://leeprecision.com/files/instruct/Pistol4.pdf

Note that in the text it is stated that the seating die should work with any bullet profile.

NMexJim said:

I don’t know much about Lee dies, and so have taken the liberty of attaching Lee’s instructions for a 3-die and a 4-die set.

https://leeprecision.com/files/instruct/Pistol3.pdf
https://leeprecision.com/files/instruct/Pistol4.pdf

Note that in the text it is stated that the seating die should work with any bullet profile.

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Dillion 308 dies make the same claim. I'm not calling anyone out I just not happy with their definition of work.

I sort brass by head stamp. It helps to eliminate large variations in OAL, but the variations from mixed head stamp alone is not what is causing the big difference

Captain Quack said:

uhm...... That's a VERY good question. I didn't think of that at all. I figured with the FCD I wouldn't need to worry about that. So just set the seating/crimping die enough to take the flair out of the case after I put the bullet into it?

Captain Quack.

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Yep. I see the Lee 4 die set. Adjust FCD so it just removes the flare and then just a very small bit more to form a slight taper crimp

During a loading session, that little voice in the back of my head popped up and said something wasn't right. I found loose linkage in a powder drop. I was using a fine grain, fast burn powder without a lot of space between min and max, and I was up toward max anyway.

Looking into a bin of loaded rounds, I decided to weigh each and see if I could tell anything. I knew I'd be seeing some differences due to case weight alone, but I thought I'd give it a try. As I worked through them, I began to see a range of weights. I figured the average and allowed myself a bit on each side, and then started pulling anything that I felt was off enough to be excessive. I was happy I did.

I didn't find too many that were out - maybe 30 or so, but every single one of those had a charge that was way out. No issues with the remainder of that batch of loads.

I'm not saying in any way whatsoever that this is a sure-fire way to check rounds, and all appropriate disclaimers apply. But, you might want to just try it and see if you can find any squibs before you get out on the range.

Captain Quack said:

I'm sorry to be such a pest everyone but I am having to relearn everything from scratch and all I could find on this subject related to accuracy. I just ran up the first 30 rds of test bullets for my 9mm and when I checked the OAL they ran from 1.112 to 1.144 with a desired length of 1.135. Is this something I have to pull them and start over or is this a acceptable variant? I'm using RMR 9mm FMJ RN with 6.00 gr of Unique and these are for plinking and practice.

Captain Quack.

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Without having read the rest of this thread yet but, being an avid user of Unique and, assuming you're referring to 115 grain weights of your bullets over 6 grains of Unique ....

That's a full case of Unique and you're seating a little deep for that bullet ... you can probably get away with it just fine, don't heavy crimp roll crimp.

I'd almost be willing to bet that those are going to chrono over 1200 fps the way you have them rolled so you're going to be right at P+ pressures.

I know my Unique loads under every bullet imaginable like the back of my hand and I've chronied them all out of all kinds of platforms.

My target/practice load sweet spot for Unique with those 115 pills is 5.6-5.8 grains with a COAL of 1.160ish and any good small pistol primer really. And even those will chrony right at 1150 fps out of my M17 and a little slower but snappier out of my Shield.

Cap - just adding to your question on OAL. Note that the attached is for a 115 grain Nosler JHP and not an FMJ like you are using. Nosler includes some interesting info with their data such as case capacity in grains of water and load density.

I send this just for info you might like.

Note the load density for this Nosler bullet is 100% at 6.1 grains of Unique, and in this case at AOL shown at 1.169. This particular bullet at a hypothetical OAL of 1.112 would cause a highly compress load with (???) increased pressure. A good reason to try and be consistent with OAL.

https://load-data.nosler.com/load-data/9mm-luger-parabellum/

Rather than try to calculate case capacity and load density, most any fired case can be used by grinding a thin slot partway down the side. Put your charge in and slide a bullet to seat depth. You should be able to see load density. Not a bad fact to know.

You can't be the pest here, that's my job. Besides if you search the net for any answer on firearms you will find T.H.R. is
in there somewhere which is why we are a part of this, to learn & share.
As for your problem, I have never had a problem with lee crimp dies changing my overall length but I did when using the
seat dies to crimp with which was due to the press.
When I first started I was using an old worn out press that made the length different simply by changing how hard or
softly I would apply the leaver. Just my 2 cents.

Captain Quack said:

I have started dropping each round on the scale as soon as it pops out and paying more attention to how much powder is in the case.

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I always try to visually insure there’s a charge in the case on my progressive. I also use a lock out die to help prevent way over/under charges. You can train your old analog computer pretty well to detect too big of a variation. I’m not sure how you “drop each round on the scale”, but be advised case weight can vary quite a bit so if you don’t know that a priori, it’s not a good idea. On a digital scale you can tare the case weight which is a handy feature for checking weights in a case. Good luck.

Captain Quack said:

I didn't know about the case weight. That's good to know. Thank you. I've been trying to be consistent with how I pull the lever. I haven't had a chance to pull the seating die and clean it and check it for debris. I've got the die itself turned out three turns to avoid putting any crimp on the case after the seating. Could that have anything to do with the issue?

Captain Quack.

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I never like backing the die that far out/off, since you loose support at the top. I put the die in with a sized case in the holder. Run the die down till you feel resistance then back off 1/2 turn. 1 turn of the die body is 0.090". Use a untrimmed piece of brass if you want that long, doesn't matter. But you don't want to use a short one.