loneviking
Member
I've seen a couple of threads come through on problems loading the 9x19. I thought I'd share some of my problems and discoveries to help some others along the way. I've been reloading about eight months now, all of it .38/.357 which was fairly easy. Then I picked up a P6 and wanted to load for it. The first big discovery was just how small the 9mm case is when filled with powder! I had picked up some sample, lead 125gr. round nose bullets from West Coast Bullets (aka 'Silver State Bullet) just up the road from me.
All of the manuals give dire warnings against seating the bullets too deep as that can give increased pressure which can blow the gun up. Keep the OAL at 1.00 minimum. None of the manuals show you what the bullet should look like when it's seated in the case!! So, not having a load manual with these exact bullets, here's what the bullet looks like and here's what the first attempted round looked like:
The bullet is loaded past the cannelure to the flared out base; the OAL is 1.140, which is plenty long enough, and the bullet drops into the barrel with no problem. Good to go, right? Wrong! On the second round downrange the little P6 locked up tighter than a drum. The slide just would not move at all, so I took the problem to my gunsmith who is just up the road from the range.
He kindly took pity on me and proceeded to give me a lesson in what 'taper' meant and where the bullet should be seated. (The ridge at the base of the bullet had jammed into the lands, locking the gun up). 'Taper' is measured from the case neck:
To the case mouth:
There should be a taper of at least 10/10,000's of an inch between the top of the neck and the mouth. The trick, my gunsmith said, was to make sure to bell the case mouths really well, and then carefully adjust the seater die and plug for a strong crimp. He also said that I needed to seat the bullet past that ring at the base of the bullet, set a tight crimp and then check the OAL. After a bit of tinkering, here's the final result:
The calipers measurement at the top of the neck is: 0.389 inches
The calipers measurement at the case mouth is: 0.364 inches
The OAL is: 1.006 inches.
Planned load of 4.2 gr. of Unique.
Any thoughts, suggestions or further tips? I hope this helps somebody else...
All of the manuals give dire warnings against seating the bullets too deep as that can give increased pressure which can blow the gun up. Keep the OAL at 1.00 minimum. None of the manuals show you what the bullet should look like when it's seated in the case!! So, not having a load manual with these exact bullets, here's what the bullet looks like and here's what the first attempted round looked like:
The bullet is loaded past the cannelure to the flared out base; the OAL is 1.140, which is plenty long enough, and the bullet drops into the barrel with no problem. Good to go, right? Wrong! On the second round downrange the little P6 locked up tighter than a drum. The slide just would not move at all, so I took the problem to my gunsmith who is just up the road from the range.
He kindly took pity on me and proceeded to give me a lesson in what 'taper' meant and where the bullet should be seated. (The ridge at the base of the bullet had jammed into the lands, locking the gun up). 'Taper' is measured from the case neck:
To the case mouth:
There should be a taper of at least 10/10,000's of an inch between the top of the neck and the mouth. The trick, my gunsmith said, was to make sure to bell the case mouths really well, and then carefully adjust the seater die and plug for a strong crimp. He also said that I needed to seat the bullet past that ring at the base of the bullet, set a tight crimp and then check the OAL. After a bit of tinkering, here's the final result:
The calipers measurement at the top of the neck is: 0.389 inches
The calipers measurement at the case mouth is: 0.364 inches
The OAL is: 1.006 inches.
Planned load of 4.2 gr. of Unique.
Any thoughts, suggestions or further tips? I hope this helps somebody else...
