9mm brass questions.

[fiftybmg]

I've reloaded many thousands of rounds in various calibers of semi-auto, and never had a problem caused by brass that was too long.

 

[gonoles_1980]

To Chamfer use a universal tool like this for both the inside and outside:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/465641/rcbs-chamfer-and-deburring-tool-17-to-60-caliber

That looks like it'd be better than the Lee tool that I have, the one in the bottom right corner of the page in your link.

 

[Mad Chemist]

Time spent trimming semi auto pistol brass is time that would be better spent honing your pistol skills.

 

[1SOW]

FC = Federal Cartridge.

A part of the "ATK" conglomerate: Speer, FC, F.C., CCI, Blazer and more.

Never trimmed, chamferred or deburred 9mm. If anything isn't ready to load, toss it, with one exception. I do ream the crimped primer hole on Win Nato brass. Good brass. I only keep a few thousand of these.

 

[gamestalker]

I have two different tools for that, but both work just fine on my handgun brass. One is a Lee tool, which I don't like for bottle neck brass, the other is an RCBS which is great for bottle neck brass and handgun brass alike.

After the first firing my 9mm brass will grow between .005" - 010", after that, I don't usually see more than .001 or .002". But IMO, I think because 90% of reloaders don't ever trim handgun brass, they don't have anything to compare to, so I think they simply assume it doesn't stretch, but mine does. Whether or trimming is necessary for handgun brass, I don't know, I've always trimmed all my brass to SAAMI spec.

GS

 

[wally]

It doesn't matter if you're using the min charge. If the bullet sets back far enough the pressures will be extremely high

I guess you've missed the part about how I made dummy rounds from brass that split after shooting when I was first starting out and verified none of my 9mm pistols are prone to setback.

Its a much larger issue in .40S&W or .45ACP as the volume reduction per unit of setback is greater, and that many .40S&W and .45ACP pistols really do bang 'em hard off the feed ramp as testing with dummy rounds will show.

Many popular subcompacts are particularly prone to this to the point one has to be very careful with expensive premium SD ammo to not re-chamber the same round too often which can be as few as two or three times. It pays to measure your chambered round if you ever eject it and compare to the ones new in the box.

I don't like the idea of recommending loading and unloading a gun you don't intend to shoot, but if you've got a safe place, re-chambering your carry load in your carry gun until you detect setback would be worthwhile if you unload your carry piece on a regular basis. Of course you could do the same with your reloads but making dummy rounds is far safer.


I generally shoot my carry ammo to unload it, at longer and longer intervals of carry which over time gains me much more confidence in my carry reliability than any "X number of rounds without failure" testing -- making me very hesitant to switch carry guns as time goes by.

 

[UziLand]

The only pistol brass I ever trimmed was 9mm. The only reason I did is I was loading frangible bullets. They are very picky about a very light uniform taper crimp. The thought of firing a fractured bullet scared me into doing it. Light chamfer and debur with the Lyman tool.