9mm in .380 brass

[PWGUNNY]

I've been reloading for about 4 months on a Dillon 550b. Right now I only load 9mm. Before I tumble my brass, I weed out the non-9mm brass and toss them in a box to be donated to my buddy who loads many calibers. The.40cal have slipped passed me on a few occasions, but the darn .380 are real tricky. I have stuffed 9mm into .380 brass about 5 times so far. I always catch it with my case gauge, and for this reason, I drop every round into the case gauge before placing into the blocks.

I'm getting better at feeling the resistance on the press when seating the bullet, so I've caught a couple at this station.

What would happen if the round made it into my pistol? Has anyone ever had this happen?

 

[kerreckt]

It happened to me once. I was shooting my SIG228 and I noticed less recoil, different report. Just a different overall sensation. I immediately stopped to figure out what was going on then saw the 9x17 lying there still warm. So, really nothing happened other than a momentary rush of attention. Since then I have been very careful. I had a number of opportunities to prevent this from happening and they all slipped past me. It was an eye opener. Now I am not complacent when loading magazines. I also reload 9x17 so I don't really know when in the process this 9x17 got in with the 9x19 rounds.
The only positive from this is that I now know my 228 will chamber most any round reasonably close in size.

 

[TenDriver]

It's likely going to depend on how hot your charge is. A good hot 9mm charge in a case with less capacity is going to drive pressures up. How much? Don't know....

 

[wally]

I have the same problem, 9mm loaded into a .380ACP or 9x18 case, and hate to admit I've shot up more than a few without really noticing any difference. But then I'm not shooting max loads.

I can usually catch them by the lack of force required in resizing, but since I don't sort my brass I still occasionally miss a few, especially if I've not done any reloading in a while or did a different caliber beforehand, and have temporary lost the "feel".

I've put more effort into screening while picking up the empties, but still they sneak in. its even more frustrating when someone has left behind 9mm cases trimmed to 9x18 to load 9mm Mak

Shooting a .380 load in a 9mm has never happened to me, but I've seen others at the range do so with a lot of complaints about "jams".

 

[rondog]

With time and more reloading/case handling experience, you'll be able to tell them apart more easily. I can spot a .380 laying among 9mm's while they're still on the ground.

Another good way to sort them is to stand them all up on a flat surface, all crowded together. The .380's are short enough that they're very obvious this way, I just use a pair of tweezers and pluck them out. Works great for me.

 

[cfullgraf]

With time and more reloading/case handling experience, you'll be able to tell them apart more easily. I can spot a .380 laying among 9mm's while they're still on the ground.

Right.

I handle my cases more than most even when loading on a progressive. I prep cases shortly after shooting and store away for a future loading session. It gives me several opportunities to inspect the cases.

But even so, I shoot both 9x19 and 380 ACP and every once in a while one will slip through into the reloading process. Just always pay attention and if something does not look right, stop and check.

 

[wally]

I can spot a .380 laying among 9mm's while they're still on the ground.

Maybe 20 years ago, but sure not now!

Another good way to sort them is to stand them all up on a flat surface, all crowded together. The .380's are short enough that they're very obvious this way, I just use a pair of tweezers and pluck them out. Works great for me.

Not practical for the volume I shoot -- 300-500 rounds is typical for an outing, but it would solve the problem if you've the time and patience.

I pickup my brass into empty ammo box trays (the ones from Wolf steel cased .45ACP give a nice visual reference) base down (gravity does most of the work) to inspect for Berdan cases, cracks, know when I've past the point of diminishing returns for looking, and cull the .380, but still it only takes a bit of FOD to make the .380 sit as tall as the 9mm do


As much a PITA .380 mixed in with 9mm is, it pales in comparison to the WCC crimped primer 9mm or the WinNT small primer .45ACP cases

 

[greyling22]

I'm with wally's first post. I've done it, I don't load to max, noting much happened. Now I take all my 9 looking brass from the range, stand it all mouth up on a flat surface and pick out anything too short (9mm mak, 380) and the occasional 38 super or 40sw that sneaks past me. Then I shine a light down them and screen for berdan primed cases. Lastly I pick them up a small handful at a time and turn them over to check for crimped primers or pockets without a bevel (some winchesters) which cause problems with my loadmaster. It's a little tedious, but goes faster than it sounds and saves me a lot of headache later on.

Fortunately I got out of 45 right before they started going small primer. whew!

 

[PWGUNNY]

Thanks for the response guys. I will continue to use the case gauge on each round as it has caught this problem everytime. At least I know it is not something catastrophic if it should ever happen from my M&P at the range. I also load toward the low end of the powder range.

 

[TfflHndn]

Midway sells pans to separate the .45 from the .40 from the 9mm, and a metal plate that separates the 9 from the .380. I haven't tried them to see how they work but they get good reviews on the Midway site. Might be your solution.

 

[hartcreek]

How are they getting reloaded even. I load with a single stage and when I have a .380 and I am working 9mm I sure know it cause the brass sticks in the die. .380 and 9mm use different shell holders so if you are loading 9mm the .380 should wind up stuck to a die. Vise versa the 9mm should get stuck because it will not fit in the .380 shell holder.

 

[wmurphy]

+1 for the pans and aluminum plate addition from Midway. The plate does a great job of holding 9 mm while passing .380.

 

[Otto]

+2 for the Shell Sorter....picking out 380's by hand is not my idea of fun.

 

[wlkjr]

i have the plastic sorters but need one for the .380. The .380 case will sometimes jump out of my shellholder in the Dillon 650, but sometimes it passes. Occasionally I get a completed on but catch it in the case gage. I'm a stickler for using the gage. Any marginal round goes into the practice box and almost all of those fire with no problem.
i'm going to look into one of the 380 sorters.

 

[Hondo 60]

Just another ANAL reason I use the MTM plastic ammo boxes.
When the brass goes in the box, the short ones are obvious (to me anyway)

 

[rondog]

I have those Shell Sorter trays too. While they do work, they don't stop the cases from nesting into each other and I found that frustrating, so I don't use them.

 

[evan price]

The Midway shell sorter pans and plate work, one caveat, if you have 380's that are a bit bulged, they sometimes tend to not fall through the plate and then they get into your 9mm. Not common, but enough that you find one now and then.

 

[Lj1941]

I notice a 380 as soon as I size/decap because of the lack of force needed. Also the shellholder is too large for the 380 with the 9 shellholder. So far no problem for me. I also load 9x18 and that keeps me on my toes.

 

[PWGUNNY]

I'll take a look at the sorting pan. Thanks.