9mm plated bullets jam in chamber

[chorning83]

I bought a box of Berry's 124g target point to reload 9mm. I loaded with 4.2g Bullseye with COL of 1.060" which I got from Berry's website. Racked my slide at the range to load a round and it became jammed in the chamber and the slide stayed open about 1/2" or so. It was stuck pretty good and had a rough time trying to free the slide and eject the round. The rounds fit in the barrel when I disassemble the pistol which is a Sig P290S. Tried chambering again in a LC9S, but I rode the slide forward this time. Same result, slide wouldn't close completely.

I had a box of Berry's 100g HBRN that fire and function perfectly in my Glock 42. I loaded 1 round of the 100g without primer or powder with COL of 1.085" and had the same result in my 9mm pistols as before. I've loaded and shot a ton of Hornady 115g FMJ before without problems. What am I doing wrong here?

 

[Schwing]

Make sure they pass the "Plunk test" in your barrel. Youtube will show you how to do this. My first inclination is that they are too long.

 

[Chuck R.]

Make sure they pass the "Plunk test" in your barrel. Youtube will show you how to do this. My first inclination is that they are too long.

I'd think too long based on the ogive hitting the lands, or you're leaving too much of your "bell" on the case; IE not enough crimp.

Chuck

 

[steve4102]

Double check your OAL, make sure it is 1.060 and not 1.60.

Also make sure your crimp is correct.

To much can bulge the case, to little can cause feeding issues as well.

What does your crimp measure?

 

[chorning83]

I will look up the plunk test for sure.

I was wondering about crimping because berrys recommended a very light crimp, if any. What would my tolerances be for overall length? How much shorter can I make them before my pressures get too high?


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[steve4102]

What would my tolerances be for overall length? How much shorter can I make them before my pressures get too high?

Well, if they do not fit-feed-fire there is no need to worry about pressure.

That said, you are only .2 grains below Max according to Alliant, and .3 grains below Max according to Lyman, so.....?

Why did you not start with the "start" charge?

 

[Walkalong]

The "Plunk" test.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=506678

And yes, start low, especially if you have to seat shorter than the data used.

 

[Schwing]

My S.O.P. is to find my correct OAL and crimp (Which for 9mm is almost zero. Just enough to remove whatever bell I put on the brass) prior to even working up a load. This usually consists of seating a dummy round and verifying that it passes the plunk test. THEN you work up your load starting at the bottom end of the data and watching for pressure signs as you slowly work up to max.

You never want to start even close to max. It doesn't give you any room for error or making changing to things like OAL down the road.

 

[armoredman]

First things first - are they the "Target Hollow Point"? Look like this, the one on the left?



These things are a HUGE pain in the rear end to feed right - I ended up seating them down to 1.02 to feed semi-reliably in my pistols. Even the Scorpion, the one that eats anything, jams on them as the manually loaded first round. I have to put a regular ball round as the first one, then they function just fine,(under recoil), and are accurate, but what a pain in the rear end they are! Sell 'em cheap and buy the hollow base round nose, MUCH better.

 

[bbqreloader]

Look at the tip of the bullet, is there an indent or scrape? Had the same problems with my 45's when I switched from RN to FP, had a few who people suggest wisely that I check my oal. Shortened up the oal and works fine.

 

[hdwhit]

How much shorter can I make them before my pressures get too high?

From the Speer Reloading Manual, Number 11, page 385, regarding ensuring that there is sufficient neck tension to keep the bullets from moving deeper in the case:

"If the bullet is easily moved deeper in the case, malfunctions may occur. But more important, loads that produced 28,000 cup went to 62,000 cup when bullets were purposely seated .030" deeper! Thus, it is of the utmost importance that bullets do not become deeper seated in the feeding cycle."​

 

[drec]

Did you figure out what went wrong?