Brand new Glock 43 trouble with reloads

[Bullseye]

So I am all excited to shoot this 9mm, go out with my reloaded ammo and fail to eject and fail to feed.
Try filling a mag and cycling to empty without firing moving the slide. Well, there's the problem ... cartridges won't feed all the way.
No problem, I go to my loading bench and seat the bullets a little deeper until they cycle this way.
Out back again to give it a try and same problem with just a little improvement.

I get on the net and see that factory ammo is the only way to get 100% reliability per most folks.
I was using plated bullets and read that the chambers are tighter on these Glocks.

I don't think it's a gun problem. I do like the size and weight and simplicity of this handgun.

I just think it's the ammo.
I do have a sealed box of 250 Nosler 115 gr JHP. A far better bullet than the plated conicals. I don't know whether I should take them back to the LGS and trade them for ammo or not.

Not the kind of new gun experience I am used to, but I am still optomistic about the Glock.

Please don't bash my pistol, I like it.

 

[wlkjr]

Might be a good idea to shoot a couple of boxes of factory ammo in it before your own loads. Otherwise, take out the barrel and see if your loads pass the plunk test. I haven't had any problems with my reloads.

 

[Bullseye]

Alrighty, a sigh of relief. I did take the barrel out and what cartridges I had left and did a plunk test.
31 failed and half of those miserably. There is a bulge not apparent to the eye, at the primer end of the cases. It is not a bullet seating issue.
The remaining 13 "plunk" as they should. So I betcha that I could fire those 13 and they would probably feed and eject just fine.

Problem is that I have 250 empty primed cases and bullets to load in them set aside.
This was probably a bad die set up in the sizing process.
I could take each case and see how that would work out and see how they fit in the chamber first.
This topic should probably be over in Handloading and Reloading but I am feeling better about the firearm after this.
It's dark and too late to make any more noise out back to try out the bakers dozen that I think might work OK. Tomorrow is another day.

 

[Rule3]

Take the depriming pin out of your sizing die and set up your die correctly and resize all the brass.

Then seat a dummy round and see if it passes the plunk test. If so then charge the cases, seat bullet. Light taper crimp and check in the barrel only again. If all is goo, go shoot them.

Cycling a gun by hand does not really do much.

Also, what is your bullet, powder and charge and COL??

I doubt it is the gun.

 

[wrangler5]

I have a Lee Factory Crimp Die as the last step in the reloading process for most of my handgun rounds. In addition to separating bullet seating from crimping, it includes a sizing ring so each finished round gets a final sizing before going in the ammo box.

 

[grandpawj]

My Glock experience started out the same way several years ago, now I use the bulge buster die on my 40S&W brass which I shoot in my Model 22 . It will pass the plunk test every time and I haven't had any cycling issues since I began using it.

 

[Bullseye]

1. Guess I'll get out there and make a little noise in a bit. Hopefully without a hitch with these 13 cartridges.
It's just so quiet out there right now, but I gotta do it.

2. I am going to try Rule3 suggestion first before buying a Factory crimp die as suggested by wrangler5

3. Another idea I have is to just buy new 9mm brass to load these 115 gr Nosler .355 JHP bullets.

4. I am also going to use something other than the 2.8 gr Clays I was putting under the .356 RMR 124 gr. copper plated bullets with OAL of 1.064.

5. According to Lee: *Lee Bulge Buster Kit* Will only work with the following cases: 380 ACP, 10mm, 40 S&W, 41 AE (Use 40 S&W Factory Crimp Die), 45 ACP, 45 GAP, and 45 Win Mag.

 

[entropy]

I get on the net and see that factory ammo is the only way to get 100% reliability per most folks.

So now you know. I sold my G21 for precisely that reason; As much as I like to poke fun, I actually like Glocks. You just can't except 100% reliablilty with reloads from them, and I demand reliability from my weapons. I also reload, ergo they must be reliable with my reloads.

So follow the suggestions thusfar, they should improve the reliablilty. I find duplicating ballistics of factory ammo helps. (my 1911 load is the good ol' 230 gr. FMJ or LRN at 850 fps.)

Take your reloads out to the range for practice, (Bonus: You get malfunction drill practice also!) and also practice with your intended factory carry load, then stuff it with those when you have proven their reliability. Enjoy the G43! ; I have yet to shoot one, but it feels good in the hands!

 

[Bullseye]

Good thing I own a 38 cal pullet puller.
The 31 failures are now resized and plunk just fine without a bullet.

I resized without the depriming rod as suggested.
Now I have only 250 more to do!

But before I load those 250 Noslers, I'm going to give these a second whirl and shoot those 13 that did plunk earlier.

I do think this handgun can digest a handload. Since this is the only 9mm I have, my dies are going to get set up for what works everytime and stick with that.

I do have a lot more optimism now. If it were not for this THR site, I would have been a mess. Thank you!
I'll post in a bit how the rounds feed and fire in awhile.

 

[Rule3]

1. Guess I'll get out there and make a little noise in a bit. Hopefully without a hitch with these 13 cartridges.
It's just so quiet out there right now, but I gotta do it.

2. I am going to try Rule3 suggestion first before buying a Factory crimp die as suggested by wrangler5

3. Another idea I have is to just buy new 9mm brass to load these 115 gr Nosler .355 JHP bullets.

4. I am also going to use something other than the 2.8 gr Clays I was putting under the .356 RMR 124 gr. copper plated bullets with OAL of 1.064.

5. According to Lee: *Lee Bulge Buster Kit* Will only work with the following cases: 380 ACP, 10mm, 40 S&W, 41 AE (Use 40 S&W Factory Crimp Die), 45 ACP, 45 GAP, and 45 Win Mag.

It's a Glock, it will work. I am no Glock Fan Boy but have a few, They are reliable and will almost always, 99.99% shoot anything.

An easy test is shoot some factory ammo. If they work then it's the reloads.

Try some RN or FN before HP's

It's a cheap test go to Wally World and buy some 9mm ammo.

 

[blarby]

Yep, if you've fired those cartridges in Glocks before, you are seeing the beginning of the "bulge"

Get the lee push- through sizer, and you'll be right as rain.

Any of the more severely deformed ones with an obvious "belly"- toss those.

Push-through sizers are pretty much a "must" for Glock owners.

 

[kcofohio]

Yep, if you've fired those cartridges in Glocks before, you are seeing the beginning of the "bulge"

Get the lee push- through sizer, and you'll be right as rain.

Any of the more severely deformed ones with an obvious "belly"- toss those.

Push-through sizers are pretty much a "must" for Glock owners.

The Lee bulge buster, using the 9mm FCD, may not work. Because the head of 9mm is usually larger that the rest of the case by a few thousandth.

Hopefully, for sigsmoker, it was just a bad die set-up. And not the glock-bulge thing.

 

[Bullseye]

Here's a small update. The 13 originals that passed the plunk test fired considerably better yet I still got a couple jams out of two mags full and 1 in the chamber.
I am going to say although they all plunked, they were still not resized and therefore this is not a conclusion, but an improvement. I am going to get some factory loads, probably Federal since I saw some Fiocchi ammo give a 9mm some issues recently but the Federal ammo worked fine in that one.
In the meantime, if anyone has a powder suggestion or two, I'm all ears.

 

[hdwhit]

There is a bulge not apparent to the eye

To avoid this, I set a micrometer to SAAMI maximum dimension across the web of the case and check the diameter of every once-fired round I get. Anything that won't pass through the micrometer goes straight to the recycling bin. After being resized, everything plunks nicely into the case gauge.

 

[Rule3]

The newer 9 mm Glock barrels are pretty much fully supported. The problem with Glocked brass was mainly in the 40 SW.

Heck the SW Shield in 9mm with bulge brass if using +P ammo. These guns are loose in the chamber which is what makes them reliable feeders.

If the OP would post some good pictures of fired brass and then the same brass resized it would help,

 

[Bullseye]

The problem was not from fired Glock brass. These handloads are range brass. I suppose they could have been from a Glock but I do not know.
I made a mistake of assuming they were resized since they came to me deprimed. Apparently not but they looked to be and they were tumbled as well.
So I primed them and belled the tops and loaded them up.
The problem was BEFORE they fired for failing to feed but here are some that failed to eject or did fine on the right and a group resized that the bullets were pulled on the left. They measure .389 fired at the widest point and the resized measure .388 1/2 ish. No big deal there. They don't have a bulge after having been fired.

Late edit: Here's a pic of these bullets before I shot them.

and here is what's left of the 250 I had/have ready for the Nosler bullets that have not been resized yet. Over half done I guess.

The picture I supply really doesn't show anything. They look like normal fired cases to me anyway.

 

[wlkjr]

Be sure to check your powder charge. I don't have my manual but 2.8 Clays sounds a little light for a 124g bullet. If it is not ejecting or stovepiping it may well be too light of a charge. Try a different powder or if the load manual says it is ok to bump up, I'd go to the upper middle of the charge weight. I think this may have been a twofold problem.
I have two 43's and my reloads shoot really well in both. Ironically, the only problems I've had were with Underwood +P loads. I'm glad I tested some of them instead of assuming they would work without a hitch.

On edit: Hodgdon's website shows 2.7-3.0 for Clays with a 124 Berry bullet. Not sure Clays is the best choice of powder. I have shot thousands of Xtreme plated 124g with 3.6-3.8 grains of Titegroup without problems. Try a different powder if you have some that are compatible.

 

[Bullseye]

2.7 to 3.0 Clays is what I have found on Hodgdon for a 124 gr but you may have a point there, My Lyman 49th has only a 125 gr listed as a JHP and Clays there is starting at 3.1 and Max is 3.6

I could try 3.0 or 3.1 I suppose of Clays in combination with my resized cases.
What I would really feel comfortable with is a good 4.8 to 5.0 gr of Unique.
I'm going to probably try all 4 and see how it goes.

No matter what, tomorrow I will be the proud owner of a few boxes of factory ammo.

 

[kcofohio]

In the meantime, if anyone has a powder suggestion or two, I'm all ears.

My personal preference in 9mm, is Silhouette and CFE-P. Though I have done okay with HP-38.

That said, about every pistol, and most shotgun powders will have load data for the 9mm.

 

[Bullseye]

I loaded up the 31 resized cases with the pulled bullets with 4.8 gr Unique and they all drop in my barrel like butter. I seated them at 1 110 ish.
Really, these should work. I'll update.
Been a long day goofing around with these things. :banghead:

 

[Dudedog]

Sigsmoker,
If its the brass I sent I deprimed them all with my Lee Sizing/deprime die. So they should be resized.
Sorry if you are having issues with the brass or bullets.
There might have been a few done with my Hornady Deprime die but I don't think so. Pretty sure I had used all those up. (The Hornady didn't seem to do as good a job tightening up the necks so I don't use it after discovering this)
Don't own a Glock but the cases I have resized with the Lee die and loaded with the RMR FNs feed fine in my Springfield XDs, Springfield 1911 9mm and my Sig 226.
All I can think of is maybe I didn't have the press setup correctly, but the deprime/resize die is in a LNL bushing so it should stay "adjusted"
I am however using the dreaded Lee FCD. (I happen to like it in 9mm) so maybe that is hiding a resize problem.

I suppose it is possible that I might not have ran the die down all the way on a few cases but I can't imagine that if I failed to do it I missed more than a case or two. (if any)
I do pickup range brass so maybe I just ran into some that had issues that I had not reloaded and shot. I grabbed what I sent you out of the "less used" tub deprimed brass I have. (what should have been the better brass :banghead

I apologize for your trouble and the wasted time. (and frustration)

Other than Clays what powders do you have?

My goto load is the RMR 124gr FN with either 4.3 or 4.5 of WSF.
The RMR also worked well for me with both 4.2 and 4.4 gr of HP38.
4.6gr of CFE-P also shot well.
(all of these are middle of the road vel wise 1020ish to about 1070ish)
Actually had good results with those bullets with most powders I have tried them with.

I haven't used any Unique in a while but if I remember correctly 4.6gr seemed to work well for me.

I am getting a make up package ready to send to you tomorrow to try to make it up to you for the trouble you have had and the wasted time.
Very Sorry
DD

 

[Ocaladude]

A few solid range loads for 124 9mm:
5.5 power pistol @ 1.12, some folks hate the flash, I like it. Shorter the barrel, bigger the flash.
4.3 of Titegroup @1.12 solid, not too much snap.
5.5 CFE pistol @1.12 nice.
All the above were available yesterday at either Recob's, Wideners, Cabelas. I do not own a chrono. I visit all the manufacturers web-sites, Handloaders.com, and I own 3 manuals to learn from. In the past I have literally frozen the slide on my G34 with bulged brass. To clear it we had to tie-wrap the trigger forward, put the edge of the slide on the edge of a wooden bench and apply body weight (180) to the grip to finally retract the slide and eject the round. (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, I'M A TRAINED IDIOT). The point - I now plunk (or Dillon case gauge) every round I load in a G34, FNP-9 or XD 3.3 barrel. Be Safe and Load On!

 

[Bullseye]

Dudedog, You are way up there in my top 10 list of good ones,
so fahhhhhhhhh get about it.
No apologies ever needed from you.
Thanks for the load info Ocaladude and Dudedog this is all about learning for me anyways. I like the challenge here.
I am off to town to get some powder and a few boxes of factory 9mm anyways and maybe try these reworked loads out on the way home.
Have a great day guys, I appreciate everyones help.

 

[entropy]

A few solid range loads for 124 9mm:
5.5 power pistol @ 1.12, some folks hate the flash, I like it. Shorter the barrel, bigger the flash.
4.3 of Titegroup @1.12 solid, not too much snap.
5.5 CFE pistol @1.12 nice.
All the above were available yesterday at either Recob's, Wideners, Cabelas. I do not own a chrono. I visit all the manufacturers web-sites, Handloaders.com, and I own 3 manuals to learn from. In the past I have literally frozen the slide on my G34 with bulged brass. To clear it we had to tie-wrap the trigger forward, put the edge of the slide on the edge of a wooden bench and apply body weight (180) to the grip to finally retract the slide and eject the round. (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, I'M A TRAINED IDIOT). The point - I now plunk (or Dillon case gauge) every round I load in a G34, FNP-9 or XD 3.3 barrel. Be Safe and Load On!

I have the old barrel from the RIA 1911 I had; I use that for plunk testing all my .45 ACP reloads. When I loaded 9mm, I pulled the barrel out of my Star BM to plunk test them.

Hope you solved the problem, sigsmoker!

 

[Dudedog]

Nice looking Glock

I have a XD subcompact that I like.

I get on the net and see that factory ammo is the only way to get 100% reliability per most folks

If factory ammo works a properly crafted reload will work. (assuming someone does not send you brass with issues {get newspaper and say bad dog here....})


Side note:
Since the Glock is new it may not be happy with anything less than full power ammo till you have a couple 100 rounds thru it.
I don't know about that pistol but my little Kahr .380 is not happy with anything less than full power loads. (all my start charge loads failed to eject and didn't even stove pipe....:banghead: )

On the other hand some of my 9mm's will function fine with loads below listed starting charges.


Really wondering if maybe some of the 9mm brass I picked up at the range had been fired in something that caused the "bulge" at the base.

Going to pluck a bunch of empty resized cases here in a bit to see if I have issues.

I have used Bullseye, Promo, Titegroup in 9mm but in general I prefer powders a little slower for 9mm. Something around WSF/Universal burn speed.
(I also like Universal Clays in 9mm, think Unique that is cleaner and meteres well)