Brass, Wilson gage or re-sizing die issue?

[smbaas]

I just purchased a Wilson pistol max gage for my 9mm Lugar loads (have been reloading 9mm luger for 4 years without any issues) and I am re-sizing my once fired 9mm luger brass (Remington) with a RCBS carbide re-sizing die. 30 percent of the brass does not completely fit in my Wilson pistol max gage after re-sizing, getting stick midway down, indicating its over SAAMI dimensions. It does easily drop in and out of my 9mm barrels. Any new factory ammo or reloads I have made with new brass fully drops in and out of the Wilson gage without any problems.

It does not appear to be a brass length issue as all the brass is .745 - .750 length and the brass that does not fully drop into the Wilson gage all span that length range.

I have never had this issue with my 45 ACP Wilson pistol max gage and brass or reloads, but I am using a Redding titanium carbide resizing die for it.

Would this be an issue with the re-sizing die, brass or Wilson gage?

 

[MtnCreek]

Try putting it in the gauge head first. You may have extractor marks on the rim.

 

[smbaas]

I was thinking that too but when I turned it upside down and it went in 1/3 the way down, which would rule that out.

 

[rcmodel]

Color a round with a dry erase marked and force it into the gage.

Where the ink rubs off is the tight spot.

But if all the rounds fit all your barrels?
I would not lose any sleep worrying about the gage.

The barrel is the best gage you can get.

rc

 

[Walkalong]

The 9MM is a tapered case. Is the sizer down all the way?

We discussed a similar thing here:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=673321&page=2

 

[smbaas]

Thanks everyone for you advice, It appears walkalong had the solution to 95% of my issue.

When I adjust it down to came over a small bit (instructions indicate not to do this I know) on my Hornady lnl it takes care of the issue on 70% of the problem brass.

When I adjust it down a small way past against touching the shell holder on my Forester Coax it takes care of 95% of the problem brass.

Based on the linked thread it appears some shell holders and sizing die combinations do not properly size the brass when the die is adjusted per directions. Is this consistent with brand and their design of re-sizing die or just quality control tolerances of the manufacturer?

 

[1SOW]

Just curious, what 9mm pistols are you loading for and what specific bullets are you using?

 

[smbaas]

9mm Luger xd with 4" barrel and xd with 3" barrel
Montana Gold 115 JHP

 

[TonyT]

I use a Dillon 550 with the Dillon carbide die set and have never experienced any sizing uissues. I use the Dillon gauges.

I do have a Dan Wesson PM-9 with a match chambered barrel. No problems with factory ammo or brass which has been reloded one or twice. However with brass reloaded three or four times I have found some finished loads would not chamber in that DW PM-9 barrel. I use the barrel as a case gauge.

 

[popper]

I think that XD has a slightly tapered chamber. I had rounds that wouldn't fit the XD but were OK in a glock bbl. Correct, die and shell holder are not always a match. Mike the SH and see if you can find a thinner one, or grind it, you can remove a lot as the dimension is from the inside of the SH to the die. None of mine touch anymore.

 

[gamestalker]

I have encountered the exact same issue in the past and discovered it was the Hornady shell holder creating the issue with RCBS carbide dies. RCBS pistol dies are in part to blame too, simply because, they state in the instructions to not cam over with their carbide dies to avoid fracturing the carbide sizer ring. So when I used a Hornady shell holder it was just a smidge over sized, so this prevented that last bit of travel necessary to allow the RCBS die to fully resize.

I bought an RCBS shell holder and the issue went away 100%. Of course you could always take a little bit off of the shell holder and get the same results, but it would probably be less trouble to just spend the few bucks for an rCBS shell holder, in my opinion.

On another note, I found that Hornady shell holder are really tight and have very close tolerances as to the brass fitting in the shell holder. I've commonly had issue with brass sliding easily into their shell holders, and since I load on a single stage this can slow the process down even more.

GS

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

as long as it fits the pistol chamber, i wouldn't sweat it.

if you absolutely must have ammo that fits that case gage, then removing material off the top of the shellholder like popper suggested might work.

 

[popper]

Hornady shell holder are really tight - yup, tough when the rim is dinged also.

 

[1SOW]

9mm Luger xd with 4" barrel and xd with 3" barrel
Montana Gold 115 JHP

I'm really surprised now. Your XD , like my CZ, has a shorter chamber typical of eastern European guns. The MG "conical nose JHP bullets need to be loaded short and tight for our guns. I've used the 124gr version--max usable oal = 1.10 OR LESS with a .378/9 case mouth taper crimp. It "should" pass a cartridge gage easily if it "drops" fully into (seats on the case mouth) and out of your XD chamber.