case bulge, no plunk

[sauer1911]

I've been experiencing a new problem. 9mm, 150gr bayou bullets, coated lswc. loaded on a Dillon xl650.

seated at 1.10" coal. some of the reloads do not seat in the barrel with the satisfying "plunk". They have a bit of a bulge midway in the brass cartridge, stopping them from dropping all the way in the barrel.

This is used brass, so I am thinking either old brass is fatigued, or possibly the alignment of the projectile when set upon the cartridge prior to the seating being slightly off?

What say y'all?

be safe

 

[Boho]

Yep! Same happens to me with 9mm on my 650. Starting bullet crooked causes bulge on one side of case. I have to go nice n slow loading cast in 9mm on my Dillon.

 

[sauer1911]

Only happens with the new 150gr lswc so far. loaded plated round nose 147gr with no problems at all!

be safe.

 

[sevt_chevelle]

If you are getting crooked bullets you might look into this.http://www.shootersconnectionstore.com/MrBulletFeeder-by-DAA-Powder-Funnel-for-Pistol-P2708.aspx

Several guys on the Brian Enos site use them with great success when loading cast. They are basically a Lyman M die. Just swap out your Dilllon powder funnel for the DAA funnel. They come in 9,40, and 45.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=205711

 

[rsrocket1]

What dies are you using?
If you are using the Lee dies with the powder through expander, you can buy the expander plug for the 38 SW cartridge and replace the 9mm plug. It acts like the Lyman "M" die and starts the bullet in the case. If you have a 38/357 plug, it will also work, but you need to add a spacer because it's made for the taller 38/357 cases and doesn't reach down far enough.

You will still get a bulge in the 9mm case but the bulge should be centered and not cause the round to hang up. Also, be sure to close the flare at the mouth with a very gentle taper crimp.

 

[steve4102]

The 9mm case is tapered, the carbide ring is not.

The bulge or ring is very common for 9mm handloads and although it may look like a problem it is not.

http://cmv.zftp.com/bulge1.jpg

A couple reason why your loads will not plunk.

Lack of crimp, What does your crimp measure and how are you crimping?

OAL to long for YOUR pistol.

 

[rdtompki]

I'm loading the 147gr Bayou without issue using a Universal PTX and Lee FCD @ 1.08" OAL. Plunks fine in my SA 9, 1911. Probably not relevant to your issue.

What's the advantage of the SWC over the FP bullet?

 

[rsrocket1]

What's the advantage of the SWC over the FP bullet?

The shoulder of the SWC cuts a cleaner hole in a paper target than a bullet that has a tapered or rounded profile. The cost is potential feed issues on some guns.

 

[Potatohead]

Yea, the bulge is pretty normal with the tapered cases I believe. At least Ive seen a lot with 9mm.

Do you have to load em that short? Im not experienced with lead pills though (Im assuming the "LS" in lswc means lead something or nother) so maybe 1.10 is not that short?

 

[MajorMagnetic]

9mm bulge

Hello...sounds like your bullet may be too long. Look at the o-give. I use 147gr lead at 1.10 and they work fine but that may not be the case with 150gr bullets. The o-give is going to be different. Take the barrel out of the gun. Load some 150gr bullets at 1.05, or shorter and drop them into the barrel by hand to see how they fit.
I have about 2,000 rounds of 9mm brass and some of them have been loaded 5 times now and they don't have any bulges.
HTH....
MM

 

[0to60]

I've had lots of "bulge" issues loading SWCs from MBC in either .40 or 9mm. Once they're jammed in the chamber, its almost impossible to pull the slide back to extract them.

What I'm doing now is running my empty brass through the Lee Bulge Buster. That takes care of any bulges in the empty cases. Then, I'm using the Lee Factory Crimp die in the final station of my progressive press. This die applies a crimp (adjustable, of course) but also includes a final sizing of the finished round (corrects any bulging that occurs during bullet seating).

 

[gahunter12]

I have never had a problem with my 9mm loading 135gr Bayou Bullets set to an OAL:1.160". I load all of my 9mm on a Dillon XL650 using Lee resizing die, seater die, and FCD. I'm also using a KKM barrel.

 

[Iron Sight]

Could it be some of your bullets are oversize and need attention to be resized?

 

[joneb]

Keep a eye out for this,

There is a anti-setback step? that you do not want to seat beyond.
The case capacity of this brass is likely different than most.
This step is down .35" from the case mouth, I'm not sure of its purpose but this brass has a stout web. Maybe for high pressure in a not fully supported chamber?

 

[chris in va]

Ammoload uses the same 'step'. I can't recall the exact reason for the design but it's not for overpressure prevention. It's a PITA regardless.

 

[sauer1911]

Wow awesome responses! I thank y'all!!

This is what I got from Dillon. I was using the seating die that comes with their 9mm set up. I tried the wad cutter end of the seating die, but was concerned with the little "nipple" the gets pressed in the flat end of the bullet, it is always a little off center. I thought it might cause the bullet to not fly true. So I used the other end of the die, for the ball ammo and was getting cleaner looking finished ammo.

Here is where the problem arises.

The rounded surface designed to press ball ammo down was not pressing the flat surface of the wad cutter straight down into the brass, causing a bulge in the case once in awhile.

Bulge = no plunk.

Dillon said, "dont worry about the little bump on the end of the bullet it will not effect accuracy. you need the flat press of the wad cutter end to push your bullet straight down"

So I am off to the garage to try it out.

be safe

 

[joneb]

Ammoload uses the same 'step'. I can't recall the exact reason for the design but it's not for overpressure prevention. It's a PITA regardless.

It shouldn't be a problem with seating, the step is down about the same as where regular brasses case web is.
I've seen a step in some 380 acp brass and it appears it's purpose is to prevent set back.

 

[Blue68f100]

The best way to seat LSWC is use a bullet seating die that contacts the shoulder. I've made mine by drilling out the RN seating plug just enough to give clearance. Still works with RN too but contacts it a little lower. With Hornady's drop down alignment sleeve I just give the stem (or casing) a spin while I'm coming up with the ram to center every thing.

You can do the stem many ways. A lathe would have been my first choice if I had one. Spinning the sleeve in a drill chuck and using sandpaper of files works too, but slower. I used a large drill bit set and just stepped up a min at a time till I was close then used sand paper to finish. Then polished every thing back up.

 

[sauer1911]

New starline brass, swc end of the seating press, and were good to go!

1.10-1.11" coal, a little prayer and ALL of em plunked in the glock barrel.

NOW, the others that would not fit due to bulge, fit easily in my Sig p226.

all is good

be safe.

 

[rsrocket1]

What is the seating depth of those bullets? If your COL is 1.1" with a 150g bullet, that seems pretty deep with very little room for the powder or a very compressed charge. Are you using a published load with that particular bullet?

 

[sauer1911]

I spoke with several reliable resources, looked up data in many different manuals and found very little info for the 150gr lswc in 9mm

So, Starting with data on 147gr bullets at a max of 3.0 gr of Titegroup, I loaded 2.6 to start, and I could walk faster than those softballs.

So I worked up to 2.8-2.9 and have a very nice group, good sharp cut holes with the wad cutters, and practically no smoke when fired. Need to chrono the loads for IDPA.

The amount of powder drops with the weight of the bullet, so less powder and there is room for the 150gr round.

Here is what we have so far, 147gr xtreme copper plated and precision delta fmj's .68-.69". 150gr Bayou Bullets lswc are .70" VERY close.

OK, 1.10-1.11" OAL - .75"brass leaves .36 exposed bullet. So that means with a 150gr lswc of .70" that puts .34" into the brass. When there is 3.0gr of titegroup dropped in the brass loosely I was able to depth measure up to .40" of room above the powder. Close but not compressed.

What were your findings, rsrocket1?

be safe