Hornady HAP in Federal and Win NATO brass

[cwsanfor]

I've been loading 9mm 125gr HAP at 1.10 or 1.09 COL in Federal brass with the Redding taper die that comes with the Competition Pro set. The finished round has a diameter of .377 at the mouth, which I take to be a normal crimp. All is well with this round. Hornady loads the same bullet in their Steel Match round with a .376 crimp, which I assume to be due to steel cases being thinner than brass.

So I decided to try the HAP in some swaged NATO WCC brass with no changes to the dies, and I get a .379 crimp (NATO WCC is thicker than Federal brass, so no surprise), but also a bulge at the base of the bullet, about the middle of the COL, measuring .380. It's not enough to make the round fail to enter, on its own weight, the Wilson case gauge or the Glock barrel, but almost. They will not freely spin in the barrel like factory rounds, or my other handloads. The bulge is quite visible: it's like a ring in the middle of the round. The rounds will chamber and manually eject, but I haven't fired any yet. I suspect that the additive effect of using a .356 bullet and thicker brass is causing this bulge.

I could:

1) Use the Lee Factory Crimp Die and no doubt mash this bulge away, but that would likely swage the bullet down, and be using the FCD to "cover up errors in my loading procedure",

2) Stick to thinner brass like Starline or Federal with HAP bullets, but I'd like to use the several thousand NATO cases I have,

3) Possibly adjust the Redding die (or try the Hornady and Lee regular crimp dies I have around, but I'm not sure any of those dies are doing much, or should do much, that low on the case anyway.

4) Do something else.

I'd appreciate your opinions as to whether this is a problem, and if so, what you would do about it. Thanks in advance.

 

[Steve C]

You may want to try the Lee FC die but you will likely find the "bulge" you see is just visible and not of large enough diameter to get much if any post sizing. It makes the ammo look less than perfect but I've loaded ammo with a visible ring like you describe and it has no effect on its functionality nor is it ironed out by my Lee FC die which means that the case diameter is still within maximum SAAMI dimension.

 

[helotaxi]

9mm brass is so plentiful, I'd just toss the NATO stuff. Not because of the bulge (just the bullet pushing that thick brass out of the way, might increase bullet tension and pressure, BTW) but because swaging the primer pockets would be a complete pain. Hardly worth the trouble in my eyes for the most plentiful brass out there. Take it to the recycler and use the profits to buy more components.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Try backing off the sizer die 1/4 to 1/2 turn.

You're over sizing the brass. If you'll look close, you'll probably notice that those with the most buldge, will also buldge more on one side than the other. This indicates that the bullet is seated slightly out of center. Try rolling the loaded round on a flat smooth table or car hood. You'll notice that the nose of the bullet wobbles or wiggles as it rolls.

I was having some minor accuracy issues with my match ammo and an S&W PPC-9 "Limited" Performace Center pistol. I knew the gun was capable of 1-hole groups at 25yds, but my ammo was way-way off that. Even using the same components used by factory ammo that shot exceptionally well.

By reducing the amount of sizing and changing to a .003" oversized die and reducing the amount of case mouth flare, I was able to eliminate the "buldge" and "wobble". With either Remington .3545" 115gr HP or Hornady 115gr XTP HP over 4.9gr of #231, a Starline case and Winchester primer, I got my "handloads" to shoot essentially as good as the 1-hole group that the gun came with from the factory using Federal 9B 115gr JHP "Classic" ammo.

By backing off slighty with the sizer die, you won't be pushing back the very shallow tapered shoulder of the 9mmPara case as much , which contributes to the buldge. Also, try to make sure the sizer die is straight and "square" in the loading press.(Use a washer placed on the shell holder and press lightly against the bottom of the die and tighten the lock ring while applying light pressure...) Ditto the seating die, as this will reduce the mis-alignment of the bullet when seating. Don't over adjust; backing the die out too much-, as the case neck of the 9mmPara is very short. (Neck tension plays a role in holding the bullet in alignment, too.) You just want to avoid pushing the shoulder back too much. Although the 9mmPara headspaces on the case neck, by reducing the clearance between the case and the chamber, you also reduce the mis-alignment of the loaded cartridge in the pistol chamber, improving the bullet alignment with the axis of the bore. Realize too, that we are talking 0.0001-0.0010" tolerances, so go easy...... This is much like adjusting the sizer die for a .30/30 rifle such as to avoid pushing back the neck too much and over-sizing the case which if done repetitively, will cause the brass to "grow" and requiring frequent trimming and eventually case-head seperation. I've never had a 9mmPara require trimming or head seperate, but by limiting the amount of sizing of the reloaded case I've gotten groups that win matches, set records and get me accused of being full of "green garden humus".....
But, it works............for me.

The Lee factory crimp will be of limited use for this as it's designed to primarily ensure free chambering. But, I use one for applying the crimp in a progressive machine after seating the bullet in the previous station. My ammo after all has to be 100% reliable, too.

 

[Cherokee]

I don't worry about the bulge as long as the ammo functions, but I do try my best to seat the bullet straight in the case. To do this, I have made sure I use a seating nose punch that fits the bullet. If I can't find one that fits the profile (nose and ogive), I use one that seats on the ogive rather than the nose. Works for me, YMMV.

 

[cwsanfor]

The winner is: GooseGestapo. I was indeed oversizing the brass. I had screwed the Redding sizing dies down to the shellplate the other day for some reason. Adjusting it out 1/2 turn allowed me to go back to using the Redding crimp die, and putting the Lee FCD away. No unsightly bulge now, and everything chambers better. I also removed a bit of flare, but that was not so much the problem.

All the rounds seemed to have the bullet concentrically seated.

Thanks all, for your thoughtful responses.