loading 9mm.

[pion68]

I started reloading about 300 9mm. reloads yesterday. About 10-15% of the cases are slightly expanded near the bottom of the cases. Resizing does not change anything. These slightly expanded cartridges will not slide into a 9mm. case gage, but they will slide into the barrel of my Taurus 9mm. Slim. They do not fit into my Springfield or my Ruger. I did notice that the slight bulge is there on these cases before they are even cleaned. Changing my sizing die settings does nothing. These 10-15% are mixed brass--Winchester, etc.

Could the less tolerable specs. on the Taurus be causing the expansion?

Should I toss the expanded brass?

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[beatledog7]

Do you know what gun fired the offending brass? One of yours? The Taurus (seems maybe this is the case)? Or is acquired from another source? What die set are you using?

I recycle 9mm brass that won't size to fit a standard case gauge, whether it fits a particular barrel or not. Sometimes sizing a case then rotating it 90 degrees in the shellholder then sizing it again is the cure, but then you still have to wonder why the piece wouldn't size normally.

 

[chris in va]

A pic would help.

The 9mm case is slightly tapered to begin with. However if you see an obvious bulge at the base, it's possible the rounds were fired out of a gun that has an unsupported chamber. Glock 40's were notorious for this a while back, but I'm surprised you found some in 9mm.

Lee makes a 'Bulge Buster' to remedy the issue.

 

[Sauer Grapes]

I run my resizing die down untill I can't see any light between shell holder and the die. I don't know if one brand of die is better than another. I use Lee dies for all my calibers and never encountered the problem you describe.

I have a Taurus 709 and I doubt it's gun related in so far as brass expanding too much. I've reloaded some brass that was shot out of a Glock and noticed it was a bit harder to resize, but it always resizes.
Make sure your not short stroking the resizing process.

 

[wally]

The Lee "small base" dies usually solve such problems.

 

[rcmodel]

Lee makes a 'Bulge Buster' to remedy the issue.

Only in 380 ACP, 40 S&W, 45 ACP which are straight cases.

The 9mm is a tapered case.

I'd look at the sizing die adjustment.

Run the ram up and screw the sizing die down until it makes contact with the shell holder.

If it isn't there the tapered case will not be resized as much.

rc

 

[gpurp]

I never realized 9mm had a tapered case. Always learning something new here on THR.

 

[highlander 5]

i used a 30 Mauser steel die to full length bulged 9 mm brass that I picked up at the range. And if my history is right the 9 mm luger is a 30 Mauser case that was cut at the shoulder.

 

[JRWhit]

I've noticed it on my 357 reloads. The shell holder is thick enough that the sizing die doesn't run all the way to the rim. I too can learn from this one.

 

[rcmodel]

The thick case head & web not reached by the sizing die doesn't expand anyway.
So it doesn't need to be sized.





rc

 

[mgmorden]

Are you using range pickup brass? There aren't many 9mm guns that will bulge brass, but I do know that some of the open-bolt SMG's will do so.

Personally (assuming its already loaded), if it chambers in the Taurus, I'd separate out everything that doesn't fit the cartridge gauge, take it out and shoot it in the Taurus, then just toss that brass.

If the offending brass is coming from one of your guns then I'd start to sort it out and toss that brass. If its range pickup, then in general I think this issue is rare enough that I wouldn't worry about it after you've gotten rid of what you have on hand.

 

[pion68]

Sorry I didn't respond for so long. We are having quite an ice storm in Northern Iowa and things don't work as well as they should.

I very seldom pick up range brass and all of my brass is from either my Taurus or Springfield--and I have never separated those cases after shooting at the range. I do know that I have probably reloaded the cases only 3 times. I use a Hornady progressive press with Hornady dies--I do use a Dillon crimp die. I do have the resizing die down to almost the plate. If I go much farther, then the opening for bullet is too large and the bullet slides too far into the throat of the case.

 

[rcmodel]

If I go much farther, then the opening for bullet is too large and the bullet slides too far into the throat of the case.

Adjust the sizing die all the way down.

Then adjust the expander die out to just enough to get bullets started when seating them.

rc

 

[Dmath]

I also run the completed round into the die a second time to ensure perfect seating, rotating it with my fingers about a quarter-turn first.

And I usually chamber-check my reloaded rounds by dropping one into the chamber of a barrel that I have field-stripped out of the gun. I press down on the case head with a finger to ensure that it's pushed in, then invert the barrel and see if it falls out.

On rare occasions they stick, which tells me I haven't seated the bullet properly.

If I'm feeling lazy, I don't take the barrel out of the gun, just drop the round in and test it that way.

 

[Puddin99]

I had the same issue as the OP. Wether it was my Lee sizer die or not, I'm not sure. I ended up getting one of these:
http://www.egwguns.com/undersized-reloading-dies/undersized-reloading-dies/
and I had a lot less problems. Much fewer rejects going through a case gauge.

 

[LiveLife]

I ended up getting one of these

Use of undersized or "U" die should be done once to fix overly bulged cases. If you need to repeatedly use the undersized die to fix the bulged cases, you are overstretching the case wall/thinning the case wall and weakening the case wall which could lead to case wall failure/rupture. If that's the case, I would decrease the powder charge so a regular resizing die will work.

I started reloading about 300 9mm. reloads yesterday.

About 10-15% of the cases are slightly expanded near the bottom of the cases. Resizing does not change anything. These slightly expanded cartridges will not slide into a 9mm. case gage, but they will slide into the barrel of my Taurus 9mm. Slim.

They do not fit into my Springfield or my Ruger. I did notice that the slight bulge is there on these cases before they are even cleaned. Changing my sizing die settings does nothing.

If the bulges are from your reloads, you may be overcharging your cases with powder.

The reason why the bulged and resized cases won't pass the case gage or the Springfield/Ruger chambers but will chamber in the Taurus barrel is because the Taurus barrel chamber is more generous. When I am reloading for multiple pistols, I always load for the tightest chamber.

I would do the following:

- Resize all the cases and set aside those cases that did not pass the case gage.

- Using only the cases that passed the case gage, load 5 rounds of .1-.2 gr incremental charges from start to max load data.

- Shoot the test rounds in the Taurus keeping track of the incremental powder charge cases.

- Resize all the cases keeping track of the incremental powder charge cases.

- If all the cases pass the case gage, you are OK

- If lower powder charge cases pass but higher powder charge cases don't pass the case gage, use the powder charge that allowed the cases to pass the gage.

Keep us posted.