Made my first 8 rounds

[ddgarcia05]

I started with 10 casings but while putting on the primers I didn't check one for placement and seated the primer facing the opposite direction.

The other mistake was made again in the priming stage. I believe it was the first one I set. I felt the spring tension and released the handle failing to seat it all the way. I found it while checking the finished rounds OAL. That one round was significantly longer than my other reloaded rounds.

Hints to other new guys who haven't reloaded.

1. Pay attention to where your primers are facing.
2. Gun powder is lite and can spill if you flick your wrist to much while scooping out powder.
3. Priming and weighting powder are the longest steps.
4. Buy a caliper if you don't have one and use it.
5. Have fun.

Round info
115gr xtreme bullet RN
Unique Powder 5.2-5.4
CCI SPP

 

[Schwing]

I still have my first 9mm with an upside down primer. Welcome to the addiction.

 

[mstreddy]

OP here is an excellent opportunity to use your bullet puller. Pull the round apart and you can salvage the powder, bullet, and slowly decap the primer and you can salvage both primer and case.
What press are you using?
And if anyone tells you don't need a bullet puller, now you have learned the reason for one.

 

[Bush Pilot]

Ammo does seem to shoot somewhat better with the primer facing the right direction.

 

[ddgarcia05]

Lee hand press

 

[Walkalong]

Most of us have probably done that before, but yes, pay attention, pay attention, pat attention.

 

[Bush Pilot]

Most of us have probably done that before, but yes, pay attention, pay attention, pat attention.

Yeah, "pat attention" too LOL

 

[Walkalong]

My, my, my...... well isn't that embarrassing.

 

[golfshot72]

I have attention deficit disorder so I was told..LOL. I just went to the range not long ago with my first reloads and everything went well. All I did was take the advise here on this forum and read and view some You Tube and off I went. Now I order some H4831 for my 270 and the back order log is ridiculous. Now I hope I don't loose interest.

 

[ddgarcia05]

They shot perfectly. My fiancé was really nervous cuz I used her nano. I hear glocks don't do well with reloads with their stock barrel.

 

[UziLand]

If you don't have one, I would suggest the primer depth measuring tool. They are cheap and handy. There are many different powders that work fine in 9mm. ie. HS6, Bullseye,
Power Pistol, Universal Clays just to name a few.

 

[mahansm]

Glocks shoot fine with reloads. They supposedly don't like lead with the stock polygonal rifled barrels. Those are either jacketed or plated, so no problem.

 

[mstreddy]

I hear glocks don't do well with reloads with their stock barrel.

Wherever you heard that from -- stop listening!
Glocks function just fine with reloads. Many of us here feed our Glocks a steady diet of reloads. I load 9mm and 40 S&W and even 45 GAP for my Glocks. Yes, you have to watch out for "glocked" brass, but that's just part of prep work.
Yes, the polygonal rifling and lead might not get along well. There are some that have loaded plenty of lead for stock Glock barrels including me, but probably not the best thing for a novice to play with.

Have fun, keep learning and keep loading.
EM

 

[THe Dove]

^^^^^

Amen mstreddy. Add me to the list of Glock re-loaders/lead boolits, etc....

To the OP, inspect every round before you load it into your box or storage container. Every round........ It is your body that may pay the price for a screw up. Good job on finding your mistakes on your 1st 8 rounds.

The Dove

 

[mstreddy]

OP, another thing to add -- you are loading on the ultimate single stage. You should have caught the inverted primer before adding powder and seating a bullet.
You may want to tune your process to either help prevent or detect a primer anomaly.

 

[BYJO4]

As already mentioned, use a bullet puller and salvage your componets. Go slow and pay close attention when loading.

 

[BCRider]

Nicely done! You're off to the races now!

Get a set of the Lee dippers if you're single loading like this. You just need to find the dipper that drops the proper weight of powder. It will have a slight variation from charge to charge by up to possibly as much as .2gn but that's not a big deal with regular handgun ammo. The trick is to dip and level the charge the same way each time. Either dip and scrape off the "head" or dip and shake off the "head" to make it level. But do it the same way each time.

A handy tool for powder dipping is a short cleaned "corn can" like the Green Giant Niblets can. I found that it's tall enough to avoid flicking powder out but short enough to get out the last of it easily. The top you removed to get the corn out can be cut and shaped to produce a slick little clip on scraper for leveling the head on the dipper.

To check the weight from the dipper for each type of powder scoop, scrape and drop 5 charges onto the weigh scale and then divide the total by 5. Or you could make it easier by doing 10 scoops and just move the decimal to get the average single drop weight.

And a hearty HELL YEAH! to getting a bullet puller. Definitely a required part of your reloading kit.

 

[RussellC]

They shot perfectly. My fiancé was really nervous cuz I used her nano. I hear glocks don't do well with reloads with their stock barrel.

Glocks shoot reloads fine, that said, there is quite the controversy over shooting lead, non jacketed, non plated bullets as the Glock's type of rifling causes it to lead badly. Reloads in general are just as good through a Glock as any other gun. Some grin and clean it, others buy an aftermarket stainless barrel. Again, regular plated or jacketed bullets in reloads pose absolutely no more of a problem for a Glock than any other gun.

Russellc

 

[7mmsavage]

Most of us have probably inserted a primer upside down once or twice. I prime with a hand primer and have made it part of my routine to raise the primer just enough so that I can see it, then lower it, put my case in the shellholder then seat the primer. It's much quicker than it sounds, I just do it all in a quick motion, but you could do it as slowly as you feel comfortable. Works well for me, but of course I still check all of my primers before I load, something I started after charging a case with no primer in it all! Now I wonder where all this powder's coming from?

 

[Lj1941]

Been there-Done that.

 

[ddgarcia05]

Made 100 rounds and I had 6 screw ups. I the ones that are side ways are because I was using the lee hand press and had it slanted.

 

[WestKentucky]

Sideways, upside down, missing... Primers do wierd things when you let them. I suggest using load blocks and make runs of full or nearly full blocks. Prime and turn heads up until your ready to flip and bell or powder whatever your process is. Not that it makes it easier to inspect, but if you have 49 shiny silver circles, one green dull one stands out like a upside down primer...or sore thumb. I also load with a flashlight handy so I can inspect a full tray to make sure everything gets powder before I start thumbing bullets into cases. My newest trick is to load on a slight slant so I can see straight into each open case mouth which nearly eliminates the need for flashlight.

 

[ddgarcia05]

I think if benefit from lee primer loader. The handheld one.

 

[Jlr2267]

I have made a few of those myself. I don't know anything about the Lee hand prime, but the RCBS Universal is very good. It costs about $60-$70

 

[788Ham]

Do you ever bother to look at the case you just finished, before you go to the next one? This in itself might stop the misplaced primers before you end up with that many. Something is occurring during this process, attention is most fervently needed at this time.