Noob to 9mm reloading... "bulges" where the bullet seats?

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1KPerDay

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I'm just working up my first loads with MBC smallball, mixed range brass. When seating the bullets there's a noticeable bulge where the bottom of the bullet sits. Lee dies, new. I know people have said this is normal for other calibers and I suspect it's okay with these, as the 9mm is tapered etc.

Maybe I'll post a pic when I can.

.356 diameter according to MBC. No factory crimp die used on these.
 
Quite normal. You can be sure you have good neck tension if you see that. No worries.
 
woman in a tight dress
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As long as the bulge doesn't spill out of the top, it is okay then, right? Muffintops are bad in reloading too. :)

9mm really shows the bulge, especially noticable when using an undersize die (like EGWs). They look like a coke bottle but they will shoot great.
 
Kay, got another question for you:

I tried the 'plunk' test, dropping them into my Beretta barrel, compared to some factory rounds. They seem to plunk in just fine, but they don't drop back out. They need to be pried back a slight bit with my thumbnail before they'll drop out.

I've made up some dummies and they cycle through my SIG P226 and Beretta 92 fine, and I measured no setback afterward.

I thought maybe the case mouths weren't crimped enough and measured a few right at the case mouth, and they're .378-.379, which is the same as the Remington factory loads I measured to compare.

They couldn't be engaging the lands, could they? OAL is 1.10-1.11

Do you think this will be a problem? As I said they cycled through fine by hand with no resistance to extraction... just curious.
 
If you turn the cartridge around and drop it in backwards, is there any resistance at all in the very first portion of the chamber (well before it stops on the taper in the middle)?
 
I tried the 'plunk' test, dropping them into my Beretta barrel, compared to some factory rounds. They seem to plunk in just fine, but they don't drop back out. They need to be pried back a slight bit with my thumbnail before they'll drop out.
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Something is too tight. Do as Seedtick suggested and see where it is.

I gauge all my sized 9MM brass, and scrap any that fail it.

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Do you get any that fail? That surprises me. To my mind it seems more logical that some loaded rounds might fail because of the increased diameter where the bullet bulges the case out or whatever...

I didn't buy the Lee FCD because I didn't want to size down the lead pills but now I'm wondering if I just should have. :D

bds has posted elsewhere that he takes bullet diameter and adds .02 to arrive at a proper crimp diameter... judging by that, my crimps are a bit large at .378-.379. If bullet diameter is .356 the crimp should be about .376... do you think a bit more crimp might solve my issues or is it pointless to speculate? I have doubts as to whether a magic marker would be specific enough to tell me anything (I've done similar tests in other arenas and it's always difficult to tell where it's rubbing).

I will try it though.
 
I'm simply asking you to check the unsized portion of the base for a bulge. What I said is an easy and effective way to check for it. If you have a bulge in the back of the casing, it won't chamber, reversing it is just as easy and it eliminates the issues at the front of the cartridge since you haven't done what Seedtick asked yet. Note that I said any resistance in the very TOP of your chamber (looking down the barrel).

If you grab a guppie, they will hang almost immediately, same with rims out of spec that would normally hang on the case gage and require a little "push" to get them in. Those would be above the line in Walkalong's picture and have the push-snap feel to them. Try it yourself, a case gage is more accurate but it is a fast and easy way to do it.
 
It's a long shot, I know, but it is an easy test before you break out the marker. Nobody asked you about your sizing die being all the way down and all that jazz yet. You could increase your crimping slightly towards the 0.376" zone but .378 should work but that marker would tell you that. I use a dry erase marker, it comes off a little easier and works well if you give it good coverage.
 
Just get the gage pictured above. It checks the entire case, rim included, and is smaller than your chamber.

I gage all my major match ammo (used to gage all my ammo, but not anymore). Any that don't pass, I put in the practice pile. Most of the time it is due to a burr on the rim (comes from hitting rocks, getting stepped on, etc. As mentioned you can confirm this by flipping it around and dropping it in rim first).

Not sure how tight the Beretta factory chamber is, but I can say that in all the ones I've ever loaded that don't drop into the gage, which is quite a few, they ALL fit and worked fine in my factory Glock chamber(s) assuming the sizing die is adjusted all the way down of course.
 
Well I think I may have figured out what's going on, or at least a contributing factor. I measured a dozen of these MBC pills and they were .358 or .359. Do you think that might be the reason?

Now I'm thinking I might have been smart to get the factory crimp die after all. :rolleyes:
 
Seedtick said:
Paint one with a magic marker and 'plunk' it again and see where it's hanging up.

Seedtick

:)
Click to expand...
Tried this, it seems I AM hitting the rifling in the beretta. There's a ring around the bullet ogive about .075" ahead of the rim. I took the ones that 'stuck' in the beretta barrel and dropped them into my SIG P226 barrel and they plunked just fine and dropped right out again... so I guess I'll be shooting these through the SIG. :)
 
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