Potential Kaboom - Another Reloading Lesson

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rdtompki

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I reload 4K rounds of 9mm/month give or take. I've got excellent lighting on my Hornady LNL AP press and am vigilant about powder level and the occasional escape of a .380 case into my case feeder hopper.

My usual load is 3.3gr WSF behind 147gr coated lead and while I have had a couple of escapes a .380 case loaded to 1.11" is simply a very soft round where the case doesn't eject. I'm transitioning to N320 and 115gr bullets. Had an "escape" and it turns out that this load with the short .380 case will hardly move the bullet in the barrel probably because there isn't any bearing surface between case and bullet.

We shoot steel challenge so the only thing that saved me was the bullet hadn't moved far enough and the slide wouldn't go into battery. I shut down for the day and it took awhile for the light bulb to go off.:eek:

I can't go through thousands of cases by hand, but what I'm going to do is run my case feeder a tube at a time and put a mark at the top of the tube corresponding to a stack of 9mm cases. I believe I'll be able to catch a short case using this approach.

I averted disaster, but not due to any effort on my part.
 
Yeah a stuck case in the barrel isn't a recipe for anything good.

I've stuck one and it was a 9mm case, I think I just let one get by without charging it and the primer was enough to move the cast bullet out of the barrel.

Luckily I had the presence of mind to immediately know that something was wrong and was able to take it down and clear it right at the range so no harm done.

That's a good idea marking a case feeder to check the lengths. Should work fine.
 
It must be borderline in a 9MM case IMO. That would be an interesting experiment.

I don't shoot IDPA etc, but a favorite load of mine is an X-Treme or Powerbond 124 Gr HP over 3.9 Grs of N320. It runs around 1050/1075 from 5" barrels. I am going to load a couple up in .380 cases and see what happens. I can't imagine it not functioning though.
 
One potential advantage of handling/placing the brass by hand, I guess. .380 cases feel different and don't sit in the shell holder the same. Easily identified.

You'll have to look really close to discern a 2mm difference in a stack of 9mm brass with one .380 thrown in.

A better option IMO would be running all your 9mm brass through a shell sorter with the .380 plate to separate them out.

glad you didn't blow up your gun. :)
 
I have a shell sorter set, but I didn't think it would discriminate between 9mm and .380. I'll have to check that out.
 
The 380 aluminum shell plate works, BUT you can not overload it!.

Only put a handful at most in there and shake it around, Some 380s will just stick in the slot and you can push them through.
 
I have the same issue. So I drop mine face down. into a 50/100 round ammo box. The short ones are the 380's.. not more then an occasional one but I lot better then getting jammed up at a match.
 
rdtompki said:
I reload 4K rounds of 9mm/month give or take.
We shoot steel challenge so the only thing that saved me was the bullet hadn't moved far enough and the slide wouldn't go into battery. I shut down for the day and it took awhile for the light bulb to go off.:eek:
Click to expand...

Sorry - but I'm not quite following: The action was worked by the bad load? It loaded the next round from the mag but it then wouldn't go into battery? Or did you rack the slide?

I'm petrified of those scenarios where you're doing relative rapid fire and you have to "hold up" in a split second because something felt off.

OR
 
On second thought I think what I'm going to do is glue a peg of some sort to the V-block that is exactly the height of a 9mm case. I'll paint the top lip fluorescent orange where it will only be visible if I'm pushing in a .380 case. Will be a no-brainer to pick up in my normal shell plate scan. The main issue will b parallax since my head won't necessarily be in the same position from case to case so this "peg" needs to snug up against the case.
 
otisrush said:
Sorry - but I'm not quite following: The action was worked by the bad load? It loaded the next round from the mag but it then wouldn't go into battery? Or did you rack the slide?

I'm petrified of those scenarios where you're doing relative rapid fire and you have to "hold up" in a split second because something felt off.

OR
Click to expand...
The round ignited, but the extractor didn't grab the case. I know I didn't short-load any cases so I assumed:eek: based on my experience with 147gr .380 cases that bullet had gone downrange. Went to chamber a new round and wouldn't go into battery. How dumb was that? I'm going to deliberately load a .380 case and verify that the 115 gr will squib, but I'm positive that's what happened.

A squib that cleared the chamber would be a real problem so I've got to fool proof (Rick proof in my case) my reloading process.
 
I built this machine to sort brass by diameter, 380 falls into the same bin as .223, 9mm into the next bin and 38 super into the bin after that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFw7IcQUmgs

This is a device I built that has the ability to sort by length.

th_9mm380.jpg


Before that I set my powder measure so it would not drop powder into the shorter 380 case and the powder check die would sound at the next station.

You can also case gauge your ammunition, if your competing I am surprised your not already doing this.

Lots of ways to catch them, better to make it important before you have an accident rather than after.
 
How strange. When a .380 sneaks into my 9mm P brass, the press handle slams to the bottom with almost no resistance because the 9mm sizing die does not even touch the .380 case and that is the main load on the handle. No doubt about the problem. But then mine is a Dillon. I now have one of those aluminum auxiliary sorter plates and am gradually seining the Cortos out of the Paras.

What will run through the system with no indication is a Boxer primed 9mm Makarov. It comes out the far end as a fully loaded round with a lot of bullet showing out of the case. I pulled a number of those but finally got curious and shot a couple. In spite of a nominal millimeter of excess cartridge headspace, they fed up under the extractor, fired, and ejected normally.
 
Although I'm only on a single stage press I have a similar sizing experience. Sizing feels normal for the first 30-50% of the stroke but "breaks free" (no resistance) and the press stroke bottoms out very quickly. It's not possible to miss it on a single stage.
 
If I miss them after cleaning and sorting by headstamp, I catch them in the single stage press. And the final check is when I put in the loading trays I look over the top of all the cases, a 380 sticks out. Just wondering how I will catch short 9mm brass without measuring. I use a Wilson Gauge before and after loading a case, not sure if that will catch shorties though.
 
I can't gauge ever case at 4K rounds/ month, but I do think the V-block "gauge" will work. I deliberately loaded and fired a test round today. The .380 auto round "fired", but was barely audible. The case is covered in soot and the bullet barely in the barrel. There is so little bullet in the case at 1.14" that the bullet just pops out of the case at a very low pressure permitting the produced gases to escape around the case.
 
OP Here (again). I deliberately duplicated the load with a .380 case. The powder ignited with a very slight "pop", maybe even just a "puff". Case was covered with soot and the bullet just barely made it out of the chamber. The good news, not to be counted on of course, is that the next round can't possibly chamber.
 
If you stand your 9mm range brass on a flat surface with the case mouths up (maybe 100-150 cases at a time) then the shorter .380 and longer .38 super brass will stand out and you can easily cull it. This is surprisingly fast. Much faster than visually checking every case on the press.
 
I size and deprime my 9MM brass on a SS press before I clean it in SS pins and Lemishine. I also can feel the 380 brass when depriming as after the primer ejects the press ram just pops up and the shell holder hits the die with NO resistance. This is how I sort the two types of brass brass these days. Just divert the 380 brass into a different container to be resized later. Another reason I do not bother with a progressive press.;)
 
I can't gauge ever case at 4K rounds/ month
Click to expand...
The good news, not to be counted on of course, is that the next round can't possibly chamber.
Click to expand...

OP, I understand your need for production, but I might caution you to the --- emphasis on your comment above. You are shooting courses where the speed matters, I assume you have a malfunction -- slight pop, etc, and you tap, rack and go. What if - the round went further in the barrel? What then?

Just something to think about. You may want to be real confident in your checks to ensure you are only loading the 9MM. As some suggested above, the brass sorting process is a pretty good one for that, even though, some 380s will get through unless you are really careful there.
Also, there are some case gauge blocks that will handle 50/100 at a time. I think that might be good insurance to prevent a potentially catastrophic issue.
 
OP, I understand your need for production, but I might caution you to the --- emphasis on your comment above. You are shooting courses where the speed matters, I assume you have a malfunction -- slight pop, etc, and you tap, rack and go. What if - the round went further in the barrel? What then?
Click to expand...

VERY important, if you ammunition is unsafe if doesn't matter how fast or slow you can make it.

Walking across the street is easy, like reloading. If you don't preform important functions when doing it you can get hurt or die.
 
HHmmm my 9mm LNL shell plate does not even like to hold a .380 case tried some just to see.
I don't shoot .380 but I do shoot 9mm Mak. After learning to spot the Mak cases I can dump 9mm out and spot the .380s pretty easy,
For me they also feel different when deprime/resizing than 9mm on my Lee turret (using a 9mm die to knock out the primers). They will stay put in the shell holder there. ( I knock the primers out and tumble them so I'm ready if I buy .380)

Sorting is a pain but, but less painful than a accident. What if the few seconds it took to clear when it didn't eject cost you a match? I would think that would be a pain to.

Not really on thread but I think it's better to weed out the .380 cases than worry what happens.
 
I've ordered the Aluminum plate which should be able to separate out the .380. Between the plate, my in-process inspection and the gauge I'm adding to the press v-block I should get the defect rate down to an acceptable value.
 
Since I shoot 9mm and .380, I bought the metal sifter plate for .380

Both of my .380 guns are early production Glock 42's, and they have very loose chambers that bulge the cases a lot. Not on the ramp area, but all around.
As a result, most of my fired .380 brass would not go through the slots on the metal filter plate, and would stay on top with the 9mm.
My solution was to pick a few R-P fired .380 cases (they bulge the most) and carefully draw-file the metal sifter until those would just barely drop through. The 9mm still stay on top.
 
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