Some Help on First Reloads

[Wingrider72]

Well, turned out my first couple of reloads this evening and already need some help. Set my dies as described in Lee's instructions, but on final inspection, there is somewhat of a "bell" or what I would call a "bottleneck" where the bullet is seated in the case.
I'm loading 9mm Winchester 115 gr. FMJ with 4.8 gr. of Unique in once fired brass.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[rg1]

That's completely normal loading 9mm or 45acp or other tapered wall cases with carbide dies. The carbide sizing ring sizes the tapered case making it like a straight walled case. The 9mm case tapers about .010-.011" from mouth to extractor groove and the carbide ring sizes it to the same dimension all the way down. When seating the bullet it will leave the radius just under the bullet. Actually that's a good thing as it indicates you have good bullet tension in the case. Only thing is that if the bullet isn't started and seated exactly straight it will leave a little bigger radius on one side of the case than the other. Won't cause any cycling issues unless it's really crooked and you probably wouldn't see any change in accuracy. What's your overall length? Looks like the 115 grain bullet isn't seated very deep, maybe not?

 

[Wingrider72]

Overall length is 1.165.

 

[rcmodel]

A little excessive perhaps.

But you will have no problems with bullet setback like most new reloader here have, now will you.


The 9mm is a tapered case.
Lee's carbide 9mm die has a tapered, longer carbide insert then most.

If you want less coke-bottle effect, back the sizing die out a little and it won't size the taper as much.

But myself, more of that is much better then less of that in a semi-auto pistol.

rc

 

[billybob44]

Hard to tell from pic.??

To me, it looks like you have WAY too much crimp on the bullet?
Remember on semi-auto's you want JUST enough crimp to remove the "Bell" that you installed with the expanding die. Semi-autos use taper crimp to just "Straighten" out the "Bell".

Most all semi-autos head space on the mouth of the case, meaning the mouth of the case will bottom out in the chamber. Too much crimp and the load goes too far into the chamber+will cause problems.

To set your crimp die, field strip your pistol, and use the barrel as a case gauge. A little at a time, just crimp enough that your loaded round has the same "Clink/Klunk" sound dropping the chamber as a factory load does. This is the proper crimp for loads in your pistol-probably will also fit others??

Hope this helps..Bill.

 

[Wingrider72]

So basically...what I was concerned about wasn't necessarily my worst problem..
RCModel-thanks for the tip. Will try backing sizing die out a hair and see if that helps. What would be your suggestion for proper overall length on this round?
Bill-will try your technique for setting crimp. Just for my own info, how can you tell by the photo that crimp is excessive?

Thanks for the help....really appreciated.

 

[LiveLife]

OAL should be determined by your pistol/barrel. Max OAL is the length that will allow the test dummy round (no powder, no primer) to fall into the chamber freely and spin without hitting the rifling. Once you determined the max OAL, manually feed the dummy round from the magazine and incrementally decrease the OAL until you have reliable feeding/chambering when the slide is released (this working OAL may be shorter than max OAL).

Once I determined the working OAL that works reliably, next I do a neck tension quality control check by measuring the OAL before and after I feed the round from the magazine. If you can measure a significant bullet set back, you have neck tension issue.

As others posted, due to 9mm being a tapered case, the "coke bottle" effect you see is fine.

how can you tell by the photo that crimp is excessive?

I use .021" added to the diameter of the bullet for a "flat" taper crimp (due to case wall thickness being about .010"+ with some variation depending on head stamp) that allows head spacing on the chamber by the case mouth. So for a .355" diameter bullet, I use .376" taper crimp. If you use too much crimp, the case mouth may not head space and slide into the leade/free bore of the chamber.