Sizing loaded rounds ?

[Valerko]

I'm making heavy 9mm from LYman 356637 mold. Coating with HITec coating , then sizing to .356 and coating again.
Loading on SDB I have about 10% of the loaded rounds that don't fit into Wilson gauge
I never had this problem with Lee 124 g mold.
The ones that don't fit the gauge , I can see a bulge in the middle of the case.
So I've been putting this aside and taking them apart later.
Other day , I've removed pin from sizing die and tried to resize the loaded rounds that didn't fit . Behold , they fit now ( of course ).
Would that cause a problem? These rounds will be for plinking only. Ones that are good from the start are the ones I'll use at local competitions.

[Cherokee]

When you resized the loaded rounds, you resized the boolits therein. I would say plinking at arms length might work, the boolits will be undersize. Then again, they might fit the leaded bore after a few rounds have skidded down the barrel. The only way for you to know what will happen is try it in your gun. IIRC the 637 is a long boolit, so the seating depth may cause a bulge in the case because the case wall is tapered inside. Of course, the bulge could be from the boolit not beng seated straight, which I would opine is the case since not all failed the Wilson test. Did you remove the barrel and actually try them in the gun before resizing the loaded rounds, they might work. Others may see it differently......

[popper]

They'll probably shoot but tumble. Heavies go into the case further, hence the 'bulge'. Do sized and expanded bulge the case? I found running my M die into the case too far caused the problem. Cases appear to have different wall thickness midway - most factory are designed for 115 gr. Do they pass the plunk test in your barrel, I don't use the case gauge for pistol? You may have to scrap the 'bad' cases.

[Valerko]

I've learned that what ever doesn't fit the gauge , doesn't fit my CZ75 Shadow's barrel as well.
Never had this problem with LEe 125g mold , but I kind of figured it's the bigger size of the boolit. I'm just bummed that it's so many rounds. It almost seems like not all the cavities in my mold are the same. The again it could be the brass. Most of it is just range pick up.
As long as this round do firmly well at 20-30 feet , I'm OK with that.
It's pain to take them apart :)

[Hard_Cast]

Pick up the Lee Factory Crimp Die when you can, they are relatively inexpensive and ensure everything feeds. It does less sizing than the size die for sure and has no effects on accuracy for me. The FCD rolls out any bulges and aligns the bullet in one pass on loaded rounds. I have started using them for all my autoloaders, esp. 9mm, 380, and 45. Hope this helps!!!

[Iowa Fox]

Hard Cast is correct. Go to Titan reloading and look at the Lee carbide factory crimp die and the bulge buster kit. I had some 45 acp range pick up brass that must have been fired in a Glock which got mixed into my brass. When I hit the range with my reloadsI had a few rounds not go into battery in my 1911 without a nudge from my palm. When I got home I checked more of the loaded rounds and sure enough they would not go into the Dillon case gage 100%. I ordered the two items from Titan and ran the loaded rounds I had thru the Lee carbide crimp die with the bulge buster kit. That made them drop right into the case gage. That was my first order to Titan which is a forum sponsor. I can't say enough good things about them and I will order all my Lee stuff from them in the future. I think anyone using range pickup brass is just about going to have to run the brass thru the Lee factory crimp die as so much of it is fired in pistols with an unsupported chamber these days.

[DLCTEX]

I have had that problem in other calibers due to uneven case lengths causing a bulge when crimping. Could this be the cause of your bulge?

[HeavyMetal]

Kinda sketchy on details here so I'm gonna ask a few questions:
1 how hard is this coating? Years ago I tried a "drip dry" Moly coating for my 45 acp rounds, slosh around in a coffee can and then let sit over nite to dry.

Nice idea but had an issue with being larger than needed and caused the same problem. then the stuff got expensive to use. never did see any increase in accuracy so I went away from the idea.

2 are you using mixed brass to load with? I found out the 9mm is very unforgiving with both brass length and case diameter. suggest you examine your none fitting cases and see what is and is not working with this weight boolit. You may find a certain case HS works with the heavy boolit. Sorting by headstamp does yield more accurate loads.

3 I have never understood the 147 grain 9mm fantasy, LOL! Never had much luck wih it myself and found I can get the 125 grain boolits to do everything the 147 well and better!

I'll suggest the Lee 125 RF for the 38 / 357 might be a better boolit plus you can get some darn good casting rates with the 6 cav mold!

4 the Lee FCD die in a pistol caliber die set is an answer for a problem that doesn't exist! If your load needs this die to work in your pistol you are doing something wrong, not ment as a flame just trying to keep you from covering up a problem instead of solving it.

My thoughts are that your current boolit and your current brass do not get along all the time. Fix that by sorting, changing OAL or boolit diameter / boolit design as needed.

[Hard_Cast]

I respectfully disagree, HeavyMetal. The Lee FCD solves many "problems" that occur in reloading- mainly cast- bullets for autoloaders. We try to shove heavyweight lead projectiles into tapered cases, resulting in deeper seating depths and therefore bulges. Also, crooked bullet seating can occur from imperfect nose alignment during the process. While I agree in a PERFECT world, this would not occur, these things do sometimes happen. And the Lee FCD offers unsurpassed assurance that the rounds function when they need to.

[Hard_Cast]

Also, I have noted the bulge buster- while speeding operation- is an unnecessary add-on. While it allows for complete push-thru of the round into an upright hopper (kinda hard to imagin... no shell holder, but a peg that pushes entire round thru) I get no further sizing than simply tightening die down to touch shell holer. So its mainly a time thing as far as I am concerned.

[Iowa Fox]

Where I got into a pickle is using range pick up brass 45 acp that had been fired in a pistol with an unsupported chamber. The sizing die just could not size the case just above the rim. Hard Cast is correct that you do not need the bulge buster kit with the carbide crimp die but it sure is nice when you run a half a coffee can of range brass thru. If I resize my own cases fired in my 1911 with my cast 452460 sized to 452 in the Star the carbide crimp die is not necessary. After I got stung on those bulged range cases I run every loaded round into the cases gage. If one doesn't drop in like it should I can always run it thru the Carbide crimp die.

[Valerko]

I've never had this problem with 124g boolits. Then again , all of them were loaded using Lee Turret press and lee dies (4 station press). Used pretty much same brass. With 124g boolits , I've never even used gauge and rounds came out 99.99% OK.
Now I'm using SDB and new boolit , so I wonder if it's boolit or the press.
Guess I'm gonna try old boolits on new press and new boolits on old press. :):)

Btw : love 147g boolits. With my CZ 75 it makes for great combination for IDPA shooting. Feels like 22 in my hand.