First 9mm fired!

[armoredman]

Finally! I was having so much fun with 38Spl cast loads, and trying new .223 loads, I neglected to shoot any 9mm loads, until today. I had to get back into the swing of the auto thing, as qualification is Tuesday, so I decided to run down to the range and shoot a quick 150 or so. Glad I did - I was all over the paper, 1/3 outside the 8 ring on a standard B-27 repair center at 26 yards. Also discovered some other loads just didn't work as well as I'd hoped. Those were j-word bullets.
Shot two 9mm cast boolit loads, both in Remington brass, both using the Lee 124gr TL boolit, sized to .356, cast from WW, lubed with LLA. I had one failure to feed, attributed to the new boolit profile, not 100% sure on COAL yet. Also had two failure to fire, attributed to the CCI 500 primers - been having some issues with those. About 1 out a of a hundred or so may not fire thefirst time, but will always fire first re-strike.
Anyway, back to the boolits. Normally I test new loads at 10 yards, nice easy round figure. But this day I was practicing for duty qualification, and had the target out about 26 yards, middlin' far for a short gun, as one person called it. First was 6.5gr AA#7, wildly inaccurate, only 9 out of 20 on the paper. The next was the 6.2gr AA#7, and that was much better, 15 out of 20 insidethe 8 ring. That ain't too bad. Recoil was very light, so light I think both loads were too light. Normal loads drop brass about 4-5 feet to my right and back - both of these were gently laying them on my arm. Good thing I was wearing a jacket...
All in all, a good beginning.:Fire:

[richbug]

I load that bullet at 1.145" Loaded a bunch yesterday for a new carbine I built, it has been very picky about feeding jacketed, but ran several 100 without a hitch.

I was loading 5.7 gr of Win 540, going to bump it up to 6.0 the brass was barely making it out of the gun.

[Salmon-boy]

I know the feeling.. I've spent a few days in Dec casting up about 3000 Lee 125gr RN TL. Either I'm getting better with it, or the mold is just broken in, had only 1 doz rejects today out of 700 or so dropped today.

Unfortunatly, I got excited (or rather, impatient) the other night heading to the range, loaded up a couple without lube, and found a quick way to make keyholes in the target..

The accuracy of the Lee 125gr RN sized to .356 with 4.9gr Bullseye really sucks when the boolit tumbles because of no lube.. Now why would that be???? :-D[smilie=1::-D

So now I'm waiting to get some time to test with LLA lubed loads.. Oh, BTW, I've been loading to about 1.056 OAL, which fed fine in my Hi-Power. Could probably load a little longer, but then would get into the first lube groove.

[armoredman]

I only cast about 100 at a time, but am considering doing about 200 tomorrow morning. It is a very good boolit for me, works very well in 38 Spl, and I think it will work well in 9mm with some tweaking...the fun part of reloading!:-D:drinks::castmine:

[MtGun44]

Any possibility you aren't getting the primer fully seated 1 or 2 out of
100? The misfire, then goes the second try is the exact signature of
a high primer. First blow fully seats it, second one fires normally.

Don't ask how I learned this. [smilie=1:

Bill

[IcerUSA]

Armoredman , might give Tightgroup a try also , my 9mm shoots real well with it, just a little more umph to it tho, was messing around one day at the ranger trying to pop a 1by that someone left at the 50yd line and did manage to hit it a couple times out of 4 clips :) with the Lee TLRN boolit , she's an old Firestar but she shoots good for a shorty .

Keith

[mike in co]

not wanting to be a wet towel in your plans but aa7 is too slow for lite boolets in a 9mm.....just my 2 cents worth.
i shoot aa2i in my 45acp....230's at 790/800 fps.
i shoot aa5 in 40 s&w with 165's, and aa7 with 175/180s. around 1000/1100 fps.
i shoot aa5 in 9mm and 9x21......115 to 135......1000 to 1300 fps.
i shoot aa9 in 44 rem mag,,,,,,280/300 gr ,currently doing 1000/1266 fps( or use wc820)
no accuracy problems,nor keyholing.
try dropping to aa5 or aa2........

i use tons of cci primers in 9mm,9 mak, 380acp and 9x21...no failure to fire....so check your process.

mike in co

[armoredman]

Actually, I use AA#7 with Rem 115grn JHP all the time, with excellent results. I use #5 and #2 as well, but used up the last of the #5 yesterday. I will probably try the #2 with the LRN, as well. Asfor primers, I do check them twice, coming out from priming, and before powder. I don't think that's the issue. I have used CCI primers for a few years with no issues, just this batch I have had troubles with, and only just a few. It is always possible I miss a few high primers, but less likely. Maybe trying to find a regular priming tool instead of using the RCBS press priming arm might help.
Icer, I might try Titegroup sometime, no access to powder sales right now. I moved too far away from Sportsman's Warehouse... :(

No casting - too cold outside for this desert rat! I'll do some this weekend.

[Char-Gar]

I have good results with cast bullets in various 9mm autopistols. I use a 125 grain NEI SWC that is no longer listed. The accuracy and feeding are fully on par with good "J" word. Here are a few things I have learned in the process.

1) Bullets sized .358 or .357 work better than smaller sizes. I don't care what the load books say!

2) Medium burning powders like Unique or AA5 work better for me than the faster numbers.

3) Velocity in the area of 1 to 1.1 K fps does best. Go faster than accuracy goes out the window.

4) Taper crimp the round

5) 9mm case length varies wildly even in cases of the same make and headstamp. Segregate cases into lots of uniform length. Do this and watch the accuracy jump.

A good 9mm autopistol fed such loads, makes a wonderful practice, plinking and small game handgun.

[mike in co]

[QUOTE=Chargar;270158]I have good results with cast bullets in various 9mm autopistols. I use a 125 grain NEI SWC that is no longer listed. The accuracy and feeding are fully on par with good "J" word. Here are a few things I have learned in the process.


4) Taper crimp the round

5) 9mm case length varies wildly even in cases of the same make and headstamp. Segregate cases into lots of uniform length. Do this and watch the accuracy jump.
QUOTE]


uniform case length+ uniform taper crimp = accurate loads.........

while i generally agree with mild speeds for years i shot hard 135 gr cast boolits at 1200fps for practice and 1300fps for matches.

[mstarling]

AA#7 really is a bit slow for 9mm cases. I prefer #5 or WSF in the thousands of 9mm I've shot.

The previous comment about taper crimping is right on! Combined with cases of the same length and internal volume you get accurate ammo.

Easiest way to get consistent crimp from loading lot to loading lot is to measure the loaded case at the mouth and crimp to a consistent size.

[USARO4]

I've had good results with the Lee TL bullet over a charge of Herco. According to the burn charts it's about mid-way between AA#5 and AA#7. It fills the case, no chance of a double charge. I agree with the above on a taper crimp, helps the brass tossers feed reliabley. Excellent bullet for cowboy loads in 38 sp as well.

[armoredman]

I always taper crimp, and use a Lee FCD. 9mm is the only caliber I do segregate brass. Making more today! :) Think I'll hit the range Monday afternoon.