9mm getting better but have a couple questions

[Drew P]

I'm casting loading 9 with good success so far but ran into a few issues. Im using a Hornady AP and I'm expanding and flaring with a modified PTX die which seems to work great. I turned it a little deeper and gave it an M step on my lathe. But, I'm still getting a little lead sliver once in a while and no matter how much i crank down the ptx, and it seems well flared, i get this shave.

Random range 380 auto cases! I'm getting better at catching them either before going in or just after sizing but damn, twice now I've ripped the rim off in the sizing die and it's a little bit of a process to get it out :0. Any tips on those?

[popper]

Yes, sort when cleaning. Just keep the lugar HS. Case lenghts are not always the same so you have to over flare or trim pistol brass - ugh.

[Yodogsandman]

Regarding the 380 cases, is it easier for you to sort them out before hand or later after ripping the rims off in the die?

[Larry Gibson]

The inner diameter of the seating dies is sizing the flare, no matter how much you flare it, back down. That is what is causing the occasional sliver of lead. Three solutions; 1st, just put up with it. 2nd hone out the inside of the seating die. 3rd, get a new seating die with a larger inner diameter. Maybe a 4th option; use a smaller diameter bullet.

Larry Gibson

[DerekP Houston]

haha i've glad I'm not the only one that gets frustrated with those 380 cases mixed in with 9mm. I've taken to not shooting my 380 if I'm taking a 9 to the range so i don't have a chance of mixing them up. I dump mine out on the floor and give it a quick eyeball before putting them in an akrobin for loading.

[Drew P]

Regarding the 380 cases, is it easier for you to sort them out before hand or later after ripping the rims off in the die?

as hard and boring as that task would be, it's hard to answer that question. However, wise guy, it is a valid question.

[Drew P]

The inner diameter of the seating dies is sizing the flare, no matter how much you flare it, back down. That is what is causing the occasional sliver of lead. Three solutions; 1st, just put up with it. 2nd hone out the inside of the seating die. 3rd, get a new seating die with a larger inner diameter. Maybe a 4th option; use a smaller diameter bullet.

Larry Gibson

ah, is makes perfect sense. Thank you! Well, I guess I'm going to bore out my fancy Dillon die ;(

[NoAngel]

Are you lightly chamfering the inside of the case mouths? Try that on a handful and see if the problem goes away.

I hate doing it but it really helped me get rid of the shaving. It IS a pain if you're doing a high number of cases but why bother loading anything if it ain't gonna be right when you're done.


Ohh, and measure in the inside of the die v/s the diameter of the flared case before you start whittling on your die. If the opening in the die is bigger than the flare than that's NOT your problem. Would be dumb to start [possibly] voiding warranties unless you KNOW that's what's doing it.

[Drew P]

Can we just ban 380 and 40? That would make my life easier. They never made sense to me anyway.

[Drew P]

Are you lightly chamfering the inside of the case mouths? Try that on a handful and see if the problem goes away.

I hate doing it but it really helped me get rid of the shaving. It IS a pain if you're doing a high number of cases but why bother loading anything if it ain't gonna be right when you're done.

No I hadn't considered chamfering. I suppose I could but I'd really rather not as its hard to keep 9mm in lots or segregated when I shooting with others.

[tomme boy]

The only time i ever had shavings was when I traded for a bunch of brass and the mouths of the cases were folded over into the cases. I had to inside chamfer 2500 357 cases. The seller told me he ran them in the SS pins and that he thought he may have ran them too long.

[runfiverun]

the pins will peen the case mouths flat which of course puts a little ring on them.

when I'm sorting 9mm cases I will lay them along my ring finger leaning against my middle finger standing them up.
the shorter 380's are easily see that way.

[jcren]

Could a 38 bullet seating die be used? The Id would be slightly larger. I load 380 and have noticed the same issue of some brands snagging going in.

[plainsman456]

I have noticed lately that some makes of 9mm brass has a ring down towards the bottom of the case.

I have taken to sorting those out and put them in a pile to do something later.

The ridge is formed when the case is made and i haven;t figured out what to do with them yet.

[tomme boy]

I use a 38S&W expander for cast and the regular 9mm for jacket or plated

[Drew P]

The inner diameter of the seating dies is sizing the flare, no matter how much you flare it, back down. That is what is causing the occasional sliver of lead. Three solutions; 1st, just put up with it. 2nd hone out the inside of the seating die. 3rd, get a new seating die with a larger inner diameter. Maybe a 4th option; use a smaller diameter bullet.

Larry Gibson

okay Larry I took my seater body and chucked it up in the lathe and sanded the inside a little to open it up as you suggested. I probably got a half a mil bigger and it seemed to be plenty flared and my custom M step PTX expander is making the case actually loose on the bullet to see what they look like and they were a little squeezed in but still loose so I think okay. This 9mm casting experiment is definitely stepping up my reloading game. Haven't had this much trouble on anything yet to date!
I tried chamfering a couple cases but my feeling is that I don't want to do this 7000 times for obvious reasons but also that the case isn't always perfectly round so the chamfer isn't going to be very consistent like on a sized and trimmed rifle case.
Help!?!?!?!!!!

[David2011]

Cases should be quite round after sizing. I've had the same thing happen with.38 Special but it was because I didn't have the flaring die screwed down far enough. There was enough room in the die body. Could you assemble a Franken-die from .38 and 9mm parts to meet the need? Maybe take an extra step to seat and crimp?

Case sorting tip: put 100-150 cases at a time in a cardboard shoe box, tilt it about 20 degrees and shake vigorously in a circular motion. The cases will stand on the heads making it easy to identity the short ones.

Sorry .40 makes no sense to you. I get along with it quite well in my STI Edge, 90K rounds and counting.

David

[Drew P]

Cases should be quite round after sizing. I've had the same thing happen with.38 Special but it was because I didn't have the flaring die screwed down far enough. There was enough room in the die body. Could you assemble a Franken-die from .38 and 9mm parts to meet the need? Maybe take an extra step to seat and crimp?

Case sorting tip: put 100-150 cases at a time in a cardboard shoe box, tilt it about 20 degrees and shake vigorously in a circular motion. The cases will stand on the heads making it easy to identity the short ones.

Sorry .40 makes no sense to you. I get along with it quite well in my STI Edge, 90K rounds and counting.

David

wow 90k? That's like 2500lbs of lead down range !

Yes cases are round after sizing, but does that mean you want me to size off press? At some point it won't make sense to load for 9 anymore.

[David2011]

You wrote in post 16 "but also that the case isn't always perfectly round so the chamfer isn't going to be very consistent" so I thought the cases were not always round. Are the shavings coming from the bases or sides of the boolits? Are the bases square or beveled? If shaving is off the side then the crimp die may be closing the mouth before the boolit is fully seated. Easy solution there is to seat in one step and crimp separately. Easy on your Ammo Plant.

Yeah, that was a lot of lead down range. At one time I was shooting a minimum of 7 matches and organized USPSA Style practice sessions every month. I've used up 2 extractors, broken one slide stop and replaced magazine springs twice. The gun still looks new, built and hard chromed by Bob Dawson.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Sorting 9mm.

I buy range pickup 9mm by the flat rate box full. It takes time, but I sort by headstamp. I am able to catch all the 380 and 9Mak at that time. I am also able to sort out many problem cases. 9mm range brass is usually 1x, cuz it's so cheap and common, but one batch I recently got, had some that were loaded HOT for maybe more than one reloading? The headstamp was very faint and primers were flat and they showed other signs of HOT loads, they got culled out. Also after loading several thousand rds over the years, you learn what brands to avoid and cull out...AMERC is the worst, I also don't like S&B, but others do and I have swapped with them.

I don't load on a progressive, but I do load on a Lee classic turret. I've found when loading matched HS pistol brass, I gain a "feel" for that what should be happening, and when the "feel" changes, I usually have a bad/inconsistent case. But when I load mixed brass, I am not able to do that, as different brands have a different feel.