Hello all, once again I need your help. I recently decided to start hand loading for 9mm, have purchased and set up my dies (Lee’s 4 die set including taper crimp die) and took my first 10 rounds to the range yesterday to try. I had mixed results, so that’s why I’m here with my hat in my hand.
First, the specs:
I’m loading a 124 gr. RN tech coated Missouri bullet (.356 diameter, 9mm) over 3.7 gr. of bullseye. Cases are of mixed head stamps, and I’m using Winchester SP primers. My gun is a Jimenez Arms JA-9. I know. If you’re not familiar with this weapon, you need to know that they are picky eaters. They have a particularly steep feed ramp and don’t like HP’s at all, ergo my choice of the above bullet. Also, I have had very good luck with Missouri bullet products in the past, and they are affordable.
I chose 124 gr. weight because I had successfully shot 2 boxes of Federals and one box of CCI Blazers; all 115 gr. RN and all FMJ. No failure to feeds or failure to fires - ran like water through a sieve. I then bought a box of Tulammo steel cased ammo just because I was curious, and because they were ridiculously cheap at the big “W”. I was actually pleasantly surprised at how well these shot overall in a finicky gun, but I did have one failure to feed in a box of fifty, the round jammed in an almost upright position on the feed ramp. After ejecting and reloading it, it fed and fired fine.
I wanted to have another box for measurement and comparison before I went to the range with my first hand loaded rounds, so I went back to Wally World to score another box and of course, they were out of anything I wanted. They did have a box of Winchester 115 gr. RN with steel cases, so I bought those. I will fess up here and tell you that personally, I just haven’t had much luck with Winchester ammo; it just hasn’t proven to be reliable in my junk. Of course, your mileage may vary. These had some sort of coating on the cases (anti-corrosion?) that felt dirty and gritty and rubbed off on my fingers. Can’t imagine it would be a good thing on the inside of a gun, but since I had bought them, I took them to the range.
This ammo might be just fine in another gun, but ran badly through mine. I had multiple (actually lost count) failure to feeds, exhibiting the same problem shown in the one FTF in my box of Tulammo. The rounds would jam in the upright position against the feed ramp. Once ejected and reloaded, all Winchesters fired just fine. All the above stated just to bring you to the present with my hand loads.
I wished I had saved a couple of the Federal or CCI rounds that ran so well, but I was just having too much fun at the range at the time and didn’t. Now the only thing I had for comparison were the Winchesters. I looked in my Lyman’s 49th. and they showed a 1.06” OAL for a 120 gr. RN. I pressed a few dummies (no primers or powder) at this length, but they seemed sloppy in the magazine and didn’t seem to want to feed well. I then pressed some to a 1.15 OAL (the length of the Winchesters) and they both seemed to fit the mag better and cycled in and out of the chamber without incident. I then turned my attention to the taper crimp.
When I set the taper crimp (measured at the case mouth) on my .32 ACP’s, I set them at .003” smaller than the case diameter. Though I couldn’t find the article, I seem to remember that to be a suggested setting for the .32’s. I also pulled out a .32 ACP S&B round I had and measured the same dimension. But I didn’t know if it would be the same on 9mm. The only thing I had to compare with was the Winchesters and they measured between .004”-.005” crimp, so I set mine at .005”.
The results with the hand loads were similar to the Winchesters. Three out of the ten rounds I made jammed in the upright position against the feed ramp. Once ejected and reloaded, they fed and shot fine.
So...I’m at a point where I believe I’m close to getting it right, but need to tweak something. Question is, what? I know I could adjust either the OAL, or the taper crimp, or both. But being recently retired and on a rather scaled back income, I only seem to make it to the range about once a month now. Trial and error could go on for six months or more. I was hoping someone could weigh in with some helpful suggestions that might take some of the guesswork out of it. Anybody?