JeffG
06-19-2013, 11:21 PM
I'm new to reloading. I'd been casting and shooting BP for years and finally got into reloading for 9mm and 45LC. I have an S&W SD9 and had purchased Lee's classic press and 4 carbide die set for 9mm. After a lot of reading on this site, thanks so much to all, I made a point of slugging the bore and came up with ~.356 to .3565. I'd cast a bunch of Lee 90238's, a TL356-124-TC projectile. Those I cast in COWW with 3% tin added then age hardened for over a month. They were tumble lubed with the straight Lee Liquid Alox, dried, put through a .357 sizing die then lubed again and dried. I got past some initial figuring out what the heck the die instructions were trying to tell me when I got to the seating and crimping dies and off I went. The hardest part I think was trying to figure out a powder charge given the bullet weight, wanting to make sure I wasn't too light or too heavy, so I arrived at 4.4 grains Unique which 'appeared' to be a starting load. Then I get to the problem of how deep to seat the boolit.... I thought I should seat down to the last groove before it starts to taper so I seated about 10 rounds, but something was nagging me because the bullet had to be sitting on or possibly compressing the powder. Back to the website to dig and I finally learn a little thing about OAL and making sure I'm not compressing smokeless powder, so I do some measurements and figure out for my gun it can be 1.15 OAL. I pulled all the bullets I just seated, prepared the cases again, charge with 4.4 grains and seat to 1.15 (may do the next batch at 1.145), knowing they are not seated on the powder now. When I go shoot them, they feel kinda healthy, no feeding issues at all but I can feel it racking the slide pretty hard. I look at the primers and they look okay, but I don't have my glasses on. Accuracy seems reasonable for offhand and there is zero leading after 10 shots. When I get back to the bench, don the glasses and start popping primers, I can now see they are flattening some. So, I drop to 4.0 grains Unique, still seating for OAL = 1.15, and go shoot those. The primers are looking better now with only a couple that have a slight flattening, and no more hard racking of the slide. Ok, lets try 3.9 grains and 50 rounds. Over the course of the week, I've popped off 5-10 at a time and they feel good, no feeding issues, no leading, the primers look good and they are accurate when I do my part. In summary I have the following:
CCI Blazer brass that was once fired
Lee TL356-124-TC cast with COWW and 3% tin added then lubed with straight Liquid Alox before and after sizing to .357
3.9 grains Unique
OAL = 1.15
Federal SP Primers
Light taper crimp
I can see why some say Unique is dirty. I like the smell but can tell it is certainly dirtier than whatever is used in the factory ammo. I don't mind this so much since I enjoy cleaning it when done and it's nothing like BP.
I have a pound of Bullseye too and would like to play with that as well but after this initial experience want to make sure I start at what should be more of a starting load.
I have no chronograph yet so don't really know what it is doing, just going by what I'm seeing and feeling. I would appreciate any comments/questions/observations.
Have a good day
CCI Blazer brass that was once fired
Lee TL356-124-TC cast with COWW and 3% tin added then lubed with straight Liquid Alox before and after sizing to .357
3.9 grains Unique
OAL = 1.15
Federal SP Primers
Light taper crimp
I can see why some say Unique is dirty. I like the smell but can tell it is certainly dirtier than whatever is used in the factory ammo. I don't mind this so much since I enjoy cleaning it when done and it's nothing like BP.
I have a pound of Bullseye too and would like to play with that as well but after this initial experience want to make sure I start at what should be more of a starting load.
I have no chronograph yet so don't really know what it is doing, just going by what I'm seeing and feeling. I would appreciate any comments/questions/observations.
Have a good day