celem
10-14-2013, 04:24 PM
I just started reloading 9mm Luger and experienced an odd problem with lead bullets that is absent from FMJ bullets. I have previously only reloaded 45LC.
Using a LEE single stage press I sized and capped 50 clean 9mm cases and charged each with 42.2 grains of Green DOT powder with a Lee Auto-Disk Powder Measure. I put a very light bell on the case mouth.
I weighed every 5th charge on a digital scale. I used a flashlight to peer into every case in the reloading tray to verify that they all were charged and of comparable volume.
I seated 40 of the charged cases with Berry 115gr copper plated 9mm bullets. The remaining 10 charged cases I loaded with a 115gr blue lubed lead bullet that I purchased at a gun show. They looked like Berry bullets and may have been Berry.
I ran all 50 cartridges through the factory crimp die, resulting in a very tiny crimp right at the case mouth of the copper plated bullets and on the lead bullets, examining under a magnifier, the crimp is really just an elimination of the bell - more or less a straight case.
Today I took the 50 loaded cartridges to the range for a test firing. The FMJ rounds fired beautifully and accurately except for one stovepipe. My mystery is the lead bullets. I fired 6 of the lead cartridges and 3 of them were squibs - the bullet lodged in the barrel near the breach. I thought that the The cap fired but maybe it didn't as there were some cases with unfired primers in my brass (which, unfortunately, got all mixed up). I assume that the powder did not fire as there was no Boom - yet, the slide was back a quarter inch and the squib was in the barrel - so I don't know - but I heard no boom and there was no flash and no smoke. If powder fell out when I racked the pistol I did not see it. Also, it was ultra-ultra-hard to rack the slide. The case was stuck partially in the chamber.
When I returned home I unloaded the remaining, unfired bullets to check the powder. All were loaded and the powder burned by match exactly the same as powder from the can.
I now assume that the lead bullet crimp was inadequate and the slide ramming home propelled the bullet into the barrel with inertia and, somehow the primer didn't fire. Odd - how could low primers only be on the lead loaded rounds? Makes no sense.
I checked the bullets with a micrometer. My barrel slugs at .356. The Berry copper plated bullets are .357 and the lead bullet is .359.
This is very mysterious to me? No more lead bullets for me until I can figure this out. I suspect that I need more of a crimp. Thoughts??
Using a LEE single stage press I sized and capped 50 clean 9mm cases and charged each with 42.2 grains of Green DOT powder with a Lee Auto-Disk Powder Measure. I put a very light bell on the case mouth.
I weighed every 5th charge on a digital scale. I used a flashlight to peer into every case in the reloading tray to verify that they all were charged and of comparable volume.
I seated 40 of the charged cases with Berry 115gr copper plated 9mm bullets. The remaining 10 charged cases I loaded with a 115gr blue lubed lead bullet that I purchased at a gun show. They looked like Berry bullets and may have been Berry.
I ran all 50 cartridges through the factory crimp die, resulting in a very tiny crimp right at the case mouth of the copper plated bullets and on the lead bullets, examining under a magnifier, the crimp is really just an elimination of the bell - more or less a straight case.
Today I took the 50 loaded cartridges to the range for a test firing. The FMJ rounds fired beautifully and accurately except for one stovepipe. My mystery is the lead bullets. I fired 6 of the lead cartridges and 3 of them were squibs - the bullet lodged in the barrel near the breach. I thought that the The cap fired but maybe it didn't as there were some cases with unfired primers in my brass (which, unfortunately, got all mixed up). I assume that the powder did not fire as there was no Boom - yet, the slide was back a quarter inch and the squib was in the barrel - so I don't know - but I heard no boom and there was no flash and no smoke. If powder fell out when I racked the pistol I did not see it. Also, it was ultra-ultra-hard to rack the slide. The case was stuck partially in the chamber.
When I returned home I unloaded the remaining, unfired bullets to check the powder. All were loaded and the powder burned by match exactly the same as powder from the can.
I now assume that the lead bullet crimp was inadequate and the slide ramming home propelled the bullet into the barrel with inertia and, somehow the primer didn't fire. Odd - how could low primers only be on the lead loaded rounds? Makes no sense.
I checked the bullets with a micrometer. My barrel slugs at .356. The Berry copper plated bullets are .357 and the lead bullet is .359.
This is very mysterious to me? No more lead bullets for me until I can figure this out. I suspect that I need more of a crimp. Thoughts??