9mm reloads are loose! Help!

[nekshot]

I reloaded a bunch of 9mm casings that were brandnew with a brandnew lee 9mm die set. I followed the directions every step because I thought I heard 9mm's are tricky to reload because of the possibility to over crimp and cartridge not headspacing correctly. He recently told me a bunch of the shells have loose bullets(jacketed 110 grainers I think). I do not have a 9mm so we shot a clip full in his pistol and all worked great. I have a single stage loader so I handled all of them and none felt loose at time, now I look like a jerk and thats ok, but how would you fellas fix his bullets? I have a plan but I want to hear from the experts of 9mm's!

[Love Life]

Do you mean the bullets twist around in the casing?

[dave 45-90]

Seating and crimping in one step will cause this. My Dillon seats and crimps on separate stations. Maybe they weren't crimped enough from the get go..

[paul h]

If you didn't size your brand new brass, it's possible that it came from the factory on the loose side and hence your crimp is the only thing holding your bullets in place.

Had this problem with some new 45 colt brass.

[imashooter2]

The Lee Factory Crimp Die in pistol sets has been known to swage boolits inside the case, leaving them loose. Did you use the FCD?

[c1skout]

I think a good way to avoid this kind of problem is to not make ammo for anyone but yourself :smile:. Other than that I don't have anything to add.

[nekshot]

I don't think I used the crimp die because they seemed tight. I sized the cases as if they were used. I think I will run them thru the sizer loaded. I did that before for my 380.

[slughammer]

Try taking a loaded round and pushing it against the edge of your bench with the bullet pressing on the wood and your thumb pressing on the case head. Make sure you cannot push the bullet into the case.

I would take a look at the expander plug. It should be about .002 smaller than your bullet diameter. You can polish it down for jacketed (but maybe you might leave it alone for cast).

Another option if the sizer is not sizing enough is to use a second partial sizing operation with a 38spl or 38 super sizing die. Just back it off all the way and keep turning it in to get about 1/8 inch beyond where the base of the bullet will be.

[tomme boy]

Happens all the time with plated bullets. Its from too much crimp with the plated. The only time I had it happen is when I had the wrong expander in.

[freebullet]

DONT FIRE ANYMORE OF THOSE! Bullet setback can blow up yer gun.

[bedbugbilly]

First - I only load cast lead in my 9mm. I use the Lee 4 die set as well. As already mentioned, it may be because it's a plated boolit?

On all of my pistol rounds, I seat and crimp in two different operations. I like the Lee FCD and have never had the "swaging" problems that some talk about - in any of my pistol rounds - 38s, 356s and 9mm (which is all that I load as far as pistol).

What was the size of the bullet you were using? ie. .356, .357 ? That may be part of it if it was undersize? In my loading, I am using the lead boolit "as cast" and they drop at .358 from both molds I'm using. I've never had an issue with the boolit being loose but again, they are lead, not plated or jacketed.

I found one of the best things to have on the bench is a "cartridge gauge". I have done the "plunk test" on the barrel of my 9mm and double checked everything. When I'm loading (on a Lee 4 hole turret) I check about every both round - both the powder gr weight to make sure my measure is still dropping on target and then the loaded round in the cartridge gauge. If the cartridge sits flush in the gauge - it's within specs. The Lee FCD is intended to size to specs as well. I leave my dies set up on their own turret plate so there is no need to "re-adjust" when changing calibers but if you do have to remove the FCD, it usually takes very little time to fiddle with it and adjust it so the cartridges fit in to the cartridge gauge perfectly.

I have had folks ask me to "re-load" some for them . . . that's up to you but I refuse to do it. Every handgun is different as are "friends". The last thing I want to have is the responsibility of a possible problem with someone else using something I've reloaded. I haste one friend who has pestered me about it and I refuse. What scares me even more is if he decides to get in to reloading as he is a little HD/AD and doesn't grasp the concept of the importance of using the correct powders (to him, gun powder is gun powder) or the importance of concentrating and paying attention - he's the same guy who once, when we were at the range, asked me why his 9mm wasn't working right. I went over, took a look and he had mixed in some .380 rounds from his girlfriend's supplies with his 9mm cartridges and loaded them in with the 9mm. The pistol actually fired the .380 rounds but the only thing that was holding them in place was the ejector.

Another suggestion I'd make is to take some 9mm brass and play with your dies loading up dummy rounds (no primer/no powder). It won't take many to get your adjustments down to where you are making good rounds with the correct COAL for the bullet you are using. Above all, don't get frustrated with it as you'll get it. When I started to load 9mm, I too had heard all the rumors of how it was "difficult", etc. It really didn't take long to figure it out and once you do, you'll wonder why you were so worried. Good luck to you and enjoy!

[str8wal]

I don't think I used the crimp die

Might have something to do with it....

[Bonz]

Do not run loaded bullets through your full length sizing die, could cause them to fire !

If your projectile is not cast, you should use all 4 dies which include the Factory Crimp Die.

A lot of members say not to use the Factory Crimp Die. If you are loading cast projectiles that are softer than 16 bhn, you can easily squish the cast projectile with the Factory Crimp Die. But it has to be set right. You only need to reduce the case opening to .379" (slightly smaller than .380"). I never have issues with 9mm luger and I use all 4 dies which include the Factory Crimp Die. The 9mm luger brass case is tapered; its smaller at the case mouth than it is at the web/base of the case. Case overall Length is critical; if the projectile pushes deeper inside the case, you just made a bomb.

[nekshot]

I understand col very important but I don't understand the lack of safety running them back into the sizing die. These are firing pin induced primers(something hitting them) and there is nothing there to hit the primer, would some sort of electric charge enter the case? I trully do not want to do something stupid!

[BCRider]

It sounds to me like you need to crimp them since you're pretty sure that you didn't crimp.

The fact that they are moving around also suggests that your flaring die is opening up the casings too much. Or your sizer isn't squeezing them down enough in the first place. Either way you should not be able to just slip a bullet or push a bullet into the casing with your own fingers with anything less than a major effort. If you can then something isn't being sized correctly or the bullets are smaller than they should be.

By all means try running a couple of rounds back through the sizer. But don't be surprised if you find them still loose. The sizer will crush things to size but it's likely that the brass will spring back more than the bullet So you may still end up with loose bullets.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

I had this problem years ago with 88 gr Hornady boolits in a .380. I believed the crimp was deforming the boolit. I'd pull the loose boolits and examine them and saw that they were deformed by the crimp. I never did get to the bottom of problem, my recollection is switching brands and weights did not duplicate the problem in the .380. I used RCBS dies.

IMO the 9mm is an easy cartridge reload, or was. I quit the cartridge November 15th, 1998 after thousands of rounds. I picked up the 9mm May 31st 1991 and carried it on duty as a peace officer and competing with it. The 88 gr Hornady was accurate and reliable for practice but I loaded and shot thousands of rounds mostly 8 gr of Blue Dot with the 110 gr Sierra with 1.1" COL.

If I were picking up the 9mm today I'd use 147 gr cast lead and Starline brass.

[dave 45-90]

I don't think I used the crimp die because they seemed tight. I sized the cases as if they were used. I think I will run them thru the sizer loaded. I did that before for my 380.

As Paul Harvey would say..."Now we hear the rest of the story".. Impossible to diagnose a malfunction with parts of the story missing....Get them back and pull em. better to do it right than blow your buddy up and feed the lawyers to boot. Reloading is not like baking cookies and leaving the chocolate chips out

[tomme boy]

The crimp does not hold the bullet, case tension does. Check to make sure you have the right expander in. For the crimp, All you really want to do is remove the crimp. That is it.

[rockshooter]

You might call Lee and see if they have any 9mm "U" (undersize) dies around. They are not normally catalogued but are available.
Loren