Advice for 9mm plated reloads

[gemini1]

I got some 115 grns 9mm plated bullets from Rocky Mountain finally delivered and would like to ask you seasoned reloaders for some advice.
This will be my first pistol reloads.

I will use Accurate #2, Tula SPP and once fired brass and a mix of range pickup.

I made some dummy rounds just to get the feel of the bullet seating/crimp die. The bullets does not have a consistent OAl. Of the 8 rounds I set at 1169, I got 2 with oal at 1168, 3 at 1164, 2 at 1162 and the last one at 1059.

So now, if I set the seating depth for the recommended min oal at 1140, I'm afraid that I may end up with some of the rounds seating deeper.
What is the deepest bullet depth that would still be considered safe to fire?
Also, which would you prefer, use the bullet seating/crimping die in one stroke, or just seat the bullet and for crimping, use the separate carbide factory crimp die?

As always thank you guys.

[Colt562]

Originally Posted by gemini1

I got some 115 grns 9mm plated bullets from Rocky Mountain finally delivered and would like to ask you seasoned reloaders for some advice.
This will be my first pistol reloads.

I will use Accurate #2, Tula SPP and once fired brass and a mix of range pickup.

I made some dummy rounds just to get the feel of the bullet seating/crimp die. The bullets does not have a consistent OAl. Of the 8 rounds I set at 1169, I got 2 with oal at 1168, 3 at 1164, 2 at 1162 and the last one at 1059.

So now, if I set the seating depth for the recommended min oal at 1140, I'm afraid that I may end up with some of the rounds seating deeper.
What is the deepest bullet depth that would still be considered safe to fire?
Also, which would you prefer, use the bullet seating/crimping die in one stroke, or just seat the bullet and for crimping, use the separate carbide factory crimp die?

As always thank you guys.

What brand of dies do you use?

The change in OAL could be the seating die moving up and down, make sure you have everything tight. Or it could be the bullet, but Im pretty sure they would be consitant.

I prefer to seat in one station and lee crimp die on another station.

[Bill Steele]

First, the Tula primers can be a little hard to seat, make sure you get them seated well. If you get some fail to fires due to primers not being fully seated, a second or third strike will likely ignite the primer.

On the OAL, mixed headstamp can easily account for that much variation in OAL. Don't worry about 10 mil. If 1.140" is the minimum OAL in the load spec, then just set it at 1.145" and you will be fine.

For plated and jacketed you can use either method to crimp (either the seater die or the LFCD). If you start loading lead, you might consider getting a different taper crimp die like Dillon's or Redding. You will get better quality ammo that way.

Good luck, have fun.

[UnknownShooter]

Originally Posted by gemini1

I got some 115 grns 9mm plated bullets from Rocky Mountain finally delivered and would like to ask you seasoned reloaders for some advice.
This will be my first pistol reloads.

I will use Accurate #2, Tula SPP and once fired brass and a mix of range pickup.

I made some dummy rounds just to get the feel of the bullet seating/crimp die. The bullets does not have a consistent OAl. Of the 8 rounds I set at 1169, I got 2 with oal at 1168, 3 at 1164, 2 at 1162 and the last one at 1059.

So now, if I set the seating depth for the recommended min oal at 1140, I'm afraid that I may end up with some of the rounds seating deeper.
What is the deepest bullet depth that would still be considered safe to fire?
Also, which would you prefer, use the bullet seating/crimping die in one stroke, or just seat the bullet and for crimping, use the separate carbide factory crimp die?

As always thank you guys.

you can get away with a pretty short oal as long as you're using the lighter projectiles. a 147gr projectile seated to 1.120 may give a lower case volume (and therefore a higher case pressure) than a 115gr seated at 1.090.. (more bullet inside the case).. the one round at 1.059 is off the current chart data by a decent margin, it would concern me if I had the press set at 1.15 and I got 1.05..

even so, with *light* loads, and a lighter (smaller) projectile, you should leave the range with all your digits. I've seen internet wizards loading 9mm at oal's as short as 1.03", but I don't have the grapes to try it personally.. There's no need if a longer oal is feeding ok..

I've loaded some 9mm with a 124 gr projectile and w-231 @ 4.2gr with an OAL of 1.065 and they shot like a 22 out of the carbine. I wouldn't recommend it, and I'm not making any more like that, just saying..

[gemini1]

@ Colt, I have a DeLuxe Lee dies. I think its the bullet being shorter, I've pulled all but one of the test dummy rounds, I'll find out if its shorter.

@ Bill Thanks, I just pm'ed you.

@ UnknownS, yeah it does concern me about that difference. I pulled all but one of the bullets of my test rounds, I'll see if the bullet is shorter.

So, if say there is/are bullets that are a bit shorter than the rest, it is still safe to seat just deep enough to meet OAL, correct?

[M27]

Being under min oal is not that big of a deal as long as you properly work up your powder charges.

I love using aa2 but words of caution. It is a very dense powder. It is easy to double charge. Make sure to set yourself up a process to check for double charges.

[Bill Steele]

Originally Posted by gemini1

..
So, if say there is/are bullets that are a bit shorter than the rest, it is still safe to seat just deep enough to meet OAL, correct?

Correct, as long as you set up your seating die with one of the nominal bullets (longer ones), a shorter one (flatter meplat, fatter ogive, etc.) will not be a problem, even if you are at max loads or minimum OAL.

That is the biggest reason I prefer lead or jacketed, better bullet consistency.

[skibuff]

Have you weighed them to see if possibly there are some 124's in there. I bought 4k 9mm 115gr bullets from Rocky Mountain and 1k of them turned out to be 124gr. Had to sort thru all 4k before loading.

Last time I bought from them

[gemini1]

^ Holy crap! I did weight a few just to see what difference I would get, the few I did were 114.68 - 115.28 grains. I better weight them all to make sure.
Thanks for the heads up.

[gemini1]

Double post.

edit. How bad is it to have a mix of heavier bullets in the lot? the load data for Accurate #2 has the same min/max loads for either 115 or 124 plated RN bullets.

[Bill Steele]

Originally Posted by gemini1

Double post.

edit. How bad is it to have a mix of heavier bullets in the lot? the load data for Accurate #2 has the same min/max loads for either 115 or 124 plated RN bullets.

It won't matter if you set the minimum OAL using the heavier (longer) bullets.

The only thing you will see is different POI, so you might think you are having a bad day behind the trigger.

[UnknownShooter]

On the other side, if you were seating a heavier (longer) bullet at the depth of the lighter bullet.. and if you were at the top of the loading data.. you could increase your case pressure above sammi specs.. one more reason to be conservative with your loads.

[gemini1]

Oh I see. Is it easy to spot a 124 from a 115 grainer? would 9 grains make a big difference on a bullets length?

Thanks guys

[pakk]

Well I weighed a handful of mine. None were 124s, but I did find 1.5gn variance. How much would that affect accuracy? I'm thinking I'm going to weight them all out and sort them by weight.

[M27]

Originally Posted by pakk

Well I weighed a handful of mine. None were 124s, but I did find 1.5gn variance. How much would that affect accuracy? I'm thinking I'm going to weight them all out and sort them by weight.

If you are shooting under 50 yards it won't make a noticeable difference.

If your shooting under 100 it's not worth the extra work.

[Bill Steele]

I sort rifle bullets, I don't sort handgun bullets.

I just quit buying a brand when things get sloppy. Lots of sloppy handgun bullets out there.

[skibuff]

1gr is not going to make a big difference but with the 9mm 115 to 124 I found that using bullseye the starting loads for the 115 were almost the max loads for the 124's.

As a general rule I don't weight pistol bullets either but with that lot I bought you could easily see the difference from the 115's to the 124's.

[korny351]

While it would be nice to treat reloading data as a recipe set in stone, it can't be treated that way. Chamber dimensions and leade (throat) can vary from one firearm to the next. My CZ SP-01 has a very short leade, forcing me to load short, depending on the bullet profile. With the old style Berry's 124 gr. plated HP it was necessary to load to 1.030 OAL or the bullet would engage the rifling when it was chambered. Dropped the charge below minimum and worked up slowly. Never had any problem with that load, but I haven't ordered any of those bullets since. Even though my final load performed well, the short OAL still made me nervous.

Loading shorter than the published OAL can be done safely as long as it is approached with a reduced charge weight and worked up slowly.

[old-trapper]

be sure you have the correct seater in the die...ie flat for hp or convex for round nose

[Bill Steele]

Originally Posted by korny351

While it would be nice to treat reloading data as a recipe set in stone, it can't be treated that way. Chamber dimensions and leade (throat) can vary from one firearm to the next. My CZ SP-01 has a very short leade, forcing me to load short, depending on the bullet profile. With the old style Berry's 124 gr. plated HP it was necessary to load to 1.030 OAL or the bullet would engage the rifling when it was chambered. Dropped the charge below minimum and worked up slowly. Never had any problem with that load, but I haven't ordered any of those bullets since. Even though my final load performed well, the short OAL still made me nervous.

Loading shorter than the published OAL can be done safely as long as it is approached with a reduced charge weight and worked up slowly.

Lot of good experience and advice there.

[skibuff]

Originally Posted by korny351

While it would be nice to treat reloading data as a recipe set in stone, it can't be treated that way. Chamber dimensions and leade (throat) can vary from one firearm to the next. My CZ SP-01 has a very short leade, forcing me to load short, depending on the bullet profile. With the old style Berry's 124 gr. plated HP it was necessary to load to 1.030 OAL or the bullet would engage the rifling when it was chambered. Dropped the charge below minimum and worked up slowly. Never had any problem with that load, but I haven't ordered any of those bullets since. Even though my final load performed well, the short OAL still made me nervous.

Loading shorter than the published OAL can be done safely as long as it is approached with a reduced charge weight and worked up slowly.

So true! I hate it when I get a new gun and the chamber/throat dimensions don't want to play nice with loads I already have dialed in with all my other guns in that caliber. I bought my wife a 2022 in 9mm and it wouldn't chamber the laser cast bullets I've use in my 226 for 20 years.