Reloading 380 Auto: Bullet Setback---HELP!

[stilly]

Wow. What a PITA. Am I going to have these issues when I reload for the Bersa or Microeagle? The Khar had a nice look, but the 9mm is plenty small for me. The .380 just seemed overly tight. I would have gotten one, but I wanted that G-42 instead...

I am glad that this story has a happy ending though.

[PatC415]

Wow. What a PITA. Am I going to have these issues when I reload for the Bersa or Microeagle? The Khar had a nice look, but the 9mm is plenty small for me. The .380 just seemed overly tight. I would have gotten one, but I wanted that G-42 instead...

I am glad that this story has a happy ending though.

Just get both!
Yes, reloading for this pistol is a PITA.
Not really a Happy Ending....I put a few thru the barrel this morning, to check under "live fire". Fired one, checked the OAL of the next one extracted from the chamber. I loaded them ALL to .955+/-, mixed brass, light crimp. So I was able to check 3 of 7. Last two checked were not bad.
The FIRST one was a Federal cartridge, that set back to .918. Thats .038!
All fed and fired successful with 3.3g HP38, and CCI500 primers.
Still looking for answers on setback.....used brass??? Maybe the round nose bullets? I might load some Hornady 90 XTP's bullets to test and see how they feed.
I'm thinking, Factory Ammo for this pistol.
Not something that will be a range gun anyway.

[J-cat]

Call the die manufacturer and ask if they can replace your sizer. You may have a loose one. Or Lee and see if they can make you a "U" die with it's tighter carbide ring.

[stilly]

OH YEAH, I forgot about that.

EGW sells Undersized dies... Maybe you need one of those...

http://www.egwguns.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=266&pg=1

Get the 9mm I think. Give it a shot and see how it performs. They have Lee make the dies for them.

I have one for my .40 die set but I have not loaded up .40 lately.

[XxWoodsHunterxX]

Just get both!

Yes, reloading for this pistol is a PITA.

Not really a Happy Ending....I put a few thru the barrel this morning, to check under "live fire". Fired one, checked the OAL of the next one extracted from the chamber. I loaded them ALL to .955+/-, mixed brass, light crimp. So I was able to check 3 of 7. Last two checked were not bad.

The FIRST one was a Federal cartridge, that set back to .918. Thats .038!

All fed and fired successful with 3.3g HP38, and CCI500 primers.

Still looking for answers on setback.....used brass??? Maybe the round nose bullets? I might load some Hornady 90 XTP's bullets to test and see how they feed.

I'm thinking, Factory Ammo for this pistol.

Not something that will be a range gun anyway.

Do me a favor. Size five pieces of brass and measure them all at base, middle and top. And let me know what you dims are I want to check against my dies. You may have a big sizer die.

[PatC415]

Do me a favor. Size five pieces of brass and measure them all at base, middle and top. And let me know what you dims are I want to check against my dies. You may have a big sizer die.

Brass in random from a pile of resized mixed brass.
Measurements are from neck to base:
1) .369, .3705, .373
2) .3695, ..3705, .373
3) .369, .370, .373
4) .3695, .3695, .3715 (Aquila)-slight difference mid and base.
5) .3695, .370, .373
Bullets are .355 on the money.

I appreciate the help.

[CSACANNONEER]

It sounds more like one brand of brass is a little thinner than the rest (you need to use a ball micrometer to check this) and, your dies are on the larger side (of acceptable tolerance) and/or your bullets are on the smaller side of acceptable tolerance). I would suggest trying to taper crimp instead of using your Lee factory crimp die.

[Carcassonne]

I never noticed bullet setback with reloaded .380, but I never measured the cartridge after cycling/feeding. A small change of .005 isn't noticeable to the naked eye.

I use Hornady dies, and a Lee FCD.

.

[PatC415]

OH YEAH, I forgot about that.

EGW sells Undersized dies... Maybe you need one of those...

http://www.egwguns.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=266&pg=1

Unfortunately they do not make one for 380, but LEE does, only they are out of stock, which leads me to believe that there is a problem with their 380 die to begin with!
I just got off the phone with a rep from Lee Precision. My complaint was forwarded to the Tech Dept.
I've been happy with their dies I use in several other calibers, but this 380 die is too loose to hold the bullets. I found this morning, that I could push them in between my finger and thumb.
Waiting to hear back.

[stilly]

Unfortunately they do not make one for 380, but LEE does, only they are out of stock, which leads me to believe that there is a problem with their 380 die to begin with!
I just got off the phone with a rep from Lee Precision. My complaint was forwarded to the Tech Dept.
I've been happy with their dies I use in several other calibers, but this 380 die is too loose to hold the bullets. I found this morning, that I could push them in between my finger and thumb.
Waiting to hear back.

Oh yeah I saw 9 and thought .380 DOH. Only on pills...


You should NOT be able to push your pills back with your finger. So the problem is with the dies it seems. Not the gun, the die was made a little too big. That happens from time to time...

When I have an issue with Lee dies, I will go to the website, start a ticket letting them know I am mailing it off, then I mail it off and be done with it. Then in about 5 days I magically have my part back and it is new...

[PatC415]

380 setback problem: resolved

FYI for those of you with this problem:
I finally got off my lazy butt and sent the die back to Lee Precision. Within a few days, received the die back with a note, "your 380 die was a little loose, we've enclosed one that should work better for you." Hmmm? OK.
I just finished loading a box of 50. Nice snug fit on the bullets. About .002 tighter.
Guess I got a loose die. Never heard of that before. Did this happen to anyone else???
I must say that Lee resolved the problem rather quickly. Just wish I didn't pull out most of my hair trying to figure out what I was doing wrong!
Thanks to Lee for the quick response.

[ojisan]

Thanx for the update!
Good to hear there was a found cause and a solution.

[hambam105]

1 all steel RCBS .380 resizing die
1 all steel RCBS carbide .380 resizing die
1 Pacific carbide .380 resizing die

All within spec. After I resize a .380acp case there is no way I can seat without flaring the case first.

The best .380 acp cartridges I ever cooked-up were with Montana Gold's 121 flat point bullet.

[stilly]

FYI for those of you with this problem:
I finally got off my lazy butt and sent the die back to Lee Precision. Within a few days, received the die back with a note, "your 380 die was a little loose, we've enclosed one that should work better for you." Hmmm? OK.
I just finished loading a box of 50. Nice snug fit on the bullets. About .002 tighter.
Guess I got a loose die. Never heard of that before. Did this happen to anyone else???
I must say that Lee resolved the problem rather quickly. Just wish I didn't pull out most of my hair trying to figure out what I was doing wrong!
Thanks to Lee for the quick response.

Glad to see that yet ONCE AGAIN Lee has addressed and corrected a customer problem. They are getting to be as good as RCBS...

[Raynman]

Patc415

Since you are loading for a P380, I thought I would add my experience with Fiocchi brass. My P380 will not feed factory Fiocchi 95 gr FMJ. I have also found that when I reload Fiocchi brass, my p380 feeds poorly. At least my Kahr will not run well with Fiocchi. I sent it back to Kahr, and even the tech told me not to expect much out of Fiocchi. I almost sold mine before I realized it was a brass issue.