Fired First Loads

[Adub]

So after months of lurking on here and finally settling on getting a Hornady LnL AP; I took my time and loaded up my first work up loads and fired them off today.

I started at 4.0, 4.2, 4.4, and finally 4.6 of bullseye for my 9mm 115gr HP rounds which is fine according to the manual, but I am seating pretty low compared to what the manuals say because that's where my rounds stop contacting the rifling before seating on the mouth and I want to make sure I am not causing any overpressure.

So if you guys would be so kind to have a look at my fired cases to make sure you guys don't see anything obviously wrong that my noob eyes may not be noticing.

Some cases had some residue left on the back of them, would that just be from the gun progressively getting more dirty?

[Divernhunter]

They look fine. Which one shot best. Did you have any feeding problems with any of them. If so just do not use that load.

[yoitsbruce]

ur good with the 9mm the overpressure shouldnt be that much of a problem not like .40sw stick to the tolerances of the reloading book you should be fine. now with the 1st batch out of the way its time to go full production.

[joelogic]

Primer strikes look really deep. What kind of gun are you shooting?
Some primers look a little flattened. Are they arranged in the case by charge weight?
Different angle pic?

[Adub]

They were fired from a XD and I didn't have any problems feeding.

The bottom 3 rows in that picture are the 4.6 and the top 2 are 4.4 and that single one is a 4.2

Here's another picture:

[iareConfusE]

Primer strikes look really deep. What kind of gun are you shooting?
Some primers look a little flattened. Are they arranged in the case by charge weight?
Different angle pic?

Eh? They don't look that deep. My Tokarev hits pretty deep, and I've seen strikes way deeper than what he has without any catastrophic failure.

[bumpo628]

They look fine to me.

Did you notice if any of the loads gave better groups?
Are the dirtiest shells the ones with the least amount of powder?
In what order did you shoot them?

[Adub]

The 4.4's shot well but to be honest, I was pretty nervous pulling the trigger on the 4.6 (so much so that I picked up the first 10 pieces of brass after each shot) because I was reaching the max and I was all over the place on the paper.

I'll am going to make some more test rounds for 4.4 and 4.6 and shoot from a rest or something to get some decent results.

Thanks for your input guys, I feel a lot better about continuing now!

[donger]

They look good. Congrats on your first loads!

[Bill Steele]

The primers look fine to me.

I shoot 5.0 grains of Bullseye with 115gr FMJ seated to an OAL of 1.120.

If your gun cycles fine at 4.2, I would say I would work in the range you are using now and look for the load that gives you the happiest groups.

Have fun.

[Fishslayer]

The 4.4's shot well but to be honest, I was pretty nervous pulling the trigger on the 4.6 (so much so that I picked up the first 10 pieces of brass after each shot) because I was reaching the max and I was all over the place on the paper.

That happens with my .45ACP target loads. About a .5gr - 1gr from maximums (Bullseye powder) the groups begin to spread noticably.

[uscbigdawg]

They look fine. Set it at 4.4 or 4.5 'cause they're easy to remember and call it a day.

On your OAL, feeding is more important, so if you're not getting any jams, set it and forget it.

Rich

[Adub]

The primers look fine to me.

I shoot 5.0 grains of Bullseye with 115gr FMJ seated to an OAL of 1.120.

If your gun cycles fine at 4.2, I would say I would work in the range you are using now and look for the load that gives you the happiest groups.

Have fun.

They even cycled great at 4.0 as well. So i will definitely have to put more time in to see what I can get the best results in.

That happens with my .45ACP target loads. About a .5gr - 1gr from maximums (Bullseye powder) the groups begin to spread noticably.

Oh, that's good to know. I just ordered my 45 acp shell holder plate and i am receiving my free hornady rounds this week and will be working on my 45 work up loads as soon as they come in.

[EmmaGoldman]

Primer flattening is really only a good indicator on high pressure stuff, mostly rifles. A dramatic overload in 45 colt that could take a gun apart will show no sign of an unusually flat primer.

I'd guess that you're fine with what you're doing, but shortening OAL is generally more likely to induce high pressure than seating against the lands (which is rarely an issue at pistol pressures).