trouble with 9mm brass..

[bongfoo]

anyone else have trouble with 9mm brass? i'm batch processing some 9mm nato brass i got. i'm using a lee press with lee carbide re-sizing/decapping die. every once in a while (i'm finding it's happening more often now) there is a separation at the base where the holder grips the brass.

it leaves the case stuck in the die. the only remedy i can think of is putting a little bit of lube on the brass. but lets get real... lube on a 9mm casing?? just thought i'd ask out here and see if anyone has had the same problem and see what they did to correct the problem.

[blockfort]

Are they cleaned? How?

[Bill Steele]

I absolutely lube my pistol brass (9mm can be very tough). I use Hornaday One Shot (pistol brass is all I will use it on). If you want to really get slippery, get some Dillon or RCBS spray case lube. The downside with those is you have to tumble to get it off before shooting and powder will stick around the mouth when dropping powder. One Shot will change your pistol loading life, did mine...

[BajaJames83]

hmmm, looks like they might need a little lube. i have 9mm lee carbide dies and will occasionally lube the first few up it makes everything smoother.

[Bill Steele]

Specific to the NATO brass, it is kind of the worst case in that they are loaded very hot, the web are pretty thick and the diameter of the case is pretty small (being 9mm and all). Makes them tougher than most. To put the final capper on this saga, most 9mm's these days have pretty generous chambers (you didn't think that legendary Glock feed reliability was magic did you?), allowing them to bulge even more.

One Shot will fix your problem

[DLBullyz]

mine did this too the die was dirty had to much dust and got messed up got new die

[Egon]

I have a question related to this. Due to the fact that 9mm was someone difficult to size I tried case lube but did not realize that I had to remove it after the sizing and depriming step. (noob mistake) And now I have a batch of completed rounds with an extremely high rate of duds, 20-30%. (firing pin strikes the primer but it does not go bang even after a second strike) Could the case lube have somehow destroyed the primer? Its either that or I have a really bad batch of primers which to this point have worked pretty much flawlessly. Thanks.

[dog]

I absolutely lube my pistol brass (9mm can be very tough). I use Hornaday One Shot (pistol brass is all I will use it on). If you want to really get slippery, get some Dillon or RCBS spray case lube. The downside with those is you have to tumble to get it off before shooting and powder will stick around the mouth when dropping powder. One Shot will change your pistol loading life, did mine...

This! It makes life so much better...

[Bill Steele]

I have a question related to this. Due to the fact that 9mm was someone difficult to size I tried case lube but did not realize that I had to remove it after the sizing and depriming step. (noob mistake) And now I have a batch of completed rounds with an extremely high rate of duds, 20-30%. (firing pin strikes the primer but it does not go bang even after a second strike) Could the case lube have somehow destroyed the primer? Its either that or I have a really bad batch of primers which to this point have worked pretty much flawlessly. Thanks.

If you used a hydrocarbon based lube, like motor oil, you could easily kill primers if you didn't completely remove it before loading. If you used normal case lube like Hornaday One Shot (wax based) or Dillon Case lube or another Alcohol/Lanolin based lube, it will not kill your primers and you don't have to remove it before loading he cases. You should remove the Lanolin style lube before shooting (tumble after loading), the One Shot is good to go if you decide to not tumble after loading.

Dud primrs are usually a sign the primers didn't get fully seated when loading. Did you change anything in the priming step, like using harder primers (CCI'S or Russian vs Federal or Win)?

[Fishslayer]

I have a question related to this. Due to the fact that 9mm was someone difficult to size I tried case lube but did not realize that I had to remove it after the sizing and depriming step. (noob mistake) And now I have a batch of completed rounds with an extremely high rate of duds, 20-30%. (firing pin strikes the primer but it does not go bang even after a second strike) Could the case lube have somehow destroyed the primer? Its either that or I have a really bad batch of primers which to this point have worked pretty much flawlessly. Thanks.

How much lube? You'd need to pretty much soak the primers to ruin them. And even then primers have shown themselves to be pretty resistant to death by drowning.

I use One Shot. What I do is take a batch of 50 or so and line them up with the mouths facing away from me. They get a light spritz. No rolling, soaking, whatever. It doesn't take much with carbide dies. Let 'em dry for about 10 minutes. I do tumble the finished rounds in cob for awhile.

The Lee 9mm shell holder has always been problematic because it's a multi caliber. It holds the 9mm case pretty loosely. I need to kind of nudges the case a little when going up into the sizing/'capping die.

But OP I would give Lee CS a call. That doesn't look right. I loaded a lot of 9mm without lube & never had that problem. Something is wrong, IMO.

[blockfort]

I had some primers fail to detonate and was told they may not have been seated deep enough. My next loading session, I seated them very deep, in fact some were flattened a little by my press and I could see an imprint of the anvil. Many of these failed to detonate as well. I now set the primers just barely under flush and they are much more reliable.

[sjd78]

I absolutely lube my pistol brass (9mm can be very tough). I use Hornaday One Shot (pistol brass is all I will use it on). If you want to really get slippery, get some Dillon or RCBS spray case lube. The downside with those is you have to tumble to get it off before shooting and powder will stick around the mouth when dropping powder. One Shot will change your pistol loading life, did mine...

I do the same thing on all my pistol brass. Before loading I spread some out on a towel and give them a quick spray down with Hornady One Shot. Makes resizing so much smoother!

[Fishslayer]

just thought i'd ask out here and see if anyone has had the same problem and see what they did to correct the problem.

Just a thought but are you sure that's the right case holder? I've had wrong parts packed in kits before.

[Bill Steele]

I had some primers fail to detonate and was told they may not have been seated deep enough. My next loading session, I seated them very deep, in fact some were flattened a little by my press and I could see an imprint of the anvil. Many of these failed to detonate as well. I now set the primers just barely under flush and they are much more reliable.

You may believe not fully seating your primers is working for you and if it is, more power to you, but primers in general will only reliably ignite when the primer is fully seated. This is the only way the anvil is pressed up against the cup which contains the primer material . Primers are shipped with the anvil sitting away from the cup. If the primer anvil is not pressed up against the cup, when the firing pin strikes he back of the cup, only a dent in the cup occurs and the primer material has nothing to be crushed against.

The reason primers usually fire after a few strikes is the primer get finished seating by the action of the firing pin and the anvil then can contact the primer explosive.

That is what is going on, but if your way works for you, keep doing it until it quits working. I can't remember a fail to fire in many tens of thousands of rounds.

[blockfort]

Yeah Bill, I think for me, I have to go with what works, even if it's not theoretically correct. I only shoot in competition, and a failure to go bang can move me down the standings a few spots. And I had several per match before I started seating them just under flush.