Reloading Problem

[thebloodsonthewall]

So I am still working the bugs out with my 9mm reloads. I have a Dillon 550b and I'm using 3.3 gr Clays powder with 125 gr RN lead bullets. I have about 1000 rounds loaded and yesterday I went through them all and dropped them in my barrel. Out of the 1000, about 100 of them did not drop into the barrel correctly. So today I went to my press to do some problem solving. I narrowed it down to station one. I played around with the position of the die for at least an hour and I can't get it to consistently give me a casing that fits in the chamber. It will be good for a few casings and then it wont fit. What could be the reason for this? I don't understand why this is happening. If I don't touch the die, shouldn't it give me the same thing each time? I wrenched it down nice and tight too.

Is there anyone in Elk Grove or near by that could give me a hand getting all the bugs worked out?

[J-cat]

Did you screw the die all the way down to the shellplate? Maybe you need a "U" die.

[thebloodsonthewall]

Did you screw the die all the way down to the shellplate? Maybe you need a "U" die.

Yeah, I screwed the die all the way to the shell plate. What is a "U" die?

[f4tweet]

It is basically an "undersized" die that takes the Glock Bulge out of the brass. I think EGW has them made specially. I have one for .40 brass. Make sure your crimp setting is taking the flare out of the sized brass also.

[bohoki]

what is your oal cartridge length (are you seating the bullet to deep or not deep enough)

who makes your bullets? are they sized correctly?

[thebloodsonthewall]

what is your oal cartridge length (are you seating the bullet to deep or not deep enough)

who makes your bullets? are they sized correctly?

I buy my bullets from Stone Wall bullets. They seem to be of good quality. I have my oal at 1.125.

Previously I had a problem with the crimp but I gave it a better crimp and it solved that problem. It just started doing this.

[CSACANNONEER]

If you want me to stop by and try to help you, just let me know. How's that for customer service? (I sold him the used 550 in April and I live about 7 hours away.) As luck would have it, I'll be passing through this tuesday so, if you want me to stop by, I can. I'll PM you my phone number.

[f4tweet]

I have used certain bullets that even though I used a recipe, the profile of that bullet wouldn't work. Sometimes the shoulder is higher and hits the lands preventing you from using the written recipe.

[Turbinator]

Also, is your brass once fired or fired multiple times?

Turby

[J-cat]

If you crimp too much, you will bulge the brass and it won't chamber. Crimp just enough to remove the bell from the case mouth.

Cysle the ones you have through the gun to see if the rifling is engraving the bullet. If so, then seat the bullets a little deeper.

[buffybuster]

How many times has the brass been fired?

What kind of gun are you shooting these reloads in?

What eventually happens with 9mm cases after they have been reloaded and fired in a loose chamber is the casehead expands and a "belt" forms around the casehead where the resizing die cannot get far enough to resize it. There's no way to can get down that far with a progressive since the shellplate is thick enough to preclude that. Sometimes you can get down farther with a single stage, depending on whether your die has a radiused mouth or not. The only way to fully remove that "belt" is for them to be rolled sized which is what commercial reloaders have/use which swages the cases all the way down to the extractor groove removing the "belt".

If you have a pistol with a generous chamber you're good to go. But otherwise you'll have to chamber check them if you're shooting a match. Otherwise they are an inconvenience/PITA at the range.

Some years ago I had an HK and SIG that had tighter chambers and they wouldn't fully chamber these rounds. The Beretta's I have eat everything.

[Harbinger]

How many times has the brass been fired?

What kind of gun are you shooting these reloads in?

What eventually happens with 9mm cases after they have been reloaded and fired in a loose chamber is the casehead expands and a "belt" forms around the casehead where the resizing die cannot get far enough to resize it. There's no way to can get down that far with a progressive since the shellplate is thick enough to preclude that. Sometimes you can get down farther with a single stage, depending on whether your die has a radiused mouth or not. The only way to fully remove that "belt" is for them to be rolled sized which is what commercial reloaders have/use which swages the cases all the way down to the extractor groove removing the "belt".

If you have a pistol with a generous chamber you're good to go. But otherwise you'll have to chamber check them if you're shooting a match. Otherwise they are an inconvenience/PITA at the range.

Some years ago I had an HK and SIG that had tighter chambers and they wouldn't fully chamber these rounds. The Beretta's I have eat everything.

I have seen this and was wondering what was happening. I guess it's a good thing I have a Glock?

Thank you so much for your insight! The knowledge on this board continues to astound me.

Mike

[ar15barrels]

Whose barrel are you running in that Glock?
Let me guess, lone wolf?
Some of them have tight chambers and won't reliably chamber reloads.
I run a standard 9mm reamer into them and chambering problems are usually gone.

[J-cat]

I have seen this and was wondering what was happening. I guess it's a good thing I have a Glock?

Not really. Glock 9mm chambers are a full .002" tighter in diameter than Sig.

[thebloodsonthewall]

The brass is once or twice fired. I am using a Springfield XD with the factory barrel.

I don't think it is the crimp or anything else. Eventually I stopped loading the complete rounds and was just doing the first station and then dropping just the casing into the barrel. Sometimes I would adjust it and the casing would fit correctly in the barrel and then not even changing anything, the next casing wouldn't fit in the barrel. There was no pattern or anything, some of them just didn't fit. What could be causing this? I am using Dillon dies and they are only a few months old.

Thanks for everyone's input thus far.