How'd I do?-First time loading 9mm

[09cs]

I got my dies today and started sizing and decapping them. I made one faux one and am just wondering if I have enough flare on it? The bullet in the pic is not seated, just placed there. Or if that is too much flare?

I made a real one as well, loading 4.3 grains of unique under a 115gr Rainer plated bullet, but I think I seated the bullet too short, at ~1.158 instead of 1.165. When I shake the round to check for powder, I cannot hear it at all, so am thinking it's a compressed load? (Yes there is powder, I hand loaded it with dipper and funnel)

Is it possible to take a factory round and seat the bullet plunger till it touch es the factory round and theoretically have mine come out about the same length?

[CSACANNONEER]

Flare looks perfect to me. It is just there to make seating the bullet easier. It'll be gone after you crimp.

[keshishian101]

Your flare looks fine to me. I try to flare as little as possible, it makes the brass last longer, and I get more consistent COL. Ive been doing 5.2 grains of auto comp with 1.140 COL and its not compressed. I also dont hear the powder when I shake it. Use your caliper and measure the bullet length, compare that to how high the powder is in the case and how much of the bullet is not in the case( hope that makes sense) that should tell you how much space is available. yes you can use a factory loaded round to get your dies close, but you'll probably need to fine tune them.

[ironhorse1]

You're not going to hear the powder charge in such a small case.

The flare looks good.

OAL for a 115 RN should be 1.135" Per Speer #14.

Your load of 4.3 grains of Unique is on the light side for that powder.

If it works your firearm it will be a soft shooting load.

irh

[Germz]

4.3 grains will not be a compresed load.
I load 4.5 of IMR 4756 at 1"

[chknlyps2]

Flare looks good to me too. What I always show students is to keep adjusting in slight increments till you can just feel the flair and it is good when you can set the bullet on top of the case and push slightly then turn it upside down and hold the rim, the bullet should be wedged in just enough so it doesn't fall out.

You can get real close using a factory round to adjust your seater stem but a slight adjustment may be needed when you seat a bullet.

[ORNGXTC]

Sorry if I am misunderstanding but are you using a powder dipper? Like the ones Lee dies come with?
I have more of a concern with this than your flare. I do not want to jump to cunclussions so I will wait to hear from you. But at the least I would dip, weigh, and then pour into casing. I will say I have never dipped a powder charge so if I am missing something or wrong in anyway please correct me.

[Bumslie]

Do a plunk test with your barrel to make sure you have removed flare and it head spaces correctly.

You can measure the od at the top of the case. They should be around .378 for a good "crimp" and reliable feeding.

[09cs]

Your flare looks fine to me. I try to flare as little as possible, it makes the brass last longer, and I get more consistent COL. Ive been doing 5.2 grains of auto comp with 1.140 COL and its not compressed. I also dont hear the powder when I shake it. Use your caliper and measure the bullet length, compare that to how high the powder is in the case and how much of the bullet is not in the case( hope that makes sense) that should tell you how much space is available. yes you can use a factory loaded round to get your dies close, but you'll probably need to fine tune them.

I was trying to flare as little as possible, that's what everything I read said to do, so that's what I tried to do as well! I'm pretty sure that made sense, and will try next time I have time

You're not going to hear the powder charge in such a small case.

The flare looks good.

OAL for a 115 RN should be 1.135" Per Speer #14.

Your load of 4.3 grains of Unique is on the light side for that powder.

If it works your firearm it will be a soft shooting load.

irh

Hm 1.135"? The info I have says 1.165
Yes That is the minimum that is listed, I planned on starting there, or do you think I should start at about 4.5?

Flare looks good to me too. What I always show students is to keep adjusting in slight increments till you can just feel the flair and it is good when you can set the bullet on top of the case and push slightly then turn it upside down and hold the rim, the bullet should be wedged in just enough so it doesn't fall out.

You can get real close using a factory round to adjust your seater stem but a slight adjustment may be needed when you seat a bullet.

That is exactly what I did!

Sorry if I am misunderstanding but are you using a powder dipper? Like the ones Lee dies come with?
I have more of a concern with this than your flare. I do not want to jump to cunclussions so I will wait to hear from you. But at the least I would dip, weigh, and then pour into casing. I will say I have never dipped a powder charge so if I am missing something or wrong in anyway please correct me.

Sorry should have explained better. Since I was just loading one to get the hang of pistol loading, I used the dipper, poured into powder pan, measured, then trickled in the rest to get 4.3

Do a plunk test with your barrel to make sure you have removed flare and it head spaces correctly.

Faux round fed from the magazine fine, and ejected. Tested both rounds in just the barrel and all looked fine, but I will post a picture next chance I get to double check with the experts!

[JagerDog]

Flare looks good from here.

Can't really help on OAL. I'm not a 9mm guy. What's the factory round measure?

Setting your seating die via factory round assumes an identical bullet profile. Once you establish your OAL with your bullet, some make up a dummy round to quickly set their seating die.

[09cs]

Flare looks good from here.

Can't really help on OAL. I'm not a 9mm guy. What's the factory round measure?

Setting your seating die via factory round assumes an identical bullet profile. Once you establish your OAL with your bullet, some make up a dummy round to quickly set their seating die.

between 1.165-1.169ish I think it was off the top of my head
Both of these fit in the mag fine, and slid in and out of the barrel freely. Dummy round loaded a few times (racking the slide with dummy round in mag) and no set back, no FTF's or FTE etc.

[1bulletBarney]

You're not going to hear the powder charge in such a small case.

The flare looks good.

OAL for a 115 RN should be 1.135" Per Speer #14.

Your load of 4.3 grains of Unique is on the light side for that powder.

If it works your firearm it will be a soft shooting load.

irh

Welcome to reloading...

I use 1.135 as a default OAL for 115 grn plated RN. I checked 3 different data sources and Lee (115 grn XTP) and Aliant (115 grn Speer GDHP) match for a 5.6 grn minimum charge and a 6.3 grn max charge of Unique with a 1.25 min OAL. Lymans Reloading Manual (115 grn JHP) calls out a 4.4 grn minimum charge and a 5.8 grn max charge of Unique with a 1.090 min OAL...

If OP is using the Lee Dipper, the chart says a 5cc dipper should throw a 4.6 grn charge of Unique. I dont have any Unique but I did check accuracy of a 7cc dipper with Power Pistol. Chart calls out a 7.9 grn charge of PP with a 7cc dipper and verified weight was +/- 0.1 grn. Unique being a flake powder (any powder) should allways be verified with a scale if using dipper.

IMO, the OAL OP is using could be shortened up to 1.135 - 1.140. Make sure to verify charges with a scale. I agree with Ironhorse1 that at that weight charge load will be soft shooting...

[pacrat]

Sorry if I am misunderstanding but are you using a powder dipper? Like the ones Lee dies come with?
I have more of a concern with this than your flare. I do not want to jump to cunclussions so I will wait to hear from you. But at the least I would dip, weigh, and then pour into casing. I will say I have never dipped a powder charge so if I am missing something or wrong in anyway please correct me.

Dipping is perfectly accepatable as long as you follow safe practices. Always dip and weight 10 or so charges to begin with, to ascertain the dipper/powder combination is throwing the proper charge of the proper powder.

I have an RCBS, a Redding, and a Little Dandy measures. On the rare ocassion I dip charges. I dip the charge, leaving it a bit high, then scrape off excess flat with a business card. Same mechanical action that occurs with any powder measure.

All factory ammo has 'measured" not weighted charges. Pistol ammo I always "measure". With rifles I'm more anal retentive and drop light and trickle.

JM2c

[09cs]

Welcome to reloading...

I use 1.135 as a default OAL for 115 grn plated RN. I checked 3 different data sources and Lee (115 grn XTP) and Aliant (115 grn Speer GDHP) match for a 5.6 grn minimum charge and a 6.3 grn max charge of Unique with a 1.25 min OAL. Lymans Reloading Manual (115 grn JHP) calls out a 4.4 grn minimum charge and a 5.8 grn max charge of Unique with a 1.090 min OAL...

If OP is using the Lee Dipper, the chart says a 5cc dipper should throw a 4.6 grn charge of Unique. I dont have any Unique but I did check accuracy of a 7cc dipper with Power Pistol. Chart calls out a 7.9 grn charge of PP with a 7cc dipper and verified weight was +/- 0.1 grn. Unique being a flake powder (any powder) should allways be verified with a scale if using dipper.

IMO, the OAL OP is using could be shortened up to 1.135 - 1.140. Make sure to verify charges with a scale. I agree with Ironhorse1 that at that weight charge load will be soft shooting...

Thanks, I'll try seating them back a little further!

Those charges seem kind of high, I have a chart from Rainer that calls for 4.3 min and a 5.3 max for 115gr and unique

I only loaded one up at that weight, and think I'll bump it up to 4.5/4.6 gr

[1bulletBarney]

Thanks, I'll try seating them back a little further!

Those charges seem kind of high, I have a chart from Rainer that calls for 4.3 min and a 5.3 max for 115gr and unique

I only loaded one up at that weight, and think I'll bump it up to 4.5/4.6 gr

Make sure and let us know how your loads shoot. Good luck and be safe...