Howdy,

I'm brand new to handloading -- just finished shooting my first batch today. I loaded up a few hundred 9x19 loads varying between 3.0 and 4.6 grains of bullseye, Hi-Skor 700x, and Unique, all with 115grain cast bullets that a friend cast for me, and Remington 1 1/2 primers.

The brass was once fired, and I didn't trim any of them, but none exceeded max brass length. Overall length was within 3/1000 of 1.169 for every cartridge - none exceeding 1.169. The mouth of the case was flared 10/1000 during the expansion process. I did not crimp any of them after seating (cuz I read that if you can get away with not crimping, you shouldn't crimp, as non-crimped cartridges are more accurate).

Everything went very well, except for a constant problem that was consistent in three different pistols (Sig Pro, IA Firestar, and a Ruger), with every load. At least 1 out of every 3 rounds would chamber and leave the breech not fully closed -- I had to either bump the rear of the slide or grab it and shove it closed. Any ideas? Could it have been a function of non-crimping?

Yes. Pull the barrel out of one of your pistols and try dropping one of your loads in. It should drop into a clean chamber without any assistance. I don't load 9mm, but I believe it should have a slight taper crimp. Set your crimp die so that you feel the slightest bump at the top of the stroke. That should do it, but you may find a little less or more is better.

The no crimp idea works for rifle cases where the expander doesn't flare the case mouth and you're loading jacketed bullets.

Bye
Jack

Try Jack's suggestion to determine if your reloading technique is proper for the handgun.

Remember, a rimless semi-auto round chambers on the case mouth - length and diameter is critical.

Thanks guys! I dont' know what your opinion is regarding Lee dies, but all I have is the factory crimp die for that caliber -- should that be sufficient, or should I pick up a taper die?

Any Lee Factory Crimp users here?

Bye
Jack

Yup - gotta set.

Best use the taper crimp on rimless pistol cases.

The 9mm Luger, unlike most other auto pistol cartridges, is slightly tapered. If you flare the case mouth to ease/enable seating of bullets, you must ensure that all of that flare is turned back in. A slight to moderate taper crimp is very advisable on this cartridge...and not just feeding and chambering...it is a BIG safety issue. The 9mm has a very small powder capacity, if the bullet is seated deeper as it slams into the feed ramp and reduces case capacity....you can have a very large increase in pressure. A taper crimp, when used properly will not decrease your case life much at all from what I've experienced.

The advice about not using much of a crimp if you can get away with it is mainly directed at revolver shooters using a roll crimp. Example would be someone putting a heavy roll crimp on a .38 or .44 Special, or light loaded magnum casing...it will needlessly decrease case life. I would worry about excessivley belling the case mouth far more than crimping, it will wear out the casing much faster in my opinion.

As Kdub said, taper crimp for most auto pistols (including the .38 Super). A roll crimp will turn in the case mouth that case headspaces on and will sometimes detract from accuracy and reliable function of the pistol.

Good luck with your reloading, it's a great hobby.

Using the Lee factory crimp die sizes the finished round down to factory specs. You should have no chambering problem from the crimp if you follow the instructions. I use the Lee factory crimp die on all my loads. There are a couple of other reasons you might get incomplete chambering. One is too light a load. The slide does not get enough power from the charge to properly push the round into the chamber. Also if the over all length is too long you might have the bullet touching the rifling enough to keep the slide from closing.

I've been reloading a while, but did the same dumb thing with 850 rds of .45 auto and 150 .45 WinMag...duh! The taper crimp should be built into the die, and it's merely a matter, as Jack said first, of setting up the die correctly first so that it taper crimps (not really a crimp, rather a squeeze!). When you can seat the round into the barrel, add a pinch. Then, set your bullet seater to the right depth. Take a look at the instrux that came with your dies, and it'll explain the process.

For mine, set the cartridge into the shellholder, run the ram up to the die. Screw the die in until you feel it make contact with the case, then screw and test until it's right.

Agree with all the above comments except for the possibility of light charges. The most apparent mistake is not crimping after seating the bullet. The 9x19 mm is not a large cartridge and everything about it requires meticulous attention. If you want to know how to reload this cartridge, first examine a factory round for its physical characteristics and duplicate that. Whoever told you that crimping a 9x19 is not condusive to good accuracy was thinking of reloading .38 Special wadcutters. Take the remaining reloads that you have and put them through a taper crimper but first adjust the taper crimper using a factory round. Remove the barrel(s) of your 9's and drop a taper crimped reload into the chamber of your barrel(s). The round should seat fully in the chamber without any interference. If the round doesn't seat fully, adjust your taper crimper accordingly. It might be a good idea to also order a 9x19 case gauge from Midway just so you can test your reloads in the future without having to pull a barrel.

There's a long thread on adjusting the Lee Factory crimp die here. Sounds like you can make things worse if you don't do it right.
http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=705

Bye
Jack

Thanks for all the great advice guys. I yanked one of the barrells, cleaned it, and dropped one of my leftovers in -- it wouldn't seat. I threw a quick crimp on it with the factory crimp die and dropped it in -- went in fine. I'll be sure to crimp all of my 9x19 loads in the future, and pick up a case guage.

Another question on that caliber, what case trimmer setups do you all use? I haven't had to trim a batch of 9x19 brass, but it seems like having to trim pistol cases would be a considerably larger pain in the *** than trimming rifle cases, considering the volume of cases used.

Thanks again.

Pistol cases usually don't stretch enough to need trimming. I have trimmed new cases to get them to a uniform length, but never a fired case. Rifle cases are another matter. I use a Forster trimmer, got it over 30 years ago and it just keeps going. If I had a large number of cases in one calibre that were all of one brand I'd be inclined to sort by length into long, medium and short lots. Be a lot quicker than trimming them.

Bye
Jack

Your slide was actually trying to crimp the case for you everytime a round was chambered. The rounds should just drop into the chamber without interference as most 9's are chambered for service use and not match shooting. As for the case trimmer, you can hold off trimming the 9's as they seldom stretch enough to make this worthwhile. By the way, on weekends at my local range there are hundreds of shiney once fired 9x19 cases just begging to be picked up and reloaded. That means I never keep a case long enough for it to stretch. I hope it's the same where you shoot. Different story with rifle cases where trimming is a must do periodically.

Another question on that caliber, what case trimmer setups do you all use? I haven't had to trim a batch of 9x19 brass, but it seems like having to trim pistol cases would be a considerably larger pain in the *** than trimming rifle cases, considering the volume of cases used.

Thanks again.

It would probably count as something of a minor miracle, if you found a 9mm case that needed to be trimmed.

Should you want to trim them all to be consistent in the pursuit of accuracy..... get one of the Lee trimmer gizmos, and use the cutter in a drill press. Just hold the case in the contraption that grabs the rim with your fingers, and keep them back from the trimmer blades.

It's by far the fastest way to mess with such things, and probably a fairly cheap way to confirm that life's too short to trim pistol cases.

Why keep the fingers back, Mike? Found I can trim my fingernails at the same time that way! :D

awesome idea. I already have the lee cutter unit thing, and just brought a benchtop drill press down to my reloading room now. sweet.

Why keep the fingers back, Mike? Found I can trim my fingernails at the same time that way! :D

And you'll never have to trim them again, either! :eek:

I just don't want to find your fingertips in my Wendy's chili :D