Reloading Question

[OldCannon]

Another question... does the powder spilled on the floor actually blowup the vacuum?

Thanks for all the responses.

The danger of vacuuming the spilled powder is fire more so than explosion. That's what brooms and dustpans are for. Sweep, then wet mop to clean up spilled powder and - - - don't reload in a carpeted room! The danger of static electricity is too great! You will never get the spilled powder out of the carpet.

A bit of a wife's tale about static electricity causing gunpowder to ignite: http://www.ctmuzzleloaders.com/ctml_exp ... parks.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I always reload in a carpeted room...and I vacuum up small spills of powder. I suppose I run with scissors too

[Don2]

I wish I had a small Van de Graaff generator just to find out if and or how much it would take to set off smokeless powder.!

Just for giggles.
Don't know for sure, but it would be interesting.

Don2

[urnoodle]

It took me a while to get to the range to fire the 9mm ammo that my friend reloaded for me. I had the chance today and I don't like the new powder. It threw a cloud of black dust and my hawg 9 would not extract the casings. It ran fine in my Sig P250 though. Both my guns are 9mm so I'm confused why it ran fine in one and poorly in the other. I ran Golden Saber and Remington UMC in the Hawg 9 just to make sure it wasn't the gun and they ran fine. My friend had always used Unique or Power Pistol but lately it has become impossible to find locally so he substituted accurate arms #5. I buy the components that he loads. Is there another powder that is cleaner and maybe a little stronger than Accurate #5 that I should buy?

[cbunt1]

It took me a while to get to the range to fire the 9mm ammo that my friend reloaded for me. I had the chance today and I don't like the new powder. It threw a cloud of black dust and my hawg 9 would not extract the casings. It ran fine in my Sig P250 though. Both my guns are 9mm so I'm confused why it ran fine in one and poorly in the other. I ran Golden Saber and Remington UMC in the Hawg 9 just to make sure it wasn't the gun and they ran fine. My friend had always used Unique or Power Pistol but lately it has become impossible to find locally so he substituted accurate arms #5. I buy the components that he loads. Is there another powder that is cleaner and maybe a little stronger than Accurate #5 that I should buy?

I've never used AA powders for 9mm, but anecdotal reports are that they are fine. I think I would lean toward AA#2 for 9mm, since it's a bit "faster," but #5 is quite popular for those guys running 147 grain 9mm rounds. Titegroup is very popular and effective in 9mm, as are the ones you mentioned. Bullseye is hard to pass up as well, as long as you're not subject to "power factors" like shooting in IDPA or IPSC games.

As far as running in one gun, and not doing so well in others, that's the nature of ammunition in general, and reloaded ammunition in particular. I have a few recipes that run perfectly in one of my 1911's, but won't run at all in my others (or anyone else's for that matter). I like the load, and it works in that gun, so when I make it, I label it for the specific gun and go for it.

Always remember that factory ammo (or any other, really) is a compromise between ballistics and function; I can make a load that dimensionally loads and feeds in most guns, or I can make a "perfect" load for one gun. There's a balance between the two ideals, and one of the major gains of reloading is moving toward the "perfect for my gun" standard, while stepping back from the "works in any gun" model. Many many many rounds reloaded, tried in various guns, and notes on loads will find you that sweet spot on the continuum.

That's just a fancy way to say "I've made a lot of ammo that doesn't work too!" :) That's why we have bullet pullers and notebooks!

[cbunt1]

Is it safe to meltdown cast bullets with liquid alox on them?

Sure, no sweat.

It should be in a well ventilated space, but that is just common sense for bullet casting in general.

That Liquid Alox is a great lube, but man does it stink and smoke when you remelt those "boolits!"

[Gyrogearhead]

That's just a fancy way to say "I've made a lot of ammo that doesn't work too!" :) That's why we have bullet pullers and notebooks!

And "Amen Brother!"

I've got to put that on the wall above my reloading bench!

Gerry

[urnoodle]

I have a new batch that I'm going to try out this weekend if possible. My friend used the same powder as last time but he bumped up the weight a little. I guess its a bit more challenging to get the right formula when the one reloading isn't the one firing it. I think my para likes a little bit more power. Since it's my carry I like to get more practice in with it. My friend also made a batch with Win 231 powder so it'll be interesting to see how the two batches compare. I don't understand the chemistry entirely but I sure do like to shoot em. It's so much cheaper for me considering I generally go through 200-300 rounds each time I go to the range.

I have about 100 rounds from the last trip that my friend will be pulling the bullets. I hope he appreciates my contribution to his stress relief.

[urnoodle]

I acquired all the equipment, a few months ago, to reload 9mm. I hadn't touched it and continued to let a friend of mine do all my reloading. After some coaxing from my friend, he finally convinced me to give it a try so I reloading a box of 50 9mm FMJ. He supervised me as I was loading it. I used the same components and load data from 2 boxes he had loaded for me. My load data is as follows;
6.0 gr AA #5
CCI 500 primer
pulled FMJ round nose
mixed once fired brass
1.100 OAL

Today we took them to the range. First I fired a manufactured box of seller & belliot, and then I fired a box of my friends reloads to form a comparison. Both boxes were flawless. I then fired half the box I reloaded but every one failed to eject. The spent casing would jam between the slide and the ejection port. Thinking that it was the gun, I fired another half of a box of my friends reloads and a half box of seller & belliot both were flawless. So I put 5 of mine in one magazine and 5 in the other. Again all 10 casings did not eject. I had my friend repeat to see if he got the same results and he did.

What I noticed is that my reloads didn't sound nearly as loud.

When we got home, my friend took 4 of mine and pulled the bullets, weighed the powder; 2 of them had 6.0gr, 1 had 6.1gr and 1 had 5.9gr. Mine had an OAL of 1.099. He did the same with 4 of his, all of his were 6.0gr on the money and 1.100 OAL. So we looked at several spent casings. His casings and the manufactured seemed to have more black residue inside and discoloration to the outside of the casing. Mine looked a bit cleaner but did not have the same external discoloration found on the other 2. The bullets were of the same lot but the powder and primers were not. We are both confused why I had such a different result since the loads were practicallly the same. Is it possible that there could be a difference in the primer or powder lots and my load was too light?

[Jumping Frog]

weighed the powder; 2 of them had 6.0gr, 1 had 6.1gr and 1 had 5.9gr. Mine had an OAL of 1.099. He did the same with 4 of his, all of his were 6.0gr on the money and 1.100 OAL.

Those powder and length differences are meaningless, well within typical margin of error.

You didn't state bullet weight, but I am assuming 115 gr. A 6.0 gr load is well within the acceptable range of 5.4 to 6.3.

I would measure your cases, your sizing die might be a little large, or you may not have completely removed the belling on the case.

Did you remove the barrel from your handgun and drop loaded rounds into the chamber? Do they chamber freely?

[urnoodle]

I guess I forgot to include the bullet weight. You are correct 115gr. We didn't think of measuring the diameter of the bullet but we did the drop in test and my reloads move freely. After reading your reply, I measured the length from the end of the barrel to the primer for all 3 bullets and they were all the same length. I measured the diameter of all 3 at the base and neck of the case and they were the same. I have a different set of calipers than my friend does so I measured the OAL again using my calipers. My friends rounds were closer to 1.114 OAL and mine measured 1.100. One thing I did notice is that the Sellier & Bellot and Winchester White Box were significantly longer than both of ours, measuring 1.166 OAL. I'm afraid to reload more without knowing what I may have done wrong. I don't know if this makes a difference but my friend uses a Dillon progressive and I have my ex-boyfriend's Lee turret press that he gave me. I see why more women don't reload, too much math. I am practicing more so I'd like to get a handle on the reloading to save money otherwise I will be buying my friend more beer than he should be drinking .

[Jumping Frog]

The OAL length published in load data is the minimum acceptable length that still generates safe pressures. The SAAMI maximum length for 9mm is 1.169 in. So in your case, any length between 1.100 and 1.169 is acceptable so long as it feeds properly in your gun.

Try making up a half dozen rounds at various lengths (for example, 6 rounds at 1.125", 6 rounds at 1.145", and 6 rounds at 1.160") that are inert. That means leave the spent primer in the case and load the cartridge to that length without using any powder.

Now, load the various samples in a magazine and hand feed to check for proper feeding and extraction.

I know this stuff seems complicated, but once you get a load dialed in, then it is simply repeating the same recipe over and over again.

Make sure you keep good notes in a reloading notebook.

[urnoodle]

The OAL length published in load data is the minimum acceptable length that still generates safe pressures. The SAAMI maximum length for 9mm is 1.169 in. So in your case, any length between 1.100 and 1.169 is acceptable so long as it feeds properly in your gun.

Try making up a half dozen rounds at various lengths (for example, 6 rounds at 1.125", 6 rounds at 1.145", and 6 rounds at 1.160") that are inert. That means leave the spent primer in the case and load the cartridge to that length without using any powder.

Now, load the various samples in a magazine and hand feed to check for proper feeding and extraction.

I know this stuff seems complicated, but once you get a load dialed in, then it is simply repeating the same recipe over and over again.

Make sure you keep good notes in a reloading notebook.

Thanks for all the info! I just have one more stupid question and then I'll stop from asking another until after the next time I go to the range . After I do the varied length tests, then I should reload using the maximum length that fed well and use the same powder charge I've used previously?

[Napier]

Did you finish off with a crimping die? Uncrimped or too lightly crimped might affect the "pop."

[urnoodle]

Ok I'm just saying.... I watched every Youtube video available for reloading, I read all the books (well not the entire book but the important parts ). I watched my friends, I asked questions. Read FAQ on websites devoted to the art of reloading. All this I did before I attempted to reload my first round. None of these mentioned anything about what I did wrong. I found it out quite by accident after following your suggestion Jumping Frog. My discovery, my powder charge was light. Yep I weighed it twice before loading it. As I said, it doesn't say anywhere in all my travels to never, never reload with the ceiling fan on. It changed the charge weight on my digital scale. I was confident in the load I used because my friend used the same load and they always worked great.

The ceiling fan turns on automatically when I turn the light switch on. Tonight while I was pulling a 100+ bullets I weighed every 10th powder charge. All coming out right on target, 6.0gr. I took a break half way thru. When I came back in the room I didn't turn the light on and my charges were coming out 5.0gr. So I calibrated the scale and turned the light on just to make sure I was seeing it correctly and Bob's your uncle the 5.0gr charge turned into 6.0gr. So I turned the light off and sure enough it was 5.0 again. I continued to weigh the next 10 periodically turning the light on and off. It was the ceiling fan the whole time. I guess this is where common sense plays a role in reloading. Yep I have pie all over my face.

Reloading them again this time with the ceiling fan off. My problem has been solved. Thanks for all the help!!