reloading help!

[Jumping Frog]

First, you are overcrimping the bullet. All you really want to do is remove the flare. Look at the factory round and compare to yours. Or look at the below picture.

As far as length goes, it looks too long to me. The shoulder of the bullet should be much closer to the case. That round looks like it will jam into the barrel rifling for a pistol with a normal leade.

Here is a picture that shows how a truncated cone bullet is normally seated.

[mr surveyor]

First, a little disclaimer, the following message is not meant in anyway to be argumentative, but to help me get a better understanding of what i'm doing.

The crimp i agree looks like it is too much
the bullet length however was derived from taking an fmj rn bullet apart and using the seating depth of a similar sized bullet(and weight) to determine depth.
Pictures will follow in this post so you can get where i'm coming from.
also i took apart a hollow point that was seated about the same depth but was a longer bullet than the two shown in my picture.
just trying to wrap my head around the differences, which is why my powder can is still unopened!

dedeye

I think JF gave you excellent advise, as usual. The man knows reloading.

Here's a simple test for your dummy rounds. Remove the barrel from your pistol and use IT for a cartridge gauge. First, so you will know exactly what to look for, drop a factory round into the chamber and notice how it easily drops in and makes a pleasant "clunk" sound, but especially notice the location of the case head (bottom of the cartridge) when the cartridge bottoms out. Do more than one. Then drop your seated rounds in and look for exactly the same characteristics. If it don't easily "clunk" at the same depth (notice the casehead in relation to the chamber, relative to what you see with the factory rounds), then don't try to shoot it. Load data specifies overall cartridge length for good reason. If the cartridge exceeds maximum OAL, and does somehow manage to get forced to the point that the bullet is beyond the throat and into the lands and grooves, you could just be the next statistical addition to the list of kabooms from overpressure.

[mjoplin]

First, a little disclaimer, the following message is not meant in anyway to be argumentative, but to help me get a better understanding of what i'm doing.

The crimp i agree looks like it is too much
the bullet length however was derived from taking an fmj rn bullet apart and using the seating depth of a similar sized bullet(and weight) to determine depth.
Pictures will follow in this post so you can get where i'm coming from.
also i took apart a hollow point that was seated about the same depth but was a longer bullet than the two shown in my picture.
just trying to wrap my head around the differences, which is why my powder can is still unopened!

Truncated cone bullets, semi wad cutters, etc. will seat lower than FMJs do. You can't make an apples to apples comparison on the length and seating depth between different bullet types. Overall length on the truncated cone should be shorter than the FMJ. Your's appears to be way too far out. Ultimately "plunk test" them in your barrell to ensure they seat correctly and make sure the length will allow them to fit in the magazine and reliably feed in your gun. Just based off what I've seen on my reloads (and others), I marked up your picture to illustrate how much shoulder should probably be visible.

I won't belabor the overcrimp. Bob (and others) have provided some sound advice! This is a great place to get help and your testing and questions prior to opening the powder can speak well for you. Good luck with your reloads!

[Jumping Frog]

Just based off what I've seen on my reloads (and others), I marked up your picture to illustrate how much shoulder should probably be visible.

I agree with your entire message plus the amount of shoulder you've illustrated.

[Jumping Frog]

Still seems a little proud to me, but it's been forever since I loaded 9mm. As long as it fits the mag, feeds reliably and sits in the chamber without the case-head (the rear end) sticking too far out, you're good.

What I would do to double-check is to strip the gun and hold just the barrel. Now take an empty, resized case and push it into the chamber and make a good note as to exactly how far in it goes - now compare that by plopping those dummy-rounds into the chamber and see how deep they go; they should go just as deep.

Yep, I call that the "plunk test".

The round should simply drop into the chamber, you should not have to push them in with any kind of pressure.

Here is an example for a 1911 barrel, but the principle is the same for all barrels.



BTW, Andy is saying "a little proud". I'll simply say they still look a little too long.

[mjoplin]

I would probably look for about half as much margin on the shoulder as you show in your last photo, check for it to run through your mag and cycle in the gun. You're passing the plunk test, now ensure that it will feed properly. It is looking much better!

[LTUME1978]

One other comment. You can seat the bullets too deep. That has the potential to cause high pressure and can also cause the bullet to key hole. When I first started loading for my 9mm, I seated the 147 grain bullets too deep and they key holed. I moved the depth out to just a few thousands of an inch under maximum length and the key holing ended. Accuracy was also excellent.