First foray into pistol reloading, 9x19

[azar]

After 3 years of loading for rifles I finally decided it was time my Springfield XD-9 got in on the action.

Santa brought me the Lee Deluxe 9mm Carbide die set I asked for along with a 500 count box of the Missouri Bullet 125 grain "SmallBalls". I'm using Remington 1 1/2 small pistol primers and Hodgdon Universal powder. The data from Hodgdon for a 125g LRN bullet listed 3.8g as the start charge and 4.3g as max with a COAL of 1.125".

I loaded to this COAL initially and tried testing it by dropping the bullet into the barrel. No-go. It stuck up quite a bit from where it should have. So I continued seating deeper until It appeared to be right where it should be. The new COAL was 1.075", a good 0.050" deeper than Hodgon's listed load.

For a large bottleneck rifle case, this wouldn't concern me too much. But being new to pistol reloading and knowing that seating depth in pistol cases is much more critical this gave me some pause.

What do the more experienced pistol reloaders think? How big of a deal will that change in seating depth be if I'm starting at 3.8g and working up?

 

[RandyP]

My Lyman manuals lists a 125gr jacketed hollowpoint at 1.075 with 4.0 - 4.5gr of Universal.

the only lead close is a 120gr RN with an OAL of 1.065 but it does not show a Universal powder load.

 

[blikseme300]

Azar,

I would not be concerned about the shorter COAL. Using the chamber, as you have done, to test the COAL is the only real way to measure. Some pistols have tighter leads and boolits need to be seated slightly deeper. My CZ 75's all are like you describe. Cartridges that chamber in my Browning HP won't chamber in my CZ's if I follow manual COAL's.

Bliksem

 

[Walkalong]

1.075 will be just fine. Don't sweat it. I am not a fan of lead and Universal in 9MM, but it will work fine. W-231, AA #5, or WSF and lead in 9MM are more my style, but I haven't shot lead in 9mm in a while either.

 

[rfwobbly]

Freebore 101

Azar -
Welcome to pistol reloading!

You are very correct in your actions and assumptions. It's true, some European pistols like the CZ and XD's have a very short distance from the end of the chamber to the beginning of the rifling. You can do a search here on "leade" and "freebore" and find out more.

So in the future you'll want to watch out for bullets which have a full diameter coming out past the end of the case mouth. This includes a lot of lead bullets and most all the conical nose FP types. If you're going to want longer cartridges, then you'll probably be limited to RN with a smooth ogive. I've had very good luck with Berry, Remington. Winchester, Precision Delta, Magnus and some others in my CZ.

As for the load... You are right to worry about increased pressure within the very small 9x19 case volume. But without a published load to go by, all you can do is load some test rounds based on what you have. The entire range of your powder is 0.5gr (3.8 to 4.3gr) so we see it doesn't take much to make a difference. IMHO you'd be safe to load 5 rounds at 3.6gr and another 5 at 3.7gr and see what happens. Shoot the lower set first and look at the cases after firing.

You'll probably find that 3.6gr won't operate the slide properly and that 3.7gr equates to 3.8gr at the specified (longer) OAL. That will tell you the entire load scale has moved downward by 0.1gr due to the shorter OAL. And your new MAX load has dropped to 4.2gr.

You'll want to keep track of all these loads and data in a reloading notebook, with at least 1 full page dedicated to each bullet.

Wow, that's a lot of information. Are you writing all this down?

Now as to your OAL.... If 1.075" barely cleared the rifling, then you might want to back off a schosh more so that you're sure every bullet in 100 is missing the rifling. Maybe consider 1.070" for a single stage press. Maybe even more if you are using a progressive press.

Hope this helps!

 

[mongoose33]

It may be that the problem isn't OAL but rather you haven't completely removed the belling or casemouth expansion. The 9mm is a tapered case, and if you don't remove all the belling you may not be able to get the cartridge to fully chamber.

Are you doing a taper crimp? If not, you probably should. Remove just enough of the belling to get the case to be straight, no more. Don't overcrimp because it will squeeze the lead bullet and it will hurt your accuracy--plus, since the 9mm headspaces on the casemouth, you don't want it turned into the bullet.

 

[Walkalong]

It may be that the problem isn't OAL but rather you haven't completely removed the belling or casemouth expansion. The 9mm is a tapered case, and if you don't remove all the belling you may not be able to get the cartridge to fully chamber.

An excellent point.

Here is a sample of a .38 Super taper crimp. 9MM is just the same as far as crimp goes.

 

[rfwobbly]

It may be that the problem isn't OAL but rather you haven't completely removed the belling or casemouth expansion.

It's a simple matter to determine. Simply measure the diameter at the case mouth on the finished round. It should be LESS than .380", and hopefully close to .378".

 

[azar]

It may be that the problem isn't OAL but rather you haven't completely removed the belling or casemouth expansion.

Yes, I have done a taper crimp using the factory crimp die as a final step. That was my first assumption when I did the first bullet drop in to the barrel and it wasn't flush. Crimping didn't help that first round chamber any better. It was also sticking up far too much to be some flare left in the case mouth.

Even small adjustments to the seating depth made an obvious difference. So, I just continued until it appeared to be seated to the same depth as a factory Speer Gold Dot HP I had on hand. At that point, it was 1.080". I adjusted it until it was down to 1.075" to give a bit of wiggle room. I could go deeper still...

1.075 will be just fine. Don't sweat it. I am not a fan of lead and Universal in 9MM, but it will work fine.

Why don't you like the combo, if you don't mind me asking? I was originally going to go with Berry's or Rainer plated bullets, but I decided I wanted it to be as inexpensive per bullet as I could make it. Plus everyone here raves about Missouri Bullet and that extra 5% discount for THR members was enticing... If it's too smokey or too much hassle to clean, I'll switch to plated or jacketed.

 

[nelson133]

I load for a number of pistols and I have to tailor the length of the cartridge to fit individual chambers. It is not unusual to have short chambers. I load my .45 acps to 1.235 overall just because some of my pistols won't chamber anything longer.
There's a reason to use loads that are well under max when starting out and working up from there. Length of cartridge and length of throat can effect pressure and the smaller the case, the smaller the amount of powder it takes to really push the pressure.
I used to load up to the max, but I have learned that it serves no good purpose. For practice, why beat up the gun or yourself? Since I wouldn't use a reload for anything but practice in a pistol, a round that has enough pop to function reliably is all I need. I can then work on all the other aspects of shooting.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

for cast slugs you might consider giveing a faster powder a try. BullsEye or Red Dot are my 2 go-to's, but these are all I've ever used for cast, others may have good recomendations too.
the techniques given are all good suggestions.
welcome to handloading.

 

[rfwobbly]

Why don't you like the combo [of Universal Clays and 9mm lead]

Can't answer for Walkalong, but I bet it has to do with the slow speed of Universal Clays. You'd be much better off with a powder along the speed of Win 231 or HP-38 for a 125gr bullet. Save the Universal Clays for your 147gr bullets.