deadeye dick
Member
Not to hijack this thread but when you check the case in the guage is it done with the bullet in place.
Well I'm late to the party and I'm not sure if this has been addressed yet, but case length is measured after sizing?
I'm new to reloading and have assembled maybe 6000 9mm rounds my biggest struggle was pt. 2 on ATL fine post. I had a difficult time making reloads that were super consistent in Springfield 1911 chambers.Lots of good information so far. I'll just add the following observations:
- I load and shoot a significant volume of 9mm ammo these days. Some of it is relatively soft, minor-PF stuff, but a lot of it is is 9MM Major (over book, built for special USPSA race gun). With non-major loads, brass lasts a very, very long time - at least from the good headstamps. With major loads, 2-4 firings is all I get before the primer pocket gets loose or it stops gauging even after resizing because of expansion near the rim.
- With 9mm's tapered case, it is critical that you get the die all the way down to the shell holder. If you have a tight-chambered gun, even a hair's breadth of clearance when the ram is all the way up has the potential to cause problems.
- I don't ever measure cases, much less trim them. I do case gauge all loaded ammo - every round. Things that don't gauge with ease get marked as practice ammo - and I try not to re-collect that brass after shooting. Things that really don't gauge well get thrown away (this is rare).
- I've never measured crimp. I crimp enough so the rounds will plunk. Like others, I like a nice coke-bottle shape on the sized brass such that I can see where the bullet base is - it's like a VPL for ammo!
I just noticed this. The N-105/95 Gr JHP load shot great with less pressure than my 3N37/95 Gr JHP load.Walkalong,
how did the N105 load shoot?
Either way, but if it has a bullet in place it can fail and it might not be the cases fault. I gauge all of my 9MM brass, and none of my loaded rounds.
My preference, since I fire a fully loaded round, is to check loaded ammo in a Hondo/Shockbottle case gauge block. It does 100 at a time, and that way I can eliminate any other issues that might come up such as bulges or just case mouth nicks due to a slight mis-alignment on the progressive. The heavier bullets in a 9mm can bulge quite a bit, but still gauge ok. Again, just my preference, if whatever works for you is working, neat!I used to gauge after I loaded but figured out that it wasn't necessary.