This is my first post on here however I have been reading your old posts for awhile and the advice has been great. So, long story short, I just started reloading (im reloading 9mm) and I had a double charge which blew my glock 19 magazine apart and burned my finger slightly. So I pulled about 500 rounds I had made and sure enough one was double charged. I changed my procedure and now look in every case before I put the bullet on, problem solved. Now I have about 500 pieces of primed brass that I just reloaded with skipping the depriming/resizing die. It wasn't until the end that I noticed a few bullets would push right down into the brass case with just minimal handling tension. Should I go pull all of them again and do a resize without deprime just to be safe? How would I do that with a Lee classic turret press? I have the the 4 die set.
Using brass after pulling the bullets
- Thread starter TroyUT
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The Bushmaster
Member
Remove the decapping pin from the resizing die.
Alright thanks guys that's what I thought after reading some older posts but I was hoping their was an easier way. What bothers me the most is that I check a couple of rounds out of every 50 for setback by pushing them hard on the tabletop and I never had any problem with this batch until I loaded nearly all of them. Now I realise that I must have just been getting lucky with the ones that held up.
gamestalker
member
A double charge or squib should really never happen, but we won't go there considering you've already experienced the repercussions affiliated with such. I would like to state that there are some of us here who have never experienced either in decades of reloading. We aren't lucky, we're just careful and pay attention to important details associated with the process. So in light of the fact that you seem to be experiencing some serious problems, what I would like to do is offer some of my experience, to help you to enjoy a remaining life time of uneventful reloading.
Inspecting each case with a bright light prior to seating bullets, will help to eliminate double charges and squibs, and is a must do, as both will KB a firearm. But there are some other steps that can be implemented for a new reloader that will also add another layer of protection while your getting your feet wet. One such direction is to use bulkier powders that will absolutely make it impossible to over look such error's. A slower burning powder will not allow a DC or squib to easily slip by unnoticed, but there is no substitute for good reloading practices.
As for neck tension, resize all the brass which have had a bullet pulled seated in them. Don't mistake the crimp used for rimless cartridges such as 9mm, .40 cal, 45 acp as a means of applying neck tension.
Don't bell mouths any more than is necessary to eliminate shaving of bullets. The taper crimp will only remove so much before it begins to diminish neck tension.
Don't use any more crimp than is necessary to remove the bell, or you'll actually decrease neck tension, thus creating set back issues.
As little as .010" set back can significantly increase pressures, .030" set back can more than double pressures. With this said, don't over crimp, bench test each and ever round by pushing it against the bench to check for neck tension issues, and pull on each one with you fingers as well. If you find that you are still experiencing neck tension issues you either have brass that has been loaded one too many times, or the bell, crimp, or resizing process needs fine tuning.
That said, I hope you haven't taken offense to my approach, as it's only intended to help you remain safe and enjoy this awesome hobby.
GS
Inspecting each case with a bright light prior to seating bullets, will help to eliminate double charges and squibs, and is a must do, as both will KB a firearm. But there are some other steps that can be implemented for a new reloader that will also add another layer of protection while your getting your feet wet. One such direction is to use bulkier powders that will absolutely make it impossible to over look such error's. A slower burning powder will not allow a DC or squib to easily slip by unnoticed, but there is no substitute for good reloading practices.
As for neck tension, resize all the brass which have had a bullet pulled seated in them. Don't mistake the crimp used for rimless cartridges such as 9mm, .40 cal, 45 acp as a means of applying neck tension.
Don't bell mouths any more than is necessary to eliminate shaving of bullets. The taper crimp will only remove so much before it begins to diminish neck tension.
Don't use any more crimp than is necessary to remove the bell, or you'll actually decrease neck tension, thus creating set back issues.
As little as .010" set back can significantly increase pressures, .030" set back can more than double pressures. With this said, don't over crimp, bench test each and ever round by pushing it against the bench to check for neck tension issues, and pull on each one with you fingers as well. If you find that you are still experiencing neck tension issues you either have brass that has been loaded one too many times, or the bell, crimp, or resizing process needs fine tuning.
That said, I hope you haven't taken offense to my approach, as it's only intended to help you remain safe and enjoy this awesome hobby.
GS
By no means do I take offense to your advice. The fact of the matter is after I loaded my first 50 rounds (and weighed everyone) I figured that I knew exactly what I was doing and how hard could this be? LOL I could not have been more naive as to how important it was to pay attention to the powder in the case before placing the bullet on top. I now realise the importance of why everyone says to pay attention to what your doing when reloading. I won't lie, that double charge scared the **** outta me. Blew the gun out of my hand and blew the magazine apart , scorched the top of my trigger finger as well (the black skin just recently peeled off). However I feel very lucky that it wasn't worse and I'm glad that my Glock 19 took the abuse so well (nothing wrong with it the gunsmith said). So needless to say I can use all the advice I can get. I was using HS 6 behind a 147 grain plated bullet (4.8 grains) so I figured I shot one at 9.6 grains! I am now loading 115 grain plated bullets with 7 grains of HS6 so a double charge would spill over the top, but I check every case anyway!
gamestalker
member
Great, it sounds like you have learned a valuable lesson, and then applied that experience to implementing fail safe methods that will prevent another incident. But don't forget to add fail safe's to prevent set back, and squibs, either of those can ruin your day just as quickly. Like I said in my first post, their is no substitute for physically checking each case, visually, and by doing a bench test for adequate neck tension.
We're all here to help anyone who is willing to accept the advice, so keep the questions coming.
BTW, I'm so glad you weren't seriously injured, could have been much worse.
GS
We're all here to help anyone who is willing to accept the advice, so keep the questions coming.
BTW, I'm so glad you weren't seriously injured, could have been much worse.
GS
Rushthezeppelin
Member
If you can find it, I suggest grabbing some W231/HP38 powder for 9mm. It is basically impossible to double charge without it being plainly obvious (anything over a 4 grain load double charged will spill out of the case with most 9mm headstamps and even with lighter loads its plainly obvious when you go to seat the bullet). Pretty sure there are other powders that will have a similar effect with 9mm but so far that's all I've ever used.
Blue68f100
Member
Push against some bathroom scales. You want a min of 40#.
ArchAngelCD
Member.
If you reloaded close to 500 rounds after pulling them all I would not pull them again IF they pass the "push test." Be sure to measure the OAL after you check every round because feel and looking at the round just isn't enough. like said above, very small variations in the OAL can change pressures in the 9mm, sometimes by a large margin.
That's just what I would do but if you decided to pull them all just to be sure that wouldn't be an incorrect path either.
That's just what I would do but if you decided to pull them all just to be sure that wouldn't be an incorrect path either.
Angel , I pulled them all last night before seeing your post and to be honest I know a lot of them would have passed the push test. I thank all of you for assisting me with my question. I can tell this was the right place to come with the wealth of knowledge within all of you.
Push testing each one would have definitely been a better use of your time.
Pulling and resizing them all is fine, but don't pat yourself on the back just cuz you followed directions. Poor neck tension can happen even when you do things correctly.
Those few loose ones you discovered could have been due to the brass, rather than reusing pulled brass. Next time you discover some loose bullets, take note of the headstamp. You might discover a pattern.
Some brass is thicker, some thinner. And they all lose a little bit of neck tension over time. If you reload the same cases long enough, you will eventually have this problem with some of your headstamps. There's no magic formula for making ammo that won't setback. If you reload on a progressive, you are taking chances with this, period. On a SS, you can and should take notice... not so much during bullet seating as when flaring. While flaring/expanding, it is much more obvious which cases suck.
Pulling and resizing them all is fine, but don't pat yourself on the back just cuz you followed directions. Poor neck tension can happen even when you do things correctly.
Those few loose ones you discovered could have been due to the brass, rather than reusing pulled brass. Next time you discover some loose bullets, take note of the headstamp. You might discover a pattern.
Some brass is thicker, some thinner. And they all lose a little bit of neck tension over time. If you reload the same cases long enough, you will eventually have this problem with some of your headstamps. There's no magic formula for making ammo that won't setback. If you reload on a progressive, you are taking chances with this, period. On a SS, you can and should take notice... not so much during bullet seating as when flaring. While flaring/expanding, it is much more obvious which cases suck.
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Kernel
Member
If you have the Lee four die set, then you have a Lee Factory Crimp Die. Why not just use the FCD to recrimp all the loaded cartridge? Adjust the crimp according to your needs.
Potatohead
Member
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Be careful taking that decapping pin out of the resizing die. Easy to muck up the threading. I'd almost advise against even messing with it if you're a noob like me. That is if you are using a Lee die.
Also, I bought one of those (Kobalt-I think) snake lights from lowes last night that that dude on the commercial advertises from the "Kobalt" research center or whatever. It's quite awesome-Its magnetic and you can stick it onto your bench (my Lee Reloading Stand) and snake the lights head right over the case mouth. Awesome I say.
Also, I bought one of those (Kobalt-I think) snake lights from lowes last night that that dude on the commercial advertises from the "Kobalt" research center or whatever. It's quite awesome-Its magnetic and you can stick it onto your bench (my Lee Reloading Stand) and snake the lights head right over the case mouth. Awesome I say.
788Ham
Member
YEP, know all about that kinetic bullet puller, and how it works! I'd loaded about 100 .44 mag. cartridges, used the right powder and all, but had looked at the wrong charge weight when loading them………. Whack, Whack, Whack, sound familiar? lol Glad I found my mistake before I went to the range, kind of happy with the way all 10 fingers still work. 
Glad you learned a lesson about the importance of quality control and carefulness without incurring long-term damage. And also glad you're honest enough to own the mistake.
I will share one further idea that can help catch a double-charge or squib. This is not a substitute for paying attention, checking every case, etc. That said, it can provide an additional check:
Weigh every finished round. For this to be meaningful, you'll need to sort your brass by headstamp and use brands of bullets that are very consistent in weight (few cast lead bullets are consistent enough). And small charges of fast-burning powder (which are a big KB risk for a new reloader, anyway) won't work; you'll need good case fill on a cartridge as small as a 9mm. But weigh every round and write down the results, along with a note as to the brass type. Eventually, you'll see what the expected range of weights should be. Every once in a while, you'll find one out of that range; pull it. In all likelihood, it will turn out to be a heavy piece of brass or an underweight bullet. But it might just be a squib or a double-charge. Not only is this a direct QC check, I think it also instills the kind of slow and methodical approach to reloading that reduces the risk of a mishap. Is it possible to load very safely without this step? Yes. Does it add some additional chance of catching a mistake? Yes. Do you want that extra layer of QC? Up to you; you now know better than most what the stakes are.
I will share one further idea that can help catch a double-charge or squib. This is not a substitute for paying attention, checking every case, etc. That said, it can provide an additional check:
Weigh every finished round. For this to be meaningful, you'll need to sort your brass by headstamp and use brands of bullets that are very consistent in weight (few cast lead bullets are consistent enough). And small charges of fast-burning powder (which are a big KB risk for a new reloader, anyway) won't work; you'll need good case fill on a cartridge as small as a 9mm. But weigh every round and write down the results, along with a note as to the brass type. Eventually, you'll see what the expected range of weights should be. Every once in a while, you'll find one out of that range; pull it. In all likelihood, it will turn out to be a heavy piece of brass or an underweight bullet. But it might just be a squib or a double-charge. Not only is this a direct QC check, I think it also instills the kind of slow and methodical approach to reloading that reduces the risk of a mishap. Is it possible to load very safely without this step? Yes. Does it add some additional chance of catching a mistake? Yes. Do you want that extra layer of QC? Up to you; you now know better than most what the stakes are.
These are all great ideas and I will definitely incorporate what makes sense into my new routine. I by the way am not using a kinetic puller. I read somewhere (and thank God I took the advice) that for not that much more you should buy a bullet puller collet die. I got an RCBS one and it works great.
orionengnr
Member
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2005
- Messages
- 5,717
I only have the kinetic bullet puller. Once upon a time, in my noobliness I loaded about 20 rounds of .45acp after running the powder feeder dry. Fortunately, I realized it before the session was done, pulled them all down before the evening was done and did not fire any of them.
Even using a collet puller, I can't imagine how long it took to pull down 500 rounds.
But, on the bright side, a lesson like that will not soon be forgotten.
Loading 500 double charges scares the crap out of me.
I did one, and that was enough. Blew the mag out of my 1911, split both wood grips vertically through both screw holes. No damage to the pistol (aside from aforementioned grips and mag), no harm to me (other than eyes bugged out a bit). But I sure don't want to do that again...
To answer your question directly, there is no reason why the brass cannot be re-used. And if, for some reason, you are uncomfortable with that, 9mm brass is cheap and plentiful.
Hell, if you pm me I'd send you 500 range brass for the cost of shipping, if it will ease your mind.
Best regards, Rich
Even using a collet puller, I can't imagine how long it took to pull down 500 rounds.
But, on the bright side, a lesson like that will not soon be forgotten.
Loading 500 double charges scares the crap out of me.
I did one, and that was enough. Blew the mag out of my 1911, split both wood grips vertically through both screw holes. No damage to the pistol (aside from aforementioned grips and mag), no harm to me (other than eyes bugged out a bit). But I sure don't want to do that again...
To answer your question directly, there is no reason why the brass cannot be re-used. And if, for some reason, you are uncomfortable with that, 9mm brass is cheap and plentiful.
Hell, if you pm me I'd send you 500 range brass for the cost of shipping, if it will ease your mind.
Best regards, Rich
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