Hi guys. I am experiencing a problem with OAL and getting my dummy round to chamber in my Springfield xd9 with a 3" barrel. I'm using a lee single stage classic press with lee carbide dies for 9mm luger.
I ordered some 125gr. .356"dia bullets from Missouri Bullet Co. and I am starting to reload for the first time.
I resized my once fired brass using my resizing/decapping die. I made sure to match up the shellholder with the die, and then screw the die 1/2 a turn in a little more like the instructions said. I compared the length, width, and anything else I could measure of a resized once fired brass to a unfired new factory round, and a new unfired factory brass with the bullet and powder pulled out. All the same dimensions. I took the unfired factory brass and dropped it into my chamber. I then took the resized once fired brass and dropped it into the chamber. They both went into the chamber easily and were removed by tipping the barrel back and letting them fall out.
Next, I expanded the case mouth just enough to accept my 125gr. round nose cast bullet.
Then I placed my bullet into the brass and ran it in the bullet seater die. I slowly adjusted the die until I reached the OAL prescirbed by Hodgdon on their load data web site.
My load is 3.9gr of HP-38 at a C.O.L of 1.125" for a 125gr. LCN. I am working on a dummy round with no primer or powder to make sure I can do this correctly.
When I seat the dummy cartridge at an overall length of 1.125", it will not chamber into my XD. I drop the bullet in, using no force to push it into the chamber. A small portion of the brass just above the rim sticks out of the chamber. When I drop a factory load in it does not, and the chamber swallows the cartridge up to the rim of the brass.
I believe this is too much headspace (I'm just starting to understand that concept). This is bad. Also, when I assemble the gun and try to place my dummy round into the gun it will not chamber. The slide will not close on the dummy round.
For comparison, my factory Blazer Brass 115gr. is 1.150" OAL and it chambers and feeds just fine.
I decided to seat the bullet a little deeper into the dummy cartridge until it very easily entered and exited the chamber of the gun, and the rim of the brass was completely into the chamber, just like the factory round.
This overall length was 1.110". This is .015" smaller than the factory data says! If used Hodgdon's data's OAL, I would have a cartridge that is too long and will not work in my gun. My shorter OAL works in the gun just fine. My concern is that there will be too much pressure at this new shorter OAL, and I will blow up my gun or ruin it due to increased pressures. From reading the recent 9mm Lee Loader & OAL thread posted a short time ago, the advice was to never go below the prescribed OAL.
My question is, is it safe to load this cartridge at that length, shorter than the data says, if the data's OAL is too long for my gun? Or am I doing something wrong here and the data is correct?
I ordered some 125gr. .356"dia bullets from Missouri Bullet Co. and I am starting to reload for the first time.
I resized my once fired brass using my resizing/decapping die. I made sure to match up the shellholder with the die, and then screw the die 1/2 a turn in a little more like the instructions said. I compared the length, width, and anything else I could measure of a resized once fired brass to a unfired new factory round, and a new unfired factory brass with the bullet and powder pulled out. All the same dimensions. I took the unfired factory brass and dropped it into my chamber. I then took the resized once fired brass and dropped it into the chamber. They both went into the chamber easily and were removed by tipping the barrel back and letting them fall out.
Next, I expanded the case mouth just enough to accept my 125gr. round nose cast bullet.
Then I placed my bullet into the brass and ran it in the bullet seater die. I slowly adjusted the die until I reached the OAL prescirbed by Hodgdon on their load data web site.
My load is 3.9gr of HP-38 at a C.O.L of 1.125" for a 125gr. LCN. I am working on a dummy round with no primer or powder to make sure I can do this correctly.
When I seat the dummy cartridge at an overall length of 1.125", it will not chamber into my XD. I drop the bullet in, using no force to push it into the chamber. A small portion of the brass just above the rim sticks out of the chamber. When I drop a factory load in it does not, and the chamber swallows the cartridge up to the rim of the brass.
I believe this is too much headspace (I'm just starting to understand that concept). This is bad. Also, when I assemble the gun and try to place my dummy round into the gun it will not chamber. The slide will not close on the dummy round.
For comparison, my factory Blazer Brass 115gr. is 1.150" OAL and it chambers and feeds just fine.
I decided to seat the bullet a little deeper into the dummy cartridge until it very easily entered and exited the chamber of the gun, and the rim of the brass was completely into the chamber, just like the factory round.
This overall length was 1.110". This is .015" smaller than the factory data says! If used Hodgdon's data's OAL, I would have a cartridge that is too long and will not work in my gun. My shorter OAL works in the gun just fine. My concern is that there will be too much pressure at this new shorter OAL, and I will blow up my gun or ruin it due to increased pressures. From reading the recent 9mm Lee Loader & OAL thread posted a short time ago, the advice was to never go below the prescribed OAL.
My question is, is it safe to load this cartridge at that length, shorter than the data says, if the data's OAL is too long for my gun? Or am I doing something wrong here and the data is correct?