Baffled

Magload

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I have been loading 9mm for my M&P Pro L for just over a year now with no problems. It eats my SWCs, RN, and RNFP just fine. I just got a new Springfield 9mm RO Champion with a match grade bull barrel and it doesn't like some of my reloads. It will not run them all the way into the chamber and locks up the gun tight. I can plunk test the round and 5 will do just fine and the next one will not go all the way into battery. All were loaded at the same time on my 550. I have mic'ed cases I have changed COL. As a matter of fact some ofthe brass will not even plunk after resizing with no bullet. The next round will plunk fine. Is my carbine resizer not working everytime or is it the brass?

BTW it eats Hornady Critical Defence rounds as fast as I can feed it but at $26 dollars a box I sure am not going to use those for break in. Don
 
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Well without telling us what bullets and COL it is choking on, it's impossible to say. It's a 9 mm 1911, you expect it to feed properly?:D

The ammo you made for you other gun is not always going to work in another. So you need to start over. Especially SWC bullets they are very finicky in 1911's The COL has to be just right as well as the taper crimp.

Lead bullets Jacketed, Plated what design etc etc???
 
Time to buy a Lee Factory Crimp die! LOL!

5dce8aa46b5f631ed184b802763fa043
 
Well without telling us what bullets and COL it is choking on, it's impossible to say. It's a 9 mm 1911, you expect it to feed properly?:D

The ammo you made for you other gun is not always going to work in another. So you need to start over. Especially SWC bullets they are very finicky in 1911's The COL has to be just right as well as the taper crimp.

Lead bullets Jacketed, Plated what design etc etc???

Well lets just skip the SWCs as this is a EDC/HD pistol that will be shooting Hps.

I will focus on the 115 Berry's Plated RN which should be easy to get to load. Was noted in my OP the cases will not chamber with no bullets in them so it is not a COL bullet seating problem. I have 2 other 1911s a Remington that will eat anything and a Colt Gold Cup NM that took a while to get everything right.

I did try one of the fired cased from the Critical Defense with 115gr RN with a COL of 1.096 (just like the other loads) and just enough taper crimp to remove the bell. This round plunks and falls right out. It has to be something with some brass.

I do know what I am doing I loaded 9 thousand rounds last year with half of them being 9mm I am just missing something. Don
 
Time to buy a Lee Factory Crimp die! LOL!

5dce8aa46b5f631ed184b802763fa043

And that is what I have used from day one. All but one of my 6 sets of dies are Lee Carbine 4 die sets. I turn the FCD down to just touch the bullet and give it another 1/2 turn. As I have said it is not the crimp as a case with out a bullet won't plunk. Almost goes in just not all the way. Don

Oh BTW I remember having to get under the desk like that in elementary school.
 
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Update: I load the 10 Hornady once fired cases. (fired yesterday in this gun) and never touched a die setting and all 10 plunked perfect. dropped in loosely and and dropped out. It has to be a re-sizing or a brass problem. head stamps don't seam to matter. Don
 
Duck and Cover Duck and Cover!

Resize a 9mm case, and drop it in the barrel. You say it does not plunk in or out?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg9scNl9h4Q[/ame]
 
Don, I suspect that you may have some "Glocked" brass. If you have some calipers check to see of the problem cases measure out of round about 1/4 inch above the base. BTW, spin the case while measuring several points to check for roundness.

If you find that you do have cases with a mild bulge then that suggestion to purchase a Lee Factory Crimp Die is the solution. Because Lee offers a Bulge Buster Kit for the FCD that allows you to remove the crimp ring and uses the die as a push through sizing die that will iron out any bulges in the cases because it pushes the case completely through the die.

I will also note that I would not use a Bulge Busting operation more than once as a correction for Once Fired brass picked up at the range or at a gun show. Because repeated use of a Bulge Buster can cause work hardening in this critical area and in time it could weaken the brass enough to cause a case head rupture.

If you don't ever purchase once fired cases then the remaining possibility is that one of your 9mm pistols is a bit lacking in case head support. By identifying a pistol with this issue you will be able to segregate those cases for special attention. You may also want to build loads that are a bit on the light side for this pistol to minimize the bulges or just sell the pistol and use the funds to purchase a pistol with better case head support.

Finally, the 1911 pistols with internal extractors can be problematic with Extractor Tension. Too much tension can result in rounds that don't slide up under the Extractor smoothly enough and the symptom of this issue is a round that is "pinched" about halfway up the feed ramp. Too little extractor tension can cause issues with ejection and to test for this you chamber a round, remove the magazine, fire the pistol, and observe when the empty case goes. If you find the case don't eject properly or end up falling out the magazine well you need to have the extractor tuned for more tension.

Finally, semi automatic pistols that are a bit "tight" with brand new recoil springs may not really need to be "broken in" what they need are loads at or slightly above the maximum energy level. I learned this lesson first hand recently with a Sig Sauer P290-380. Out of the box too much Extractor Tension was causing feed failures about 1 in 8 round fired. Once I tuned the Extractor Tension by grinding just 0.01 inch off the Extractor Spring it started feeding just fine. However it then started producing ejection failures of every type under the sun. Last weekend I confirmed an earlier experiment and 100 rounds loaded to the absolute maximum powder charge per Hodgdon resulted in a 100% perfectly reliable function. BTW, the P290 was originally designed as a 9mm Parabellum and the 380 ACP variant features a lightened slide and a lighter recoil spring. In that process of adaption I suspect that the end result is a pistol that really needs ammunition that is constructed as close as the original design caliber as possible.

In the case of your 9mm you may have a similar issue in that the 1911 was originally designed for larger and heavier bullets. Quite simply you may find that loading with 147 grain bullets with charges near the top of the load table may result in your Springfield suddenly becoming perfectly reliable.

Finally, Springfield Armory has a superb reputation for Customer Support and rapid warranty returns. So, if you find no solution by tuning your loads higher on the Energy produced you may want to consider giving Springfield Armory a call and see what they suggest. In the event your Extractor needs tuning that is something that I recommend you let the factory do for you.
 
Don, I suspect that you may have some "Glocked" brass. If you have some calipers check to see of the problem cases measure out of round about 1/4 inch above the base. BTW, spin the case while measuring several points to check for roundness.

If you find that you do have cases with a mild bulge then that suggestion to purchase a Lee Factory Crimp Die is the solution. Because Lee offers a Bulge Buster Kit for the FCD that allows you to remove the crimp ring and uses the die as a push through sizing die that will iron out any bulges in the cases because it pushes the case completely through the die.

I will also note that I would not use a Bulge Busting operation more than once as a correction for Once Fired brass picked up at the range or at a gun show. Because repeated use of a Bulge Buster can cause work hardening in this critical area and in time it could weaken the brass enough to cause a case head rupture.

If you don't ever purchase once fired cases then the remaining possibility is that one of your 9mm pistols is a bit lacking in case head support. By identifying a pistol with this issue you will be able to segregate those cases for special attention. You may also want to build loads that are a bit on the light side for this pistol to minimize the bulges or just sell the pistol and use the funds to purchase a pistol with better case head support.

Finally, the 1911 pistols with internal extractors can be problematic with Extractor Tension. Too much tension can result in rounds that don't slide up under the Extractor smoothly enough and the symptom of this issue is a round that is "pinched" about halfway up the feed ramp. Too little extractor tension can cause issues with ejection and to test for this you chamber a round, remove the magazine, fire the pistol, and observe when the empty case goes. If you find the case don't eject properly or end up falling out the magazine well you need to have the extractor tuned for more tension.

Finally, semi automatic pistols that are a bit "tight" with brand new recoil springs may not really need to be "broken in" what they need are loads at or slightly above the maximum energy level. I learned this lesson first hand recently with a Sig Sauer P290-380. Out of the box too much Extractor Tension was causing feed failures about 1 in 8 round fired. Once I tuned the Extractor Tension by grinding just 0.01 inch off the Extractor Spring it started feeding just fine. However it then started producing ejection failures of every type under the sun. Last weekend I confirmed an earlier experiment and 100 rounds loaded to the absolute maximum powder charge per Hodgdon resulted in a 100% perfectly reliable function. BTW, the P290 was originally designed as a 9mm Parabellum and the 380 ACP variant features a lightened slide and a lighter recoil spring. In that process of adaption I suspect that the end result is a pistol that really needs ammunition that is constructed as close as the original design caliber as possible.

In the case of your 9mm you may have a similar issue in that the 1911 was originally designed for larger and heavier bullets. Quite simply you may find that loading with 147 grain bullets with charges near the top of the load table may result in your Springfield suddenly becoming perfectly reliable.

Finally, Springfield Armory has a superb reputation for Customer Support and rapid warranty returns. So, if you find no solution by tuning your loads higher on the Energy produced you may want to consider giving Springfield Armory a call and see what they suggest. In the event your Extractor needs tuning that is something that I recommend you let the factory do for you.

Scooter I think you hit the nail right on the head with the Glock thing as my other 9mm is a M&P 9 Pro L. I did notice that by rotating the brass and re plunking I got different results. First noticed this when I dropped a round in from the pile that didn't plunk and it plunked just fine. Spun it around and it didn't plunk.

I believe the Storm Lake 9mm (not a conversion barrel) is fully supported as is the Match Grade Bull barrel in the Springfield. I don't own a Glock and do pick up range brass so maybe I will just be sure this EDC pistol only gets good brass for practice. TY Don
 
Covered this many times before.
Back off the die so that it does not crimp and reset the punch to your OAL.
Load your run, then back off the seating punch and set your crimp.
Now, crimp the run.
Some guns just don't like dealing with the runout produced by seating and crimping in one step
 
Covered this many times before.
Back off the die so that it does not crimp and reset the punch to your OAL.
Load your run, then back off the seating punch and set your crimp.
Now, crimp the run.
Some guns just don't like dealing with the runout produced by seating and crimping in one step

I am only seating the bullets the die is backed out so there is no crimping being done on the bullet seating stage. The factory crimp die only does a light tapered crimp just enough to remove the belling. As stated earlier several times re sized cases with no bullets will fail the plunk test. Think Scooter's answer will take care of it. As a lot of the loads pass it is just a random bunch that don't maybe 10 out of 40. All the once fired Hornady brass from my EDC loads plunked real well 10 for 10.

I think this has been solved but I might look into the under sized crimp die. Don Thanks everyone.
 
I'm addressing this same issue on anothre thread....

I have been loading 9mm for my M&P Pro L for just over a year now with no problems. It eats my SWCs, RN, and RNFP just fine. I just got a new Springfield 9mm RO Champion with a match grade bull barrel and it doesn't like some of my reloads. It will not run them all the way into the chamber and locks up the gun tight. I can plunk test the round and 5 will do just fine and the next one will not go all the way into battery. All were loaded at the same time on my 550. I have mic'ed cases I have changed COL. As a matter of fact some ofthe brass will not even plunk after resizing with no bullet. The next round will plunk fine. Is my carbine resizer not working everytime or is it the brass?

BTW it eats Hornady Critical Defence rounds as fast as I can feed it but at $26 dollars a box I sure am not going to use those for break in. Don

My full size 3rd gen eats every ammunition I make or buy. I found out recently that many compact pistols also have short chambers. They won't chamber because the bullet gets jammed on the leade of the barrel. And if they get stuck out of battery and you have to force it open, it pulls the bullet and leaves it in the barrel. The max OAL of a 9mm is 1.16". But I've shortened my reloads to 1.135" and am still having some trouble.
 
My full size 3rd gen eats every ammunition I make or buy. I found out recently that many compact pistols also have short chambers. They won't chamber because the bullet gets jammed on the leade of the barrel. And if they get stuck out of battery and you have to force it open, it pulls the bullet and leaves it in the barrel. The max OAL of a 9mm is 1.16". But I've shortened my reloads to 1.135" and am still having some trouble.

I normally run mine at 1.1 but these are at 1.095 and the bullets are getting no where close to the leads. Do to the shape of a SWC even a 1.135 the ogive is no where near the leads. My hand is bruised today from having to hold the slide in my left hand and hit the back strap with my right hand heel. There are no rifling marks on the bullets and I even marked one with a sharpie to check that. Don
 
I normally run mine at 1.1 but these are at 1.095 and the bullets are getting no where close to the leads. Do to the shape of a SWC even a 1.135 the ogive is no where near the leads. My hand is bruised today from having to hold the slide in my left hand and hit the back strap with my right hand heel. There are no rifling marks on the bullets and I even marked one with a sharpie to check that. Don

Its probably the bulged brass/match grade barrel combo causing your issue. Many people run Glocked Brass without putting it through a Lee FCD with no issues. The barrel is prolly a tighter fit thus creating your issues.
 
Well, the 9mm Glock is pretty much a fully support barrel and does not bulge brass like the old 40SW barrels did. I doubt it is your problem after resizing .
But without seeing it, only you know.

My SW Shield 9mm is fully supported and bulges +P Hornady SD ammo. The chamber is just "loose" to allow for reliable feeding. That brass is made by Starline. Look at the Starline Web site and I have a thread about it here, I sent them brass and had e mails from them
 
Its probably the bulged brass/match grade barrel combo causing your issue. Many people run Glocked Brass without putting it through a Lee FCD with no issues. The barrel is prolly a tighter fit thus creating your issues.

That seams to be the conclusion I just loaded 10 rounds with the cases from the new Hornady brass that I fired in this gun to check it's operation with the ammo for EDC and it plunked just fine. I also took some of my older reloads and kept turning them a 1/4 turn and plunking them the results went from ok to that will never chamber with out force.

I am going to just buy a couple hundred rounds of new brass and just use it in this gun as I will only be shooting it once a week. Leave the range brass for the M&P. Don
 
That seams to be the conclusion I just loaded 10 rounds with the cases from the new Hornady brass that I fired in this gun to check it's operation with the ammo for EDC and it plunked just fine. I also took some of my older reloads and kept turning them a 1/4 turn and plunking them the results went from ok to that will never chamber with out force.

I am going to just buy a couple hundred rounds of new brass and just use it in this gun as I will only be shooting it once a week. Leave the range brass for the M&P. Don

I thought I might run into a similar issue in my M&P9 when I installed a KKM Match barrel. But since most Glocks aren't legal in Mass I rarely see any Glocked cases in my range brass due to the rarity of Glocks, at least at my range.
 
I bought a S.A. 9mm R.O. (full size) late last year and can tell you it doesn't have the generous chamber most plastic semi-auto's have. My R.O. wouldn't fully chamber some reloads like the OP's, mine though ejected easily. Took the rounds home and every one of them failed to fully seat in my Dillion case gauge, usually with the rim slightly proud. Those rounds went to the range next trip and ran fine in a Glock 26. I ran 50 rounds through the R.O. that had passed the case gauge. No failures.
My fired 9mm brass, come to think of it, all my semi-auto comes from every range around here for 50 miles. I have no clue what fired it, how long it laid on the ground or how many times it was stepped on. I'm bound to get a out of shape piece of brass that won't size correctly every now and then.
If I'm shooting a match I run all the reloads I'm using through the case gauges. If I'm just plinking it becomes good practice clearing a jam.
Oh, I use a RCBS 3 die carbide set for all my pistol calibers.
 

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