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Bullets key holing


Spike84

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I am having some of my 147 grain xtreme bullets tumble it's only about 1 out of every 20 rounds not sure if this is something I should worry about. I am shootingvthem out of 9mm sti edge these were previously my glock 34 loads. 147 grain .356 xtreme bullets loaded with 3.5 ram shot competition loaded to 1.135-1.140. 

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I had the same problem with these and I had over crimped them cut the plating. Pull some and see. Crimp will be really rough or broken exposing the lead. A very light crimp is all that is needed. Just barely leave a ring from the crimp. 

Edited by shotgunone
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Ok cool thank you guys I can't use another brand for a while because I just bought a very large supply of these can possibly sell them off. I will check the crimp I just kept same batch I was running with my glock haven't experimented too much with specific load out of my sti. Also those velocities # I gave were what I was getting out of glock 34. I tried to chrono loads today but battery died as soon as I turned it on. 

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I have seen this when the crimp is too tight, or with plated bullets that are.not quite correct. 1 in 20 is way too high.

The other time I have seen this is in a RIA with a shot out barrel.

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6 hours ago, Spike84 said:

  I  kept same batch I was running with my glock haven't experimented too much with specific load out of my sti.

 

Aha, betcha that's the problem, right there.

 

I'd work up your load, again, for the STI, specifically.    :) 

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I have been using Rainier plated bullets, and crimping them tightly enough that it takes 5-7 good whacks with a bullet puller to extract the bullet.  When examined, there is a distinct indentation in the bullet where the crimp was.  The plating was intact.  This guards against setback and insures consistent performance.  Rainier uses dead soft lead.

 

I recently loaded 2000 Xtreme 40 155gr RNFP bullets.  They say they use swaged lead for their bullets, and I assumed it was soft.  I used the same crimp as on the Rainiers and I got some setback.  It only took 1 or two whacks to extract the bullet.  I had to turn the Lee FCCD down by 1/3 of a turn to get a crimp that would take 7 whacks to extract.  Xtreme definitely uses hard lead.

 

Try using more crimp to get more consistent ignition and pressure.  If that does not cure the problem, increase the velocity.

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On 07/03/2017 at 9:53 AM, Aric said:

Measure the diameter of the bullets.  I got a batch that was under sized.  

 

^^^^^ this. 

 

Tumbling is 'generally' caused by too much crimp, not enough velocity and occasionally too much velocity. 

 

BUT

 

xtremes are notorious for tumbling and poor accuracy. Their 355 and 356 projies many times have been shown undersize as small as 354 or 3545. 

 

Before you change all the settings on your press try substituting in a different bullet. That may answer the question easily. 

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^^^^^ this. 
 
Tumbling is 'generally' caused by too much crimp, not enough velocity and occasionally too much velocity. 
 
BUT
 
xtremes are notorious for tumbling and poor accuracy. Their 355 and 356 projies many times have been shown undersize as small as 354 or 3545. 
 
Before you change all the settings on your press try substituting in a different bullet. That may answer the question easily. 

I have also seen this.
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I have found that too soft of an alloy in the bullets can cause this also. The 9mm is especially susceptible to this, due to small case, high pressure. Been there, done that. Tumbling is not always caused by too low of velocity, although it often is. Sometimes too high of a pressure spike, caused by heavier charges of fast burning powders, will cause the bullets to fail, and tumble also. I think the term is "plasticize" of the bullet alloy.

 

Just another opinion.

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Have you tried a different powder?

Ive had tumbling bullets from extreme (formerly west coast bullets) before.  I tried less crimp more crimp lighter charge heavier charge longer shorter.  Finally decided that bullet with that powder in my gun wasnt going to work. I wasnt willing to try a different powder. Sold bullets(with full disclosure to buyer) I had left & went a different route.  Too bad it worked that way but is possible your bullet, powder, gun combo isnt viable. 

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BeerBaron mentioned being over powered. And he may be right.

Ramshot competition is not like N320, it's much hotter. More in line with Titegroup. Shooting 147gn bullets with 3.5gns of competition is IMHO a little too much.

Back off to about 3.2 or even 3.0 and see haw they chrono. and group at the range. Also you may be loading a little long. Depending on what profile your using, shorten to 1.120 or even 1.10.

 

I shoot 147gnhp and 3.5gn of N320 and I'm not at that velocity.

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Undersized, keyholing almost always comes from no spin on bullet. Time too break out the calipers and check the unused bullets and pull some of the loaded ones to see if the crimp is down sizing them


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