njl

G-Man has already set the record straight on crimp having nothing to do with it (at least for auto-loader handgun ammo), but I think people are ignoring the simple explanation already given....The velocity was so high for that one shot because the chronograph gave an incorrect reading. There's no way he had 4 shots at 900 and change and then one with the same load/same gun at 1348fps. I kind of doubt you could get that velocity from that bullet in a 9mm handgun.

How's the smoke? I like Universal for jacketed, but when I tried it with BBI's moly coated lead, the smoke was horrible, both in amount and smell.

My guess would be the longer barrel is putting you just too close to the chrono, and you're getting inaccurate readings. 893 - 1348 is just too big a spread for the "same load" from the same gun unless you're loading incredibly badly...and 1348fps with a 147gr from a 9mm handgun just doesn't sound plausible. That'd be a 198PF. Did that shot kick like a mule or blow up the gun? Your first string, minus the 1348 shot, looks reasonably consistent and in the expected FPS range.

Are they actually making entire guns in the US now? I read years ago that they had the equipment in Smyrna to produce frames...but I thought the uppers were still all fabricated in Austria.

People here (or maybe on GT) have been talking about liquid car wax (usually Nu Finish) in the tumbling media for years. I've done it a few times (liquid turtle wax), but usually ended up with clumps of media+wax getting stuck inside some of the cases...so I gave up on any media additives other than several cut up used dryer sheets. Some also say to cut the wax with mineral spirits. If you have an autoflow tumbler, don't do it...the mineral spirits and autoflow stopper don't get along. Put the brass in a ziplock bag. Give a little spray of Dillon case lube, close the bag and massage it around. Open the bag and give it a few minutes for the alcohol to evaporate and the brass won't stick to the funnel...and will resize effortlessly compared to non-lubed brass.

This happens to me very occasionally, only with 9mm so far. Usually, on the second try at decapping, the primer doesn't stick.

Universal for 124gr jacketed. WST or Universal for 147gr jacketed. WST for anything that's not jacketed.

I don't know how fragile Rainier's plating is, but I've recently loaded some 200gr round nose flat point Precision bullets and found that just cycling some dummies in my guns, the coating on the sides of the bullets tended to get damaged either on the way into or out of the chamber...so I solved that by keeping the COAL to a minimum. Basically, I'm using the brass case to try to protect all the bullet's bearing surface from damage while sliding into the chamber. I've been getting really amazing accuracy from them, so I don't believe that, at least with handgun bullets, loading long to get close to the rifling has any accuracy benefit.

This is a 200gr flat nose bullet. I'd go way shorter. How short can you go before the portion of the bullet that's .451" looks like it's about to disappear into the case mouth? My guess would be somewhere around 1.200". Going shorter will give you more pressure = more velocity...and you did start out complaining that you weren't getting enough velocity.

1.127 is so close to 1.129 that with the normal variation you get loading rounds, you're likely to get some too long if you aim for 1.127. I'd maybe aim for 1.120. I'm not convinced loading to the max OAL your barrel/chamber/bullet allows provides any accuracy benefit for pistols. With some bullets, I've seen accuracy improved by shortening the OAL.

If you want more velocity with the safety of not having to exceed recommended max load, try a jar of WST...then you'll probably buy a 4 or 8lb jug once you're hooked on it.

I'd say it depends on all sorts of things. Given equal PFs of ~170, we can assume the 230gr is doing 740fps and the 200gr is doing 850fps. Heavier/slower bullets tend to have more elastic collisions, spending less of their energy deforming the bullet and more of it moving the target...so on reactive targets where hitting hard matters (like bowling pins), heavier is better...but heavy + too slow can send bullets back at you. For moving targets at range, the speed of your bullets affects how long it takes them to get from your gun to the target, and how much lead you'll need to hit the target...though doing the math, a moving target at 30yds, the time difference in a 740fps bullet arriving on target vs an 850fps bullet is only 0.0158s. How fast is the moving target moving? At 1fps, that moving target will only have moved 3/16" in 0.0158s. disclaimer...it's late...my math could be hosed...but I don't think so.

You may want to check their website again, they make 124 gr FMJs. I suspect he meant the only 9mm JHP they make are 124gr. Even those are, AFAIK, a relatively recent addition to their product line.

I finally tried oneshot on some .45acp brass. Once I had enough on, it sized as easily or even easier than my usual method, and had the added benefit of no more brass sticking on the powder funnel. Spraying an alcohol/lanolin mix would probably have the same effect though.

It's probably just a matter of velocity. At lower velocity, instead of cutting through the paper, it's tearing it. Switch to corrugated cardboard for targets and see what you get for holes. At 3.7gr and your OAL, depending on the gun, you're probably only getting 650-690fps.

Have you pulled a bullet to check for "ring around the bullet" from overcrimping? Have you chrono'd this load? I've done 3.7gr Clays with 230gr FMJ, and other than being a little slow, had no problems with it. You could also shorten the OAL a few hundreths.

Those loads all sound like they're at or maybe even in some cases below minimum. Before giving up on the plated bullets, you might try more powder and shorter COAL.

Are you seeing any/much variation? I really doubt there's much point in checking the powder drop that frequently. Unless there's something wrong with your powder bar, it really shouldn't vary much once you've pulled the handle a few times. My Glock 17 and I like Universal Clays for 9mm, but have only used it and WST. Universal works well with 124gr bullets (FMJ, CMJ, JHP) from Precision Delta and Montana Gold. The only plated bullet I've tried is X-Treme 147gr, which is said to have comparatively thick plating. It's softer shooting, but I've had some mixed results with them (tumbling from my 34), and don't know if I'll order more.

I rub a tiny dab of pure lanolin between my thumb and index finger, and basically lube pistol brass between the brass bin and station one of the press. When the sizing gets "harder", I refresh the lanolin. I've been doing it this way for a couple of years. I have a can of one shot...I just don't think I've ever used it.

I've loaded and shot a few small batches for chronograph/short range accuracy testing (target at 7yds, chronograph between me and the target). So far, they've shot great (very accurate), but I haven't shot enough of them to know if leading is an issue.

Bumpy pins suck.

3.7gr is I think the Min according to Hodgdon. It's nice and soft, and probably under 700fps. But if you're just shooting paper at short range, it should be fine and not require swapping out springs.

For pins, AFAIK, bullet weight is more important than velocity. You want the heaviest bullets you can get...which probably means 147gr (probably flat point or JHP), and even then, you're going to have to get perfect hits to shoot against the people using .44s and .45s. I used to shoot pins from similar tables, and went from 9mm, to .40, to .45.

It's a good feeling...but watch out for the opposite. Showing up at a match with your reloads and having multiple squibs. I still have a dillon bin full of .45acp SP primed brass and Zero 230gr JHP bullets I pulled after having 3 squibs (at two matches) from a batch of about 150. Of course, all the ones I pulled had the expected charge of Clays. I've been reluctant to load any more SP .45 brass since then, and probably won't do it with Clays. I may give those components another try using WST.

The nice thing about the Dillon is you get to do two things at once. It sizes and trims in one step. When I was in your situation, I went with the RCBS power trimmer and multiple 3-way cutters, primarily because I also needed to be able to trim both .223 and .30 carbine, and none of the trimmers that index off the case neck work with "straight walled" brass like the .30 carbine. It's not fast...but I found that by mounting the trimmer right next to the press (and using the 550 as if it were a single stage), I can be reasonably efficient by a) resize case move case to trimmer c) resize another case d) remove trimmed case from trimmer e) goto b i.e. while the trimmer is doing it's thing, I'm sizing the next case.