rhyrlik

That's the same thing I'm seeing with my P210. 115gr FMJ bullets shoot groups roughly twice as large as 147's.

That is normal variance considering that nearly every bullet in a box of 100 is different, yet the seater stem is the same.

Why would you want to resize the case again, after having sized it already?

Hodgdon lists 4.5 grains of WST for 800 FPS at a 1.200" OAL. You're getting that at half a grain less powder and probably at a longer OAL. What gun are you using?

Hi Folks, What's going to have a higher slide velocity: A 90gr bullet doing 1500 FPS or a 147gr bullet doing 1000 FPS? All the recoil calculatots say they should be the same. But which one's gonna be more snappy? Thanks for your input. Ralph

Your chamber has a tight throat. You can either open-up the throat with a reamer, or size the bullets down in a Lee bullet sizing die. Remember, you cannot force a .401" bullet into a .401" throat. You'll need about .002" of clearance to prevent chambering issues. I think some of your bullets are a bit oversized and hang-up during feeding. You do not need to roll size anything.

You can resize them in a Lee sizing die ($15) that threads right into your press. Call Lee and have them make you a .355" sizer. It will pay for itself instantly.

If your bullets are too large in diameter to fit the chamber throat, seating them deeper is the wrong solution. These bullets will shave lead as they transition from the case into the bore, leading-up the chamber. The correct solution is to resize the bullets and to seat them to normal OAL.

I guess... They do not lead in my 1911. I tried them with Bullseye and Red Dot.

I still think this is a lube issue. I suggest the OP get some Lee Alox, dip the bullets, load them as before, and I bet he won't see any leading.

I gave a brief explanation in post 7. If the bullet will not expand to completely fill the barrel at the throat, gas will blow by and burn the bullet from the side - resulting in leading at the throat. A hard bullet requires higher pressures to expand the bullet rapidly in order to prevent this. A softer bullet can handle this fine at lower pressures. However, if you start pushing softer bullets too fast, they will start melting (regardless of the lube) and you will see leading at the end of the barrel. That is why for real powder puff loads (i.e. the bullseye .38 special load with 148 grn double edge wadcutter), casters used a very soft swaged bullet (not cast). It does fine with the very light loads of Bullseye powder. The lead is a very soft and plyable lead that is actually lead in a coil punched through a sizer. Hope this helps. Oh - one other thing - a properly sized bullet does not mean that it is exactly the diameter of the barrel. You have to take into account the rifling sits higher than the rest of the barrel. If you sized the bullet to be exactly the diameter of the barrel and not the rifling, you would have very high pressures and your rifling would not last long. But in the the OP's case, the Lazercast bullet does fit the throat correctly and does not need to expand to seal it. Colts Pythons have .358-.3585" throat diameters. That is exactly what his bullets miked.

Can you explain why a properly sized bullet that is too hard leads-up the bore when the velocity is too low?

You do not need any pressure to get a .358 bullet to seal a .356" bore, as is the case with the Python. I think you are not driving the bullets fast enough to melt the lube. No lube in the bore means leading.

I like 4.5 grains of AA#5, 3.3 grains of WW231, 4.5 grains of H. Longshot, and 3.3 grains of Bullseye.

Trust me on this, it isn't the resizing die being adjusted too shallow on my press . There is a definate difference in expansion from major pf cases, and the only die that I know will reliably get deep enough on the brass is an EGW U die. The more 9mm open guns there are out there, the more this will be realized. It's not so much that the brass needs to be resized thinner, but the die needs to get deeper on the brass during resizing. My std glock barrels will eat anything I reload with an RCBS die, but my lone wolf barrel pukes on any brass from a major gun not resized completely. I'm not disputing there is a difference in resizing 9mm major brass, but there are alot of people who think the carbide ring cannot get within an eigth of an inch of the shellholder for some reason and their resized brass consistently fails to chamber.

Really? uhhh... I respectfully disagree, rhyrlik, and I have a ton of experience with glocked .40 brass. We're talking about 9mm chambers, not .40 S&W I have measured case expansion from these chambers and "Glocked" 9mm brass comes out at least .001" smaller than Sig, for example.

Redding 9mm sizer dies have much tighter carbide rings than RCBS. Glock 9mm chambers are tighter than Sig, CZ, or Beretta. There is no such animal as a "Glocked 9mm case". Sizer dies are not designed to resize the base of the brass to factory virgin specs. They are designed to size the case enough to chamber reliably in most chambers, but not so much as to overwork the brass. Being that the 9mm is tapered, the higher the pressure, the more the base expands. If the base expands where the carbide can't size it, i.e. close to the extractor cutout, the reload won't chamber. The U die will size the case more than a standard die. So will a Reding standard die, which has a tighter ring than RCBS. But if you don't put the bottom of these dies right smack against the shellholder, they will not size the case enough. This is a tapered case. the die MUST be against the shellholder to size the case all the way. I think the problem you guys are having stems from improper die adjustment. Don't be afraid to screw the die all the way down.

The load depends on OAL. I would work-up from 3-3.5 grains or until case expansion, primer appearance, tool marks tell you to stop.

Like you said, the best thing to do is to work-up a load. My gun likes 3.8 grains under a 125gr. FMJ with FC-100 primers.

My bottle of Clays also has these "Trail Boss" looking flakes, although my lot was made before Trail Boss was on the drawing board.

Small rifle primers are unnecessarily hot for small charges of fast powders often used in 9mm Minor loads. I would not use them with a 2.5 grain charge of Clays behind a 147gr bullet, for example. Let me share the following: About 10 years ago I decided to work-up a 148gr. HBWC load for my Python. I decided to use 357 brass, Bullseye, and every primer known to man in hopes of finding the most accurate combination. I started with a 1.5 grain charge, and increased in .2 grain increments. To my surprise, every other primer pierced with these starting loads until I reached 2.1 grains. The cases were sticking and look pristine on the outside, indicating that the pressure was so high that they sealed perfectly upon ignition. Thy looked like a Weatherby round fired in 110 degree heat. Incidentally, the 2.7 grain classic load produced typically sooted cases. So did all subsequent loads using powder charges higher than 2.1 grains. What does this mean? Too little powder + too much primer = DETONATION. Detonation is bad for a number of reasons: The pressure curve created by detonation often exceeds the elasticity of steel and causes catastrophic failure. Accuracy is so-so. Muzzle blast is piercing and intolerable. Fortunately, in my case, the small 1.5-2.1 grain charges did not detonate with sufficient energy to KB my Python, but having seen detonation first hand, I will never, ever recommend hot primers for fast powders.

RCBS, no contest. It is more stable and dispenses powder.

You know, the one used to flare the case mouth. They have an expander plug that is flat on the end. I use the flat part to seat the wadcutterflush with the case mouth.

I use the expander die to seat wadcutters. No special dies or plugs for me.

9mm bullets range from .354" to .356" 9mm barrels range from .354" to .356" The nice thing about lead, it will swage down or obturate under pressure. This means a .356" bullet will easily swage down to .354" in the barrel. A .354" bullet will bump-up to .356" in that barrel (we're talking soft-core jacketed bullets.) Paractically, it does not matter and I have a Sig P210 that proves it.