ChemistShooter

Yeah, quite serious. Now, I wouldn't really expect it to be different but when the manufacturer implies it's specific to his machine, I have to assume it means exactly that. Not something I'm gonna spend $30 on unless somebody here or somewhere says it works fine in his non-Hornady cleaner. Too bad they don't give test samples away in 1-oz bottles or something. So noted, RePete.

For one thing, it says "For use with Hornady Lock-N-Load cleaner." I have to take them at their word, at least until I hear otherwise. It only works with a Hornady sonic cleaner. The reviews I see on the commercial brass-cleaning solutions are uniformly pretty bad. That's the primary reason I think this technology is still developing. Even on that link, there's a review where a guy says "I compared it to lemon juice and it worked just as well." I've seen quite a number of reviews of commercial cleaning solutions exactly like that.

I don't know, actually. I don't know what chemicals are in Simple Green. Even if I did know, i would be reluctant to comment because I don't know the chemistry involved. The OP asked if ultrasonic cleaning was safe. The answer is it SERIOUSLY depends on what chemicals are in the water. My advice: EXPERIMENT. Get ten of the dirtiest cases you have, de-prime them, and clean them. Take a picture of the inside of the cases before and after cleaning and compare them. After you've cleaned them, put them somewhere and let them sit for two weeks, then check for corrosion inside and out. This last is based on experience. I have been experimenting with commercial vinegar solutions based on what I've read around the Web about cleaning brass. I had some brass start turning green from corrosion after sitting for two weeks after cleaning with vinegar (old NRA formula), even though I rinsed them extensively. I added a neutralizing step with sodium bicarbonate and that stopped the corrosion. Experimentation is continuing as they still are not all getting clean. Some of them come out squeaky-clean, a lot of them have a mild black patina inside. I don't really know why at this stage. In order to get something clean, you have to some idea what the chemical composition of the crud you're trying to get out is. My reloading manuals have informed me gunpowder is generally a mix of nitroglycerin/nitrocellulose coated with graphite to make manufacturing and metering easier, along with proprietary agents to control combustion rate. I am guessing the residue after combustion is mostly graphite with maybe a little unburned nitrocellulose/nitroglycerin. Nitrocellulose/nitroglycerin should be pretty soluble in water and is therefore nothing to worry about. So the problem reduces to getting graphite particles out of brass chambers. So removing graphite particles is what I'm Googling at the moment. Anybody who knows different, please enlighten me.

I used that same formula. Case wall was .001" thick.

My .02. i am a chemist who uses ultrasonic cleaning in the lab. I have recently purchased an RCBS ultrasonic cleaner to clean brass and hopefully my pistol one day. I am experimenting to find the right way to clean brass. Ultrasonic cleaning will absolutely get crud out of extremely small spaces. It's designed to do that. You shouldn't have to take your slide apart in order to get it thoroughly clean. In fact, in cleaning brass, the RCBS manual warns you have to de-prime either before or soon after ultrasonic cleaning as water will be driven into the space between the primer and the case. Since they are dissimilar metals, a tiny little electric circuit will form and corrode the primer pocket. Uh-oh. I had some brass I had ultrasonically cleaned in the lab some months ago but had not de-primed. Back I go to de-prime the entire bunch. Sure enough, in about five cases out of a thousand there was extensive green corrosion in the primer pocket. I could see tiny green dots in a number of other primer pockets but not significant damage. I had sonicated a bunch of them in denatured alcohol to remove water and get a fast dry, and there was no corrosion in those pockets. Little luck there. So now I de-prime my brass after allowing it to dry overnight. The primer pocket is still wet too. The rest of the brass will be dry but the primer pocket will still have water in it. My take on this is it's going to wind up replacing a lot of hard work but it's a brand-new technology as far as cleaning guns are concerned, and the chemistry is still being worked out. There are going to be some horror stories before the best solution is found. Hope this helps.

9mm takes a taper crimp. The mouth is around .01" shorter than the head if I remember the SAAMI specs correctly. I put a .002 inch bell on the case mouth with the powder die and take it back off again in the seating die.

Alas, the gun shop says there is nothing wrong with the gun. The spring is fine. Only thing I can come up with is I wasn't seating the magazine properly. I have raised future loads to 4.3 gr TiteGroup.

Come back to us quickly, Ziggy, and continue to show us how weird it actually is.

I am a new shooter. I purchased an XDM 9mm 3.5 full-size in April and have put 3868 rounds through the gun so far. Recently I began reloading and have put 300 reloaded rounds (3.9 gr TiteGroup 115 gr Hornady FMJRN 1.151 OAL) through the gun without any problems. I also do a daily dry-fire exercise where the gun is racked about 100 times. I clean the gun and the magazines after every session. Nothing fancy, I take it apart strictly as the manual specifies and stop there. I pay extra attention to the barrel, rails, and feed ramp on the barrel. I clean and lube with this clean-and-lube stuff called Safari Charlie and squirt a little on the rails and contact points for lube. Today I was shooting my reload when the slide failed to lock back after the last round. A few rounds later a round failed to feed. The fired cartridge was ejected successfully, but the new round was stuck between the barrel and the magazine. I thought it might be a too-light load of TiteGroup despite the fact it had fired that load OK 300 times already. By sheer chance I had two new loads I was testing, 4.1 gr TiteGroup and 4.3 gr. TiteGroup. Even withe the heavier loads the gun would still fail to feed. It wasn't constant, only occasionally, about once every ten rounds. I"m thinking the recoil spring is worn out but don't really know. I don't know how long they're supposed to last. Any comment will be appreciated.

I also had a problem with the cartridge case bin mount bumping the shell plate and stopping the rotation. The cartridge case bin mount entrance was too close to the shell plate. I fixed that by putting the empty case bin mount in-between the strong mount and the cartridge bin mount. That backed the cartridge bin mount off far enough to stop the bumping.

What instructions are you using? Do you have the video? IIRC, it says to put the shouldered bolt in, turn till it stops, then back off a quarter-turn, then put the set-screw in the ram.

Dillon customer service is great. Try a phone call. I had to call them twice. Got them on Saturday morning once. Odds are not good on Friday night but it's worth a shot. If you can attach a picture, that would be helpful.

Just put my 550B together the other day. I had a problem a lot like this. I had the shell plate in upside-down. I had the Dillon video and watched it carefully while I was putting it all together, but I'm afraid the Dillon video is a bit lacking in detail.

Very well-reasoned and explained. You've convinced me. I'll give it a shot. (My primers are on the floor underneath a bench now. :-) Can't fall, nothing can fall on them.)

Brain screw-up on my part. Somehow I was thinking it was too long. I will soon get a chrono, I'm sure. I just have no clue where to set one up. Someone at the range will know a place, I reckon. I'm gonna try iDescribe's method.

Chem, TiteGroup should not leave soot on the case, nor should any powder, that is because your charge weight is too low. I have been running that powder for over 15 years thru my Glocks and the fired cases look nearly as clean as they went in. 125 TC Bayous on top of 4.2 grs at 1.100". Can you post a pic? Suggest you go with the published Hodgdon data, 4.5 grs minimum at 1.125" OAL. 4 grs would work ok for moly lead or coated, but not FMJ, since there is more friction. I would actually take it to 5.0 grs, and guys I know using 115's are running 5.4 grs I saw that but that was for hollow points. I had 3.9 gr in one of my manuals for .355" FMJ RN, which was closer. The cases are black as soot on the inside. You're probably right but what I have is working, and I'm reluctant to change it. What I need to do, of course, is chrono the rounds but a) I don't have a chrono and don't even know where I could set one up. 1.125" OAL is over SAAMI spec for 9mm and it's going to be a good long while before I try going over SAAMI spec.

I wondered if making a mark around the middle was safe. This will be a lot easier to see than on the head.

Ah. My very next question, marking cases for retrieval. I have discovered TiteGroup leaves a distinctive burn mark around the mouth that makes it easy to see what I fired. (Done shot 300 of them puppies so far. I reek of TiteGroup.) But a mark would be better. I only want what I fired. I know their history. Again, thanks to all. Y'all are making this easy.

Case lube taken under advisement. I've heard it before. The problem with putting case lube on is you have to take it back off again, if I have read correctly. But I'm having to remove anti-corrosion gunk already, so it wouldn't be an extra step. However, my main problem at the moment is getting that little metal chute that's supposed to catch spent primers to operate properly. It's a major slow-down. Case lube, at the moment, would not result in a speed-up. And right at the moment I'm still getting the hang of it and it is probably not wise to try and go fast. I'm trying to find a little magnet to put on that chute so it will fall back properly. The Dillon powder dispenser has not deviated from a 3.9 grain average in five days.

Oh, Lordy, yes, I clean out the container every time. Dump it in the trash, which gets carried out every day, so no chance of a build-up,

Got it, thanks.

Busted.

Oh, yes, I'm well aware of this from all my reading. These chemicals burn vigorously---they don't explode. But I had already had one guy get on me for using the term "deflagrate." And "I was working with deflagrants" doesn't carry the same warning punch. Some of you guys seem to treat these substances without the proper respect. As a chemist, I know if you don't treat chemicals with the proper respect, 100% of the time, every time, ALL the time---they will find a way to HURT you. So I'm willing to make a technical error if it makes some future reader look at that eight-pound container of gunpowder, then look around at his set-up wondering what the possible ways are of setting that stuff off. By the way, mine is on the floor underneath a wooden bench. It can't fall off. Nothing can fall on it. No ignition sources are anywhere near. Nothing electronic, not even an outlet. I'd pour it into separate 1-pound containers if I had any. I take the cap only to pour powder out, then I put it right back on, then immediately put it right back in its Safe Spot. The primers are stored up on shelf four feet above it. The primers are spaced out on the shelf with about six inches between them. The gun itself is stored in an entirely separate room. My instinct is the gunpowder would actually be safer stored in ammunition. All sealed off, and very small amounts. Take a hell of lot more to make it go off.

No carpet anywhere. Certainly not in the loading room, where it can generate sparks. I hate carpet. Impossible to keep clean and I turned out to be allergic to it. I'm not allowing powder to build-up., for the reason you describe. As I have stated before, I am working with explosives. One does not treat explosives lightly. I have the feeling a lot of the people here have not seen an apparently innocent chemical suddenly just blow the hell up. I have.

Got it. Man, stuff really gets cheaper over time. I never would've figured $10 could buy all that.