110gr Parabellum tip Lead Bullets

[glynnm45]

I have 500 110gr Lead 9mm bullets and I am having a difficult time finding a load for them. Help/direction would be appreciated. I have WW231, Titegroup, Clays and others.

Thanks

Gary

[Joe4d]

use 115 lead data, It'll be close enough for government work.

[glynnm45]

I thought about doing that, but the OAL's from 100gr to 115gr were quite different. I know with the shape of this bullet that the OAL is going to be difficult to judge.

Thanks;

Gary

[noylj]

It doesn't matter what shape the bullet is, the determination of COL is based on your gun and your barrel.

First, disassembly your gun so you have the barrel sitting at the bench with you. Now, make up two "dummy" rounds (not powder or primer). After you resize the two cases, drop them into the barrel. They should chamber freely. Next, expand and slightly bell the case mouths. Your bullet should be able to sit on the case with the case mouth belled sufficiently to not touch the bullet.

Screw in the seating die—turn the seating stem all the way up. Place a case in the shell holder and raise the ram. Screw in the die until it just contacts the case, and raise the die up 2 full turns. Pushing up on the die (pull seater stem up), turn the lock nut down to lock the die in position. Lower case, place bullet on case, raise ram, turn down the seating stem until you contact the bullet. Lower the ram and turn the seating stem down 2 or 3 full turns. Raise the ram and seat the bullet. Adjust the seating stem until the COL (OAL) is less than 1.17" (but more than 1.145"). In general, a good first estimate is a COL of 1.14 or seating the bullet to about 1/2 of the upper driving band. In most cases, it is actually where you think it looks right. However, let's go slow and just work it out. So, you have a bullet seated for a COL of, let's say, 1.150". Now, if you have a taper crimp die, install it in your press. If you only have a seater/crimp die, then raise the seater stem back all the way up and out of the way. Place the case with the seated bullet in the shell holder and raise the ram to the top. Now, screw the taper crimp or seater/crimp die down until it just touched the case. Lower the ram a little and turn the crimping die down 1/4 turn. Raise the ram and crimp the case. Lower the ram and inspect the case. Is the case mouth still flared/belled? If so, you need a bit more crimp. If you want to crimp by caliper, then adjust until the case mouth is .382" or, visibly, until you see just a hint of flare at the case mouth (yes, your eyes make excellent calipers and can see a slight case flare easily). Now, apply a little marker to the dummy round around the case mouth and along the shoulder of the bullet. Drop the dummy round in the barrel. The COL at this point should be a little too long to chamber. If round doesn't fully chamber determine where the hand up is. If you have marked the dummy round, all you need to do is lightly rotate it so the hung up area is "scraped." If you didn't mark it, you will need to apply a little pressure to more fully chamber the round and then rotate it. Either way, you should get a mark that shows where the hang-up is. If it is the case mouth, then you just a touch more "crimp to remove the case flare. If it is the bullet, then you need a touch more eating depth. Make small adjustments to the seating depth until both dummy rounds chamber in you barrel freely.

Now, re-assembly your gun. Do the dummy rounds fit your magazine? If not, slowly increase the seating depth until the dummy rounds feed freely into your magazine. Now, insert the magazine into your gun, pull the slide back and let go (DO NOT try to ease the slide forward but let 'er rip). If the dummy did not chamber, pull the slide back and look at the dummy round. If the COL is too long for you gun, there will be a flattened area on the bullet, If the case isn't flared enough, the case mouth could catch on the feed ramp and you will see a shiny mark on the case. Either seat the bullet a little deeper or remove all the case flare (case mouth at 0.379-0.380"). You will discover the COL and amount of flare that works best in your pistol. You will also have two dummy rounds that will allow you quickly set your dies back to the same settings when you load this bullet again.

There is no single COL that is correct for a given bullet. It all depends on your gun and magazine. In general, you want the longest COL that functions in your gun to minimize pressure. The COL in reloading manuals is generally a recommended minimum (do not seat deeper). In almost all cases, loads are worked up using minimum COLs so pressure will reach maximum sooner. It would not do for them to use the maximum COL and then have handloaders seat deeper and have pressures go through the roof. I can tell you that in general, the lighter the bullet, the COL will be shorter just because the bullets are shorter. You will probably find that a COL of about 1.130" will be good, but it all depends on the bullet and your gun.

[superdude]

practical information about cartridge overall length can be found at the links below.

http://www.38super.net/Pages/Bullet%20Design%20and%20Feeding%20Reliability.html

http://www.38super.net/Pages/Overall%20Length.html

[glynnm45]

Well I came up to the right solution for me: I'm going to melt them and pour 230gr .45's. Needed the lead anyhow.