rpm28 Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I'm running 4gr Win231 at 1.14" with a 124 Berry's.....soft load, but I doubt it hits 125PF. I've run that load up to 4.4 at the same length with the same head, and would bet $ it hits PF for minor (no chrono). I'd suggest dropping your charge a tad and give it some length, then find a chrono. Good luck, happy shooting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
98sr20ve Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 (edited) I am loading minor 9mm for my STI open gun. The minor load is as follows: 1.060 oal federal small magnum pistol primers 4.6 grn w231 hornady HAP 125grn bullets starline brass (new) I am getting some bulge on my case..not major (see pic). Is this caused by the magnum primers and the low seat of the bullet? Seems to be bulged more on the side that is nicked by the chamber I am also getting a nick in the base of the case from my chamber which hasn't done this before...What should I be looking at? I am pretty new to relaoding 9mm and fairly new to reloading period..So your help is much appreciated! Jerry Just a couple thoughts to you as a new reloader. 1) Published loads are your starting point. They list things like COAL/OAL and MAX powder charge. Those are the Minimum OAL you should use. They are giving you the pressure for that load at that Min OAL. Many 9mm don't accept some bullets at longer OAL. But if your gun allows you to seat longer you should try to lengthen the load to fit your specific barrel. Max OAL in 9mm is 1.169. Seat the bullet to a longer length and drop it in your barrel. See it it goes "THUNK" and seats properly. Shorten it a little at a time till it works in your barrel. In 9mm this will give you some much appreciated case capacity and make your loads less sensitive to small component differences. Charge should be reduced 10% and you should load 10 rds each of these reduced charges and work the load up a little at a time. MAX is MAX. Most people would not load MAX with out a chrono and some experience. 2) NEVER, EVER, EVER, substitute a component of a recipe with out some serious consideration to what that change will do. Looking at your load data it's clear that load is loaded very, very short. Adding a MAG primer is a horrible idea. I would be extremely cautious with any recipe loaded that short. If your barrel doesn't allow you to load longer (I bet it will let you load much longer) I personally would not use a MAG primer in a load that short. Even if I chrono'd it. Short 9mm loads need to be treated with a great deal of respect and caution. Lengthen that load out to 1.130 and I would not be nearly as worried about using a MAG primer after I worked it up to a reasonable FPS using a chrono. 3) I don't understand why your barrel would bulge like that with a safe load. Try a different (known safe) load and see if you get that bulge. If you do get a new barrel. The bulge is way up in the chamber from looking at the picture. Maybe have a independent gun smith look at it. Edited September 10, 2011 by 98sr20ve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wide45 Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 The nick just in front of the rim is caused by an extractor that is too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aircooled6racer Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 Hello: Just because someone built it does not mean that it is still that way I have seen alot of backyard fixes that someone has done to fix a problem that they thought they had. Chrono your loads and see what you have right now. Then change one thing at a time till you solve the problem. Thanks, Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Adamson Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 (edited) Ok, now that we know JoJo did the gun, we can rule out a chamber problem. Here is a know safe load that will work for you in that gun. Minor 124/5gr Jacketed RN or JHP OAL 1.145 5.2gr of AutoComp w 115gr 5.6gr AC. With your magnum primers drop it to 5.1 or not. When you get ready for major bump the oal to 1.165 and crank the powder up to about 7 gr. What do the primers look like, if they are flowing you will be needing a new slide soon. Big assumptions on my part... My JoJo gun is a full length bull barrel... A Schumann actually, I load 1.165 OAL with 7.0-7.1gr of AutoComp. This behind a 124 MG JHP, and using a regular (non-magnum) CCI small primer. This load in my Jojo gun just runs and runs and runs.... When Jojo tuned the extractor/ejector with that load and one of the members was there when he ran 200 rounds through it. Said the pile of brass as a nice small pile... I have 2 recommended loads from Jojo, I'll see if I can't dig the up. One was with AutoComp... Mine above I've chrono'd from low to high temps and it's always around 170 PF... Start low and try that powder... it works really well in Jojo's guns... Alan Edited September 12, 2011 by Alan Adamson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryballs Posted September 13, 2011 Author Share Posted September 13, 2011 Ok, now that we know JoJo did the gun, we can rule out a chamber problem. Here is a know safe load that will work for you in that gun. Minor 124/5gr Jacketed RN or JHP OAL 1.145 5.2gr of AutoComp w 115gr 5.6gr AC. With your magnum primers drop it to 5.1 or not. When you get ready for major bump the oal to 1.165 and crank the powder up to about 7 gr. What do the primers look like, if they are flowing you will be needing a new slide soon. Big assumptions on my part... My JoJo gun is a full length bull barrel... A Schumann actually, I load 1.165 OAL with 7.0-7.1gr of AutoComp. This behind a 124 MG JHP, and using a regular (non-magnum) CCI small primer. This load in my Jojo gun just runs and runs and runs.... When Jojo tuned the extractor/ejector with that load and one of the members was there when he ran 200 rounds through it. Said the pile of brass as a nice small pile... I have 2 recommended loads from Jojo, I'll see if I can't dig the up. One was with AutoComp... Mine above I've chrono'd from low to high temps and it's always around 170 PF... Start low and try that powder... it works really well in Jojo's guns... Alan Alan, Thanks for the tip! Everyone else...I swapped out the magnum primers and changed the OAL to 1.145...I am waiting on the chrono and I will be ready to go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryballs Posted September 13, 2011 Author Share Posted September 13, 2011 I am loading minor 9mm for my STI open gun. The minor load is as follows: 1.060 oal federal small magnum pistol primers 4.6 grn w231 hornady HAP 125grn bullets starline brass (new) I am getting some bulge on my case..not major (see pic). Is this caused by the magnum primers and the low seat of the bullet? Seems to be bulged more on the side that is nicked by the chamber I am also getting a nick in the base of the case from my chamber which hasn't done this before...What should I be looking at? I am pretty new to relaoding 9mm and fairly new to reloading period..So your help is much appreciated! Jerry Just a couple thoughts to you as a new reloader. 1) Published loads are your starting point. They list things like COAL/OAL and MAX powder charge. Those are the Minimum OAL you should use. They are giving you the pressure for that load at that Min OAL. Many 9mm don't accept some bullets at longer OAL. But if your gun allows you to seat longer you should try to lengthen the load to fit your specific barrel. Max OAL in 9mm is 1.169. Seat the bullet to a longer length and drop it in your barrel. See it it goes "THUNK" and seats properly. Shorten it a little at a time till it works in your barrel. In 9mm this will give you some much appreciated case capacity and make your loads less sensitive to small component differences. Charge should be reduced 10% and you should load 10 rds each of these reduced charges and work the load up a little at a time. MAX is MAX. Most people would not load MAX with out a chrono and some experience. 2) NEVER, EVER, EVER, substitute a component of a recipe with out some serious consideration to what that change will do. Looking at your load data it's clear that load is loaded very, very short. Adding a MAG primer is a horrible idea. I would be extremely cautious with any recipe loaded that short. If your barrel doesn't allow you to load longer (I bet it will let you load much longer) I personally would not use a MAG primer in a load that short. Even if I chrono'd it. Short 9mm loads need to be treated with a great deal of respect and caution. Lengthen that load out to 1.130 and I would not be nearly as worried about using a MAG primer after I worked it up to a reasonable FPS using a chrono. 3) I don't understand why your barrel would bulge like that with a safe load. Try a different (known safe) load and see if you get that bulge. If you do get a new barrel. The bulge is way up in the chamber from looking at the picture. Maybe have a independent gun smith look at it. Great tips! Thanks! I am also thinking its an optical illusion...the silver brass tends to stand out at even the slightest buldge..where the brass colored brass is harder to see. I am going to measure and see versus factory loads. I want to get the loads down and shooting property before I start with 9 major (if ever) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajg Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 Looking at the picture my hunch is that someone enlarged the chamber for better feeding, be nice to know the interior diameter of the chamber. The load is short but I don't see 4.8gr of W231 with a 125 as a dangerous load, outside the chart maybe but not excessive. Paying close attention to the post, New to Reloading, there could be a hidden issue like the "scale" being off. I had a frankfort aresnal digital scale try to blowmeup one time, that is why I cross check the final settings on a beam scale. Also I actually weigh my bullets before I start loading, a 147 looks a lot like a 125 or 115. A SAMMI spec 9 mm chamber should be able to handle a RN oal of 1.165, factory ammo is 1.140 most of the time. i am also using the digital franfort aresnal scale, and the rcbs 10-10 scale... I also have an RCBS 10-10 and a Cabela's electronic scale. Both are affected by air currents from heat registers, open windows and fans. I've learned to never trust either scale unless I check it first with test weights for the weight I intend to check. I use Brian's process of weighing four charges to verify the weight. Example: To check a 4 grain load, set and check your scale, with test weights, for 16 grains. Weigh four charges together then adjust your powder measure to drop more or less powder until you get four charges that equal 16 grains. Once you have verified how inaccurate scales are with test weights you'll never trust a scale unless you verify it first. Checking one scale against the other can compound errors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdude Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 to be honest, i can't tell how much bulge is in that brass. it might be fine. maybe turn the cartridge 90 degrees for a photo since lighting from a straight on shot can make a huge difference. see the examples of bulges cases here for a comparison. also, please measure the cases at their widest point so we'll have some numbers to compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve RA Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Here is an easy way to set overall length: Pull barrel and vary loading depth until the base of the cartridge is flush with the end of the barrel hood when cartridge dropped into chamber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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