Blazer brass won't resize tight enough

[open67]

I'm having to pull every piece of Blazer brass from my 9mm brass as when reloading it will not resize tight enough and the bullet will push down easily to far into the case. Am loading on a 650 and loading 124 MG jhp. Called Dillion and they had never herd of this and did not have an answer for me. Tried to call CCI but couldn't get anyone. Any help?

[yoshidaex]

Resizing-decapping die set right?

[rebsimeanblackbears]

Have you measured the brass thickness?

[razorfish]

I've never had any problem loading Blazer brass and have plenty of it. I'm sure I've loaded hundreds of Blazer cases over the last month or two with 124gn JHP Montana Gold bullets. I'm using Dillon dies on an XL650. My sizing die is screwed down tight and backed off only about 1/8 of a turn... works great for me.

[open67]

Sizing die is down tight and a lot of this brass looks once fired. Brass thickness is about .011 at the mouth.

[ChuckS]

Did you try a little lighter on the powder funnel / expander?

[racegun9]

Get an EGW or Lee undersized sizing die and you

should be OK. My Dillon dies didn't resize the case's enough

to get good bullet to case mouth tension and crimping more isn't

the answer. Double check for bullet set back after you get the

new die but it will probably take care of it.

[racegun9]

Also make sure the powder funnel is not opening the case

mouth back open after you resize it.

[open67]

Hardly have the mouth expanded at all. Brass will fall off it I'm not carefull.

[lugnut]

I had a similar thing happen to me in 45ACP. With certain brass the bullets could be pushed in with my thumb. I was confused and freaked out by this. I switched to a RCBS resizing die (I think I was using Hornady before) and problem went away! We're only talking about .001 or maybe .002 screwing things up. I suspect you might be seeing thin case walls and an out of tolerance die.

I personally would not recommend a U-die for 9mm.

[sierra77mk]

Same problem with Blazer Brass using Hornady dies. I don't have enough of it to troubleshoot it any further. I thought the same thing as lugnut.

[Sarge]

I personally would not recommend a U-die for 9mm.

Why? I have been using a Udie exclusively in 9mm since finding that my Dillon 9mm dies would not size some brass down enough to hold a bullet in place. The thinnest walls on good brand name brass are on Fed and Speer/CCI/Blazer. With Fed brass ran through my Dillon die I could push a bullet in deeper without even pushing it against the bench. I have probably loaded 20k+ MAJOR and minor with a Udie and never had a round fail a drop check or suffer any bullet setback.

[lugnut]

I personally would not recommend a U-die for 9mm.

Why? I have been using a Udie exclusively in 9mm since finding that my Dillon 9mm dies would not size some brass down enough to hold a bullet in place. The thinnest walls on good brand name brass are on Fed and Speer/CCI/Blazer. With Fed brass ran through my Dillon die I could push a bullet in deeper without even pushing it against the bench. I have probably loaded 20k+ MAJOR and minor with a Udie and never had a round fail a drop check or suffer any bullet setback.

Since I've been using the RCBS die, I have never had a problem with thousands and thousands of rounds. Bullets are nice and secure. I do however use the Lee FCD... which mostly helps with any bulge near the case base.

As far as why I wouldn't use the Udie? I have the Udie in 9 and 40. I have seen enough 40 brass not gauge check even with my RCBS dies to recognize the value of the Udie in 40. I have not seen any reason to do this with the 9 cases... and I use lots of brass- including Blazer. The RCBS die does it's job and resizing it tighter with the UDie doesn't add any value to me... and it makes the press and my arm work much harder.

[open67]

I was told the EGW is .001 tighter and the Lee is .003-.005 tighter and to go with the EGW. How much tighter is the RCBS?

Edited July 27, 2013 by open67

[stick]

I use Lee dies exclusively in my 650. I like both the decapping/resizing die and the FCD. Never had any problems.

[lugnut]

I was told the EGW is .001 tighter and the Lee is .003-.005 tighter and to go with the EGW. How much tighter is the RCBS?

No idea. I think my point was that some dies, whether it be from different manufactures or just some that are out of spec, could be the cause of the problem. If you have a die that is a tad bit on the "loose" side... a replacement might indeed fix your problem. I've had great luck with RCBS... but that was just me. I'm almost 100% certain that the "problem" die I happened to have was Hornady... but that might have just been one that was out of spec. Regardless... I'm not and advocate of going to the other extreme if it's not necessary. I would try an another "standard" die and see what happens. Think about it... there must be thousands of reloaders that are using std dies and things are just fine. If for some reason another die doesn't do the trick then try the EGW. I'd be surprised if the Lee die is .003-.005 tighter... that's a lot. I thought they were the same actually-.001. The other draw back from what I recall is the the U die I have got caught up a bit more on the mouth of the case... I think since it's cut down a bit there is less of a chamber on the die opening.

On the other hand... .40 S&W are notorious for having a "bulge"... I use an EGW die for them and it helps a lot. Without it I was getting about 4-5% of my ammo not gauging. I don't even know if it's EGW or Lee since them box I have is a red Lee box and the die is a Lee die with a U on it!! I'm pretty sure I bought it from EGW though.

Edited July 27, 2013 by lugnut

[kar45]

I routinely run all Fed and Blazer brass about halfway into a .380 size die after the regular 9mm size die. Works great. Holds a bullet nice and tight after doing this. I also load .380, so I already had the die.

[dsmw5142]

Make sure your resize/decap die is set right.

I had a similar problem once with Lee dies . The decapping pin was set too low and I assume the collet was pushing into the case when it resized it (???) because each finished round had no neck tension. The bullet could be turned and pushed into the case fairly easily. Anyhow, I adjusted the decapping pin up higher.... instant fix. This may or may not be your problem since I don't remember it being specific to any one brand of brass, but it was a long time ago when I first started loading.

Good luck.

[Cowboy1629]

I probably had more problems with 9mm range brass than any over caliber as far as bullet tension. I finally changed from my Dillon 9mm sizing die to a U-die. Haven't had a problem since.

[millisec]

I use all sorts of mixed range brass and I have had maybe 1-2 bullet push into the case (don't even recall why) out of maybe 10000 rounds since I started loading 9mm. May have been back at start before I got the kinks ironed out in my setup. For storage of loaded rounds I always use Frankfort plastic cases and I always eyeball before use (that's how I caught those). The case makes it easy to instantly spot a short round. I'm using a Redding comp pro set with an added Redding #1 expander. This setup is on a Hornady LNL and I hated having the expander on the powder drop (rough on powder drop). Also gotten pretty anal these days about dropping pretty much every round in a Wilson gage. If anything I get a few rounds that work fine in my M&P's but hang slightly in the gage from a tiny base bulge the resizer won't reach.

[Garrett]

As far as why I wouldn't use the Udie? I have the Udie in 9 and 40. I have seen enough 40 brass not gauge check even with my RCBS dies to recognize the value of the Udie in 40. I have not seen any reason to do this with the 9 cases... and I use lots of brass- including Blazer. The RCBS die does it's job and resizing it tighter with the UDie doesn't add any value to me... and it makes the press and my arm work much harder.

I reload a lot of brass that's been run through machine guns - some with relatively loose chambers. Switching to the U-die cut down significantly on the number of rounds that would not fit the gauge.

As for working the press harder, try using some lube. True - it's not needed with carbide dies. But it sizes so much smoother and easier. Any more, I fire a couple squirts of One Shot in the case feeder and I'm good to go.

[CocoBolo]

The MTG bullets are about .0005 smaller in diameter than the Zeros. I'm using Dillon dies on one press and Hornady on another one and I have no clue what brass I am using what ever I get, it all works fine. I loath me a U-Die makes my arm hurt and cuts my speed in half, I started off with Lee dies, I got a lot smarter since then, and sold them all off. Hornady or Dillon, and RCBS for rifle.

But I seen a few locals have to buy another die when there bullet were falling to the bottom of the case! And they seem to be about every brand sold.

Check all 9 mm brass with a magnet if it stick ditch it.

Edited August 16, 2013 by CocoBolo

[tires2burn]

I use lee dies with a Dillon powder drop. My sizer decaper sizes the cartridge and then the powder funnel stretches it out again. My cure was to reduce the diameter of the funnel a smidgen just up to the the taper that bells so there is no friction. It works for me and my bullet are tight.