Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

Problems With Speer Brass


DrKyle1

Recommended Posts

I am new to reloading 9mm. Has anyone experienced problems with speer brass (once fired) when I run it through my 650 and go to put the 9mm projectile on it drops into the case. I am using lee sizer/decapper, dillon powder and lee seat and factory crimp dies. It only happens with speer. Win is ok no problems. Any suggestions... besides don't us Speer? Thanks all. It has happened with both magtec and win 115gr fmj.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the sizer die set up correctly... not sure what else I can do to the speer brass... maybe a bad batch? The press runs through winchester, pmc and others without a hitch.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What is the wall thickness at the case mouth. It sometimes happens that the brass ends up thin, so that a normal sized, or on the larger side of the tolerance size sizer won't adequately size it. This may be the situation if the case wall thickness at the mouth is on the order of 0.010". If the brass measures normally (0.012 - 0.014" thick) you might try a different sizing die if you have one.

Have you tried seeing if a bullet will go in the sized, but not expanded case? If the bullet will not drop in after only sizing, then the expander comes under suspision.

Also, what are the bullet diameters?

Guy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

I'm resurrecting this because I'm having the same problem as DrKyle1, only I'm using a newly purchased (bought used) Square Deal B.

I have been handloading 9mm on a Rock Chucker for years. I had to trim the bottom of the RCBS carbide sizing die down to fully resize the 9mm case after firing in Glocks due to their oversized chambers. I recently purchased a 9mm SDB and after setting it up and carefully gauging everything, I sat down to load 100 test rounds. I used a Remington 124gr JHP, CCI primers, and mixed brass.

After completing the 100, I found that the rounds loaded in Winchester, PMC, and Remington brass were exactly what I wanted, but the ones in Speer and FC brass wouldn't hold the bullet properly - I could push the bullet in (or pull it out) of the case with just my fingers.

I did some measuring and found that the SDB sizing die wasn't sizing the brass small enough to get good neck tension on the bullet. I resized some of the Speer brass in my Rock Chucker and it was fine.

Has anyone had a similar problem with Speer or FC brass in a SDB? If so, were you able to resolve it? I have the SDB sizing die adjusted all the way down and I don't see that I could trim the bottom of it like I did the RCBS die.

I know I can just cull out the Speer and FC brass, but I'd like to be able to use it in the SDB if possible.

Thanks for any suggestions,

Allan Davis

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In case anyone else has this same problem, here's what I've done to 'solve' it.

Run all brass through my cut-down sizing die on Rock Chucker, then run it as normal through Square Deal B.

I found that the Winchester and Remington brass isn't sizing down enough either; the Speer and Federal cases are thinner and therefore the problem was more apparent, but the Win and Rem cases don't have enough neck tension on the bullet either, so I've opted to resize everything on the single stage prior to loading.

This makes me think I might have to sell the SDB and go with a 550 or 650 so I can use a standard die - the lack of adjustability on the SDB sizing die is disappointing.

FYI

Allan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you compared the ID's of the RCBS and Dillon sizing dies. It may be a tolerance situation and a replacement SDB sizing die may "fix" it. Talk to Dillon and see what they can do for you. It may be beneficail to have the comparison ID's available, though.

Guy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just compared them yesterday, actually. The RCBS is .372" ID while the Dillon is .378". I don't see how the Dillon die could EVER size 9mm small enough. When I measured the wall thickness of a variety of cases, I found them to average .010" thick. If you take .378" - .010" - .010", it comes out to .358", which is bigger than the diameter of the 9mm bullet by a couple thousandths - no wonder the neck tension is inadequate with the Dillon die.

Thanks for making me think about this Guy. I'll call or write Dillon and see what they say. You are made me realize this probably isn't a Glock brass problem at all, but a die problem.

Allan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I just received a replacement 9mm sizing die from Dillon for my Square Deal B. The inside diameter is .373", compared to .378" for the old sizing die that was giving me trouble. All brass (Speer included) now sizes properly and the Glock fired brass chambers easily after sizing.

Problem solved - thanks to Gary Kieft at Dillon for the quick service and to Guy Neill for making me think of this as a possible solution.

Good shooting,

Allan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 13 years later...

Recently loading some 9mm 124gr XTreme plated bullets, I had a bullet push right into a Speer case.  Then I tried testing some more loaded rounds against the bench with thumb pressure - most rounds in Speer unplated brass set back, but everything else was okay (Remington, PMC, Starline, G.F.I., Blazer, and one oddball Midway case).

 

Resizing die is Lee that done over 30,000 rounds.  i don't load Federal or Speer brass very often, and generally don't like plated bullets, but I want to use these up.  Had trouble with horrible accuracy with these bullets before in Federal brass, and now wonder if I just found the cause.  About 1 out of 4 rounds would go several inches to the right from Glock or Rock Island barrels, but were oddly accurate from KKM, RRA 9mm AR, or CZ barrels.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Suburban Commando said:

Recently loading some 9mm 124gr XTreme plated bullets, I had a bullet push right into a Speer case.  Then I tried testing some more loaded rounds against the bench with thumb pressure - most rounds in Speer unplated brass set back, but everything else was okay (Remington, PMC, Starline, G.F.I., Blazer, and one oddball Midway case).

 

Resizing die is Lee that done over 30,000 rounds.  i don't load Federal or Speer brass very often, and generally don't like plated bullets, but I want to use these up.  Had trouble with horrible accuracy with these bullets before in Federal brass, and now wonder if I just found the cause.  About 1 out of 4 rounds would go several inches to the right from Glock or Rock Island barrels, but were oddly accurate from KKM, RRA 9mm AR, or CZ barrels.

That’s definitely strange, I load a ton of FC and Speer cci brass. But....I use a lee undersized die now. I recently switched to it actually. But before I did that I was using a Dillon sizing die. I never had any issues like you described with either die.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you measured the diameter of the XTreme plated bullets ?

 

As Aedavis said in 2005, the problem was the worn sizing die - and you do have

30,000 rounds on your sizing die.

 

Or, it could be undersized bullets.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

I am having the same issue on a dillon 750XL using hornady and now Mighty Armory sizing dies Speer and federal (and the odd browning) brass all don’t size properly and bullets fall down in the case even before expanding. These are brand new dies not old worn ones and the MA dies are supposed to be the latest and greatest thing. It’s frustrating because I have thousands of sorted and cleaned Speer and fc brass and nickel plated brass. As one of the guys stated earlier, they load fine on my single stage but I’ve got a Dillon 650xl and a 750xl for the sole purpose that I don’t have to use a single stage for pistol ammo. I measured the Id of my dies and they are well inside of spec. I’m going to try an undersized die as a last resort I guess. 
 

Edit:

I have also measured my bullets I use a lot of Sierra and Everglades for bulk stuff and they are all good to go. 

Edited by RDNors1911
Addition of information
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can guarantee you any setback issue with the MA dies is due to over flaring. 
the MA dies spec size and do a great job at it. If you flare like you do with an undersized die you will eventually lose neck tension. 
I had this issue too and I was flaring way too much as soon as I adjusted that to the recommended amount per MA’s instructions I have had 0 issues since. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The setback issue with the MA dies is not over flaring. I had one and I tried everything trying to get it to work. The bullets literally would fall into the case. It didn’t matter if they were 355 or 356. There simply was not enough neck tension on the case to hold the bullet. When I went back to my Redding sizer everything was fine. I contacted MA and they refunded my money. Even if you over flair a little the sides of the seating die will bring back the case close to .380 and then your crimp die will take that out to whatever your crimp setting is. I flair to .383, put bullet in and seat, then crimp to .377. When I tried the same thing with the MA it just plain did not work. 383 is not over flaring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...