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[konkapot]

Been doing some loading. 9mm coated bullet. Mixed once fired brass/nickel. No problems for about 5000+ rounds but now.....

 

Rounds will not pass chamber check. I use the actual barrel of the gun I shoot. 

 

Crimp is .374. 

 

1. Fired and unsized case fits in the chamber perfectly.

2. Fired, sized, and primed case ditto. 

3. Coated bullets will NOT fully chamber. 

4. Tried a couple of jacketed bullets and they WILL fully chamber. 

 

Not new to reloading, but am fully aware that most of the time the issue is pilot error. 

[xrayfk05]

Did you measure the diameter of the bullet?

 

And with #3 you mean a bullet just dropped into the chamber?

[superdude]

Use the magic marker method in the article below to determine exactly why the don't fit.

 

https://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/reloading-tips-the-plunk-test/99389

[konkapot]

No; a loaded round with a coated bullet. Bullets are .355

[124gr9mm]

Are you using the same bullets as the previous (successful) 5000? 

 

What bullets are they (brand, weight, shape, etc)?

 

What's the OAL you're using and how consistent is the measurement?

 

What press and dies are you using?

 

Do ANY of the recent load fit, or are they all bad?

 

Did anything change between the last successful loads and the new bad ones?

 

[RangerTrace]

My BBI 147's won't pass a hundo case gage, but they run fine in my STIs and Cheely pistols.  

[konkapot]

@124gr9mm Dillon 550. Same bullets, same dies. Crimp die is clean and without obstructions. 

 

NO changes. 

 

I just got off the phone with Dillon after a nice 50 minute hold. 

 

Station one creates a properly sized casing. That, per Dillon,  indicates that it's being sized properly. 

 

Dillon thought that the problem was still too much crimp, that too much crimp was squishing/flattening the case. 

 

Changing the crimp from .3755 (where I was before, with a 10% failure rate) to .380 only made things worse. Even removing the crimp entirely only seems to have.....made things worse. 

[DesertTortoise]

Sounds like an overall length problem with that bullet shape.  Your die probably backed out.

[124gr9mm]

24 minutes ago, DesertTortoise said:

Sounds like an overall length problem with that bullet shape.  Your die probably backed out.

 

Good possibility.

 

If everything else has remained the same, maybe take out/clean the seating die and reset it.

[konkapot]

I will try that.

 

Is there anything occurring at:

 

Station 2-Belling the case mouth

OR

Station 3-Seating the bullet

OR

Station 4-Crimping

 

That could be undoing what's been done at Station one? The only thing I do know, for sure, is that Station One is doing it's job. 

 

Opening the crimp up to .380 did not help the situation. 

[MemphisMechanic]

How long are you currently loading?
 

Shorten the round ridiculously  (Something like 1.090”) and see if they spin.

 

Is this the exact same box of bullets, or did you just open a fresh case? Is the bullet the exact same OD and weight as the previous 5,000 of them or is it .001” wider or something?

[Hi-Power Jack]

2 hours ago, 124gr9mm said:

 

take out/clean the seating die and reset it.

 

seating die will fill up with bullet lube and seat your bullet shorter than you set it   

[BiteTheBullet]

Take a sized case and put a bullet a little way in the case.

Put it in the chamber and allow the slide to close all the way

Eject the round carefully and measure the OAL.

Then size the new rounds 0.10 shorter

I had the same problem when switching to coated with a different profile and they were touching the lands and grooves.

 

[superdude]

Have you used the method in post #3 to determine why and where they don't fit?  That method will tell you EXACTLY what you need to change to fix the problem. No more guessing. 

[konkapot]

Post #3 wasn't helpful; the swollen base of the casing is what's preventing it from chambering. 

 

The die at station 3 (seating die) was spotless. Absolutely spotless. 

[George16]

If that’s the case, the cases are “bulged” from being fired from a glock or a gun with an unsupported chamber. The sizing die is sizing the case but it can’t size it all the way down to the base to remove the bulge. The only way you can get rid of that is by using a rollsizer. This is typical for range pickup brass. 
 

You can try adjusting your sizing die all the way down until it catches the shell plate to allow it go lower and hopefully remove bulge (provided the bulge is not too much).

[superdude]

1 hour ago, konkapot said:

Post #3 wasn't helpful; the swollen base of the casing is what's preventing it from chambering. 

 

The die at station 3 (seating die) was spotless. Absolutely spotless. 

 

The magic marker method is just a diagnostic method. The magic marker method should have shown you that the base was the problem by having some magic marker ink rubbed off at the swollen region, right?  

 

If a swelled base is preventing it from chambering, the sizing operation is the problem, as George16 points out. Try screwing it down farther to see if it reduces the bulge. 

 

If a swelled base is preventing it from chambering, then a sized case (with nothing else done to it) won't fit the chamber, right?

 

No clue why you're referring to the seating die and it being spotless or not.  The seating die has nothing to do with sizing the case. The seating die just seats the bullet. 

[Intheshaw1]

Wrong thread

Edited April 3, 2020 by Intheshaw1

[ckinninger]

I had a similar problem with my .40 reloads not passing the gauge. Got a Lee undersized die for station 1 on a XL750, and now I have zero issues once set up and running. Undersized die was a $20 headache eliminator.

Good luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[konkapot]

ckinninger-I've heard about that undersized die over the years, but I've not had this problem before....plus when I run a casing through Station One it passes a chamber check perfectly. I think that this bulged Glock brass issue is only with .40; I might be wrong on that but I've never heard it being an issue in 9mm.

 

Superdude-You are bringing up things I had discussed previously. Station one works perfectly, and the reason I brought up the sizing die is because one of the suggestions in this thread was to check it for cleanliness.

 

Guys the brass at Station One is being sized completely; THAT is the only thing I'm sure of.

 

I have pulled a couple of bullets and the crimp was not only overly tight but also seemed to be applied unevenly; on one side of the bullets the powder coating is gone, leaving about 1/3 of the bullet silver and shiny.

[AHI]

9 hours ago, konkapot said:

; the swollen base of the casing is what's preventing it from chambering. 

if the casing is not swollen at station one then what station does it become swollen?

Glocked brass is pure BS this was an issue with early gen1 40s&w .The issue was fixed 

within the first year of production.  Most bulged cases come out of 2011 style guns.

I am guessing the issue is happening at crimp station. what crimp die are you using?

[RangerTrace]

Any chance that you have a buildup of bullet coating or led in the chamber/barrel thats cause the new issue?

[konkapot]

Chamber of gun is clean.

 

AHI my assumption is also the crimp station; I'm using a regular Dillon crimp die. In the early stages of this mess, I opened the crimp out to .380, which only made things.....worse.

 

Anybody have any thoughts about the lopsided/uneven crimping evident on pulled bullets?

 

Right now I think I'm going to just start from scratch and literally disassemble the toolhead, pull the dies out, and act like I'm just getting started loading 9mm. I've been doing this long enough to know it's almost always the guy pulling the handle that causes the problem but man this is frustrating.

[BJB]

38 minutes ago, konkapot said:

 

Anybody have any thoughts about the lopsided/uneven crimping evident on pulled bullets?

 

 

Have you disassembled the press recently for thorough maintenance and then reassembled it without using the Dillon platform alignment tool? 

If the platform is not reassembled in alignment the casing will try to enter the die with a slight offset, but you should see the issue at all stations, not just station#4.

 

-https://www.dillonprecision.com/rl-550-series-xl-650-platform-alignment-tool_8_6_26408.html

 

[SnipTheDog]

4 hours ago, konkapot said:

I have pulled a couple of bullets and the crimp was not only overly tight but also seemed to be applied unevenly; on one side of the bullets the powder coating is gone, leaving about 1/3 of the bullet silver and shiny.

 

I've had that problem when the powder dispenser wasn't tight.  There was too much movement when belling the top and it resulted in one side of the bullet getting the coating skinned off.