160 Blue Bullet in 9mm case?

[mikeAZ]

I'm having some difficulty trying to do this. The cases seem to distort near the middle of the brass and won't gauge after being reloaded. The bullet is .356. Lyman "M" die used in this tool head..... I have several 9mm set ups w/ their own set of dies w/ different powders etc. all do the same.... I'm guessing it's the brass since it is range brass and who knows how many times it's been fired?. BUT , Federal F C nickel plated brass works better, no bulge and it will gauge most of the time ( rated +P). Looks like the case is stronger as it's +P?.. The only problem is, very hard to find. OAL is 1.12. To confirm my suspicions,  Blue Bullets in 125,145 grn. are way better in range brass and most will Shockbottle. I do use a Lee "U" die in all tool heads, most brass is Case Proed. The only good thing, this is a revolver only load so I get back the brass

[Bill Sahlberg]

Remember that 9MM is a tapered case and that .356 is designed for 38 Super, not 9MM

[mikeAZ]

Yes, I know that. I'd wondered if the Lee "U" die could be at fault as it's shrinking all cases about .003 then the Lyman "M" die cant open the brass as much as when using a regular 9mm de-cap die...?. Then why is the Federal nickel plated brass that much better all things the same? More testing to come. Thanks, Mike

[Racinready300ex]

Think about this, If the Lee U die sizes .003 smaller why would that lead to more rounds failing the gauge? Smaller generally doesn't make them fail the gauge, bigger does.

 

I wouldn't think it's more likely a combination of the .356 and the heavier the bullet the longer it is. A longer bullet with the same OAL is pushed farther down into the tapered case and could lead to more bulge, and at some point it'll cause issues. 

 

Maybe a longer oal would help. Are the 147's you have less trouble with also .356? Do you use the same OAL? If yes, the main difference here would the 160 is pushed deeper into the case. 

[testosterone]

42 minutes ago, mikeAZ said:

OAL is 1.12

 

This is really short for a 160 bullet, no?   I am not surprised that you are getting case distortion sending them that far in.

 

I load 160's to an OAL is 1.16.

 

[superdude]

1 hour ago, mikeAZ said:

I'm having some difficulty trying to do this. The cases seem to distort near the middle of the brass and won't gauge after being reloaded. The bullet is .356. Lyman "M" die used in this tool head..... I have several 9mm set ups w/ their own set of dies w/ different powders etc. all do the same.... I'm guessing it's the brass since it is range brass and who knows how many times it's been fired?. BUT , Federal F C nickel plated brass works better, no bulge and it will gauge most of the time ( rated +P). Looks like the case is stronger as it's +P?.. The only problem is, very hard to find. OAL is 1.12. To confirm my suspicions,  Blue Bullets in 125,145 grn. are way better in range brass and most will Shockbottle. I do use a Lee "U" die in all tool heads, most brass is Case Proed. The only good thing, this is a revolver only load so I get back the brass

 

you might find this article of interest:

https://www.shootingtimes.com/editorial/reloading-heavy-bullets-in-9mm-luger/99514

 

if you're loading them for a revolver, you can have a very long OAL. like 1.200, 1.250, whatever you desire.

 

Do the ones that fail the case gauge still fit in the gun? The gun is the 'gauge' that matters. 

[superdude]

1 hour ago, Bill Sahlberg said:

Remember that 9MM is a tapered case and that .356 is designed for 38 Super, not 9MM

 

Most lead 9mm bullets are .356. Many plated 9mm bullets are, too.

[MikeBurgess]

Load longer 

its not going in a magazine so no need to stay inside normal limits, I load my short colts load about 1.20 that seems like a good place to load a 9 also

 

 

[ysrracer]

2 hours ago, MikeBurgess said:

Load longer 

its not going in a magazine so no need to stay inside normal limits, I load my short colts load about 1.20 that seems like a good place to load a 9 also

 

 

 

Yep, 1.20

[Fishbreath]

If you're loading for your Super GP, 1.135 is about as long as you can go without sending the cylinder to Olhasso for reaming, at least with most bullet profiles. You might be able to get something like the Ibejiheads 160gr a little longer, since the ogive is so long.

[zombywoof]

What cases are you loading into? That could matter.

[Arcrunner]

160gr is quite long, so if you're loading to 1.12, you could very well be making the brass bulge farther down than most regular bullets will. Remember 9mm case wall still gets thicker as you go down, so that may be the issue.

[ysrracer]

12 hours ago, Arcrunner said:

160gr is quite long, so if you're loading to 1.12, you could very well be making the brass bulge farther down than most regular bullets will. Remember 9mm case wall still gets thicker as you go down, so that may be the issue.

 

I agree, it's probably this.