Tumbling Bullets

[BigD]

I have a shorty 9mm Major built by Virgil Tripp. I got a load using 3n37 and Zero 124 gr. JHP That Daniel Bedell suggested I try. I haven't had a lot of time with the gun, and shot my first match today. The bullets were tumbling out and key holing on the target. A friend tried the same powder, using the same bullet out of her SV shorty 9mm. Her bullets were doing the same thing. She switched to N350 and shot those at the match today and did not have the problem. After the match, I shot a few of her bullets and also had good results and no key holing.

My question is what causes a bullet to do that? I see a lot of people using Bedell Shorty 9mm Major using the same exact load that I am. Has anybody seen the same thing out of those guns? I'd love to make the load work since I bought a metric a$$ load of the powder.

Thanks,

Darin

[Sherwyn]

If you are only seeing it on some loads with the same bullet - check if you can see any marking on the last baffles of the comp. Even if you can't, I would try a little heavier recoil spring and see if anything changes (might not be where you want to go, but helps identify the issue). I've had to open the last baffle slightly to be able to use the load / spring combination I wanted.

Sherwyn

Edited May 14, 2006 by Sherwyn

[Harmon]

try less crimp with that powder..that should help.

[George]

As Harmon says, you DO NOT need much crimp on any 9x round and especially not on 9x Major stuff!

[BigD]

As Harmon says, you DO NOT need much crimp on any 9x round and especially not on 9x Major stuff!

I have little or no crimp on these bullets.

Thanks,

Darin

[lynn jones]

check to see if the bullet is hitting the comp. also check the diameter of the holes the bullet passes through. and finally check for cracks in the comp.

lynn

[BigD]

check to see if the bullet is hitting the comp. also check the diameter of the holes the bullet passes through. and finally check for cracks in the comp.

lynn

Will do. Where would the cracks be?

[mikeAZ]

Yep... check the "comp". Had a 7 port comp on a 38 Super. Was leaving very slight copper marks on the last port on the comp. .. Good place to start looking(I used red dykem & cleaned the comp w/bore brush so I could see the marks clearly), then reamed out the area.

[eric nielsen]

If you could trap & recover the bullets, I'm guessing the bullet bases fired with 3n37 will look different [worse] than those fired with N350.

If you're close to hitting the comp baffles with one load, often another load will touch the baffles. Had to change my bullets once because of that.

You may need to change your powder to stay with the Zero, which is a good bullet. Or, try Hornady & MG: if they work out, sell the Zeros to another shooter [no HAZMAT fee to ship]

OR, ream your comp out to .375" if it's not there already.

Edited May 18, 2006 by eric nielsen

[BigD]

If you could trap & recover the bullets, I'm guessing the bullet bases fired with 3n37 will look different [worse] than those fired with N350.

If you're close to hitting the comp baffles with one load, often another load will touch the baffles. Had to change my bullets once because of that.

You may need to change your powder to stay with the Zero, which is a good bullet. Or, try Hornady & MG: if they work out, sell the Zeros to another shooter [no HAZMAT fee to ship]

OR, ream your comp out to .375" if it's not there already.

Thanks. I just got off the phone with Tripp, He suggested sending the barrel back so he could inspect it. I'll let y'all know what he says after I get it back.