Seating Bullet Long So Lube Ring Shows

[redwoods]

I just got in some 122grain lead trunicated cone 9mm bullets. I bought them for a good price and will shoot them in my 9mm 1911 for practice.

I have been trying to find and work up a load. The OAL's out there and in the reloading manuals show 1.125-1.169.

If I load it to 1.100, it still shows some of the blue lube in the lube ring.

The difference in bullet (not round) OAL between my 122gr ltc and 147gr fmj is .125.

My question is...is it ok for the lube to show and what about seating it deeper, I don't want the higher pressures to blow up my gun.

My load is 3.4gr titegroup, wsp primers, 122gr lead tc bullet. what should my oal be?

Thanks,

Redwoods

[WestWorld]

My load is 3.4gr titegroup, wsp primers, 122gr lead tc bullet. what should my oal be?

Whatever it takes so that it headspaces on the casing, not the bullet. I load some 9mm bullets with an Ogive (bullet shape) that requires a 1.070 OAL to get them to headspace properly.

I'm not sure if exposed lube would be a problem... other than possibly messy for the barrel.

[HSMITH]

Just make sure the bullet doesn't cock to one side or another easily in the case. That is the real worry when you have that little bullet in the case, they can cock when they hit the feedramp and not run worth a hoot. Also be wary of setback if you are going to run them with a fast powder.

[revchuck]

Redwoods - Hornady offers a 124 grain jacketed bullet which is about the same shape as that 122 grain TC, and they list 1.04" as the overall length.

I'd seat that bullet just past the lube groove, so that no lube is showing. Stuff sticks to the lube, and introducing that extra stuff into the chamber of an already finicky platform (1911 in 9x19) can only mess you up.

At 3.4 grains of Titegroup, you're nowhere near max pressures. Also, the longer you load it (unless it's so long that it jams into the rifling, which won't happen with the bullet you're using) the lower the pressure.

[gm iprod]

More on what revchuck said,

The shorter you load, the higher the pressure.

Be careful as you shorten the load length. I would definetly get the lube groove inside the case. For all the previous reasons. I also suspect that the round will feed way better with about 50% of the forward driving band inside the case. I have used a 122-124gr Conical made on Magma Engineering moulds and they like to be about 1.050" with about .040" of the forward driving band inside the case. Helps with preventing bullets twisting in the case. With a gentle crimp it also stops a lot of setback when chambering, therefore reducing the likelyhood of sudden and unexpected unpleasant pressure changes.

[revchuck]

Well, I did some searching and found the following data, from Handloader #229:

122 lead TC, OAL unknown, but the picture shows it to be about right:

3.4 grains TG = 1043 fps

3.7 grains TG = 1094 fps (.89" @ 20 yards for three, five shot groups)

4.0 grains TG = 1140 fps

These were fired in a CZ-85, 4.7" barrel.

[JFD]

+1 for making sure the round headspaces on the case instead of the bullet.

The exposed lead will not make any additional mess. Obviously it's exposed once you pull the trigger anyway. The exposed lube could pick up dirt, sand or whatever and THAT would be a bad thing for your barrel.