9mm Jacket crumpling

I

ilmonster

New member
I've loaded 9mm in 115 gr. and 124 gr. form for a few years now. I load Berry's 124 gr. RN plated bullets over HP-38. In the last few boxes I've noticed that a bullet or three will get the jacket crumpled after seating (see picture) per box of 50. I've tried to shoot a few of these and they won't chamber in my G19 or S&W M&P.

I am producing these in my Dillon Square Deal B which I've been doing for years. No changes in process or the components. Flaring the case just enough to seat the bullets as I always have. Can't figure out why these bullets' jackets are crumpling right where they're seated at the case? Any thoughts?

IMG_3248.jpg
 
Yes, they aren't jackets. Berry's bullets are plated, not jacketed. You need to adjust your dies. Either your dies moved or Berry's is giving you bullets off a different mold.
 
Pull a bullet and measure the brass. From what I make of the picture it looks like your brass is shaving the plating. If the brass is a bit too long your crimp is finishing before your OAL is reached. Also, if they mic. in a bit short check your bell setting.
 
More flare of the case will probably cure the problem.

As noted earlier, plating is not jacketing. Other than both forming a "skin" over the lead, they are quite different.

Also, consider the possibility of Berry's QC not being 100% perfect. Its not impossible for the plating to be uneven, some bullets thicker than others. Set your tools for minimum on a bullet with "thin" coating, have issues on ones with thicker coating.

Berry's bullets are not premium match grade stuff where you are paying for quality & uniformity, they are more budget bullets, good enough for plinking and practice and (perhaps) not as uniform quality as more expensive slugs.
 
Yup, they're plated. Meant to say the plating got scraped.

The only thing I could think of was maybe the die that bells the case might have worked its way down (less bell) over that last few thousand rounds. I'll give that an adjustment tomorrow.

The suggestion that the O.D. might be different from the last box might also be legit. My last box of 250 didn't have any of these issues. Maybe time to pay a bit more and just jacketed?
 
Looks like your bullets are tilting during seating. They're scraped on one side.
Something jacketed bullets tolerate, but not plated.
 
When this happened to me, which was rare, it was usually an out of round case. A slightly heavier flare would typically handle it. Out of the last 5 packages of 250, I had maybe 3 rounds do this - they went into the ingot melt pot and got recycled there......
 
I too have had this happen on occasion regardless of the plated bullet brand. I chalk it up to one of the following as others have stated.

1) Bullet tilted during seating
2) Not enough flare
3) Flaring die loose causing #2
 
Well, as this issue began occurring with this new box of bullets, I decided to try some X-Treme 124 gr. bullets I have but have not opened yet. Reloaded 50 of them, inspecting each one as they came off the press and no crumpled plating. Measured the diameter of both brands and they appear to be a similar .355" O.D. Must be something different in this box of Berry's. Will put these aside and move forward with the X-Treme bullets. Thanks for the help gang!
 
As Hammerhead suggested, you are probably getting bullet tilt. I know you probably don't want to buy more stuff, but I suggest you get a powder drop tube that has a Lyman M-type profile. These expand a step a short distance below the flare so the bullet can sit perfectly upright in the case as it enters the die. That stops the tilting. IME, it also shrinks groups with soft bullets.

attachment.php


One other thing to check: if you are loading target loads with pressures well under 30,000 psi, you may find your cases are shortening with every load cycle. This will make the degree of flare shrink over enough load cycles. I find 45 Auto target loads have the cases shrink about half of a thousandth every load cycle. The low pressures can't stick the brass to the chamber hard enough to stretch, as a rifle case does, and resizing then flows a little of the brass rearward every time.
 
I'm a huge fan of bulk Rocky Mountain Reloading 9mm jacketed bullets--they should be back up to speed very shortly with their production.
 
Lessons I learned the hard way :
1.) flare the case mouth properly (Lyman M-Die or NOE expander plug)
2.) bullet must be started in case straight up and down...crooked in = shaving
3.) best results with lubed / coated / plated lead bullets is to seat in one step and then taper crimp in a separate step .

Another tip is to use a gas checked 9mm bullet ...the gas check protects the bullet base when seating and they can be driven at 1,000 + fps with no leading even with a softish alloy that allows a truncated cone bullet to mushroom.
I have a .358 " 124 grain Truncated Cone GC mould design from NOE ,
size .357 for 9mm and sized .358 for use in 38 special and 357 magnum .
It's a very versatile design .

The 9mm Luger and lead bullets can be a stinker to get all the details ironed out but once you do makes for nice economical and accurate shooting .
Gary
 
A few items to note: I haven't changed any of my process in loading these most recent 9mm rounds. I do try and make sure the bullet is sitting straight up and down before seating it. I can't use any other dies as I am reloading on a Dillon Square Deal B which uses proprietary dies. I only reload either plated or jacketed bullets as I shoot these in a number of pistols including Glocks which shun lead bullets (conversely, I've only loaded lead in my .45ACP). Until now, I haven't had any issues loading 9mm, 38 Spcl, 45 ACP and 44 Mag.
 
I also load primarily Berry's plated bullets, in both 9mm and .45 ACP. I also "try" to ensure that the bullets are sitting straight up and down before seating. Sometimes that works; sometimes it doesn't.

Awhile back I decided to try Berry's 185-grain hollow-base round nose bullet instead of the 230-grain round nose I've been using for years. I started seeing a number of rounds with the plating shaved and crimped, exactly as you experienced. That led me to investigate my flare, and I found that I essentially didn't have any. I load on a Lee turret press, and my habit is to set the bullet on the case and "ride" it into the mouth of the seating die to prevent tilt. The 185 is a slightly shorter bullet, so it needs a bit more attention than is possible. I increased the flare just a smidge and the problem went away.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top