9mm not reclycling

R

R. Walter

Inactive
I loaded up a bunch of 9mm using new Starline brass, Winchester small pistol primers and the Remington 124gr FMJ round nose over 5.5 grains of Blue Dot. The action in my 9mm (HK P30) is not fully recycling.... each fired piece of brass is getting hung up in the ejection port without ejecting clear of the pistol.

I know I have to increase the powder load. Any suggestions on the approx. 80 remaining unfired rounds as far as how to best use them.
 
Make sure the gun as well cleaned and properly lubed.

Also make sure you're not "limp wristing"

Other than that, there's really not much you can do about loads that are too weak
 
Get a impact bullet puller and start whackin'! then reuse the components and make 5-10 of varying charge weights before mass producing,

it sucks breaking down ammo but you'll only make this mistake once :)
 
Blue Dot is a magnum pistol powder, much too slow for 9mm. You'll have to use a nearly compressed charge for it to work right.
 
single shot or break em down, those are your choices.

i would break em.....

the investment in a cheap puller will be useful again in the future, i pinky promise
 
Blue Dot is a good magnum shotgun powder and not good for much else especially light 9MM loads. Find a better powder and I'd pull them all down and start over. Take your primer punch from the sizing die, resize and expand again saving the primers. I used to load Blue Dot in 125 gr. 357 Magnum loads but there was a warning by the powder company to not use it for 125 grain loads in .357 Mag. Only Blue Dot I'll use will be in heavy shotgun loads.
 
Blue dot is perfectly acceptable in 9mm, Alliant powder manual, lee modern reloading and Lyman's 49th have blue dot load data for 9mm. But the starting load is significantly higher than 5.5. Op undercharged plain and simple
 
I suggest that the OP start reading his reloading manual. One of mine shows 7.5-8.3 grains of Blue Dot with a 124 grain bullet. I would not have bothered loading with only 5.5 grains of Blue Dot as it is way to weak.
 
Blue Dot is an excellent shotgun propellant.

I'm curious if you resized your new Starline brass before you loaded them?
 
Blue Dot is a magnum pistol powder, much too slow for 9mm. You'll have to use a nearly compressed charge for it to work right.
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I could not disagree more. I find it to be a top performer when used properly.

The OP used 5.5gr. Starting load is like 7.2. I use 8.0 over with that bullet. I think about any power would do the same when loaded 13% below minimum.

Blue Dot performs excellent, and very clean in applications that call for a full case of it, which makes it perfect for 9mm. When used where charge leaves a lot of empty space, it is dirty and inconsistant.

I'm sure you've figured it out at this point, but loading 80 rounds of an untested load, especially totally outside of published data is never a good idea.

Get a kinetic bullet puller and get started, or single shoot them 'til they're gone. The good news is that taper crimp semi autos are easiest to pull!
 
Your gun could have too much oil/cleaner/protectant/lubricant in it, and that will cause it to not function properly.


But for sure...add more powder:) lol
 
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My Hornady manual shows 5.5gr of BlueDot (actually 5.7gr) as exactly in the middle for 124gr loads in 9mm.
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Comparing load data without including the OAL (actually bullet seating depth is what is really important) is almost useless and can be dangerous. Load OAL can vary from 1.010" to 1.169" and for a round that "can" be very sensitive to 0.010" variations in bullet seating depth makes this aspect paramount in importance.

But if you are not cycling your pistol you have 3 basic options:
- change the recoil spring (already mentioned)
- increase your charge weight (also mentioned)
- decrease OAL and that results in an increase in the bullet seating depth

For Blue Dot to perform best, it does require higher pressure. I also used it for years with 125 gr HP's in my 357 Mag. Excellent results and extremely clean burning. And then came the Blue Dot warning...
 
^^^^^^
Hahaha


My CZ75 had very stiff springs and required a bit hotter load and heavier bullets to function ideally. The load data I found on Blue Dot has the OP charging way too low. I think it prudent to pull them apart and start over... and even though Blue dot CAN be used in pistol cartridges (obviously some folks here have had success with it), I would consider it a powder to be used when nothing else is available. There's too many other powders better suited for your combination of cartridge and firearm.

My $.02
 
Take them to the range next time you go. Offer them to someone who maybe has a pistol that will cycle them. Ask them to return the brass - maybe you will make a new friend in the process.
 
Somebody hands me some ammo and says "I loaded this wrong, you shoot it up in your gun so I can get my brass back." and I am going to be looking for a net and the phone number of the funny farm.

Pull the bullets and start over.
 
The maximum number of rounds I load the first time for a new powder/bullet combination is 5. When I start with a new powder and bullet or caliber, I would not even work up a ladder, but would load 5 only and evaluate. Based on the evaluation I will start my ladder from a lower or higher charge.

You also need to make sure the COL you are loading to will cycle in your gun. Load a few dummy rounds and make sure it passes the plunk test and cycles through your gun.

Good luck and be safe.
 
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