9mm problem

J

jjcbuck

New member
I've loaded 9mm for my Glock for years - no problem. I recently purchased a Springfield EMP 1911 in 9mm. Doesn't like my reloads. I would estimate it devours 80% of my reloads. Tried different seating depths and firmness of seating die (no crimp). Here's what's weird: I drop the reload into the barrel which has been removed from the gun. It does not drop cleanly into the chamber. Stands proud 1/16" plus or minus. I rotate the round 90 degrees, it drops cleanly into the chamber. Or sometimes I rotate the round 180 degrees and it drops in. Sometimes it won't drop in. If I put the gun together and try cycling the gun, the rounds that stand proud do not chamber and they stick requiring forcing the slide open to remove the live round. I've never had to trim 9mm brass. Could that be the problem? Has anyone encountered this? I'm stumped. Jim
 
From the description, I would guess that the Glock left the cases slightly "pregnant" at one area around the clock that only fits when it is at the bottom side of the EMP chamber. Since 9 mm cases are too tapered to use a Bulge Buster, you may need to keep a separate set of cases for the EMP that were fired in it originally.
 
Reloading cast bullets in the 9mm Luger can be a nightmare .
Using the same brand of brass and /or trimming them to a consistent length helps a lot .
Case lengths vary all over the place , if using mixed brass , trim them...one less variable .
One gun may love a load ...the next gun might refuse to chamber .
Keep working with bullet seating depth , bullet size and OAL until the gun will run on them. It took me a long while to develop one 9mm luger reload with cast bullets that6 would function in 4 different pistols . I thought about giving up several times ... I used plenty of bad words , I cursed the blessed 9mm Luger like a sailor more than once ...
But don't give up just keep at it , each gun is different and newer guns have different throats ...some have plenty of throat and will take any OAL ...some have little or no throat and must be deep seated .
They must pass the plunk test before you can start working on a powder charge .
I've had best luck with Truncated Cone design bullets in the 120 to 124 grain weight .
And remember if a round will drop into and drop out of (plunk) your guns barrel (make dummy rounds -no powder, no primer for this) there is no use loading them with powder and trying to shoot them they might just stick in the chamber...plunk first ...then powder charge.
Good Luck,
Gary
 
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My wife has a SA 1911 9mm that has a very tight chamber. I ended up getting an undersize carbide reloading die to do her reloads. Problem solved on her pistol.
Ralph
 
Thanks very much for the responses and helpful advice. I'll be working on it and post results later. Busy summer days may delay my efforts. Again - thanks to every one. I will save the advice.
 
I couldn't stay away so I went back to my bench. Magic marker test revealed no marks on bullet, crimp was not marked, ..... case head just above the extractor groove was the problem in the five rounds I experimented with. The bind/bulge was in just one area not all the way around the brass. Tentatively it looks like I need new brass just for the EMP. The rounds will still run in my Glock but once fired, I will not use the brass again for either gun.
The article from Shooting Times shared by 74A95 and the comment by unclenick were especially helpful but my thanks to all who responded. Jim
 
Have found the LFC can be adjusted to re-size closer to case head than my normal sizing die. Independent of the crimping/bullet aligning feature. This is kinda midway between using an under size or regular size die.
 
The Lee taper crimp die that has the sizing ring in it may solve your problem if it's the Glock bulge. I load for 5 different 9MM guns including a G19 and the ammo works in all 5 guns. The SA gun may have a tighter chamber than the others.
 
I too am suspicious that the bulge is the result of the small unsupported portion of the brass in the Glock chamber. Since the brass has been fired quite a few times I will not try to resize. As I indicated, I will fire the rounds I've loaded and then discard the brass. The Glock 19 gets very little use in my stable these days so nothing lost. New 9mm brass seems hard to find right now so the EMP will probably get little use also.
 
jjcbuck said:
I couldn't stay away so I went back to my bench. Magic marker test revealed no marks on bullet, crimp was not marked, ..... case head just above the extractor groove was the problem in the five rounds I experimented with. The bind/bulge was in just one area not all the way around the brass. Tentatively it looks like I need new brass just for the EMP. The rounds will still run in my Glock but once fired, I will not use the brass again for either gun.
The article from Shooting Times shared by 74A95 and the comment by unclenick were especially helpful but my thanks to all who responded. Jim
Click to expand...
The "bulge" is common , an unsupported spot lets the case expand ...
get a sizing tool called the "Bulge Buster" to remove it ...this is very common with Glock fired brass ... you will need to de-bulge all brass fired in the glock if you want to reload those cases . It's not expensive, Lee Kit is only $15.99 and it will save all those bulged brass cases the Glock will make.
Also ...Glock isn't the only pistol that will produce some bulgy fired cases .
Lee's buster is a simple tool that really works . At this point in time you don't want to be throwing brass away if a cheap little sizer can fix them ...
Gary
 
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Reloading cast bullets in the 9mm Luger can be a nightmare .
Click to expand...

Can be doesn't have to be.

My Browning H.P. functions (notice I did not say, "runs") very reliably with Lee cast lead bullets with their 2 ogive round nose bullet shape that mimics the shape of military hard ball bullets. Over the years I have had several 9mm's that functioned with home cast lead bullets that approximated the shape of military rounds...maybe that is the key.
 
I've gotten all the details worked out now , took a little time and testing to get one load that would work in 4 different pistols . The easiest pistol is a WWII Walther P-38 , it has a nice generous throat and any .357 dia bullet , even SWC's will feed in it . The newer pistols with little or no throats were more challenging as were powder charge for 100% functioning .

The cast bullet that worked for all 4 9mm pistols is cast from NOE mould
#358-124-TC-GC ... a 124 gr. truncated cone gas checked bullet .
Cast of softish alloy the gas check lets it be driven @1000+ fps . and the gas check helps in seating the bullet in tight cases .
Getting all the details worked out for 4 different pistols wasn't a walk in the park but is certainly doable .
Gary
 
You can use a 9mm Makarov bulge buster on the 9mm Luger brass to resize the base of the round.
It doesn't matter if it's a tapered case. It will fix the Glock bulge in the case.

The newer 9mm pistols seem to get tighter and shorter chambers. Don't understand what their trying to accomplish by doing that.
 
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