Keyholing

What is your OAL?????? I had rounds keyholing. Cured the problem by making the rounds as long as possible, passing the plunk test in the barrel, and checking the fit in the magazine
 
If, as my last post describes, it turns out you just have tearing and not keyholing, then more powder would be the solution, as the velocity is too low. So you may want to keep an open mind about that possibility. As a sort of general rule, the slower burning the powder, the nearer to maximum load it has to be to burn efficiently and without erratic ignition.
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I didn't check for smears as recommended and will keep that in mind. The target was full of neat, round holes. The flat-nosed bullet did a very nice job. Then right next to it was a "sideways" penetration (for lack of a better term). Out of 50 loaded with AA#5 (and a bunch loaded with W123 and Bullseye at a previous range trip) they all shot without incident and left neat round holes like a hole-puncher.

Then I reloaded the 5 magazines with the HS-6 rounds and got through 10 rounds with some round, others sideways which I interpreted as keyholing. Only seen it once before with a .22 when my granddude and I tried to finish off a box of 500 (!!!) and somewhere around 450 the bullets started going sideways. Barrel was leaded badly! Not seen it since nor in centerfire guns.

I used HS-6 because I read slower powders could be pushed to higher velocities and wanted to test this out just because. I only use these reloads for paper-punching. I think it can be pushed for higher velocity but "pushed" is the operative word. I didn't push hard enough to get good results. I'll play around with this powder to see.... Thanks.
 
Also keep in mind, barrels and bullets have variation.

Some barrel mfgs let the bore open up more than they should.

Bullets are the same.

One operation actually segregate bullets into sizes that suit certain guns (Penn as I recall) - he also lists what guns tend to be larger or smaller so you can choose the best possibility to start.

note: I use HS-6 exclusively in my 9mm. It does burn a bit dirty.

Never an issue with the 120 grain Penns. He also tunes the lead mix not to just hardness but for other properties to get a functional bullet.

I have shot 147s with it but those were jacketed.
 
Robhic, I have been there with a Glock 26. I tried my reloads with a dozen different powders with various OALs and I just couldn't stabilize 147 gr rounds. It got to the point where a buddy of mine drove his RV to the range and we were loading handloads in the RV to try all afternoon without any positive results. Factory ammo was the same. I had a bad barrel. Glock told me twice that everything was within spec. They finally replaced it.
 
RANGE TRIP!!! Uncle Nick scores again! I took 10 5.0gr HS-6 loaded 147gr LFP bullets out today. I also brought some of the ones I had before loaded with 4.7 and 4.8 gr HS-6. I also used my Beretta 92S with a bit longer barrel to give a bit more horsepower than the Glock 19.

4.7 and 4.8 gr loaded rounds still gave what I thought, previously, to be keyholing. The 5.0 (MAX) loaded group made clean holes. I also remembered to look at the torn paper and, sure enough, the lighter colored area had a smudge on it as mentioned in a post (above). Guess it wasn't keyholing but tearing from lower velocity.

OK, mystery solved and more info for me to add to my knowledge base. I really don't see loading these suckers up for max velocity just to punch paper. I think I'll stay with the faster powders and be happy.
 
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