Why are 9mms such an issue?

[JT27]

How much are you crimping? I think you’re looking for .377- don’t quote me on that.

If you’re using a carbide sizing die, lube isn’t a necessity, but it does make it easier.
I doubt, if you are using carbide without lube, you’re stretching the case. That would take a hell of a lot of force.

Try what DRK suggested, but with 1.10 OAL

 

[243winxb]

loaded to book OALs

Each gun will take a different OAL. Find the shortest of the 3 guns. Load all the same OAL.

Actions need to fully close.

 

[troupe]

Change your powder, if the bullet moves a fraction, like any other loaded ammo, it changes things dramatically, especially in 9mm. 9mm is a high pressure round to start with. N-320, titegroup, sport pistol all work good and are safe. If the chambers are not supported some. they will blow a case with the wrong powders. I have loaded over a million 9's on my Dillon's in my 35 years of USPSA, never blown a case. And yes, I use range brass. I have seen 40's blow, but it was pushing the limits with again, the wrong powders. You need a taper crimp of around .380 to .381to be safe on bullet setback. Much different pressures than the 45ACP. 4.2 to 4.4 of titegroup will be a safe, light load. 1.110 (short) to 1.160 (long) will work.

9mm can be a wonderful cartridge and very accurate.

 

[Bill K]

Been loading and shooting 9mm's for over 40 years, no issues. You must be doing something wrong in your procedure to have that issue. Are you sure the load you used was not double charged or to high amount and you really produced excessive pressure ?

 

[DRK]

Been loading and shooting 9mm's for over 40 years, no issues. You must be doing something wrong in your procedure to have that issue. Are you sure the load you used was not double charged or to high amount and you really produced excessive pressure ?

Can you get enough Unique in a case to double charge? Been awhile but I think Unique is quite fluffy.

I run WAP/Ramshot Silhouette in my 9mm. You can fill the case up with powder and run it w/o problems. I've made major in 9mm w/o blowing case webs out, I still am wondering what is amiss here.

 

[troupe]

As Rwfish mentioned, he has loaded 9 Major for open class USPSA, as well as I. The 9 can take a lot of abuse. Get the right powders. 9 Major in like 9mm Proof loads and a open gun lives on it every weekend and a couple days of practice.

Still have not mentioned your powder charges or OAL, but I have missed that somewhere. with the powders you are using, a double charge can do what you experienced.

Was at a USPSA match many, many years ago and fellow was shooting a Glock 21, 45ACP, he had a double charge and blew his pistol. Plastic in his hand and he was on blood thinner. My wife was a cardiac nurse and attempted to field treat him, till Rescue arrived. He of coarse was terrified. I remember I was shooting with a couple of Delta Operators and the fellow ask one of the team guys, what to do ? The D Op told him to calm down and listen to my wife, he replied, I can't and asked the D Op guy what will happen if he can't calm down.

The D Op calmly looked at him and said " You will die" and then slowly turned and walked off. Old Wayne started to calm down and everything turned out fine for him.

As with anything in reloading, the fine points matter. No offense, but something is wrong. Look on the Brain Enos Forum under reloading and as this great forum has great info, there is thousands of posts for 9mm loads, just "Don't Load 9 Major". 9Major is for specialized pistols that are designed solely for that.

Be safe and enjoy all of your 9 reloads, it can be very rewarding.

 

[tommeboy]

I load thousands of 9x19mm a year to run in my Uzi SMG w/o any problems. Something is not right, what are you loading including OAL?

Thats because it is a blowback. If it was a locked breech you may have already blown up your gun if it was. That is one of the main advantages to a blow back

 

[DirtySteve]

9mm is no issue. I have loaded 10K a year for many years without incident. I use carbide dies and a Lee Factory crimp die with Zero issues.. Unique is a dirty powder you may want to try something else..

 

[tommeboy]

Also. LOTS of the blazer brass is thinner. So it is not sized enough for proper neck tension. Lee makes a undersized die just for this very reason if you run mixed range brass. What happens is the bullet gets set WAY back and that blows the case. Get the Lee die and this issue will go away.

 

[Rsadams]

I have to chime in here because I have reloaded tens of thousands of 9mm over the years on both single stage and progressive presses and never had a problem with both LEE and Dillon dies....Without any kind of dangerous things happening like blowing up a gun etc.... 9 mm isn't hard to reload , I have used Winchester , Blazer a ton of blazer , Remington , Federal, some PPU brass the list is long with no problem like that I don't get anywhere near +P loads but right at or slightly below factory speeds because I use win231 powder....

What you have to watch out for is setback which can build pressure fast and to a very dangerous level very fast.... Your bullets are held in place by neck tension not crimp... Try chambering some of your reloads and then measure them and see if your getting setback.... I load Berry bullets which you treat as lead so I load them out at 1.150....

 

[Rsadams]

Also. LOTS of the blazer brass is thinner. So it is not sized enough for proper neck tension. Lee makes a undersized die just for this very reason if you run mixed range brass. What happens is the bullet gets set WAY back and that blows the case. Get the Lee die and this issue will go away.

I have never heard that but have loaded tons of blazer brass with Dillon and regular lee dies with zero problems.... I have seen some thick PPU brass over the years but never had a problem with blazer brass , it's my go to brass for punching paper....

 

[tommeboy]

you need to check your bullet pull on that blazer brass. It is a known and common issue. If you run lead bullets or plated you won't have an issue as they are both over 0.355" It is bullets with a diameter of 0.355" that have issues in the blazer brass. They run a plated bullet that is 0.356". That is why you need the undersize Lee die if you load the mixed brass. OR, a custom expander that is 0.0015" SMALLER to give enough tension.

Just do a search and you will see thousands of complaints with this issue.

 

[tommeboy]

I have never heard that but have loaded tons of blazer brass with Dillon and regular lee dies with zero problems.... I have seen some thick PPU brass over the years but never had a problem with blazer brass , it's my go to brass for punching paper....

thats because you load a 0.356" bullet. Size them down to 0.355" and you will see.

 

[Tangent]

I'd just buy some brand new brass and test. Eliminate the variables and save a lot of time and trouble.

 

[ISS]

I am not a 9mm expert. That said, my brother had access to a range where the MO State Police and several city and county officers trained. I traded him 200 lbs of old wheelweights for five five gallon buckets full of Federal brass. I sat down in front of my 750 and loaded for almost six hours. Ran out of cast bullets. A fat .356, two tenths over. I'm still shooting it, but I can see part of the bucket bottom. By Christmas week it will be time to put in another day. The 7 year old great-nephew has learned to feed the empties in for me. The 9 year old does primer feed tubes and boxes the loaded rounds. I bought them 10-22's when school let out, and they are working for McDonalds and 22 shells.

ISS

 

[rijndael]

I've loaded probably 100-120K rounds in 9mm, I don't find it to be problematic.

 

[Blowout]

What's the head stamp on those cases that have blown out?

If your using range brass you need to make sure to cull out the stepped cases. Those have a reduced ID at the lower portion of the case. AMERC is one of those brands.

I've loaded 9mm for 40 years and never had a case blowout. Split cases yes, loose primer pockets after multiple times reloaded, but never a case failure. All my brass is range pick up. 40SW and 45acp I've had a few case ruptures on hot loads shot through Glocks with unsupported chambers.

I use a taper crimp die to avoid under sizing the bullet where it's seated in the case. You really only want to remove the flare on the case mouth since the case head spaces off the case mouth.

Would need a lot more detail on your reloading process to figure out what's going on. 9mm is not difficult to reload.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

I started loading handgun ammo during covid lockdowns(here in MN Walz had phonelines for turning in neighbors for to many visitors, the Walz who said Vance should mine his own business). Anyways I started with Lee 3 die 38/357 set. The written instructions produced an occasional case/rd that wouldn't drop fit a revolver cylinder. Watched their videos, adjusted die to video instructions, no more problems. Found a set of used RCBS, ammo from them(using printed instructions) work perfectly. Started with 9mm and 44. 9 Lee dies, 44 mag (for desert eagle) RCBS. The 9 took some playing around to get 100% drop fit in my Lone Wolf barrel. The brothers 44 eagle runs perfect, just following the RCBS instructions. I see a Lee connection. I now use a Lee fcd in a final separate step, flair is set so brass just drop fits my Lyman ammo checker. I run mostly xtp bullets, oal set to Hodgdon data.

 

[CJ6]

I have reload just about everything under the sun and I struggle with 9mm.
Not sure if it is crappy range brass or what but I keep having issues with 9mm cases.
I have had several 9mm case failures last one just blew up my CX4 bolt and it will have to go back to beretta. I am to the point where I will not load 9mm any longer. I am not loading +p or any of that stuff. Just base target 9mm. I have had case failures in several different guns the most recent one in my CX4 was the worst. It damaged the bolt. These rounds showed zero signs of pressure. All I can figure is bad range brass. 9mm is cheap enough to buy factory. Think that is what I will do.

Right now if you're buying new components it's cheaper to buy factory ammo buy the case. If you have older components then it's cheaper to load your own.

 

[markm87]

When factoring in my time that I could be working on Rifle ammo? The savings, if any, over factory ammo isn't worth it.

That said, I loaded 180 rounds last night because I have the components and periodically like to load pistol just to change things up.