The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Problem seating/crimping 9mm on a Hornady LnL

jcims · September 3, 2005, 08:40 AM

Hi,

My brother has had a Hornady Lock N Load progressive reloader all set up for a little while. About a year or two ago he started working on reloading 9mm, but ran into a problem with the seating die (it's one of the 'new dimension' dies). The bullet would seat ok, but there was really no crimp to speak of, and he could push the bullet into the case with his thumb.

He bought the little microjust seating stem to give him additional control, and an attempt to get a better idea what was going on, but that didn't really help much either.

Fast forward to last night. We're both looking at .45's and the thought of having a reloader available to make the shooting a little more cost effective is attractive. We tried seating some bullets into empty cases to try to get it right, but just got more confused.

It looks like the crimping part of the die stops independently from the seating depth part (the 'cone' in the center). So we're working under the assumption that you have to get two parts right. First, the coarse threaded outer portion of the die has to be set to the right 'elevation' to correctly crimp the case. Once you have that correct, you then tweak the seating 'microjust' knob to get the seating depth you're after.

We moved things up and down a bit, and got to the point where we were getting great crimps, but it seems that the seating die was too low, because the sidewalls of the case got crumpled and the bullet is slightly deformed at the top with a 'ring' about 3/16" down from the tip.

So, how in the world do you adjust this die correctly? We couldn't find anything in the manual that indicated how to adjust it, only how to install it.

I'm trying to get a pic of the loads we did last night, they're comical looking.

September 3, 2005, 08:40 AM	#1
jcims Senior Member Join Date: August 21, 2005 Location: Ahyah Posts: 290	Problem seating/crimping 9mm on a Hornady LnL Hi, My brother has had a Hornady Lock N Load progressive reloader all set up for a little while. About a year or two ago he started working on reloading 9mm, but ran into a problem with the seating die (it's one of the 'new dimension' dies). The bullet would seat ok, but there was really no crimp to speak of, and he could push the bullet into the case with his thumb. He bought the little microjust seating stem to give him additional control, and an attempt to get a better idea what was going on, but that didn't really help much either. Fast forward to last night. We're both looking at .45's and the thought of having a reloader available to make the shooting a little more cost effective is attractive. We tried seating some bullets into empty cases to try to get it right, but just got more confused. It looks like the crimping part of the die stops independently from the seating depth part (the 'cone' in the center). So we're working under the assumption that you have to get two parts right. First, the coarse threaded outer portion of the die has to be set to the right 'elevation' to correctly crimp the case. Once you have that correct, you then tweak the seating 'microjust' knob to get the seating depth you're after. We moved things up and down a bit, and got to the point where we were getting great crimps, but it seems that the seating die was too low, because the sidewalls of the case got crumpled and the bullet is slightly deformed at the top with a 'ring' about 3/16" down from the tip. So, how in the world do you adjust this die correctly? We couldn't find anything in the manual that indicated how to adjust it, only how to install it. I'm trying to get a pic of the loads we did last night, they're comical looking.