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Old January 7, 2010, 06:59 PM   #1
bfg9000guy
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First time loads in 9mm

After waiting for weeks to obtain some small pistol primers, I just finished firing my first reloads today. It went well, except a few did not feed completely. I'm guessing the load must be a little light. Here's the details, tell me what you think.

9mm Lee Deluxe dies, with factory crimp.
115 gr Ranier plated RN
3.9 gr Accurate #2
OAL set to 1.15
Shot with a Taurus PT-99 (I LOVE this gun)

I charged the cases with a Lee Pro Autodisk. The chart said to use .32 cc, but my scale showed them coming out too light. I've heard that the autodisk produces charges on the light side, so I stepped up the disk hole and weighed each several times until I was finally getting 3.9 gr with the .40 cc setting. I didn't expect to have to go all the way to .40 cc, but thats what my scale said, so I stuck with it.

I loaded 10 of these to test, and 3 of them did not feed. Instead they were jammed up the ramp with the head stuck below the extractor. The kick felt identical to my factory ammo, but it looked to me as if the slide was not cycling all the way back on the previous shot.

My plan- Max load is listed at 4.3 gr, so I'll load up some more with the next size hole in the autodisk, which will probably give me about a 4.1 gr charge. This sound like a good plan? I suppose I could also seat the bullet a little deeper in order to increase pressure, but I'd like to change only one variable at a time.
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Old January 7, 2010, 08:11 PM   #2
Unclenick
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Both factors could be contributing. Your load is light. Remember the plated bullets get treated like lead bullets in loading. From Accurate's own abbreviated load manual, they use both a shorter COL and a larger charge range:

115 Lead Cast Round Nose, seated to 1.100" COL:

Accurate No.2 powder, Winchester WSP primer, case brand not given (assume Winchester), 4" barrel:
Min 4.6 grains; 1,008 fps,
Max 5.2 grains 1,146 fps, 32,900 psi

QuickLOAD agreed that your 3.9 grain load was probably running under half maximum pressure for the 9mm. Pretty low. It also thinks Accurate's maximum is too high. This is probably due to different bullet lengths and case capacities. I suggest you try your 4.3 grain load at 1.100", then if that doesn't work, try Accurate's starting load and see how that goes? If it is satisfactory, stop there.
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Old January 8, 2010, 03:42 PM   #3
bfg9000guy
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Unclenick-
Thanks for your advice. I was using load data from Richard Lee's Modern Reloading book. It shows different numbers for plated and for cast bullets, but the Ranier web site does say to treat their plated bullets like cast for loading data purposes. Also, it would make sense that the powder manufacturer's load data would be more correct, I should have checked it first instead. In any case, I'll take your advice and try some at 4.3 grains and see what happens.
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Old January 8, 2010, 04:03 PM   #4
Jack.Ruby
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had the same problems as you

bumped up to the next hole in the auto disk and had no problem at all

good luck to you
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Old January 8, 2010, 04:11 PM   #5
jbrown13
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Me too

I also used the Lee data for my first reloads with plated bullets in 9mm, and had all kinds of cycling issues even with Lee max loads. Reliable cycling in my stock Glock 17 was not achieved until I reached 4.4 grains of AA #2 w/ a 115 grain RN DS Berry's plated bullet. I have now switched to Montana Gold 115 grain jacketed RN bullets (cheaper than plated if you buy by the case of 4000), and have settled on 4.9 grains of AA #2 as the most accurate load in my G17.
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Old January 8, 2010, 05:02 PM   #6
dfe2240
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FWIW, I loaded Longshot and 115-grain Montana Gold CMJ and had great accuracy in my Glock 19.
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