The velocity thing: How far away from the muzzle is the chronograph? At least 10 feet, I hope. The chronograph can read muzzle blast and be far off because of that. Lighting also can throw it off.
That the factory ammo velocity seems right is odd, but if the powder in the factory rounds is cleaner than the HS-6, that might explain it.
The failure to eject is another thing. If your loads are too heavy (unlikely) the brass would likely have difficult extraction (that is, the round would be left in the chamber, possibly with the extractor having ripped through the extraction "rim". But the telling evidence would be that the cartridge case would require a lot of force to remove it from the chamber. Does it?
If the load is too light, the failure to eject might leave the cartridge in the chamber or "stovepiped", stuck in the ejection port. Is that what it happening? The telling evidence is likely to be what happens when you fire the last round in the magazine. Does the slide lock back? If it doesn't, it is probably because the slide is not moving back far enough to be caught by the slide stop, a sure sign of too light a load (or too strong a recoil spring or limp wristing or a combination of these - but since factory ammo works, surely it is too light a load).
Another sign of too light a load is sooty cartridges. If the pressure is not high enough, the case does not expand tight against the chamber walls to seal the chamber. This allows the propellant gasses to leak past the case, leaving soot on it. This does not always happen, but is a significant sign.
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Originally Posted by mwurdeman07
That being said, whats the best way to start making proper rounds?
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You are doing it. Start low and work your way up. Shoot one round at a time. You are way ahead of most beginning reloaders, since you have a chronograph.
Where I think you have gone wrong is that you started too low. My Lee manual gives 6.8 grains as the load for jacketed 124 grain 9mm bullets. Plated bullets are usually loaded with data from the lead bullet tables, which run a little lighter than jacketed, so I would suggest dropping 10% (standard practice for starting loads) and another 5% (estimated differential for jacketed vs lead/plated). That would put you at 5.8 grains for a starting load.
Be
sure your scale (powder charge) is correctly set up. (What scale are you using to verify the powder drop from your measure? If you are using Lee's tables, you are subject to some uncontrolled variation you would be
well advised to eliminate.)
If you get no slide lock on final round firing and the extraction is not sticky I would be pretty sure your loads are too light and would jump up to 5.8 grains. Maybe 6.0
Re-read the early chapters of your loading manual(s). (By the way, what manuals are you using?)
Good luck.
Lost Sheep