Help! 9mm Reloads coming apart in my pistol

bkhann · November 17, 2009, 04:22 PM

I just had an exciting trip to the range with my Springfield XDm 9mm semi autimatic pistol and my new 9mm reloads.

I am loading a 125 gn LFP Moly/Poly Bullet using 4.3 gr WSF with a COL of 1.160".

I load a magazine, fire the first round, then a misfire/jam. Upon opening the slide I found that round #2 had separated (the bullet from the case) and the bullet was about 1/2" in the chamber...Jammed. With a light tap of a hammer and a wood dowel, the bullet came right out. This happed the next three times that I loaded these bullets. I loaded another type of bullet, and the pistol worked perfectly.

Upon examining the loads, everything looks OK. There is a nice taper crimp on each round. In examining the dislodged bullets, I find that there is a mark on the bullet caused by the crimp, so I am comfortable that I am putting enough crimp on the rounds.

In looking at an unfired round I see that there is only .139" of the bullet sticking inside of the cartridge (maybe not enough to hold round together when it is ejected into the chamber).

I also measured the diameter of the bullet from the bottom of the bullet to the point where the the taper starts comming into the nose. That diameter is constant.

I am hesitant to add any more crimp.......Any thoughts as to what might be causing this and solutions??

Shoney · November 17, 2009, 04:41 PM

It sounds like you may be "over belling" the case to seat the bullet, then over crimping it. The stretched brass does not come back into its sized state when you apply a crimp.

If you apply only a little bell to the case, only enough to get the bullet started, and just remove the crimp with the taper crimp die, the neck tension of the case will hold it firmly and you will not have the problem.

Winterhawk56 · November 17, 2009, 05:22 PM

I have a question and not trying to infer you are not a capable re-loader so please do not misunderstand me.

My questions are:

1. Are you sure there was powder in the rounds? Primers gases are enough to shove the round in the barrel as described.

2. Did the primer bulge or flatten due to pressure (a possible sign of crimp issues/jammed in the chamber)

3. I also think that .139 of a bullet seating could also be the culprit although the gas would have to escape around the bullet? Did it cycle and or re-chamber another round?

That being said I also think that Shoney is on to something. If you expand the case mouth just enough to receive the bullet and then us a taper crimp you will find much better accuracy and less chance to stove piping a round.

In a 9MM, .45, 10mm or .40 the case mouth/neck is the shoulder and rests in the chamber on the case mouth/neck.

Providing extreme roll crimping can cause the round to jam in the chamber as the case lip is curled and unable to come in contact with the neck/rim in the chamber, thus making the round crimp more at the mouth.

I would be concerned about excess pressures and possible case/chamber bulge if the round is in fact stove piping/jamming in the chamber at the mouth.

Some will disagree but roll crimping a 9mm round is never a good idea in my opinion.

Please let me know what you find?

Ifishsum · November 17, 2009, 05:31 PM

I agree with shoney - "taper crimp" is a misleading term - with auto pistol rounds it's pretty much just the neck tension that holds the bullet in place. With an aggressive taper crimp, you'll actually reduce the neck tension further down on the case as it bows out below the crimp. I made the same mistake with the first auto pistol rounds I produced.

Bell the cases just enough to get the bullets started into the case mouth, then adjust the crimp on your seating die to just basically "iron out" the belling and make the case mouth straight again.

bkhann · November 17, 2009, 06:01 PM

There was definitely powder in the round. I load in a turret press and one of the steps is to examine each cartridge to make sure that it has aprox. The same level of powder in it (as the others). When I opened the slide there was unburned) powder present.

Round 1 fired successfully in each magazine, round 2 clicked (a misfire). Upon opening the slide I found the disassembled round. The bullet was in the chamber, but not a squib as the primer never fired. It appears that the spent round ejected and a new round was pushed into the chamber. When that round came to a stop, the bullet kept going, separating from the cartridge and ending up about ¼” to ½: in the barrel. Fortunately, when I pulled the trigger “click” instead of Bang (or Kaboom!)

I don’t think that I was over-belling the cartridge. I am very careful to bell it only wide enough to support the bullet. I let the seating die put the bullet the rest of the way into the cartridge.

The load does have a pronounced taper crimp on it; nothing that you can feel but enough that it leaves a line on the soft lead bullet. I could reduce the crimp with my Lee Factory Crimp die if you think that this might solve the problem. I never use roll crimps with 9mm ammunition.

mapsjanhere · November 17, 2009, 06:50 PM

Did you have an imprint on the primer? The misfire sounds like the whole cartridge was shoved to far into the chamber, getting the bullet stuck in the throat. The cartridge only came apart when you operated the slide with the bullet stuck in the lands.
My guess is that your excess crimp doesn't give you the right head space and the inertia of the rapidly moving cartridge when operated by life fire moves it too far in. The cartridge coming apart is only a side effect.

shepherddogs · November 17, 2009, 06:57 PM

Check your bullets with a micrometer and make sure they aren't undersized. A nice taper crimp isn't much good if the bullets are too small.

LHB1 · November 17, 2009, 07:06 PM

"Taper crimp" on straight walled pistol cases is merely to remove the belling applied earlier to facilitate bullet seating. Case tension from resizing the case is what holds the bullet in the case. In your case, since you are seating the bullets so shallow, your belling has removed all tension from that area and then the taper crimp merely straightens the case again. Suggest:
1) minimize the amount of belling applied (use just enough to allow bullet to start into case),
2) use just enough taper crimp to remove belling/flare of case,
3) seat those bullets DEEPER. Sounds like they aren't being seated deep enough to reach the portion of case which retains some reduction in diameter from sizing operation.

bkhann · November 17, 2009, 08:12 PM

Ah...I think that I have discovered the problem. I started doing some measuring on my reloads and some factory ammo. The one thing that stands out is the COL of the problem ammo is 1.162, the COL of my other reload item is 1.142 and the COL of my factory loads is 1.115. I removed the barrel from my XDM and dropped in the 3 different loads and to my amazement the 1.142" and the 1.115" dropped right in; the 1.162" would not seat because the load was too long!

Hodgdon specifies a COL of 1.169 for the 124 gr LRN bullet using WSF, but in my pistol this is too long. I guess the lesson is to test any new round in your barrel before you load up 500 rounds.

So, I get to disassemble many rounds of ammunition. With a recommmended COL of 1.169 I don't dare try to reseat the bullets to 1.142 COL. The good news is that I am almost out of WSF and when I reload these loads I can use a powder that specifies a more realistic COL for my XDM.

Thank you all for your help. This is a great place to find expert advice.

PCJim · November 17, 2009, 11:39 PM

You seem to be wanting to use COL data for a LRN for your LFP loads. This will not work as the bullet shapes are different. A LRN by design protrudes further than a LFP and should have a longer COL. This is what you are seeing in Hodgdon's data that you referred to in your last post "Hodgdon specifies a COL of 1.169 for the 124 gr LRN bullet using WSF". By loading your LFP to the COL of a LRN, you are not seating your LFP deep enough and are most likely forcing your bullet into the rifling. On that note, did you notice any signs of high pressure on the round that fired?

You need to try to find some COL data specific for a 125gr LFP. Lyman #48 (edition has been corrected) lists a COL of 1.115 for their very pointed #358093 125gr lead bullet with a charge of 3.5-4.7gr WSF. They do not list WSF powder for their 120gr LFP, which is seated to 1.10.

Should you find appropriate data that identifies a shorter COL for your LFP, re-seat those rounds to an acceptable depth that will properly fit your chamber with ease.

croc4 · November 17, 2009, 11:42 PM

If your load is below max (well below), If I were you I would just re-seat the bullet to fit your pistol.

But what I would do and what is smart is not always on par ;-)

Croc4

smleno1mkIII · November 17, 2009, 11:48 PM

sounds like you may have over crimped those cast lead bullets are soft you don't want to put alot of force

on them when you are seating them just an ample amount a friend of mine had the same but when I saw what he was doing I said to my self hmm no wonder

oh yeah he was over belling the case mouth to it looked like he was trying to make it into a .40 then squeze it back down to a 9mm

Shoney · November 18, 2009, 12:32 AM

In addition to what i wrote in my first post, there are two factors which also demonstrate overcrimping.

1. The deformation marks on the bullet demonstrate that it was crimped downtoo tightly.

2. You also must remember that the cartridge head space off the lip of the case at the front of the chamber. If the trigger was pulled and the primer was not ignited, the case must be past the head spacing point of the chamber into the leade of the bore.

Cases that are short by only a little bit will be held against the face of the slide by the extractor, with enough grip to allow the firing pin to strike the primer and ignite it. If the case is too short or if the case is advancing into the leade of the barrel, the extractor will not grip the case strongly enough to have the firing pin strike and ignite the primer.

I suggest that you raise your crimp die. When loading any lead bullets, I seat and crimp in seperate opperations.

armoredman · November 18, 2009, 02:04 AM

I had the same problem once - loads were too long, bullet was getting jammed into the lands and grooves causeing a FTF, then a pop loose. Reduce COAL to headspace in a dismounted barrel, should help quite a bit.

bkhann · November 18, 2009, 06:02 AM

PCJIM

There are NO signs of high pressure on ther rounds that fired.

There are 2 LFP loads that are in trouble:

***** 130 gr LFP Poly/Moly with 4.1 gr WSF COL 1.160"
***** 125 gr LFP Poly/Moly with 4.3 gr WSF COL 1.160"

These appear to be in the middle of the Lyman #49 range of loads for 125 gr lead bullets LFP with a COL of 1.115" (WSF charge 3.5-4.7 for 125gr LFP bullets)

Would you suggest that I re-seat the problem loads to 1.115" and try it?

As for the taper crimp, in the future I will create test seatings and disassemble to make sure that the bullets are not being deformed. Is a light crimp line OK in lead or should the taper crimp stop before it makes any impression in the lead?

I do use a separate Lee Factory Crimp Die to make my taper crimp on these loads, the seating die only seats the bullet and removes any excess belling (so that the bullets will go into the Factory Crimp Die smoothly)....nothing more.

bkhann · November 18, 2009, 06:20 AM

SHONEY

I looked at both problem loads and used my case gauge to determine that the mouths of the cartridges are wide enough that they do not drop into the barrel.

One side of the case gauge shows you if the load width is not too large and the other side allows the bullet to drop in the gauge, but the cartridge mouth stops at the opening.

It appears that the load was too long to seat in the barrel, I think that the bullet was sticking out too far for the firing pin to successfully strike the primer; at that point the firing pin may have forced the bullet into the chamber. The result was a jam. It took considerable force to get the slide open, and at that point the bullet seems to have separated from the case.

If I were to guess, my XDM became a bullet puller with the barrel becoming a "collet" for the bullet to stick to and the slide the mechanism to pull the bullet apart.

I hope that this is what happend because it appears that by limiting the length of the load to a COL of 1.115" (or a length to be determined by doing test seatings and dropping them into my XDM barrel) this problem will be solved.

PCJim · November 18, 2009, 03:29 PM

I reread your OP to make sure I was not confusing this thread with another. You are correct in that, for your weight bullet, the load is in the middle of that provided for Lyman's bullet. The concern in reseating to match the shorter COL of Lyman's 125gr lead bullet would be that you have the same amount of case volume beneath your LFP. Considering that the Lyman 125gr bullet is depicted in their reloading manual as having a sharp, "triangle" point, you could conclude that if your flat point bullet was seated to the same COL, there would be more bullet exposed outside the case and thus more volume available beneath the bullet. A good hypothesis, but not necessarily one to make a potentially destructive bet upon.

Here is a suggestion. Take one of your reloads, currently at 1.16, and reseat it to 1.15. Test it in your chamber to see if it seats properly. If so, that should be OK to make a test fire. If there are no high pressure signs, you know what to do.

If it is still too long at 1.15, continue to make incremental adjustments to find the COL where it does fit properly with ease. When you do find a working COL, you will next need to determine how much of that bullet is now seated in the case. Compare this "in the case" measurement with what would be in the case for another lead bullet for which you have a WSF recipe. This is to determine whether the available case volume is the same. If case volume is the same, then you should be ok.

The old rule of thumb was that for every 10% reduction in case volume, pressure would increase by 20%, and vice-versa. Reducing the COL from 1.16 to 1.10 will increase the pressure. Whether the increase would be too great, I cannot say. This is why in giving you the above suggestion that I am trying to orient you in the direction of similar case volume for a similar WSF recipe for the same weight/composition bullet.

November 17, 2009, 04:22 PM	#1
bkhann Member Join Date: August 5, 2009 Location: Grand Rapids MI Posts: 98	Help! 9mm Reloads coming apart in my pistol I just had an exciting trip to the range with my Springfield XDm 9mm semi autimatic pistol and my new 9mm reloads. I am loading a 125 gn LFP Moly/Poly Bullet using 4.3 gr WSF with a COL of 1.160". I load a magazine, fire the first round, then a misfire/jam. Upon opening the slide I found that round #2 had separated (the bullet from the case) and the bullet was about 1/2" in the chamber...Jammed. With a light tap of a hammer and a wood dowel, the bullet came right out. This happed the next three times that I loaded these bullets. I loaded another type of bullet, and the pistol worked perfectly. Upon examining the loads, everything looks OK. There is a nice taper crimp on each round. In examining the dislodged bullets, I find that there is a mark on the bullet caused by the crimp, so I am comfortable that I am putting enough crimp on the rounds. In looking at an unfired round I see that there is only .139" of the bullet sticking inside of the cartridge (maybe not enough to hold round together when it is ejected into the chamber). I also measured the diameter of the bullet from the bottom of the bullet to the point where the the taper starts comming into the nose. That diameter is constant. I am hesitant to add any more crimp.......Any thoughts as to what might be causing this and solutions??

November 17, 2009, 06:50 PM	#6
mapsjanhere Senior Member Join Date: August 6, 2009 Location: Albuquerque Posts: 2,832	Did you have an imprint on the primer? The misfire sounds like the whole cartridge was shoved to far into the chamber, getting the bullet stuck in the throat. The cartridge only came apart when you operated the slide with the bullet stuck in the lands. My guess is that your excess crimp doesn't give you the right head space and the inertia of the rapidly moving cartridge when operated by life fire moves it too far in. The cartridge coming apart is only a side effect. __________________ I used to love being able to hit hard at 1000 yards. As I get older I find hitting a mini ram at 200 yards with the 22 oddly more satisfying.

November 17, 2009, 07:06 PM	#8
LHB1 Senior Member Join Date: March 25, 2005 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 1,545	"Taper crimp" on straight walled pistol cases is merely to remove the belling applied earlier to facilitate bullet seating. Case tension from resizing the case is what holds the bullet in the case. In your case, since you are seating the bullets so shallow, your belling has removed all tension from that area and then the taper crimp merely straightens the case again. Suggest: 1) minimize the amount of belling applied (use just enough to allow bullet to start into case), 2) use just enough taper crimp to remove belling/flare of case, 3) seat those bullets DEEPER. Sounds like they aren't being seated deep enough to reach the portion of case which retains some reduction in diameter from sizing operation. __________________ Good shooting and be safe. LB

November 17, 2009, 11:39 PM	#10
PCJim Senior Member Join Date: July 11, 2008 Location: FL Posts: 570	You seem to be wanting to use COL data for a LRN for your LFP loads. This will not work as the bullet shapes are different. A LRN by design protrudes further than a LFP and should have a longer COL. This is what you are seeing in Hodgdon's data that you referred to in your last post "Hodgdon specifies a COL of 1.169 for the 124 gr LRN bullet using WSF". By loading your LFP to the COL of a LRN, you are not seating your LFP deep enough and are most likely forcing your bullet into the rifling. On that note, did you notice any signs of high pressure on the round that fired? You need to try to find some COL data specific for a 125gr LFP. Lyman #48 (edition has been corrected) lists a COL of 1.115 for their very pointed #358093 125gr lead bullet with a charge of 3.5-4.7gr WSF. They do not list WSF powder for their 120gr LFP, which is seated to 1.10. Should you find appropriate data that identifies a shorter COL for your LFP, re-seat those rounds to an acceptable depth that will properly fit your chamber with ease. Last edited by PCJim; November 18, 2009 at 11:41 PM. Reason: Referenced wrong edition of Lyman reloading manual

November 17, 2009, 11:48 PM	#12
smleno1mkIII Senior Member Join Date: November 5, 2009 Location: washington state Posts: 176	sounds like you may have over crimped those cast lead bullets are soft you don't want to put alot of force on them when you are seating them just an ample amount a friend of mine had the same but when I saw what he was doing I said to my self hmm no wonderoh yeah he was over belling the case mouth to it looked like he was trying to make it into a .40 then squeze it back down to a 9mm

November 17, 2009, 04:41 PM	#2
Shoney Senior Member Join Date: February 21, 2002 Location: Transplanted from Montana Posts: 2,311	It sounds like you may be "over belling" the case to seat the bullet, then over crimping it. The stretched brass does not come back into its sized state when you apply a crimp. If you apply only a little bell to the case, only enough to get the bullet started, and just remove the crimp with the taper crimp die, the neck tension of the case will hold it firmly and you will not have the problem. __________________ I pledge allegiance to the Flag - - -, and to the Republic for which it stands….Our Forefathers were brilliant for giving us a Republic, not a democracy! Do you know the difference??? and WHY?http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissue...les.asp?id=111

November 17, 2009, 05:22 PM	#3
Winterhawk56 Senior Member Join Date: March 9, 2008 Location: Southern California Posts: 228	I have a question and not trying to infer you are not a capable re-loader so please do not misunderstand me. My questions are: 1. Are you sure there was powder in the rounds? Primers gases are enough to shove the round in the barrel as described. 2. Did the primer bulge or flatten due to pressure (a possible sign of crimp issues/jammed in the chamber) 3. I also think that .139 of a bullet seating could also be the culprit although the gas would have to escape around the bullet? Did it cycle and or re-chamber another round? That being said I also think that Shoney is on to something. If you expand the case mouth just enough to receive the bullet and then us a taper crimp you will find much better accuracy and less chance to stove piping a round. In a 9MM, .45, 10mm or .40 the case mouth/neck is the shoulder and rests in the chamber on the case mouth/neck. Providing extreme roll crimping can cause the round to jam in the chamber as the case lip is curled and unable to come in contact with the neck/rim in the chamber, thus making the round crimp more at the mouth. I would be concerned about excess pressures and possible case/chamber bulge if the round is in fact stove piping/jamming in the chamber at the mouth. Some will disagree but roll crimping a 9mm round is never a good idea in my opinion. Please let me know what you find?

November 17, 2009, 05:31 PM	#4
Ifishsum Senior Member Join Date: September 15, 2005 Location: Oregon Posts: 1,033	I agree with shoney - "taper crimp" is a misleading term - with auto pistol rounds it's pretty much just the neck tension that holds the bullet in place. With an aggressive taper crimp, you'll actually reduce the neck tension further down on the case as it bows out below the crimp. I made the same mistake with the first auto pistol rounds I produced. Bell the cases just enough to get the bullets started into the case mouth, then adjust the crimp on your seating die to just basically "iron out" the belling and make the case mouth straight again.

November 17, 2009, 06:01 PM	#5
bkhann Member Join Date: August 5, 2009 Location: Grand Rapids MI Posts: 98	There was definitely powder in the round. I load in a turret press and one of the steps is to examine each cartridge to make sure that it has aprox. The same level of powder in it (as the others). When I opened the slide there was unburned) powder present. Round 1 fired successfully in each magazine, round 2 clicked (a misfire). Upon opening the slide I found the disassembled round. The bullet was in the chamber, but not a squib as the primer never fired. It appears that the spent round ejected and a new round was pushed into the chamber. When that round came to a stop, the bullet kept going, separating from the cartridge and ending up about ¼” to ½: in the barrel. Fortunately, when I pulled the trigger “click” instead of Bang (or Kaboom!) I don’t think that I was over-belling the cartridge. I am very careful to bell it only wide enough to support the bullet. I let the seating die put the bullet the rest of the way into the cartridge. The load does have a pronounced taper crimp on it; nothing that you can feel but enough that it leaves a line on the soft lead bullet. I could reduce the crimp with my Lee Factory Crimp die if you think that this might solve the problem. I never use roll crimps with 9mm ammunition.

November 17, 2009, 06:57 PM	#7
shepherddogs Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2007 Posts: 1,007	Check your bullets with a micrometer and make sure they aren't undersized. A nice taper crimp isn't much good if the bullets are too small.

November 17, 2009, 08:12 PM	#9
bkhann Member Join Date: August 5, 2009 Location: Grand Rapids MI Posts: 98	Ah...I think that I have discovered the problem. I started doing some measuring on my reloads and some factory ammo. The one thing that stands out is the COL of the problem ammo is 1.162, the COL of my other reload item is 1.142 and the COL of my factory loads is 1.115. I removed the barrel from my XDM and dropped in the 3 different loads and to my amazement the 1.142" and the 1.115" dropped right in; the 1.162" would not seat because the load was too long! Hodgdon specifies a COL of 1.169 for the 124 gr LRN bullet using WSF, but in my pistol this is too long. I guess the lesson is to test any new round in your barrel before you load up 500 rounds. So, I get to disassemble many rounds of ammunition. With a recommmended COL of 1.169 I don't dare try to reseat the bullets to 1.142 COL. The good news is that I am almost out of WSF and when I reload these loads I can use a powder that specifies a more realistic COL for my XDM. Thank you all for your help. This is a great place to find expert advice.

November 17, 2009, 11:42 PM	#11
croc4 Senior Member Join Date: March 9, 2006 Location: Idaho Posts: 191	If your load is below max (well below), If I were you I would just re-seat the bullet to fit your pistol. But what I would do and what is smart is not always on par ;-) Croc4

November 18, 2009, 12:32 AM	#13
Shoney Senior Member Join Date: February 21, 2002 Location: Transplanted from Montana Posts: 2,311	In addition to what i wrote in my first post, there are two factors which also demonstrate overcrimping. 1. The deformation marks on the bullet demonstrate that it was crimped downtoo tightly. 2. You also must remember that the cartridge head space off the lip of the case at the front of the chamber. If the trigger was pulled and the primer was not ignited, the case must be past the head spacing point of the chamber into the leade of the bore. Cases that are short by only a little bit will be held against the face of the slide by the extractor, with enough grip to allow the firing pin to strike the primer and ignite it. If the case is too short or if the case is advancing into the leade of the barrel, the extractor will not grip the case strongly enough to have the firing pin strike and ignite the primer. I suggest that you raise your crimp die. When loading any lead bullets, I seat and crimp in seperate opperations. __________________ I pledge allegiance to the Flag - - -, and to the Republic for which it stands….Our Forefathers were brilliant for giving us a Republic, not a democracy! Do you know the difference??? and WHY?http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissue...les.asp?id=111

November 18, 2009, 02:04 AM	#14
armoredman Senior Member Join Date: May 22, 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 5,299	I had the same problem once - loads were too long, bullet was getting jammed into the lands and grooves causeing a FTF, then a pop loose. Reduce COAL to headspace in a dismounted barrel, should help quite a bit.

November 18, 2009, 06:02 AM	#15
bkhann Member Join Date: August 5, 2009 Location: Grand Rapids MI Posts: 98	PCJIM There are NO signs of high pressure on ther rounds that fired. There are 2 LFP loads that are in trouble: *** 130 gr LFP Poly/Moly with 4.1 gr WSF COL 1.160" *** 125 gr LFP Poly/Moly with 4.3 gr WSF COL 1.160" These appear to be in the middle of the Lyman #49 range of loads for 125 gr lead bullets LFP with a COL of 1.115" (WSF charge 3.5-4.7 for 125gr LFP bullets) Would you suggest that I re-seat the problem loads to 1.115" and try it? As for the taper crimp, in the future I will create test seatings and disassemble to make sure that the bullets are not being deformed. Is a light crimp line OK in lead or should the taper crimp stop before it makes any impression in the lead? I do use a separate Lee Factory Crimp Die to make my taper crimp on these loads, the seating die only seats the bullet and removes any excess belling (so that the bullets will go into the Factory Crimp Die smoothly)....nothing more. Last edited by bkhann; November 18, 2009 at 06:21 AM.

November 18, 2009, 06:20 AM	#16
bkhann Member Join Date: August 5, 2009 Location: Grand Rapids MI Posts: 98	SHONEY I looked at both problem loads and used my case gauge to determine that the mouths of the cartridges are wide enough that they do not drop into the barrel. One side of the case gauge shows you if the load width is not too large and the other side allows the bullet to drop in the gauge, but the cartridge mouth stops at the opening. It appears that the load was too long to seat in the barrel, I think that the bullet was sticking out too far for the firing pin to successfully strike the primer; at that point the firing pin may have forced the bullet into the chamber. The result was a jam. It took considerable force to get the slide open, and at that point the bullet seems to have separated from the case. If I were to guess, my XDM became a bullet puller with the barrel becoming a "collet" for the bullet to stick to and the slide the mechanism to pull the bullet apart. I hope that this is what happend because it appears that by limiting the length of the load to a COL of 1.115" (or a length to be determined by doing test seatings and dropping them into my XDM barrel) this problem will be solved.

November 18, 2009, 03:29 PM	#17
PCJim Senior Member Join Date: July 11, 2008 Location: FL Posts: 570	I reread your OP to make sure I was not confusing this thread with another. You are correct in that, for your weight bullet, the load is in the middle of that provided for Lyman's bullet. The concern in reseating to match the shorter COL of Lyman's 125gr lead bullet would be that you have the same amount of case volume beneath your LFP. Considering that the Lyman 125gr bullet is depicted in their reloading manual as having a sharp, "triangle" point, you could conclude that if your flat point bullet was seated to the same COL, there would be more bullet exposed outside the case and thus more volume available beneath the bullet. A good hypothesis, but not necessarily one to make a potentially destructive bet upon. Here is a suggestion. Take one of your reloads, currently at 1.16, and reseat it to 1.15. Test it in your chamber to see if it seats properly. If so, that should be OK to make a test fire. If there are no high pressure signs, you know what to do. If it is still too long at 1.15, continue to make incremental adjustments to find the COL where it does fit properly with ease. When you do find a working COL, you will next need to determine how much of that bullet is now seated in the case. Compare this "in the case" measurement with what would be in the case for another lead bullet for which you have a WSF recipe. This is to determine whether the available case volume is the same. If case volume is the same, then you should be ok. The old rule of thumb was that for every 10% reduction in case volume, pressure would increase by 20%, and vice-versa. Reducing the COL from 1.16 to 1.10 will increase the pressure. Whether the increase would be too great, I cannot say. This is why in giving you the above suggestion that I am trying to orient you in the direction of similar case volume for a similar WSF recipe for the same weight/composition bullet.