About to see the Fun side of Reloading

jwrowland77 · August 12, 2012, 10:33 AM

Well, I'm a fairly new reloader. Only been reloading since March and have loaded maybe 1000 rounds. All of it sticking to the books and reloading stuff for my daughter to shoot her rifle and for me to shoot my rifle and 9mm pistol.

Well yesterday, I went and shoot in a Steel Challenge with my 9mm. I hadn't had any issues up until yesterday, where I got a bunch of failure to feeds. Up until now I had never had that issue while testing loads and punching holes in paper. To me now the real fun begins of tinkering with the recipes I have. Like with OAL, powder and what not, to produce a load that will shoot good plus be easy on recoil to be able to get back on target quickly to be able to get better scores during the Steel Challenge. I am so looking forward to tinkering with my recipes (safely of course and within guidelines) to try and achieve the best of both worlds...accuracy and speed.

buck460XVR · August 12, 2012, 11:43 AM

Finding that perfect load is like reaching for the ring on the Merry-go-round.

Good luck, have fun and shoot safe.

spacecoast · August 12, 2012, 12:15 PM

Quote:

I hadn't had any issues up until yesterday, where I got a bunch of failure to feeds.

Were you using a new recipe? Care to share? I've taken .45ACP recipes down to the point where my Ruger starts to misfeed (4.3 gr. of Unique pushing a 185 LSWC). It's pretty instructive to see at what point that starts to happen.

Down-loaded rounds is one aspect (of many) where a revolver can outshine semi-autos. Since you are controlling the feeding and not depending on recoil, all you have to do is ensure that the powder charge is enough to push the bullet out of the barrel.

jwrowland77 · August 12, 2012, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacecoast

Were you using a new recipe? Care to share? I've taken .45ACP recipes down to the point where my Ruger starts to misfeed (4.3 gr. of Unique pushing a 185 LSWC). It's pretty instructive to see at what point that starts to happen.

I was using my 9mm. Recipe is:

9mm 115gr FMJ-RN
CCI 500
Unique 5.9 (will be changing this to 5.0)
OAL 1.164 (this is what I'm changing. Reducing to 1.150)
WIN Case trimmed to .748

spacecoast · August 12, 2012, 12:55 PM

I use 5.3 gr. of Unique under a 115 gr. plated round nose, but 5.9 gr. should work OK. 1.164" is near max for 9mm Parabellum, so I think your change is a good idea. I load all mine to 1.14". Nominal case length is .754", so I'm not sure it's necessary or a good idea to trim them shorter (I don't) although they may shrink anyway. Good luck.

jwrowland77 · August 12, 2012, 01:01 PM

Yeah the 1.164 was working ok wen punching holes in paper, but trying to rapid shoot at the Steel Challenge, not so well. I figure the 1.150 should be fine with the 5.9 since every so often my rounds used to come out around 1.154 when I used the 1.164 OAL.

Of course when I did my work up the 5.0 shot the second best out of my gun. So I figured I could reduce the OAL to 1.150 and charge to 5.0 and I should be good to go pressure wise. I could probably bump it down to 1.145 and be just fine pressure wise. Thoughts?

jwrowland77 · August 12, 2012, 01:02 PM

I know based on the Hornady manual the max case length in there is .750.

spacecoast · August 12, 2012, 08:01 PM

You should be fine at 5.0 and 1.145 pressure-wise. Testing in your gun is the only way to know if it's going to have any feed issues. Bullet profile and your taper crimp can also have an effect on feed reliability.

jwrowland77 · August 12, 2012, 08:07 PM

Taper I think I'm good on. Right now it tapers too .377 at the case mouth.

jwrowland77 · August 12, 2012, 08:08 PM

I try to keep it .376-.377 at case mouth.

Goatwhiskers · August 12, 2012, 08:33 PM

The fun side of reloading is helping a young man assemble the necessary for an elementary loading set-up, teaching him how to load the caliber he had while he does it, then watching the expression on his face when he shoots what he has loaded. A new one joins the group against the anti-2nd amendment liberals. GW

ROGER4314 · August 13, 2012, 12:18 AM

Two things......

I bit the bullet (OK, it's a pun) and bought cartridge case gauges for every caliber that I load except for the 9x18 Makarov. I check my loads to see if they will gauge properly. In a MATCH, I would gauge every round before I hit the firing line. I'm a real picky match shooter and twice, I beat the best match shooter I've ever known because I checked my gear and he didn't. I'll take my wins any way I can get them!

Another friend blew a 200 yard rapid fire rifle stage because he had a primer loaded upside down. That round should NEVER have made it to the firing line and he beat himself in that match!

I started out shooting 1911's in bullseye and the old "combat" shooting matches. In combat matches, the loads had to have sufficient velocity for the bullet weight to make "major" classification.

In Bullseye, however, you could drop back on the loads without penalty. I shot 200 grain semi wad cutters in .45 and had extra recoil springs that I could trim to get perfect, clean ejection. In a 1911, that spring is NOT "one size fits all" and it needs to be trimmed if light bullets or lighter loads are used.

I can't tell you what to do but springs only cost a couple of bucks and if you like your load, there are other ways to make it shoot correctly. I trimmed 1/8 turn of the spring at a time until the gun was happy.

That won't help your failure to feed, however. I'd check your grip, first before touching the gun or the load.

Flash

jwrowland77 · August 13, 2012, 05:05 AM

I'm not so much as worried about my grip. I say that because, after the match was over I decided to check a few rounds and they indeed were a tad too long for my mag. Just a touch of space between the noise and wall of mag. You know what the say, hind sight is 20/20.

I wouldn't ever touch my gun. They only thing I would change, would be the load that I put in it. I do have some Titegroup that I am going to load up and try at my next match.

August 12, 2012, 10:33 AM	#1
jwrowland77 Senior Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Conway, Arkansas Posts: 1,398	About to see the Fun side of Reloading Well, I'm a fairly new reloader. Only been reloading since March and have loaded maybe 1000 rounds. All of it sticking to the books and reloading stuff for my daughter to shoot her rifle and for me to shoot my rifle and 9mm pistol. Well yesterday, I went and shoot in a Steel Challenge with my 9mm. I hadn't had any issues up until yesterday, where I got a bunch of failure to feeds. Up until now I had never had that issue while testing loads and punching holes in paper. To me now the real fun begins of tinkering with the recipes I have. Like with OAL, powder and what not, to produce a load that will shoot good plus be easy on recoil to be able to get back on target quickly to be able to get better scores during the Steel Challenge. I am so looking forward to tinkering with my recipes (safely of course and within guidelines) to try and achieve the best of both worlds...accuracy and speed.

August 12, 2012, 11:43 AM	#2
buck460XVR Senior Member Join Date: December 28, 2006 Posts: 4,342	Finding that perfect load is like reaching for the ring on the Merry-go-round. Good luck, have fun and shoot safe.

August 12, 2012, 12:55 PM	#5
spacecoast Senior Member Join Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Sunshine and Keystone States Posts: 4,461	I use 5.3 gr. of Unique under a 115 gr. plated round nose, but 5.9 gr. should work OK. 1.164" is near max for 9mm Parabellum, so I think your change is a good idea. I load all mine to 1.14". Nominal case length is .754", so I'm not sure it's necessary or a good idea to trim them shorter (I don't) although they may shrink anyway. Good luck.

August 12, 2012, 01:01 PM	#6
jwrowland77 Senior Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Conway, Arkansas Posts: 1,398	Yeah the 1.164 was working ok wen punching holes in paper, but trying to rapid shoot at the Steel Challenge, not so well. I figure the 1.150 should be fine with the 5.9 since every so often my rounds used to come out around 1.154 when I used the 1.164 OAL. Of course when I did my work up the 5.0 shot the second best out of my gun. So I figured I could reduce the OAL to 1.150 and charge to 5.0 and I should be good to go pressure wise. I could probably bump it down to 1.145 and be just fine pressure wise. Thoughts?

August 12, 2012, 01:02 PM	#7
jwrowland77 Senior Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Conway, Arkansas Posts: 1,398	I know based on the Hornady manual the max case length in there is .750.

August 12, 2012, 08:01 PM	#8
spacecoast Senior Member Join Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Sunshine and Keystone States Posts: 4,461	You should be fine at 5.0 and 1.145 pressure-wise. Testing in your gun is the only way to know if it's going to have any feed issues. Bullet profile and your taper crimp can also have an effect on feed reliability.

August 12, 2012, 08:07 PM	#9
jwrowland77 Senior Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Conway, Arkansas Posts: 1,398	Taper I think I'm good on. Right now it tapers too .377 at the case mouth.

August 12, 2012, 08:08 PM	#10
jwrowland77 Senior Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Conway, Arkansas Posts: 1,398	I try to keep it .376-.377 at case mouth.

August 12, 2012, 08:33 PM	#11
Goatwhiskers Senior Member Join Date: April 8, 2009 Location: Batchelor, La. Posts: 579	The fun side of reloading is helping a young man assemble the necessary for an elementary loading set-up, teaching him how to load the caliber he had while he does it, then watching the expression on his face when he shoots what he has loaded. A new one joins the group against the anti-2nd amendment liberals. GW

August 13, 2012, 12:18 AM	#12
ROGER4314 Senior Member Join Date: May 17, 2009 Location: East Houston Posts: 257	Two things...... I bit the bullet (OK, it's a pun) and bought cartridge case gauges for every caliber that I load except for the 9x18 Makarov. I check my loads to see if they will gauge properly. In a MATCH, I would gauge every round before I hit the firing line. I'm a real picky match shooter and twice, I beat the best match shooter I've ever known because I checked my gear and he didn't. I'll take my wins any way I can get them! Another friend blew a 200 yard rapid fire rifle stage because he had a primer loaded upside down. That round should NEVER have made it to the firing line and he beat himself in that match! I started out shooting 1911's in bullseye and the old "combat" shooting matches. In combat matches, the loads had to have sufficient velocity for the bullet weight to make "major" classification. In Bullseye, however, you could drop back on the loads without penalty. I shot 200 grain semi wad cutters in .45 and had extra recoil springs that I could trim to get perfect, clean ejection. In a 1911, that spring is NOT "one size fits all" and it needs to be trimmed if light bullets or lighter loads are used. I can't tell you what to do but springs only cost a couple of bucks and if you like your load, there are other ways to make it shoot correctly. I trimmed 1/8 turn of the spring at a time until the gun was happy. That won't help your failure to feed, however. I'd check your grip, first before touching the gun or the load. Flash

August 13, 2012, 05:05 AM	#13
jwrowland77 Senior Member Join Date: March 23, 2012 Location: Conway, Arkansas Posts: 1,398	I'm not so much as worried about my grip. I say that because, after the match was over I decided to check a few rounds and they indeed were a tad too long for my mag. Just a touch of space between the noise and wall of mag. You know what the say, hind sight is 20/20. I wouldn't ever touch my gun. They only thing I would change, would be the load that I put in it. I do have some Titegroup that I am going to load up and try at my next match.