9mm

[iCe]

9mm round. Loaded last night. 124 gr Hornady XTP. This is actually a shot for a reloading forum. Note the case bulge that delineates where the bullet is seated. That's not good. Every one of the XTP's did that. None of the Berry's round nosed bullets did so I'm wondering whats up with that? Neither of my 9mm Glocks like the bump...

One of things that I don't like about any head on flash, including the ring flash that I used in this one, is the over exposed highlights that you get on shiny stuff...

MP-E 65mm at 1:1

[divenut1]

Did you use different brass between the xtp and the berry's ?
Some brass is thicker than others...you might check the diameter of the xtp's....you might have gotten some in .357 by accident. Have you weighed them to be sure they are 124's ?

[JohnT]

Move your light(s) out of the family of angles (the set of lighting angles that produce direct reflection) in order to reduce or eliminate the direct reflection.

[iCe]

Did you use different brass between the xtp and the berry's ?
Some brass is thicker than others...

I loaded a mix of once fired and new Starline brass. All have the bulge. Either way... all brass and bullets should meet SAMMI specs

you might check the diameter of the xtp's....you might have gotten some in .357 by accident.

Yeah... I reload rifle too so I'm pretty picky about setting up. Both the XTP's actually mic'd at .354 which pretty much eliminated it being a bullet problem.

Have you weighed them to be sure they are 124's ?

Yep. That said, the 147gr Gold Dots didn't bulge the case either. I always have strange problems

iCe added 1 Minutes and 10 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Originally Posted by JohnT

Move your light(s) out of the family of angles (the set of lighting angles that produce direct reflection) in order to reduce or eliminate the direct reflection.

Can't... not with the lens mounted ring flash. But I agree, that's the only way to accomplish the no reflection thing...

[divenut1]

Keyword is should....
A little closer inspection of the image reveals to me the possiblility that the projectile was slightly canted when seated and the seating die is possibly not quite adjusted for the taper crimp operation. I like to use a seperate crimp die for just this reason. Were the cases all trimmed prior to beginning the operation ? If the case is too long (previously fired cases that have been resized) it will aggrevate the situation due to the taper crimp and the fact it head spaces on the edge of the case/brass.

[iCe]

Dillon dies. One for seating. One for the crimp. It's possible that one or two might have gone in a little crooked but doubtful that they all did. And there is still the issue of the 100 Berry's RN that look great. I have reloaded 1,000 pistol rounds in the last two weeks (.45ACP, .357 SIG, and 9mm) and 100 rifle of various calibers, so I've got a pretty good rhythm going. I'm not saying that I didn't screw up but because I loaded new and old brass, checked everything that you've mentioned (two or three times), I'm at a loss. I did not bell the case mouth on the 9mm stuff. I try not to work my brass too much so I avoid even a slight bell. When I reloaded the (evil and contentious) .357 SIG rounds I put a slight bell on them but that's something that particular case seems to like, almost require. Even so 4 crushed in the seating die. Keep the ideas coming... You obviously know your stuff.

Some brass was new and there is still a bulge. I mic's a random sampling and all were within tolerance. The image that I shot was actually of the worst piece of brass that I reloaded. Most of the once fired don't look as bad as that one (general appearance not bulge). That particular round might have been one that I picked up at the range when I was collecting my stuff... or someone gave me? Dunno... but it's rough looking.

[divenut1]

Being a Dillon fan myself I am curious which press you're using....

I think the critical part was in your last response because it hit upon an experience when I was just a few years into reloading with 45 acp and 38/357 rounds. If the belling portion of the sizing die is not set properly and not providing a slight bell, the case can become too small in diameter causing seating problems and produce what you have in the picture. Not to mention crushed cases during seating operations. In otherwords the case mouth is sized too small for the projectile. I'll bet the berry's had more of a boattail or rounded/tapered bottom to facilitate the tighter case mouth and not the more angular or squarish edge of the xtp's.

With 9mm, 45 acp and the other pistol rounds you are going to have to work the brass some. It is required for feeding and reliable operation. Revolver rounds ar not as critical. I've reloaded some 45 acp brass dozens of times with slight belling. It's usually when I have shorter brass that doesn't bell enough where I have issues. Keeping all the brass trimmed to the same length is a pain !!!

I really like my dillon xl650 and rcbs rock chucker. I am trying to decide whether I'm going to unload my Lee 1000....it just sits in a box.

[iCe]

I shopped pretty hard and finally settled on the XL650 6 or 7 years ago? Not sure. Settled is not the right word. It's an awesome progressive press. When I decided to start loading rifle a few years ago I went with a Forster Co-Ax and Redding micrometer seating die set(s). I use RCBS mic gauges for setback. I also do primer pocket truing and deburring, neck turn, etc. If I was as picky about my pistol rounds as I am my rifle rounds I'd have a box of each caliber loaded in the last month or two and that's about it I need to get back to the range. I shot at the 200 yard range for the first time but don't own a spotting scope so I only shot 4 rounds. For a dead stock .270 it shot pretty well. It was windy and my 10x scope didn't give me much to look at but I had two distinct groups. One .75 and one 1.25. The bad news is that there was about 4" between them. Not being able to tell which shot was the cold barrel shot and which came first I wasn't able to tweak the scope in. Not to mention I think that I caused the wider part of the separation.

I don't mind trimming my rifle brass (as needed) but I would not want to trim pistol brass. I've got a Dillon case trimmer but no "dies" for it so I guess that it wouldn't be too bad if I bought the dies. The range that I shoot at (1.5 hours from home) has a "don't pick up brass" sign but some of the range officers look the other way (if I ask) so I can usually recover 70% of my brass when I shoot and they are working. There's one guy that grabs the broom and sweeps it all in a pile before I can even think about it. He does it on purpose The downside to snagging range brass is the kind of case that I just posted a picture of occasionally gets in the mix. I try to cull but it can be hard to do.

Belling... that's going to be the problem. I just re-checked a few different cases and all are well under "trim to" length for 9mm Luger. I should have put a slight bell on the case. I did for the .45 and .357 SIG... Your right. The Berry's have a "softer" end. Crap... I should have caught that.

[divenut1]

I got my xl650 about 9 years ago....I use it mainly for handgun rounds. I'm about to start loading .223 on it. For rifle and my 44 hunting loads I'll use the rock chucker. I'm a redding dies fan for my rifle cartridges. I want to get the dillon case trimmer to put on the press but I may have to mount it on a different one as the airspace above the 650 is full with other gadgets/powder check gizmos etc.

Most of the time I don't worry about trimming the pistol brass but sometimes I get some that have grown and just plain need it. I seem to recall that my previous experiences that starline brass is notoriously short...so they won't get as much belling which can cause the problem.

I pick up my brass...it's mine. If the range discourages it I don't go there. Now I hate having to keep my AR brass away from my savage 223 brass...which reminds me, I need to get a second set of 223 dies...so I can have one set for just pushing the should back for the bolt gun and a full length resize for the AR.

[iCe]

I don't have a powder check system so I'm good. Rifle gets trimmed with a Sinclair/ Wilson case trimmer. For the life of me I can't remember the brand of trimmer that I saw in a Sierra video. It was a little pricey but not much worse than the Dillon and it trimmed and chamfered all in one step. If I figure it out I'll send you a link. It sits on the bench horizontally so it could be put anywhere and put up when not being used.

I full length resize everything... I should probably just neck size the fire formed stuff. Right now all I'm shooting is a .270. I've got 6mm and .243 dies ordered. Actually... I screwed up and ordered a seater only thinking I was ordering a set. Duh... so I'm waiting on the resizing dies for those two calibers. Once I get those two loaded I'm going to see how flat the .243 / 6mm really shoots. I was pretty happy with the .270 all things considered.

I can somewhat see the range's perspective but I'm like you. It's mine... I want it back. The one R.O. is just being a rear... the others are cool. They know things are hard to come by. What really kills me is to see 55 gallon drums full of brass. They don't recycle it as brass. It goes for scrap