Hey guys,
I've been really big into reloading lately (Last month or so I've spent over 1k on reloading dies, molds, yadda yadda). My first pistol mold was a Lee tumble lube 9mm round nose- Shot around 500 or so beautifully without a single problem (many at a fast rate to see if I could get a mis-feed). Proud of my success I have recently bought Lee Semi-Wadcutter molds in 9mm, .40S&W, and .45 ACP. Thus far I've only tried a few small batches of both the .40 and the .45, with horrendous results. Most of the time the bullet will seize the slide while breeching a new round. At first I thought it was an issue with not crimping- As it did seem to help them feed in with less jamming. Guns being used- .40= Sig p250 .45= Glock 21
A few possible Ideas for why it might be doing this-
1. I'm using tumble lubed bullets. Since I'm not running them through a sizer, it's likely some/many might be slightly oversized, causing the brass to bulge ( I can actually see on many of the bullet casings where the bullet stops at a certain depth) I have taken my calipers to it and have determined a good number of them to be around .449 and .452, with an occasional outlier.
2. Semi-Wadcutter design poor for semi-auto application: This would not make much since to me though, seeing that I can't easily find a round-nosed .40 mold.
3.Improper seating depth- I believe I chose a rather reasonable OAL for both of these calibers- .40 MAX OAL= 1.135, chosen= 1.120 .45 MAX OAL= 1.275, chosen= 1.250
4. Insufficient powder charge- for the .40 I found 5.8 grains to give a good kick, though I might reduce it to 5.6 or 5.7. .45 I was running 5.8 grains as well, as it was my first .45 load and didn't want to blow myself up. (I'm using unique) I read somewhere people claiming that without enough power, the gun will not cycle properly. Personally I think that's bologna
I cant think of any other reason why these things are giving me trouble- I know both of these pistols to be extremely reliable, and in good working order. Help please?.
I have tinkered with it and by making a cartridge without a primer or primer, find that the extractor seems to be the culprit- It will stop the slide just about a cm before it slides closed with a live round in the chamber, then if it does manage to squeeze by the rim (usually leaving a noticeable dent), the extractor is just as harsh coming out as well. Any way to adjust this?
I've been really big into reloading lately (Last month or so I've spent over 1k on reloading dies, molds, yadda yadda). My first pistol mold was a Lee tumble lube 9mm round nose- Shot around 500 or so beautifully without a single problem (many at a fast rate to see if I could get a mis-feed). Proud of my success I have recently bought Lee Semi-Wadcutter molds in 9mm, .40S&W, and .45 ACP. Thus far I've only tried a few small batches of both the .40 and the .45, with horrendous results. Most of the time the bullet will seize the slide while breeching a new round. At first I thought it was an issue with not crimping- As it did seem to help them feed in with less jamming. Guns being used- .40= Sig p250 .45= Glock 21
A few possible Ideas for why it might be doing this-
1. I'm using tumble lubed bullets. Since I'm not running them through a sizer, it's likely some/many might be slightly oversized, causing the brass to bulge ( I can actually see on many of the bullet casings where the bullet stops at a certain depth) I have taken my calipers to it and have determined a good number of them to be around .449 and .452, with an occasional outlier.
2. Semi-Wadcutter design poor for semi-auto application: This would not make much since to me though, seeing that I can't easily find a round-nosed .40 mold.
3.Improper seating depth- I believe I chose a rather reasonable OAL for both of these calibers- .40 MAX OAL= 1.135, chosen= 1.120 .45 MAX OAL= 1.275, chosen= 1.250
4. Insufficient powder charge- for the .40 I found 5.8 grains to give a good kick, though I might reduce it to 5.6 or 5.7. .45 I was running 5.8 grains as well, as it was my first .45 load and didn't want to blow myself up. (I'm using unique) I read somewhere people claiming that without enough power, the gun will not cycle properly. Personally I think that's bologna
I cant think of any other reason why these things are giving me trouble- I know both of these pistols to be extremely reliable, and in good working order. Help please?.
I have tinkered with it and by making a cartridge without a primer or primer, find that the extractor seems to be the culprit- It will stop the slide just about a cm before it slides closed with a live round in the chamber, then if it does manage to squeeze by the rim (usually leaving a noticeable dent), the extractor is just as harsh coming out as well. Any way to adjust this?