Hey all Im new to reloading and I bought a Dillion Precision RL550c and having some issues with some of the 9mm rounds I made. Was hoping someone could tell me what I am doing wrong. The problem is some of my rounds come out to large circumference is to big and some of the cases dont fit it in the case gauge, while some others do ? Can somebody tell me is it some of the brass cases or is my resizing die off? Thanks AR

Did you gauge your brass before loading?

I would not waste a primer on a case that won’t pass the gauge test.

Second what kind of bullets are you using?

Third what headstamp brass are you using?

No I didnt gauge them newbie mistake, I am using all diffrent head stamp brass from range that I picked up, as for bullets I am using berry 115 grain fmj round nose

How far does the round go into the case gauge? Halfway or less, it’s probably size die setup. 90% in, maybe has a bulge just above the rim. Only the rim hanging up, it might be a dinged or out of round rim or potentially needs more crimp.

A couple things:
Is your sizing die set to just a business card thickness off the shell plate when the handle is all the way down?
Is the Die clean?
What case gauge? Does it plunk and spin in your barrel and drop out freely?
Do you use a good lube like Hornady One Shot?


Several cases are less friendly, CBC, S&B, mostly foreign brands.

Berry’s bullets are .356” diameter vs normal full metal jackets that are nominally .355” and the different brass is thicker.

^^^^ Riley has some good questions. Also, what dies are you using? I use the Dilllon Carbide pistol dies and have yet to have that type of problem.

Make sure the decal/size die goes down to the baseplate like Riley said. That should take out any bulge from a Glock fired case. Never used lube either.

Also, posting a pic of the issue is very helpful to diagnose the issue.

quote:

Originally posted by HD 04 Guy:
No I didnt gauge them newbie mistake, I am using all diffrent head stamp brass from range that I picked up, as for bullets I am using berry 115 grain fmj round nose

Not a rookie mistake. I've never gauged a 9MM or any other caliber for that matter, before sizing and I've been reloading for around 67 years. Never had a problem.

The problem may lay with your sizing die. There are 3 people I shoot with every week who had to quit using their Dillon Sizing dies and go to Lee and the reason is twofold. One, the Dillon dies are radiused at the lead in so they don't size all the way down and two, the 3 people had guns with tight chambers.

Here's Dillon mentioning the radiusing as a "feature".

https://www.dillonprecision.com/s000089

Sizing/Depriming Die
The primary feature of Dillon's size die design the long, tapered carbide ring with a radiused opening, remains unchanged.

The radiused opening, and its importance to progressive reloading, is one of the reasons why our seat and crimp dies are better. We found a way of manufacturing these dies that has enabled us to make the lead-in radius even bigger! The bigger radius makes progressive loading with our equipment even smoother but that's still only a part of the story.

My comment about gauging before loading should have been stated as: did you gauge your cases after sizing but before loading? Some cases just won’t resize properly and do not go in and out of the gauge as cleanly as I would like. I generally get 1 fail out of 100 when using previously fired cases that I have resized. I don’t waste a primer on those cases and cull them.

I prefer to use the same headstamped brass in my reloading runs. For the .356 Berry Bullets I would avoid Winchester Brass. The Winchester brass is excellent but I think it’s case walls are a bit thicker and when a .356 bullet is wedged in there it may yield a round that fails to gauge. Save the Winchester brass for any .355 jacketed bullets. Remington brass is better for bullets over .355 inch.

Another thing that can cause cases to not go into the chamber all the way, is if you let the bullet get tipped too much before seating it. It can cause a bulge in one side of the case. I don't load 9mm but I've had that happen with other pistol cartridges.

What gauge?
I have an EGW that is very small and will not pass rounds that are easy in Lyman and plunk in the gun barrel.

Do your gauge rejects "plunk" in the gun barrel(s)? and shoot ok?
Nearly all of mine do.

Let me throw something else into this discussion as I think it's pertinent.

For many years I didn't reload 9MM as I could buy it at the local gun show for $100.00/1,000 rounds (commercial reloads) and it came in a .30 caliber ammo box. Even back then I couldn't reload it that cheaply.

When it got more expensive, I started reloading it and bought a case gauge. I gauged the first 2,000 rounds I made and never had a single round that wouldn't gauge properly. So I quit gauging my 9MM rounds.

5 years later I had 2 rounds that wouldn't chamber in any 9MM I had. I took them apart and found the cases were 0.016" longer than SAAMI maximum. They were range pickups so I gently decapped the primers for later use and put the brass in my recycle brass bucket.

That was around 10 years ago and I still don't gauge 9MM and haven't had a single round that wouldn't chamber. Considering that either I shoot 9MM every week or my Wife does or we both do, so it's not like I'm not reloading it on a regular basis.

The only round I do gauge regularly is 5.56/.223 and I gauge every 10th round of that.

Definitely not worth the effort to me in pistol rounds though. YMMV

Thanks for all the help, Im not sure how to download the photos of the case gauge but its about 80% into the gauge I am using Hornaday One shot case lube. And I am using RCBS 9mm die set. Dillion die set is backordered by a year

RCBS dies make a difference in the discussion.

Have you set up your siing die according to the instructions on page 9 of this PDF? Specifically, did you set it up to cam over by setting it 1/8 of a turn past flush on the shellplate?

https://media.mwstatic.com/pro...e%20instructions.pdf

9mm is a tapered case. And used brass can have odd bulges etc.

I run used brass through a de-bulge die first step after tumbling. I also lube the cases. Then I size them.

Then I reload them.

I found that on my progressive press that some cases were not going all the way into the sizing die, and that then caused the bullet seating happening at the same time to a different round to end up quite variable. By de-bulging and sizing first with lubed cases it runs flawlessly.

I use tons of 9mm range brass, I don't bulge bust or case gauge any of it, and the only problem I've ever had over tens of thousands of rounds is some bullets with too wide of an ogive and seated too long getting stuck in the lands of tight-throated CZ and Barsto barrels (not a brass problem). I use cheap Lee carbide die sets...I think the trick is probably the lee factory crimp die that sizes the brass as it applies the crimp. It definitely takes a lot of the headache out of loading pistol ammo. They sell them individually as well as in the sets...might be worth picking one up and giving it a try.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
I use tons of 9mm range brass, I don't bulge bust or case gauge any of it, and the only problem I've ever had over tens of thousands of rounds is some bullets with too wide of an ogive and seated too long getting stuck in the lands of tight-throated CZ and Barsto barrels (not a brass problem). I use cheap Lee carbide die sets...I think the trick is probably the lee factory crimp die that sizes the brass as it applies the crimp. It definitely takes a lot of the headache out of loading pistol ammo. They sell them individually as well as in the sets...might be worth picking one up and giving it a try.

Sound advice and the same thing I say to people I'm helping learn to reload.