Quote from Reloader on December 30, 2009, 12:11 pm

Dillon, any comments about these questions?  Thanks!

Quote from Reloader on December 30, 2009, 3:16 pm

On accuracy problems, what bullet are you using? How much are you crimping? Are any of the bullet holes in the target sideways or oval instead of round?

Regarding light primer strikes, do the primers go off on the second strike? If yes, then this would indicate that you are not seating the primers deep enough. Primers should be seated at least .002-.007" below flush. Some brands of primers are more sensitive as well. Federal and Winchester are the most sensitive.

Quote from Reloader on December 31, 2009, 5:11 am

Thanks for the response!

All the bullets are from Rainier Ballistics (jacketed) and they are all 115 grain round nose. I haven't had problems with them before, but perhaps I should chronograph them and check for consistency.  They're not key-holing My bet is they're not consistent velocities from round to round - because I didn't go back and re-weigh every 100 rounds or so like I usually do. I'll have to remember to do that from now on.

I've also heard that brass varies a fair amount depending on the manufacture. Do those of you who reload for pistol usually separate your brass by manufacture? Maybe I should be doing this since I do that for rifle. I just thought of pistol as more "blammo ammo."

The primers usually always go off when fired the second time.  It sounds like the primer seating can cause light primer strikes if it's #1 - Not seated deeply enough or #2 - Seated too deeply. I've never uniformed primer pockets on pistol ammo. How much pressure do you usually use to seat the primers on the 550B? I do notice that sometimes I push them in too far and the primer looks a little squashed. I try to be consistent and not cause the primer to become distorted with seating, but also make the top of the primer seat just below the top of the primer cup on the brass.  I am using mostly Federal primers but also have used some Winchester and noticed the issue with both manufactures.

Thanks again for your help.

Scott

Quote from Reloader on January 1, 2010, 9:28 am

srrennie, it sounds like you may have some burnt crud in the corners of your primer pockets.You don't say how many times you have reloaded this brass, every couple times you re-load the same brass, you NEED to clean the primer pockets. I was having the same problem with some .45 ACP's, a long time ago, and a guy at my shooting club said--ever clean your pockets out, (I clean the brasss in a tumbler EVERY time I re-loas them but it doest clean the primer pockets because I always clean the fired brass in my tumbler with the old primers in), the reason for that is 'cause when you clean brass with no primers in, the corn-cob media always gets a piece stuck in the primer flash hole. I bought an RCBS "case prep center (motorized) and put 2 primer pocket brushes in it and do 2 at a time. The prep center has 5 stations that rotate simultaneously and it works wonders, my friend, They go for $100 and worth every penny . lets face it if you have a build up in the pocket corner you get uneven seating, room for the primer to move when struck, (that's why you get alot of good fires when double struck,and uneven seating or "high primers". I will continue on next reply, these are only allowed to be 4096 characters long, keep reading my next blog----Dave

Quote from Reloader on January 1, 2010, 10:10 am

srrrennie, my 2nd reply cont'd from last, The case prep center has 5 positions to work from, it has primer pocket brushes (lg. and small) also brushes to clean inside brass (rifle and pistol) and when you fire it up, they all rotate at the same time. It's a "must" if you're loading brass more than 3-4 times.You can re-load auto bass up to 20 times if you don't load to the max,as always, inspect brass when you start getting up over 3-4 times, some guys don't know the potential of good brass when loaded properly,I buy nothing but Starline brass, It's cheaper than rem, win,etc..and I've rarely gotten a bad one and I have about 15,000 starlines in different calibers. Dillon sells them at a good price and so does "Cheaper than dirt". One thing you ask is should you seperate brass by manftrer, I don't think that's as important as seperating them by how many re-loads you have on them.I always put re-load # on the info sticker inside my 100 rd. boxes I store them in.It's no harder than seperating them by maker, but it gives you an exact count on number ofre-loads, which is more important. I usually have 2-3 (or more)thousand rds. each caliber, sometimes you grab a couple boxes of the ammo that's in front on the shelves of the ammo cabinet , but that's ok, if you keeep track of how many reloads you have on that box.I don't know your situation, but I'm an instructor and I load around 10-15,000 rds. a yr.I NEVER let a student shoot re-loads out of my guns that they got off "my brother -in law". I'll let them shoot new factory ammo in my guns, But if they're shooting re-loads, they're MY re-loads.I got off track with your situation, but just giving some real world advice, 'cause if you let guys at the club shoot some of your weapons, and they blow it up, you're SCREWED!!! I'll give you my e-mail, any problems or questions feeel free to write, I'll help as much as I can. By the way, How many loading manuals do you have? NEVER trust just one, cross reference loads from 2 or 3 different ones, you'll be surprised the different specs. IMPORTANT: I dont know if you know this but when loading for plated bullets, (Ranier, Berry's etc..)Use specs for LEAD bullets, plated bullets run faster than FMJ.Copper fouling is a mother to clean...dave45cal7@verizon.net, good luck, write me dave

Quote from Reloader on January 1, 2010, 1:49 pm

Dave,

That's great information, thanks for the reply.  I really appreciate your advice.  I'll start cleaning the primer pockets.  I do that for rifle brass with the RCBS case prep center but haven't done it for pistol yet.  I kinda wondered about if that was necessary. 

Sounds like you always use your own brass and don't pick up brass on the range that you haven't shot.  If you did that you wouldn't know how many times it had been reloaded. 

So far, I haven't seen any Starline brand laying on the ground at my range, so if I use that stuff I'll be able to tell that it's mine.  Good call for keeping track of how many times it's been used. 

I'm using several different reloading manuals, but I like Sierra.  Do you have a favorite recipe for 45 ACP?  I picked up some Winchester 231 the other day and I'll have to give that a try.

Thanks again,
Scott

Quote from Reloader on January 5, 2010, 3:53 am

9mm is very sensitive to crimp. It would prefer none at all, but baring that I always tighten up the crimp die until the bell is gone from the powder die and no more.

Light primer strikes from reloads can be caused by primers that aren't seated all the way. The firing pin first pushes the primer the rest of the way in, but there isn't enough umph left to set it off.

Quote from Reloader on January 5, 2010, 5:50 pm

On copper plated bullets like you are talking about, too much crimp can actually break the copper plating causing consistency and accuracy problems. Try using a few jacketed bullets instead of plated bullets and see if this cures your accuracy problem.