Semi Auto Handgun Reloading Questions

TheBig1

TheBig1

New member
I've reloaded my share of rifle rounds but have never reloaded for my Glock 19.

It took me a bit, but I was able to set up my dies the other night and repair to begin.

I've tumbled my brass. Now I wonder, do I trim the brass also?

Of course any other tips, tricks, etc... would be greatly appreciated. I'm using a Lyman T-Mag turret press.
 
I never trim straight wall pistol brass.

One thing I ran into when I started, with 9mm for a Glock, is the crimp. As these head space on the mouth you're not going to over crimp them, but you do have to crimp to remove the bell you made for seating the bullet.

I crimped mine until they looked perfect. They tested fine with a case gauge. and mostly they worked fine in the gun. but every mag it seemed I got 1 or 2 that would fail to extract & this turned out to be the crimp. I have to turn my crimp die down just a tiny bit more & that cleared up the problem, I've not had an extraction failure since.
 
Thank you for your input Stu. When I was setting up the seating/crimp die I did just as the instructions, or the video that I watched instructed, and made sure that I adjusted it precisely perfect. I measured the width of the casing at the bottom of the bullet and then made sure that when I measured the casing at the rim that it was -0.001 to -0.002 of the earlier measurement.

Stu, would all of this information also ring true when reloading 38 Special and 357 Mag for a revolver?

Chad
 
The semi auto rounds should have a taper crimp, the revolver rounds should be roll crimped. The Lee Factory Crimp Die is a handy tool.
 
Thanks guys, I appreciate your input.

I have a set of the Lee dies for 38/357. I'm hoping that the roll crimp die is in there.
 
You'll find it much less tedious than rifle reloading, then when you go back to loading rifle you'll remember what a pain it is.

Have fun, get a progressive!
 
likely combined in the bullet seating die. these dies are made with the correct type of crimp, so you can seat & crimp in the same step.

I prefer to crimp separately but then I load on a dillon so it's no extra work to have a die just for crimping. With a single stage press you'd have to seat all your bullets, swap out the dies & then crimp them all as an extra step.
 
I have a Lyman T-Mag for this. It's not as tedious as a single stage press but it's not a progressive either. LOL

I would love to get a progressive but I just can't afford one. I'm trying to sell one of my best rifles now so that I can place an order for more trapping gear. I don't know what I could sell to get a progressive.
 
no worries, thoat's a good press. better to learn the basics & get your ammo right than worry about replacing tools.
 
You can over-crimp with a taper on autos. This will coke bottle the bullet and you will see tumbling down range. More prevalent in lead bullet loads. I've seen in 45 ACP mostly. It is possible on jacketed rounds but you have to work at it to screw up. Do the table test on them by pushing a bullet tip on the table top and lean on it making sure the crimp holds it in place.

On the revolver stuff the less crimp you can get away with the longer the brass will last. Loading sanely you will trash more over time by wearing out the case mouths from the flex than anything else.

Crimping separately is the ticket like the guys said. That was a hard learned lesson for most of us beginners when I started and it most certainly applies on rifle stuff too.

Greg
 
Thanks GL, I appreciate the input. I do have a crimper for my 223 as well as the 38/357 Lee set (I think). I guess that maybe I should pick one up for my 9mm also.
 
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