Progressive Pistol Reloaders...Use Caution Please

[sawgunner2001]

Progressive reloader's with case feeder, use caution. Yesterday, I fired a .380 casing with 3.3gr TiteGroup, Win SP primer, and 147gr FMJ through my G34. This was loaded on a Hornady LnL with case feeder and bullet feeder and obviously slipped by without my noticing it. What's equally as strange is it got loaded into a magazine and fired without my noticing it, also.

Anyway, there appears to be no harm done and I didn't even realize what had occurred until I was picking up my brass and saw the .380 casing laying on the ground amongst my pile of 9x19mm brass. What DID happen was the .380 casing was bulged at the base (think of an exaggerated .40S&W bulge) and the primer was pierced. I checked the breech face and tip of the striker and saw no noticeable harm done.

It is possible that someone else fired this casing and I just stumbled upon it on the ground in the unlikely location surrounded by my brass, but given the circumstances it is most probable that the above is what occurred, and after nearly 7 years of reloading I had my first relatively serious foul-up.

 

[Bear24]

Glad you still have your eyes and fingers! Everyone needs a reminder not go get complacent every once in awhile. Thanks for sharing

 

[normbal]

Thanks for the tip.

I sort 9mm brass by hand AND line them up on the edge of my bench so I can eyeball their heights. This is true if I'm reloading "my" brass or range pickups.

Despite this, at least one out of every thousand cases turns out to be a .380 cap.

Fortunately, using a Dillon XL650 press, the cases feel different when resizing AND they don't reprime or fit the powder funnel. I've yet in over 20,000 reloads (just 9mm, over 75000 of other calibers - been doing this for a while, and for several sub guns now long gone, but I still shoot a lot) gotten one past that stage.

Lately though I've been noticing a lot more military crimp brass and that forces me to stop, pull the case out of the powder station, walk it over to another bench where I have an RCBS case prep machine set up with a primer pocket "swager" (actually an edge reamer) and then back to the press to continue.

Thanks again.

 

[Lukas Koukal]

It happens, to me most often with 9mm Makarov cases that I may pick up at local ranges. Honestly - I don´t worry much. The reloader is adjusted for OAL, and that is kept. Shorter case then holds the bullet by smaller collar, however the space for the powder to burn under the bullet is the same, meaning the pressure is roughly the same, too. Accuracy of such round is completely foul, though.

 

[former naval person]

That is the advantage of the Dillon that uses the mouth expander to operate the powder drop. Just another way to keep check.

 

[Deadshot2]

I find that the .380 cases are easy to spot on my XL-650. First at the sizing station where they don't offer any resistance in a 9mm die. If I ignore that, again at the bullet seating station, the case is so full of powder it's obvious it's short. If using itty-bitty powder loads the bullets usually fall out when the cartridge falls into the bin at the end of the process. If it makes it past all that, then I catch it when I check the finished cartridge with a case gauge.

Most of my on hand brass has already been loaded at least once on my equipment so running into a .380 case now is highly unlikely but I still check all finished cartridges. Easy to do while watching the evening news on TV.

 

[Rob01]

Fortunately, using a Dillon XL650 press, the cases feel different when resizing AND they don't reprime or fit the powder funnel.

Same with the LnL. I got a couple 380 cases in the last 3K of 9mm I loaded and you can feel the difference in the sizer. Also I use the expander in the powder drop of my LnL and it will catch it if I don't feel it in the sizer.

 

[turbo54]

I shoot 45 and 10mm, so the only issue 9mm and 380 brass causes is an occasional stoppage due to one nested inside one of the "real" cartridges!

 

[sawgunner2001]

Same with the LnL. I got a couple 380 cases in the last 3K of 9mm I loaded and you can feel the difference in the sizer. Also I use the expander in the powder drop of my LnL and it will catch it if I don't feel it in the sizer.

This is "normally" the case. There were probably a dozen or so that I caught and threw away while loading. How this one slipped by is beyond me.

 

[Hummerdawg]

Case Gauging ?

 

[sawgunner2001]

I've never had a problem with my handloads not fitting in the chamber of any of my handguns so no, I haven't been using a case gauge. This would be an additional argument for one, though.