Loading 9mm w Hornady LNL AP... Question about crimp-seating...

[padawan]

Finally received my Hornady bullet feeder die this weekend and was looking forward to cranking out some 9mm...

Here is the setup... 115g Xtreme RN over 5gr Autocomp 1.10" COAL.

Station 1- Hornady decapper/resize.

Station 2- Hornady powder drop with new PTX expander for .355/9mm

Station 3- Hornady bullet feeder die.

Here is where it gets interesting... To use the bullet feeder die I needed to add the PTX for a case flare so the bullet would ride and not topple over when I cycled the press (even slowly).

I originally setup station 4 with the Hornady crimp/seat die. I started to get bullets that would fall into the case. Tried backing off the PTX flare, same thing, fall into the case on crimp/seat st4.

So... I set station 4 with the Hornady crimp/seat but removed the seating stem and allowed it to put a slight crimp to snug up the bullet.

Then I set station 5 with a Lee crimp/seating to set the seating to 1.10" COAL.

I know this seems bassackwards but it ran reliable and everything measures fine. Going to try some tonight if I get some time.

Does anyone have any suggestions/comments...

EDIT- I plan to call Hornady today to see what they recommend.

Regards,
-P

 

[corngrower]

Is it possible your resizing die needs to be set deeper so that you get a tight case all the way down. My 9mm dies from Lee and Dillon make a slight hourglass shaped case when complete with the bullet in it.

 

[ryknoll3]

Sounds like you have too much flare and/or your case isn't sizing enough. Make sure your sizing die is completely snug up against the shell plate when the ram is at the top of the stroke.

You want just enough flare so that you can stick the bullet in the case and it won't fall out if you turn it upside down. If you can clearly see the flare on the case, you probably have too much.

Also, you're not seating your bullets too deep are you? I know my Hornady manual has 115 round nose bullets as 1.10 COAL, but some factory ammo I measured was closer to 1.15. Maybe try seating 1.135 or something a little longer than your current OAL.

 

[Gluemanz28]

I seat on my next to last station only. I then use a lee factory crimp die in the final station to set the crimp.

I'm using a Dillon XL650 but it's the same concept. The bottom profile of the bullet also makes a difference on how much I have to flare the cases.

Good luck and be safe.

 

[padawan]

Is it possible your resizing die needs to be set deeper so that you get a tight case all the way down. My 9mm dies from Lee and Dillon make a slight hourglass shaped case when complete with the bullet in it.

Corngrower and ryknoll3 had it... I contacted Hornady which was very helpful. We talked about case dimensions and the OD after sizing then PTX flaring etc. As it turns out, the sizing die on ST 1 was not completely screwed down by almost 1 turn/thread. It was just touching the shell plate on upward stroke but not pressing firmly against the shell plate. Hornady recommended to re-check the sizing die depth and that was it. I was so focused on the PTX-belling that I overlooked that I wasn't resizing fully.

I guess the moral of the story is re-check the basics first.

I took out the seat then crimp setup and only now use the Lee seating die. Everything ran fine. Now I have a station to add a powder cop.

Thanks guys and the great CS at Hornady.

-P

 

[corngrower]

Glad to help. It's always the easy things that are hard to see