Bullet will not sit straight when crimping and seating..?

Question

I'm a newbie when it comes to reloading. I have a Lee press with RCBS dies for 9mm luger. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but the bullet is not being seated correctly and is slightly crooked. The crimp is otherwise fine but the bullet is clearly crooked.

What causes this to happen? Am I expanding the shell to wide before crimping? I've literally spent the entire afternoon experimenting but cannot seem to get it right. I've just bought the Lee anniversary kit and although have been reading up on it for the past 6 months, besides a little hand kit I've never done any reloading.

Thanks for any input or insite!

Answer 1

Make sure you have properly flaired the cases. I'm guessing the flair isn't quite straight or you are not flaring them enough.

Answer 2

A common problem causing similar results is excessively reducing case diameter in the resizing. If this is going on, you may need to replace the die. Also, I have found that one must place the bullets nicely on the cases before running them into the seating dies, to get the very best job done, in all calibres from pistols to rifles.

Answer 3

One possible cause is not getting the bullet started correctly.  The bullet must be standing straight up as it goes into the seating die.  If it is c-o-c-k-s off to one side or the other, it may well seat in the shell in a c-o-c-k-e-d position.  Sometimes, if you bell the case mouth too much, it is hard to get the bullet to sit straight.  You need to bell the case mouth only enough for it to be slightly larger than the bullet diameter.  If you bell it too wide, you will not only make it hard for the bullet to sit straight but yu will over work the shell and significantly reduce its life.

Another possible problem is that you may be using the wrong top punch in your seating die.  Does the top punch match the snape of the nose of your bullets that you are reloading?  This is not likely to be a problem because the 9mm does not come in all that many different bullet shapes.  Still, remove it and look at it to make sure that somehow you don't have the wrong shape top punch.  If you are reloading the standard round nose bullets, the punch should have a nice round concave shape to it.  If you are loading hollow point bullets, the punch should have a round concave leading to a flat bottom where the flat bullet tip sits as it is being pressed into the shell.  If you are loading hollow points with a top punch that is designed for round nose bullets, it can allow the bullet to be seated slightly c-o-c-k-e-d in the case.

So, check to be sure that you have the correct top punch in your seating die.  Make sure that the case mouth is not belled too much and make sure that the bullet is standing straight up as it enters the seating die.  If you do all of this, you should produce good straight ammo.

Answer 4

Personally, I have all Big Green RCBS Equipment.

The 9mm headspaces off the case mouth so a crimp can mess things up.

I would suspect a slight mis alignment with the case mouth flair or way too much flair. There should be just enough the get the bullet in the mouth and the press will push the bullet in to the correct set depth.

It's one of those, I'd really have to look to see whats happening deals.

Answer 5

case mouth should be expanded just enough to set the base of the bullet into, no more. check the bullet seater die. it may be the wrong shape for the bullets you are loading or you might have a bit of bullet lube or trash stuck in the bullet seater. . also, check your overall length. you may not be seating the bullet deep enough in the case. DON'T GUESS!! measure it. if the bullet isn't being seated deep enough, it will often be crooked.

Answer 6

I am a master bullsmith with 30+ years of building custom match and hunting ammunition.

You do not crimp 9mm Luger/Parabellum.  

9mm, 380 auto, 45 acp, etc and all the ones with a case that looks like this headspaces on the case mouth.  If the mouth is crimped it will 'float' in the chamber - the odds are 1:90 of it firing correctly, and 90:1 it will blow up the barrel.  Good thing you asked.

The reason your seater die has a built in roll crimp is because it is used with a bunch of other calibers.  This does not mean you need to use it.

They do make a special crimp called a 'taper crimp' - and some of the high end expensive new sets of dies are coming with these.  With a taper crimp die the case is belled, the bullet seated - and then a 'light' taper crimp is added.  I use the word 'light' because if too much of a taper crimp is given it will squish the bullet enough so it will fall out!  Not good.

When you bell the brass - it should not be enough for you to easily tell with the naked eye.  It is belled just enough so the bullet can be seated and does not crush the brass - or - shave pieces of copper off the bullet.  Done correctly a very light bell of the brass, the brass actually collapses at the rim almost back to its original shape once the bullet hits the non-belled area.

One hint.  Adjust your seating die so the brass fully enters the die but does not hit the roll crimp.  To do this gently test the brass against the die until you feel it hit the roll crimp, then turn it back one full turn.  You want the brass inside the die as much as possible since it helps with bullet to brass alignment.  This is important if you have a die with a taper crimp built in.

As a new handloader its important to know someone local you can call for quick questions like this.  Never assume anything......   Even experienced handloaders get into trouble when they load a caliber they are unfamiliar with and 'assume' something.  (my favorite is the guy who put a heavy crimp on 38 specail wad cutters - you don't crimp these either - and when fired only half the brass came out.  The front half of the brass went down the barrel!  One way to make a jacketed round..........)

Feel free to email me any questions you have.

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.ex...

Buy that.  It's all you need.

Stick with Lee in the future and you won't have those problems.

Answer 8

Check and make sure that the dies are the correct model  for 9mm luger.  It sounds like the shell mouth is too wide, but there are several other adjustments that may be off.

Call, e-mail or write the folks at Lee, they are most helpful.

Answer 9

One last word, There is no crimp on a 9mm. It head spaces on the case mouth. When seating bullet,case mouth should be almost exactly the same size as when you sized it originally.It is common for a reloaded 9mm to look a "waspy" when finished.