Fairly new to reloading - help with jamming please

[Kilimanj99]

Hello,

I have a Springfield XDM9 9MM in which I am reloading the 9MM rounds. When I first started, I test-fired 50 reloads and they all worked without a jam. I continued to make about 1000 total. Went to the range today and every other round jammed.

Fire the first round - all good, the second round would not position correctly to be fired. The slide jammed hard shut to the point where even the range guy had difficulty unjamming it. This occurred with every second fire (about 5 attempts). The first bullet fired fine, second jammed. I tried factory loads and they worked fine, 100 rounds fired. I am 99% sure it’s the cycling that is jamming, not the firing, the second bullet jams before it's even fired.

My question is, what is my problem? Any tips on things to try?

At first, I was thinking it was not enough powder to cycle the chamber correctly. Although it does fire a little heavier than the factory rounds. So maybe it's too much powder. Since the die for powder is not adjustable and it worked fine with the first 50, I'm wondering if it's something else.

The next thing I was thinking of is the length. I did fool around with the dies to try to get a bullet feeder working, I wonder if I'm not crimping it down as far, I thought I measured but I'll have to go back over some and check.

The last thing, has anyone tried making a DIY clearing or bullet trap? As I try to fix these issues I want to test them without having to go to the range. Thinking of a 3-6" diameter few feet long metal conduit tube and filling it with water and/or sand to fire into. Or just buy one of these https://www.range-systems.com/product/guardian-compact-clearing-trap/ any thoughts?

Thanks in advance

 

[Green Bullet]

Are you resizing the brass?

 

[wayno945]

Check your taper crimp.

 

[Kilimanj99]

I'm using the Lee Precision 1000 3 stage. I am looking at the crimp right now compared to a factory, What are you thinking with the taper crimp? Not crimped enough or too much, or maybe the bullet isn't deep enough or too deep?

 

[Pickettpuncher]

9mm headspace’s off the case mouth. If you have too much crimp the case mouth can fall in deeper on the chamber. Not saying this is your issue. I’m not at my bench to measure but you want just enough crimp to hold everything in place, without it falling too deep into the chamber.

 

[Kilimanj99]

Thank you, really appreciate the help. I will measure this all up tonight and see what we get.

 

[wayno945]

Since you bell the case to insert the bullet, you want to make sure the taper crimp removes that belling. Sharp edges can cause feeding issues. Too much crimp can bulge the case. What kind of bullets are you using? If they are cast, bullet lube smearing on the case can cause problems. So can bullet profile. You might want to try reducing the OAL to see if that clears your feeding issues. Do you have a case gauge or have you tried doing the plunk test? Checking at the bench will save you headaches at the range.

 

[Yoder]

My buddy had a problem like this when he first started reloading. He wasn't resizing the brass all the way. He didn't have his resizing die setup correctly. He gave me a box and they jammed my gun so bad I had to bang the slide on the shooting bench to open it. I just pulled the decapping pin on my resizing die and ran them through my press. After that they were good. If you don't have a case gauge just pull the barrel out of your gun and drop the rounds in the chamber to check them. It might give you an idea of where the problem is.

 

[Kilimanj99]

Hello, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving...

Wayno945
- I just bought a case gauge and will do a bunch of plunk testing
- Bullet type: Hornady Full Metal Jacket Round Nose 115 Grain https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1165309390?pid=461313
- Casings are just random
- Primer is CGI 500 small pistol
- Powder is Hodgdon CFE Pistol

Yoder
- Sounds like a similar problem

Measurements: (I tested 5 and they were all about the same measurements)
- Casing diameter closest to bullet: 14.36
- Casing diameter center: 15.56
- Casing diameter closest to primer: 14.64
- Overall length: 34.15

Thanks guys,

I am hoping this will fix it
"I just pulled the decapping pin on my resizing die and ran them through my press."
"You might want to try reducing the OAL to see if that clears your feeding issues."

I'll keep this thread updated. Guage won't be here until Sat 3rd

 

[Kilimanj99]

One more thing to mention, I'm using the .40 die for powder which dispenses a 5.3 charge in grains

 

[greyling]

Sounds like you have a sizing issue. Are you sure you set your sizing die right?

I'm also a little confused about using 40 cal powder die. Your die set should have come with a 9mm powder through die. The 40 may be putting way too much flare or case expansion.

Lee makes a factory crimp die. It is a post sizing die that will squish stuff down to a factory spec. I hate it since I shoot oversized lead bullets, but it sounds perfect for fixing a thousand rounds of bad ammo.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

Measure in inches, not mm.

 

[Kilimanj99]

Thanks again for the assistance,

greyling:
- Are you sure you set your sizing die right? Sooo, yes and no, that's kind of what I was eluding to above. I set the die, test fired 50 without issue. Then I continued to make a few hundred more. About halfway through I got a bullet feeder to help (don't get one there a pain in the ass on the Lee, and I ended up not using it). Anyway, to attach the bullet feeder I needed to remove the third (final stage) die which crimped the bullet. Then reseat it on top of the feeder and re-calibrate. I am guessing when I recalibrated this die maybe it went wrong. Also over the course of 1000 rounds, there's a lot of finagling around with the reloader. I'm guessing if you reload you know what I mean. So are they set right? /shrug/ I will recalibrate it from scratch once I start again.

- I'm also a little confused about using 40 cal powder die. Not 40 cal powder die, the .40 is the volume of grains see attached chart. I used the .40 hole which holds a 5.3 grain charge. Referring to Hornady and Lee's instructions this should be the correct amount of powder for the type of powder I'm using. It states between 4.9 and 5.4. 5.3 is just under and when I use the next size down it's just under that range.

- Your die set should have come with a 9mm powder through die. It did, It's a 3-stage Lee die set for 9mm. Tried to find the model but I don't see it anywhere. This looks like it might be it but the case was green on mine. https://leeprecision.com/3-die-set-9mm-luger-carb.html

- Lee makes a factory crimp die. Checking their website now and the instructions have this part number. This looks exactly like my 3rd stage die. I'll have to see if there is a difference or if I already have this. Lee does not seem to be very good with making their part numbers visible on the parts. https://leeprecision.com/carbide-factory-crimp-die-9mm.html

What makes this a little more confusing is the die set says to use the .37 but the auto disk powder measure says to use .40. I guess it's not that big of a difference but it might be enough to make it too powerful, maybe? Although as I was saying the first 50 fired fine and nothing changed with the charge, so I think I'm ok, but worth testing the lower charge. Firing these do seem a slightly bit more powerful than factory. If I can get away with this charge I'll use these up and re-evaluate the next batch.

OK FORGET THOSE MEASUREMENTS ABOVE, I DIDN'T ZERO OUT THE CALIPER :|

Pickettpuncher:
- Casing diameter closest to bullet: 9.55mm or .375"
- Casing diameter center: 9.83mm or .387"
- Casing diameter closest to primer: 9.84mm or .388"
- Overall length: 29.38mm or 1.157"

I should have the case gauge soon and I bought a clearing trap so I can test them at home.

 

[greyling]

The lee seater/crimp die does not externally look too different than the factory crimp die, but inside they are different. The fcd has a carbide sizing ring, and it crimps. It only comes in the 4 die set.

You could also try either covering a loaded round in smoke or sharpie and see where it rubs off when you chamber it. Might give you some idea where you are binding up.

 

[Pickettpuncher]

I may be wrong, but the .375 measurement at the case mouth is too much crimp. Thinking I was at .385 on my loads.

 

[Kilimanj99]

Ok, I got the LEE PRECISION 90860, Carbide Factory Crimp Die, 9mm Luger as well, should be here in a few days.

I think I'll have a pretty good setup once this is all done and working, or I'll throw it out the window and run it over a few times with my car

 

[Yoder]

Lee makes an adjustable micrometer charging bar to replace the disks. Then you can dial in exactly how much powder you want. It's really cheap. I used to shoot competitions so I've loaded a ton of 9mm. The lee factory crimp die is awesome. Using that I hardly ever had an issue with anything I loaded.

One thing I would recommend to everyone is visually verifying each powder drop. Since you can't use a powder cop die make sure the powder looks right. Even with the powder cop I check. I blew up a barrel on my Glock once from an under charged round. It fired, jammed and the bullet was stuck in the barrel. I was doing some drills and immediately chambered another round and fired without thinking about it. Bulged and cracked the barrel and broke the slide release. I was lucky.

 

[Kilimanj99]

Some new updates:

1. I got the Cartridge Guage and tested it - see the image below. You can see the bottom is bulged out too far which is most likely the main problem.

2. I got the Factory resizing die and ran a dozen through it - see the image below

3. I got the Range Systems Guardian Clearing Trap to test fire without needing to go to the range

Test fired 3 rounds this morning. The gun is no longer jamming. YAY. However, it is still not cycling on its own. I go to fire the second and nothing happens. If I pull back the slide manually to reload, it works again and is not jammed. I think it has to do with ejecting the casing. Could be because I shot sideways (ejection port face down) with the rig I made to safely test the clearing trap.

Here's the pattern: 6 rounds in the magazine. Load magazine -> Chamber first round -> Fire -> success -> (A) Pull the trigger again -> nothing -> remove magazine -> pull the slide back and clear the chamber -> reload the magazine, chamber, and fire -> success -> back to (A). I also tried without removing the magazine and just clearing the chamber pulling the slide back and chambering a new round worked too.

Before I resize all of them I need to figure out this last bug. Any ideas are welcome. I'll test again holding the gun right now that I know it's fairly safe.

 

[Yoder]

Look up a video on setting up your resizing die on your press. They shouldn't be bulged that bad after resizing. I use a Factory crimp die as insurance but it's not necessary.

When I first started reloading I made up 1000 rounds of 9mm like a genius without testing them. When I got to the range my gun wouldn't cycle. It was a single shot. I figured out there wasn't enough powder to cycle the slide all the way. If I put a grip of death on the gun, elbows locked trying to crush the grip as hard as I could it would cycle sometimes. I figured I could do one of two things: Pull all the bullets and do everything over or install a lighter recoil spring. It was a gun I was using for competitions so I replaced the recoil spring and all the rounds functioned no problem after that. Next batch I loaded with a little more powder.

 

[Yoder]

I just looked at the load data you posted. 5.3 gr is almost the max load for 115gr. Maybe weigh the charge to see if it's correct. If it is, try crushing the gun when you shoot and see if it cycles.