.380acp/9mm Hornady FMJ HP 90gr Bullet(s) Question

[RVTMaverick]

Hey Guys & Gals IF we have any ladies here, I don't know,

What I'm wondering about is, what You all do reloading these (IF any of you have used such a light 9mm round) 90gr FMJ HP rounds for OAL.... Ofcourse I Know the info. below holds true for ALL Calibers.;)


In regards to these two calibers:
IMHO I feel I have made a BAD Mistake and I Felt I should Share this to Hopefully help someone else Avoid this mistake:
... I Friggin' Saw it, I Looked at it/them over, NEVER like the look of them, SHOULD have Trusted My Wits and made adjustments, BUT,
because my reloading manuals gave me OAL as to what these 90 HP bullets should be finished at, that is what I set them to, again, I Never liked the way the finished rounds looked. :fie:

Praise God I am Okay! But I didn't make it through 1 mag. and BOOM in My hand, BUZZED my hand pretty good, it did do alittle damage to my XDM (Well Made XDM) and I have to tell you, IF it would have been in my buddy's M&P I am quite Sure the Damage would have been Worse...


So this is also a Major HEADS UP with Reloading, IF You don't like the look of something you are reloading (even though your reloading manual(s) says so) don't be in such a rush to knock out rounds and either make OAL adjustments on your own or talk to a few people to get their input.;)


Be Safe,

Peace Jeff

[williejc]

If your reload was too hot--over safe pressure limits--we can't advise you unless name of powder and charge weight is given. Whatever the issue in this instance, using recommended overall length didn't cause the problem. One thing that can increase pressure is bullet set back into the case during the trip from the mag into the chamber. The culprit here is the case neck not gripping the bullet with sufficient pull or bite.

A combination of the error of too much powder and bullet set back can create a big boom.

[jstone]

If your reload was too hot--over safe pressure limits--we can't advise you unless name of powder and charge weight is given. Whatever the issue in this instance, using recommended overall length didn't cause the problem. One thing that can increase pressure is bullet set back into the case during the trip from the mag into the chamber. The culprit here is the case neck not gripping the bullet with sufficient pull or bite.

A combination of the error of too much powder and bullet set back can create a big boom.

The overall length listed in manuals can cause problems. Every chamber is cut different, and just because your load data lists an overall length does not mean it is safe to use. Assuming that the overall length listed in your data is safe is not smart.

I'm pretty sure the op was not looking for help. People sometimes post mistakes they made as a cautionary story.

[RVTMaverick]

The overall length listed in manuals can cause problems. Every chamber is cut different, and just because your load data lists an overall length does not mean it is safe to use. Assuming that the overall length listed in your data is safe is not smart.

I'm pretty sure the op was not looking for help. People sometimes post mistakes they made as a cautionary story.

/\ /\ /\ This
100% Correct jstone,..... This is what I was after, to find out IF anyone here is loading 1 of these or both of these 2 rounds per manual(s) (Hornady 90 grain HP) and is calling it good... especially in 9mm,.... and You run the rounds through your reloading press, and crimp like you would normally with a 115-124, 125 gr FMJ RN or FN bullet, You ARE Looking for Trouble, please Be care!..

This is what I wanted to Share and WARN people of, Especially the OAL for the 90gr HP bullet, IF You are calling it Good just because the manual says 1.010" for 9mm, Watch out!

Also was wondering What others set their OAL too, for these calibers, because 2 of my manuals and 1 internet loading data info. for these are the same, 9mm 1.010" and .380acp says .955".

Thanks to both of you for the replies, I am Glad to see You got what I was after with this js. ;)

Peace Jeff

[Uni-Vibe]

No, I think there's something else going on here. Round's overall length by itself wouldn't cause the problem. IF the Boom wasn't caused by simply too hot a load, then what I think happened was this:

Looking at Corbon's loadings, they load 9mm in 90 grain and 115 grain. Both bullets have the same profile, so the only difference is length. And here the 90 grainer is seated for a substantially shorter orverall length. (This causes feeding problems in some guns with the ninety. For example, my Hi-power is somewhat irregular, whereas my Kimber feeds them 100%).

Anyway, what may be happening is this: Seating them out to 115 grain length means very little contact between the case neck and the bullet. So when the round feeds, there's little friction to hold the bullet in place, and it gets crammed back into the case too far. This generates excessive pressure.

To check you might make some dummy rounds and load them behind a normal loaded round, and then pull them out of the gun and see if any were pushed in. That would be one experiment to tell, but I'm betting that if there are no other problems with the load being too hot, that might be it.


ETA: Upon further reflection, a contributing factor might be a sizing die too loose. This would cause not enough neck tension to hold bullets in place during feeding. When I first started reloading ( for .45) I noticed this. RCBS fixed me up with a tighter sizing die and I've had zero problems in the intervening 35 years.