PART II

Before the “shortage” of 9 mm ammunition caused by so many established shooters and new shooters as well buying up everything they could find, it was not unusual to find a box of 50 rounds selling for $10 or less making it the only ammunition which was cheaper to buy than to reload. Over the years I simply tossed all my empty brass into 5-gallon buckets and then when I found myself in a situation where virtually no ammunition could be found or at least almost impossible to locate, I went back to reloading 9 mms.
First it was necessary to sort all the brass by head stamps. Well, maybe it isn’t necessary, however I feel better when I do it. On a practical matter it probably doesn’t make any difference. But I did spend two days sorting brass finding 14 different head stamps and about 7000 + rounds of empty brass. Once sorted, I then began cleaning the brass by tumbling it in a Lyman Turbo 600. I find this particular vibrator very handy as it holds a day’s shooting worth of empty brass which I normally dump in after each shooting session. This was not to be with the 9 mm brass so it has taken many days to tumble clean everything after sorting. I have found tumbling media can be made much more efficient resulting in much shinier brass by the addition of either Lyman, Dillon or Hornady Brass Polish to the mix. Brass comes out squeaky clean looking like new.
Normally, I use the RCBS Pro-2000 Progressive Press to re-size, de-prime, re-prime, and expand the case mouth. This gives me a large supply of brass to load in the amounts preferred on the RCBS RockChucker Single Stage Press. For re-sizing effort is greatly reduced by using the Lee Tungsten Carbide Sizing Die along with spraying the brass first with Hornady One-Shot Spray Lube. This waxed-based lube does not contaminate primers or powder, and I have also found it handy for lubricating the priming punch. I do not expand the case mouth but rather just kiss the mouth with the Lee Universal Expanding Die to allow the bullet to enter the case. This helps provide a tight bullet to brass fit. Once the cases have been given the proper charge of powder bullets are seated but not crimped. Revolver reloads receive a heavy roll crimp as the bullet is seated, however this does not work with semi-automatic pistol rounds as they headspace on the case mouth. This requires a special taper crimp which is accomplished in a separate step by using the Lee Factory Crimp Die. Although it means an extra step in reloading, I have found it well worth the effort. Combined with the tight bullet to brass fit there is no problem with bullets being shoved into the case during the path from magazine to chamber.
When loading large batches of bulk 9 mm I use the RCBS Pro-2000 for all steps except the last one which is crimping with the Lee Factory Crimp Die. Every 200 or so rounds which complete their cycle on the Pro-2000 are then moved over to the RockChucker for applying the final step which is the crimp.
All 9 mm brass is not equal. Some of it has heavier walls which may become a problem when loading heavier bullets. Each bullet manufacturer gives the desired overall cartridge length which is measured using a mechanical or digital caliper. The former I use is a Lyman while the latter is Frankford Arsenal’s. By having both I can check on myself to make sure I am reading everything right. Now the length measurement does not stop here. If it has been done correctly and the proper taper crimp applied, the cartridges “should” work just fine. I use a Lyman Cartridge Gauge to check them, however there are two other checks. I start with several dummy cases properly set to the suggested/required overall cartridge length and then run two other checks. The dummy rounds are placed in the magazine to make sure they will fit and work smoothly. If too long the bullet will butt up against the front edge of the magazine and jam things up. The second check is to make sure they will feed from the magazine smoothly and into the chamber. DUMMY ROUNDS ONLY for these checks. If everything is done correctly we have cartridges as perfect as we can make them.