noob needs advice about 9mm reloading (long)

[koolfilter]

Hello all,
I am new here and new to reloading. I have some questions that I have not been able to find answers for. I hope not too simple.
I am reloading 9mm luger on a lee turret press. I just started, and have already become addicted, plan on a Dillon 650 some time in 2006. The ammo I reload is mostly just for plinking.
How do you know if the once fired brass really is just once fired? Most of my ammo is pumped through a Glock 19 so I think I want to reload only one time. Is this a good idea or is it overkill? (to only reload once).

Of the 1000 or so rounds I have reloaded I measured the case diameter at the widest point. Most of my new factory cases are around .386. The same size that my resize die makes them. My store bought “once fired” brass measures anywhere from .388 to.395 (That's .002 to .009 expansion.) So far I only reloaded brass that was .391 or less (.005 or less expansion.) The measurements were taken with a Starrett no.436 so they are accurate. Is this a pretty good way to judge the brass? The guys at the reloading place said “just don't reload it if it is cracked!” Can you believe that? Old school I guess. They also did not know about the Glock case support.

I only take these great pains with the brass because of the Glock. MY GOAL IS NO CASE FAILURES, AND RELIABLE CYCLING. According to the chart my rounds have less than 30,000# of chamber pressure, this was important to me again because of the Glock. If I didn’t love it so much I would get rid of it because of the chamber.
Also my G 19 exposes about .185 to .195 of the case at the ramp.

So I guess my questions would be:

1> How can you tell if once fired brass is really once fired if you did not do the firing?

2> Is .005 a good expansion limit for reloading, or is .008 or.009 ok too? There are far more .008 and .009 than .005.

3> Is only one reload per piece of brass overkill in a Glock 19, or would two reloads be ok?

4> Should I just get a new barrel and not worry so much about the brass?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, It turned out much longer than I intended.
Filter

 

[rick smith]

You can't tell how many times brass has been fired by looking at it.
Load your brass as many times as you can, doesn't matter what it was fired in as long as you keep brass seperated for the gun it was fired in.
As in expensive as 9mm brass can be found, I would not work with the "once Fired" brass. Tried that one time and had more military brass than commercial. I culled more cases than it was worth.
Welcome to the world of reloading, when you get your Dillon you will enjoy loading even more.Rick.

 

[Ol` Joe]

"So I guess my questions would be:

1> How can you tell if once fired brass is really once fired if you did not do the firing?

2> Is .005 a good expansion limit for reloading, or is .008 or.009 ok too? There are far more .008 and .009 than .005.

3> Is only one reload per piece of brass overkill in a Glock 19, or would two reloads be ok?

4> Should I just get a new barrel and not worry so much about the brass?"


1) There is no way to tell how many times a case has been used unless you did the useing.

2) The amount of expantion depends on the chamber geometery. The larger the chamber the more expantion you`ll find, and semi auto chambers are made sloppy for feed purposes. Take two pistols of the same make and chambering and you`ll probably find they don`t show the same expantion in cases fired from them. Add a unknown amount of chambers the cases came from and I have no doubt you will see a big difference in case measurments. I doubt you will find little if any difference in the case life with these cases and would go ahead and load them. BTW I see .007" difference between .388 and .395, a little better then you were looking at.

3) If you are worried about one reload why buy once fired brass? This line of thought would have your brass wore out before you loaded it. Load until you see any thinning in the walls by the head, mouth splits, wall cracks, loose primers, or other signs the cases are done and then toss the whole lot and start over with new brass.
To be honest this is a hard one for me to call, maybe someone else with a Glock can add to it.

4) What is a new barrel going to change? I have no experiance with a Glock but understand they have a unsupported area in the head. The new barrel would most likely copy this fault and not cure anything if this is your worry.

Sorry if I haven`t helped much................

 

[koolfilter]

Thanks for taking the time to reply guys, I really appreciate it.
I have just got a little caught up in reading about the Glock case failures all over the net.
Too many people have said they would not reload for a Glock not even once (even the 9mm). But you guys and others on different forums have me thinking I’m ok if I just watch my brass.
I thought about an aftermarket barrel because some have 100% case support.
Oh, BTW Joe... .388=.002 (over .386) and .395=.009 (over .386) .386 being the factory size. But, I think I am done measuring cases because your answer to my second question makes sense, and it indicates those measurements don’t mean anything.
I go make bullet now! :wink:
Thanks again fellers