Reloading Handgun Advice

[NoMoreOldNo7]

Hi guys, new here and wanted to pick your brain a bit. I am very experienced reloading rifle ammo, I regularly reload .243, 30-06, .300 WinMag and 7RM and about to start loading .223/5.56. But I am also going to start loading some handgun ammo. The calibers will be 9mm Luger and 45 ACP. I purchased a Kahr 9mm for the wife and a Kimber 1911 for myself since we have moved here (first of January). So far I like the performance of the 115gr FMJ in the 9mm and 230gr FMJ in the .45. I've already purchased some 9mm bullets (Berrys 115gr round nose) and a pound of Bullseye powder, still looking for .45 bullets. I figure to use the recipes in the reloading manuals I already have. I have a single stage Hornady press and already have dies for both calibers. So much for the background.

Anyone have any pointers regarding manufacturers, loads, procedures. Anything drastically different from reloading rifle ammo? When I am reloading rifle ammo I usually check the weight of every round but don't figure it's necessary for the handgun ammo, maybe check every 5th or 10th round or so. Any difference in seating the bullet? Whatever you can throw my way would be appreciated.

 

[ASP785]

The biggest concerns with pistol ammunition is squib loads and double charges. If you have a consistent powder dispenser and are already familiar with the basic steps, making the transition should be a piece of cake for you! Make sure you utilize a taper crimp and not a roll crimp as both of those cartridges typically headspace on the case mouth.

On my progressive, I visually inspect the powder level on each charged case, but only weigh the charge every hundred rounds. The rounds never vary more than a 10th of a grain.

 

[chazroh]

Inspect each case, I use bullseye for both and load at 4.5gr. Nice target loads.

 

[Old Fart]

Most straight wall pistol case are easier to reload than bottle neck rifle cases.
So for the most part you should be well experienced.

As said check the powder charge.

 

[Calamity Jake]

Use a carbide sizing die then there will bo no need for case lube.

 

[okietom]

Only flare the case mouth just enough to let the bullet start into the case. You will love it.

 

[gillman7]

Holler at Mitch at J&K Casting. He does some smoking cast bullets, and has some plated ones too. Great guy, and the hardest cast bullets I have seen. He is on the board, but here is his website

http://jkbullets.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8&zenid=siuheh01n84bk7fr07t8mtju86

 

[mr ed]

straight case semi auto pistol brass headspaces off the mouth of the case so trimming to length is important.
some brands of 45acp are now using small pistol primers instead of large so you will need to watch out for that.

 

[NoMoreOldNo7]

Guys, thanks so much for the info, looks like some good advice. This next week I plan on up my reloading bench and knocking out some 9mm I'll check back in and give an update or any questions after I load a few rounds.

As for checking the powder charges, I have visually checked just to make sure I don't have a round with no charge. Works well with rifle charges since a double load will overflow. I'll work on coming up with some kind of routine to verify charge levels.

And about primers, I've never been one to play around much with primers, especially changing from large to small or large rifle to magnum. I think I'll stick to whatever size my reloading manuals suggest. Actually different brands of primers may come into play this year with the shortage of primers available. For my rifle reloads I have pretty much stuck with Winchester, both large rifle and large magnum rifle. For the handgun reloading my son picked up some TulAmmo small and large pistol primers, I've never used that brand before but will see how they perform. I found a case of Winchester large rifle magnum primers a month ago so I'm set there for a while but down to my last 100 Winchester large rifle primers and that's going to lead to a big problem shortly. My wife is going to do some hunting with me this year and I have built her a nice Model 7 in .243, I also just changed my 03 Springfield back to a .243 and build a new 03A3 30-06 so I'll be looking for lots of large rifle primers working up loads for all three of these rifles. I'll try whatever brand I can find except not crazy about what I've heard about Wolf primers so I'll stay away from them. Any of you out there want to swap some Winchester large rifle magnum primers for some large rifle primers let me know, I could easily give up 500 primers to anyone in need.

 

[aeropb]

Always personally inspect each and every empty casing and finished cartridge. Production volume and time savings should never be more important than quality.