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The Dreaded 9mm Bulge!

RamRoddoc

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The Hen that laid the Golden Legos
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I shoot a bit of 9mm and occasionally had some re-loaded rounds not wanting to chamber. It was either from a bullet being seated canted or more commonly the base had enlarged just enough to prevent lock up. On occasion a high riding primer prevented full lock up.

It really wasn't an issue if I kept the reloaded rounds used for the Glock factory barrel with that barrel but it really seemed to surfaced when I purchased an aftermarket barrel to shoot lead in. The match chamber was not as forgiving as the generous factory Glock chamber.

Here is a pic of the Storm Lake G34 on the left and a factory Glock G34 on the right. This round has been run through a Dillon Progressive reloader. The re-sizing die goes only so far and can't re-size the base. Big time re-loaders use a roll sizer for 9mm or other rimless cases and semi-rimed like .38 super. A cheap one runs over 7 bills. Not a cost I would incur unless I was in it for the money either competition or re-loading.

The match chamber Storm Lake won't chamber the fresh round.

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Here is the factory Glock barrel.


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Another view.


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So what to do? Buy a roll sizer on the cheap for $700 plus. Just toss the offending ammo in the recycle pile? Well I did a bit of homework and purchased a $30 special order Lee die a 9mm "bulge buster". In essence it's a .380 Makarov Factory Crimp die modified to accept the 9mm. It has three parts, a carbide ring sizer die that the round is pushed through to resize the base. It has an inner sleeve that is used to form a taper crimp. At the top of the die is a screw top that adjusts the depth of taper. It's basically the same as the other pistol taper crimp dies but the instructions are for a collet taper crimp rifle die (?)

Due to the 9mm cartridge taper a die has to be special ordered.
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Pics; the die on the left and the "bulge buster" push through device.


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In action the die and bulge buster device.


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So I used it to fix the slight bulge at the base and it worked well. I chamber checked all the rounds and the Storm Lake barrel was used to put lead down range today. 0 failures to chamber (after a chamber check) and no other failures today for about 100 rounds. Prior it was 1/10 rounds with the new match barrel. The factory barrel was really not an issue but I wanted to shoot lead.

For the money it seems like the cheapest way to fix the dreaded bulge and works well enough. If you only use one Glock barrel or only shoot one 9mm this isn't for you. However, if you shoot several 9mm pistols this perhaps may be something of value to you.

I know it is to me.
 
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Just so it's clear the Lee "Bulge Buster" 9mm die is not to remove visible bulges but just those slightly oversized cases that may present an issue with chambering.

Excess stretching at the base incurs an unacceptable risk to reload or shoot. Here are some examples of brass to be tossed or saved out of curiosity of just what the heck was operator thinking.:doh:



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I think it's great that Lee will make specialty products at affordable prices. I called them a couple of years ago concerning a tighter fit for .355" bullets in .38 Super brass. The fellow put me on hold for a few minutes then came back and told me they would send me a modified sizing die for around $30.00. I told him to ship me one!

It's hand stamped .355/38 and it works great. Good people at Lee.
 
Thanks for the info,I bought lots of reloads and when I found one with a bulge I started dropping all into a barrel to make sure of no problems.
 
As always, a stellar job of a write-up by RAMRODDOC ...

I don't run into many 9mm's with a "bulge" ... maybe 1/2 of a Percent in a given lot of 1,000 that I've bought.
I have the Lone Wolf Conversion Barrels for both my G23 and G35 ... but with any brass, I always gauge them before reloading.
With .40 S&W's, bulges run 3%-5% ... and the Lee Bulge Buster will easily correct them.
 
Can't shoot cast from a Glock barrel? I'm selling my Glock.

You can with a Lone Wolf barrel, but you better not with a factory one. They are fine for copper-jacketed ammo, but don't mess around with a Glock and cast.

-Not trying to be a smart----, but check out a Glock manual. They do specifically warn against it.
 
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