Already got my first problem...

[turnerdye1]

I'm working on some loads myself with 115 grain bullets. I checked the OAL on some Federal Champion 115 grain rounds. OAL was 1.154" and it will cycle in all my 9mm pistols. The diagram in the newest Lyman manual shows a OAL of 1.169", which is max. length. They do not have a listing for 115 FMJ ammo, for JHP it is 1.090" OAL. Every book and site I have checked will give you a different number for OAL. Hodgdon's website says to use a minimum of 4 grains of powder for 115 grain bullets. I have Titegroup powder on hand. I did a test tonight. I loaded a round with no powder or primer. I cycled it 10 times in my M&P. I had the OAL set at 1.149" and had no issues, except for my crimp was not tight enough. Most reloaders have told me to stay within length and grain min. and max. and test OAL until you find what works. That's what I'm learning myself.

Yea thats what ive learned from reading posts and just expierementing myself. Every gun and every bullet company is differant. You just have to keep messing with it until you find out what your gun likes. I messed with OAL first. Found out what my gun liked. Then made a batch of lo ads with the minimum powder. Then a batch with max poweder. Shot both of them side by side. 4.0g of Win231 and 5.2gr of Win231. Then i just messed with powder charges from then on and found what i liked recoil wise. I decided right in the middle was best for me. 4.6gr of Win231 fit what i was looking for best. I didnt want to load week rounds that would be easy for me to keep on target. Because i carry this same gun and i wanted realistic recoil, not something that could easily stay on target. Then again i wasnt going for speed so 5.2g of Win231 was just too much. I ended up putting 5 of my SD rounds in a mag and 5 of my reloads in the same mag. I shot through that mag and i couldnt really tell the difference from when the SD rounds went down range and the reloads. So thats why i like the load i came up with. They are close to my carry rounds which makes practice more realistic

 

[XtremeVel]

I'm working on some loads myself with 115 grain bullets. I checked the OAL on some Federal Champion 115 grain rounds. OAL was 1.154" and it will cycle in all my 9mm pistols. The diagram in the newest Lyman manual shows a OAL of 1.169", which is max. length. They do not have a listing for 115 FMJ ammo, for JHP it is 1.090" OAL. Every book and site I have checked will give you a different number for OAL. Hodgdon's website says to use a minimum of 4 grains of powder for 115 grain bullets. I have Titegroup powder on hand. I did a test tonight. I loaded a round with no powder or primer. I cycled it 10 times in my M&P. I had the OAL set at 1.149" and had no issues, except for my crimp was not tight enough. Most reloaders have told me to stay within length and grain min. and max. and test OAL until you find what works. That's what I'm learning myself.

I came up with 1.135 for the 115 gr RN back when I had something like 7 different firearms that we shot that load thru. At that length, they all functioned great, including a Xd and a aftermarket barrel for a Glock that were "short chambered". I would suspect you loading at 1.149 will be just fine unless you have one of the bbl's with a short chamber. To see for sure, just simply pull the bbl out and drop round in making sure the back of the case sits flush or below the back hood. You will see much less problems using that 115 gr RN than you would the heavier RN such as the 124 gr Missouri small ball with a more blunt ogive.

I'm sure you know, but just don't forget OAL's will be much different when comparing a RN to a hollow point or FP. In a HP or FP, much of the bullet you would be calipering over simply isn't there. You always want your RN's to have a longer OAL, especially in a small capacity case such as the 9mm.

What makes you think your crimp wasn't enough ? You do not want to over crimp using plated bullets... If you saw bullet set-back while you cycled the round multiple times, you might need better case tension on the bullet rather than more crimp. In auto loader rounds, holding the bullet firm is more the function of proper case tension, rather than crimp.