9mm 115 grain FMJ overall length?

[mattellis2]

i'm so confused. i bought a g19 a little while back and started loading 9mm for it. previously i have been a 45 guy, and never had the trouble i am currently experiencing.

i loaded about 300 rounds of 115 fmj over 4.2 grains of bullseye to an overall length of 1.150". this number was based on the overall lengths i measured from wwb and blaser brass factory loads for the same projectile. i had a few stoppages at the range, but i thought they were related to one of the mags i was using, as it seemed to happen mostly frequently with one particular 10 rounder i have.

i sat down at the bench a little while ago, and cranked out about 50 rounds on my loadmaster. checking my overall length, and i had crept up about 0.010" to around 1.160". on a whim, i pulled a couple of load books out. hornady lists that load @ 1.100" and lyman has it at 1.090". i reseated one of my bullets to 1.085", and it doesn't look right at all. frankly, i am afraid that at that OAL, i am going to compress the powder, create a pressure spike and destroy my gun/hand.

am i being paranoid? what is the deal with WWB and BB being loaded so long? i know max overall is 1.169", but i seriously wonder if my feeding issues weren't related to overly long cartridges (or very nearly so, anyway.)

i've never had these issues while reloading 45 acp, and i have done piles of that. :upeyes:

thoughts?

-matt

[fredj338]

Yeah, I am not sure how anyone gets away w/ loading 115gr bullets so long. I run them around 1.130", feeds in Glocks, BHP, S&W, no issues.

[GMAN12]

I load the exact same round at 1.100, works good for me.

[ron59]

I agree with Fred... my load is with a 147gr bullet, and it's at 1.135".

1.085" sounds really short, and while I also measured WWB at 1.160", see no reason to load that long as it's on the extreme outside edge.

Choose something more in the middle, and you'll be better off.

[CitizenOfDreams]

The factory rounds I have shot in my Glock ranged from 1.153" (American Eagle) to 1.162" (Sellier & Bellot). No feeding issues.

My point is, if reputable factories make them that long, maybe - just maybe - they know what they are doing? :dunno:

[Patrick Graham]

i had a few stoppages at the range

What kind of stoppages, failure to feed, failure to extract, failure to eject?

If you are not having the "stoppages" with factory ammo seated to 1.15" then the problem might be something other than cartridge overall length.

I like to run my finished products through a gauge or pull the barrel out and use it.

[sourdough44]

My 9mm 115 grn plated RB loads are set to 1.10 col.

[MoNsTeR]

I always seat standard-profile FMJs to 1.160" or longer.

[mattellis2]

What kind of stoppages, failure to feed, failure to extract, failure to eject?

If you are not having the "stoppages" with factory ammo seated to 1.15" then the problem might be something other than cartridge overall length.

I like to run my finished products through a gauge or pull the barrel out and use it.

failure to feed only. slide was not going fully into battery, but if i gave it a push on the back it would do so.

edit: i've only shot about a mag of factory ammo through the gun, so i can't say whether there were problems or not. the one mag i did run, was fine.

[Patrick Graham]

failure to feed only. slide was not going fully into battery, but if i gave it a push on the back it would do so.

edit: i've only shot about a mag of factory ammo through the gun, so i can't say whether there were problems or not. the one mag i did run, was fine.

Pull the barrel out and drop each round in, the round should go "click" when the case mouth hits the end of the chamber. If all your reloaded ammo does that OK then it just may be an overall length problem. If they don't go click you have other problems.

[Colorado4Wheel]

OAL won't matter that much as far as feeding/function in a G19. It would proably work well with any fmj ammo that cycles the slide reliably. 1.100 to 1.169 and beyond would work fine. You would have to adjust the load for those lengths but it won't matter from a function point of view.

[fredj338]

The factory rounds I have shot in my Glock ranged from 1.153" (American Eagle) to 1.162" (Sellier & Bellot). No feeding issues.

My point is, if reputable factories make them that long, maybe - just maybe - they know what they are doing? :dunno:
Well, maybe, but most of us are not using the exact bullet the manuf does. If I load most 115grRNFMJ to 1.160", there is precious little bullet shank left in the case. Again, YOU CAN NOT measure a factory round for an OAL unless you use the exact same bullet.:dunno: