It's raining powder

[joeyj]

I'm relatively new to reloading 9 mm (about 1000 rounds), but now I'm ready to give the whole thing up. I went to the range Friday with my grandson who is 15 years old. I was happily shooting away when all of a sudden my CZ 75B jammed up, and that's a very rare occasion for this pistol.. The next thing I noticed was powder coming out of the air, some on me and some on the bench. I went to chamber another round which failed when my grandson said ''I can still see a bullet in the chamber''. Sure enough, the bullet was still in there. Remember, in a microsecond, the action went back and threw the brass out, spilled powder, and left the bullet in the chamber and tried to chamber another round. (At least that's what I think happened ) .. Does the primer have enough power to cycle the action? If so, why didn't the powder go off? I do a lot reading on this forum but can't say I've ever seen anything come close to this situation.
PS when I got home and stripped this pistol to get the lead out, the lead had no rifling marks which leads me to believe it didn't even start down the barrel.
Go easy on me fellows, I'm so confused now that I ready to give up Reloading forever.
Signed-dazed and confused

[Remington788]

My first thought is that you missed the crimping station on the round. Still, I wouldn't expect the bullet to fall out.
Walk through the events again slowly.
You say it jammed. What exactly do you mean by that?
Did you rack the slide to clear an unfixed round and that is what flew apart?
Was the primer shot on the round?

I am thinking that you missed the crimp. That wouldn't allow it to seat properly upon feeding, thus the jam.
When you racked to clear it, the bullet stayed in the barrel and the extractor pulled the case away.

[Bang]

I think a more complete description of "jammed" will be the key.

[frankski]

With the bullet stuck in the chamber, it is likely that your loaded cartridge is too long for the chamber and is engaging the rifling when chambered. In addition, you may not have enough neck tension.

Take the barrel out of the pistol and drop a finished round in the chamber. It should plunk and be easy to turn freely. If it stops short, your overall length is too long for the chamber.

Some barrels have short chambers.

[wanneroo]

I've heard CZ75's like 9mm with a shorter OAL and have a rep for tight chambers. No need to panic, 9mm is pretty easy to load for. We need more information though:

1. What OAL are you using?
2. What bullet, powder and primer combo are you using?
3. What die set are you using?
4. What crimp set up are you using?
5. Did you check all of your completed rounds in a case gauge?

Until we have that info we are only taking shots in the dark.

Also if you are new to reloading or reloading 9mm there are a lot of people pushing using lead bullets. I would start with regular full metal jacket(FMJ) bullets such as a quality 115 or 124g Hornady FMJ bullet. These are readily available in bulk online. They are more consistent, feed better and seat better than any lead bullet out there. Using lead bullets IMO is more for the experienced hobbyist once they have their loading skills down.

Also many reject checking their work in reloading/handloading and these are usually the people I see at matches constantly racking failed reloads out of their gun in the middle of a stage or constantly clearing failures to feed or eject. A Lyman case gauge for 9mm is $20. Every completed round I do I pop it in the case gauge to check dimensions. If it doesn't fit a case gauge(make sure you keep the gauge clean and free of debris), then something is screwed up somewhere. If I load 500 rounds of 9mm, typically 4-5 rounds do not pass quality control.

[raxar]

My first thought is that you missed the crimping station on the round. Still, I wouldn't expect the bullet to fall out.
Walk through the events again slowly.
You say it jammed. What exactly do you mean by that?
Did you rack the slide to clear an unfixed round and that is what flew apart?
Was the primer shot on the round?

I am thinking that you missed the crimp. That wouldn't allow it to seat properly upon feeding, thus the jam.
When you racked to clear it, the bullet stayed in the barrel and the extractor pulled the case away.

You don't crimp auto pistol rounds, you need the case mouth for headspacing.

[Dave_n]

Actually you use a roll crimp with semi auto rounds, Dave_n

[cephas]

Think you got it backwards Dave. Never heard of advising to roll crimp semi's. If conventional wisdom has changed please illuminate.
"Cartridges intended for use in self-loading pistols, such as the .45 ACP, should never be given any type of crimp other than a taper crimp. Because of the method of headspacing on the case mouth, a slight ledge must be left to provide positive positioning of a chambered round."
http://www.exteriorballistics.com/re...sics/crimp.cfm

OP I wouldn't think a primer alone could cycle the action. In addition to above info asked how did the round feel and report sound going off?

[wanneroo]

No you do not use a roll crimp with semi auto rounds.

You use a taper crimp for cartridges that headspace on the case mouth. Taper crimping done properly will remove the bell the expanding die caused and will provide the tension necessary to keep the bullet in place. In my experience the Lee factory crimp die works very well.

Great explanation here:

http://www.massreloading.com/Handgun..._Crimping.html

[Dave_n]

Sorry, you are correct, taper for auto, roll for revolver. Blame "old age" Dave_n