Being winter I finally got around to trying to reload these cases.
I have a pile ~ 1000 cleaned 9mm cases to reload. I have the dies. They came in the thin black plastic LEE die box. I tried decapping in the single stage and it seemed to work very well. I ONLY de-capped. I did not try sizing the case.
I pulled apart my Bullshadow and started plunking cases. About half of them plunked. I have shot these rounds with a Ruger PCC, some other CZs. I'm not sure if the ones that plunk in the tight chamber and indeed the ones fired from that pistol but going forward I will keep the shot ammo separate.
If the case plunks it seems that the case can now be reprimed and loaded. I’m not sure if it will need to have the bell flare process done. So I tried making a few dummy rounds with 124PDs and they plunked. all rounds have been made on the single stage so far just to get used to the new process and dies- haveing a hands on feel of the lever 1 station at a time gets me better feedback). So I put some primers and powder in about 30 cases on the single stage. Seating the bullet was very tricky and finicky but they did seem to load well. I have not shot them yet.
With the other rounds that did not plunk what do I do with them. Well, I've been having problems resizing and belling the case without pulling them apart so that you can see a gap between the base and the casewall. I have the belling case funnel tube for the D650 set to minimal bell to hold a bullet. But even with minimal bellling, on the return strock, the case grabs and pulls the case apart a bit. I tried lubing the inside of the case, still grabs, I tried honing the belltube, still grabs. Also note that the case belling tube is a smaller angle than normal brass case drop tube.
Another problem, about 1/2 the cases won't plunk in my chamber, so need to actually size these down to plunk right. Well guess what, same thing basically. If you resize the case to try to get it to plunk it will grab on the way out and pull the case apart some. Lube didn't help.
So... lesson learned I guess. I'm going to test plunk the resto of the 1000 cases I have and run those I guess. But any tips on the other problems I can try let me know. Also one last think, I also tried using the lee final crimp die and as as you touch the casemouth to crimp (and prevent bullet setback) it will grab and pull the case apart.
I have tried
I DO have the dillon 650 bell attachment for it. But for now I am looking to just reload a handful of them to see if/how they will run.