As most of you know I reload for every caliber that we own.  

I recently inherited a 1k round case of Blazer Brass 9mm factory loaded ammo.  Some things I noticed when shooting it in multiple guns............

This ammo is weak.  It will cycle the action but the brass just lightly falls out on ejection.      

Some guns it runs 100%.  Other guns it is plagued with stove pipes and feed ramp hangups.    

I measured these rounds and they are loaded really long IMO for 115g ammo.    1.145" average.     Maybe this is normal for some factory ammo?  I don't know, never checked, but I don't load any of my hand loaded 9mm that long.

So what I am thinking about doing is seating the bullets deeper in this factory ammo by say .020" which could help with the feed ramp hang ups and maybe even increase the pressure just a smidge.    

IS THIS a completely stupid idea or has anyone else tried this before?

Never tried it before. It is also one of the reasons I don't shoot factory ammo.

I would just leave it be and shoot it in the guns that it does work in or sell it locally and buy more components. Not worth my time.

Yeah that's about standard for Blazer.  


I'd suggest maybe pulling a few bullets and see what you are working with powder wise at least. I wouldn't mess with it myself, seems like a lot of trouble and little risky for what it is.


Have have some of their brass that has held up really well to a few reloads.

1.145 is a little long but not crazy long. I've used 102gr cast at 1.100" before.

Make sure the Blazers don't have some kind of sealant on them that you'll be defeating by seating them deeper.

Also many people don't realize it but the OAL plays a rule in feeding more ways than one. Sometimes if you go too short there is not enough bullet nose sticking up out of the magazine for the extracting case rim to bump over and the rim catches the case mouth causing the fired case to be stripped from the extractor prematurely.

This one had me scratching my head for a while.

Motor

Thanks for the replies so far guys.    

Motor, no sealant on these.  

I just went and grabbed 10 out of a 50 round box for a quick check with the calipers.  OAL ranged from 1.145 all the way to 1.157"

That I was not expecting.  

Also almost every round still showed .001" of bell left in the case as in maybe not crimped to remove the flare enough.  

As far as time goes, I would generally agree but to be fair, I keep a Dillon 650 setup for nothing but 9MM and it would only take minutes to crank through these feeding them in at the bullet seating die.

If I could get these to run through one of my favorite plastic guns that currently doesn't like them for little to no effort, I think that would be awesome.

I'm not surprised that there is .001" flare. The factory understands what I can't get many of the people on this forum to understand. You need to go well beyond flush to end up with flush. Because the brass springs back.

The factory also understands that when the brass springs back there is a gap between it and the bullet so why make it worse.

Some bullets especially thick jacketed FMJ's resist being crushed by the taper crimp die so why force it? Leaving a .001" of flare on the case is harmless.

Motor

Yep, Blazer is in the 1.14 range every time I've measured it.  I've shot a lot of it and it's been as consistent as any other factory stuff imo.
I load all of my 9mm in the 1.14 range.  Had no idea I was loading long.

I've done it many times with no reservations on tapered crimp pistol cartridges I have loaded too long.

The issue with factory ammunition is unknown power and it's chamber pressure it's loaded to.

Setting back .020 may put the chamber pressure into the red in which you will have no real way to know what it is other than trying to interpret the ejected case, which can be a false positive or the other way, a positive over maximum with no sure sign.

Thanks for the interest guys.   Also I apologize if I implied that every ones 9mm loads are too long.  I know lots of loads call for and function fine at 1.140 or more.  I just don't load mine that long because as dryflash suggested certain chambers simply won't take a cartridge that long.  I have 6 or 7 9mms and 3 of them are finicky with load length to the point of won't plunk test.   To be fair this is mostly with cast boolits or powder coated bullets.  I have cast 125g loads as short as 1.075 because that's where they plunk test.    

Anyways I'm still tinkering with this project.    As someone suggested I pulled one of these bullets down with the hammer of shame and was absolutely surprised at how easy they bullet came out of the case.   Half effort one hit.    

After scrutinizing the powder I'm leaning towards W231 / HP38.     I thought bullseye initially but after studying some pics online it, it looks W231.     3.6 grains 115g bullet.  This load would jive with the load data I have for that bullet.    

Regardless, all the powders I looked at in the manuals with that grain count for that bullet were ALL on the low side of powder charge and with much shorter OAL called out.    

I felt comfortable going with a .025" shorter OAL and did this to 10 rounds.  Will be test firing a few and studying the results and go from there.  

Partial charge of the powder for picture purposes.  

We fired a total of 50 rounds of the shortened ammo today in the most finicky gun we had firing this ammo before (HK VP9).    Prior to shortening we were getting 2-3 feed ramp hangups or stove pipes per 10 put in the magazine.  After shortening zero malfunctions.  

Don't do as I said without doing your homework.

I'm happy with the results at this time.  I will probably send the remaining 600 rounds through the press tomorrow.

Glad it worked for your purposes

You stated in the OP that the ammo felt weak. Then, took one or more apart, examined the powder, figured out what it is then looked up the load data. I don't think you could have covered all your bases better than that before firing a single round. Well done.

I initially came here to caution you to watch for jacket shaving as you seat them deeper.

ETA: Since you have one apart, could you determine if the bullet has a real jacket or is it plated ? I've always been suspicious because I often see small dents and an orange peel effect on their bullets from being handled roughly during manufacturing. Thanks.

Thank you sir.  

I inspected nearly every re seated round and thankfully saw no evidence of scoring or shaving of the jacket.  I think a lot of that has to do with the little bit of flare left in the case out of the box.  Spring back or not it's hard to tear up a bullet with some bell to the case.  

Here in a little but I'm going to run the rest of them through my 650 starting at the bullet seating die and then re crimped at the setting I use for everything 9mm.  

The projectiles in these Blazers seems to be more of a "plated" bullet.   Jacket seems super thin.  That being said, when I smashed it with a pair of dykes the lead felt fairly firm.    

Also, if you look at most of these out of the box there are various small dings an dents in the bullets.  

That is a plated bullet.

That is how they can sell that type of ammo $3 or more cheaper per box. It says FMJ bullet on the box but it's a little misleading, don't ya think ? I've bought it before I started reloading thinking it has a thick, real jacket.

I've always been suspicious of them, thinking they might be plated bullets but never got around to cutting one open. Now, with your help I'm sure they are. Thank you.

If you take the time to read up on Speer "TMJ" bullets you will find that they are indeed "Plated" but supposedly MUCH thicker coat of plating.  All other OEM that offer FMJ with encapsulation of the bullet cover the base of the bullet with separate pc jacket material.  
From Speer

"THE ULTIMATE FMJ BULLET. Speer® uses Uni-Cor® technology to take full metal jacket bullets to their highest level of evolution. We completely encase the lead core in a seamless jacket. Other FMJ bullets have lead exposed at the base, or have an accuracy-robbing second piece to cover the lead. Those bases can deform under pressure. TMJ’s seamless jacket means this can’t happen. Airborne lead goes down, and TMJs won’t foul ported recoil compensators like open-base bullets do. We swage each bullet twice, ensuring consistent diameters and a uniform heel. TMJ® bullets are great for casual practice and plinking because, in addition to being super-accurate, they are economical. Insist on the original—Speer TMJ has been copied but never matched."

Thank you for that information. Now I know the real story.

For the record, I was never that interested in knowing for sure which is why I never cut one open or ''took the time to read up on it''. I had my suspicions but that was as far as it went.

I know the ship has sailed already, but I would never suggest shortening a factory load that you know nothing about. Sounds like it worked well for you, which is great news, but we have no idea what power or load those are backed with, and it just seems to me to be asking for trouble.

I would just shoot them in the guns they work with, and move on, but that is just me. Like I said, I am glad that things worked out for you.

FWIW: I load 124 gr. plated 9mm bullets at 1.150 with Titegroup powder.

Your whole first sentence contradicts everything I've posted in here.  I know enough about what I'm doing and have confidence in my abilities.  

Reloading is not rocket science.  It's just components.  

If the topic is not something you're willing to do that is great, but don't come in here posting like zero homework was done.

I always kind of figured that's why Speer calls them "Total Metal Jacket" but I never researched it. They do seem thicker than Berry's bullets I suppose.

I have never had an issue with "Plated" bullets.

I shoot Ranier plated bullets and actually prefer them to traditional FMJ.

I can't believe anyone still uses the old Cup and Core constructed FMJ.

Right there with you. Especially on steel targets, they splat and plop better

I never said you didn't do your homework, I just said what I would do or not do. You obviously did your homework.

Do you really know anything about the powder they use or how fast it burns? It's a guess. Why guess with 1,000 rounds? Shoot them or throw them out. The one thing you said about how poorly it cycles your gun leads us all to believe it was a light load, but why take a chance?

I ALWAYS abide by the rule "When in doubt, throw it out". You made some good guesses based on empirical evidence, so as I said, if you feel good, go for it.

I guess I need to learn that when you make a post, you expect everyone to agree with you, or we shouldn't post. I'll remember that from now on, when you post, it is not a discussion forum, it is an agreement forum.

Did you not write in your first post "IS THIS a completely stupid idea or has anyone else tried this before?"

Silly me for assuming you wanted an opinion. I'm outta here...

@rn22723:

This is how I often see CCI Blazer advertised:
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"Premium Full Metal Jacket" to me, means, well you know, a real jacket not 2 coats of plating to make it thicker than a normal plated bullet.

I've seen it advertised this way many times, that's the misleading part.

Im out at 1.16 in my M&P's with 147gr TC bullets.  I found they were a little long for my buddies Springfield, no plunk and did not load into mags, so I shortened them to 1.14 for this last 1000 I ran.

Just as an aside, the col depends on a specific bullet design, not the weight.  If you compare a Sierra 115 jhp to a Win 115 hbfmj, there is a drastic difference in col.  A difference, but not so drastic in just fmj designs.  Last time i measured Win q4172 is around 1.155-1.165.

Am a lot more comfortable with ensuring no belling left on handloads, at least right after the crimping stage.