Pistol reloading question

[txfireguy2003]

Okay guys, here's my problem, bought a new 9mm, and that ammo doesn't appear to exist, so hi decided to reload some with a few components I had laying around. I had some bullseye powder, lots of brass, and a few bullets. I also had some WST powder, but couldn't find and data for that powder in 9mm, so i stuck with the bullseye. I've read that it's very easy to do a double charge with bullseye, but I don't have that problem, i charge one case and seat a bullet in it before charging the next case. Anyway, looking at my cases, I can't see how anyone could possibly double charge one and not know it. I was loading middle of the road, 4.5gr, and intentionally double charged one to see what it looked like....level full to the brim. No way I could miss that, but it's apparently very common, so now I'm worried....is my scale off (calibrated before I started)? I'm just afraid that my 4.5gr is about half full in the case, where other people claim that you can accidentally double up. Am I throwing too much powder and not knowing it?

[Skyjunky]

Just measure to check.

[txfireguy2003]

I checked about every 5-10 rounds on the scale. Going to shoot them this evening, hope I don't blow my hands off!

[Coach W]

Find somebody with a scale in town and check.

I have a digital and 505 Balance beam... Can check each with the other... It's been a long while since I busted em out. But you can check one with another.

You can also weigh your loaded ammo and check for in consistencies as well. (never done it but figured it could be useful as a triple check sort of thing..

[txfireguy2003]

Good idea Coach. I don't know anyone else in town with a reloading scale, and the only shop with reloading stuff is closed today. What I did though, was weigh a bullet. It was within a tenth of the 115 it was supposed to be, so I'm going to assume my scale is accurate. I'll also weigh a few of the loaded rounds and see what i get. I'm thinking the people reporting double charges are using 40 or 45, since the charges for those are almost identical to those for 9, but the cases are much larger.

[Coach W]

Your probably just over thinking it and there's nothing to worry about... But those people often have all their digits.

[texag93]

It's easier to double charge a case when loading on a progressive and larger cases like 45. Something goes wrong and you have to back up things and start over. It can happen.

[vortech347]

Weigh your projectiles. You know what they weigh so that will tell you if your scale is close. If it's off enough to make you worry then you can look into getting calibration weights or borrow someone's scale to check.

9mm is not as easy to double charge as 45 since the charge weights are pretty close but 9mm case capacity is much less than a 45. So you are on the right track.

[Outback]

Weigh your projectiles. You know what they weigh so that will tell you if your scale is close.

Now that's a creative doublecheck.

[Buck-N-Rut]

If you have a factory load you could pull the bullet and weigh the powder charge in the factory load. As well as visually inspect the level of powder. I'm sure that there isn't a huge difference in burn rate between the two powders. Probably very similar. That may ease your mind a bit.

[txfireguy2003]

Well, they all went bang, and i still have all my digits, so I guess my concerns were unfounded. Love this pistol. Its a little snappy, but for such a small gun, easily controllable.

[bk_tradguy88]

I load .45 acp, and used to load .40 s&w when i still had one. Loaded bullseye and wst a lot. In my .45 i loaded a 4.3 grn load of bullseye behind a 200 grn swc for competition. If sitting down while loading if you lost track of what stage you were in by something happening you could double charge a round and not really notice it. Took 3 charges to bring it up towards the top of the case. That being said in my competition days i loaded thousands of rounds, and only ever hit 1 double charge, and i still hate that one. But with that load it wasn't enough to damage my 1911 luckily. I've probably loaded 15,000 rounds now, but only really remember 2. 1 with a double charge, and 1 with no charge. They're almost inevitable occurences, but still something that hurts your pride. But I do trust my scale(Dillon beam scale), and if a day comes I question my scale then it's going in the trash. If you don't really trust it, don't use it. I prefer Dillon equipment, and that's all i load with.
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[txfireguy2003]

I load .45 acp, and used to load .40 s&w when i still had one. Loaded bullseye and wst a lot. In my .45 i loaded a 4.3 grn load of bullseye behind a 200 grn swc for competition. If sitting down while loading if you lost track of what stage you were in by something happening you could double charge a round and not really notice it. Took 3 charges to bring it up towards the top of the case. That being said in my competition days i loaded thousands of rounds, and only ever hit 1 double charge, and i still hate that one. But with that load it wasn't enough to damage my 1911 luckily. I've probably loaded 15,000 rounds now, but only really remember 2. 1 with a double charge, and 1 with no charge. They're almost inevitable occurences, but still something that hurts your pride. But I do trust my scale(Dillon beam scale), and if a day comes I question my scale then it's going in the trash. If you don't really trust it, don't use it. I prefer Dillon equipment, and that's all i load with.
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I trust my equipment, I just got an uneasy feeling since my 4.5gr charge filled the case to the point where a double charge would be impossible to miss, but everything I read claims it's easy to do. Must be just with larger capacity cases.
I did have one last weekend (factory load!) That had no powder. I fired it in my 1911 and it just went "click". I figured light primer strike, so I retracted the side and out pops an empty case. I looked in the chamber and could see the base of the bullet lodged in the barrel. I had to disassemble the gun and drive the bullet out from the muzzle. Good learning experience though, learned that the guide rod on a 1911 will work to pop a lodged bullet out of the chamber.