9mm Reloading die setup for beginners 

Thinking of reloading? Here’s some tips and warnings from a reloader and retired engineer. Kinda long, and it is far from everything I know. If you are easily distracted, don't like to follow or read instructions, cut corners because you think you might get away with it, don't have time or space, reloading may not be for you. Reloading can be safe or it can be dangerous. It is your choice. NEVER eat, smoke, drink, or have distractions while reloading. Not even music. Many powder manufacturers list their loads online. But get the book and read and understand all the introductory chapters. Die instructions vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Read and understand those instructions. If you are considering reloading to save money, know this, your first round may cost easily a thousand dollars for press, dies, scale, powder measure, book, caliper, trimmer, deburrer, reamer/swager, locking rings, cleaning equipment and materials, lighting, bench, powder, primers and bullets. And it can be very time consuming. With a single stage press I can make some nice cheap 9mm ammo at a rate of a hundred rounds in 1.5 hours with a material cost of under 20 cents a round. This time includes, time spent on set up, take down and clean up. It took me a few thousand rounds to pay off my equipment compared to buying ammo off the shelf. That's a lot of evenings sitting at the reloading bench. And if include the time scavenging brass, sorting brass and searching for in stock primers, powder and bullets, add many more hours. For a while it was look online an hour a week for MONTHS at a time. Shortages suck, and they will eventually happen AGAIN. Keep a minimum stockpile of 1 years worth of reloading components. More is better. It also counters inflation. ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GLASSES. Sooner or later we all need them. Some people even wear disposable gloves because nitroglycerine can affect blood pressure and cause big problems. Work in a comfortable well lit area; this minimizes the chance for mistakes. And a solid bench is good for consistency. The bench in this video has a lot of play and may produce inconsistent results. ALWAYS wash up after handling any of this stuff. Lead doesn't have to be fast to mess you up. Primers contain a lead chemical. Powder contains nitroglycerine and nitrocellulose and other chemicals. There is a case length specification with minimum and maximum, a minimum cartridge length based on powder and bullet and a maximum cartridge length based on the caliber. Know them all, or at least have them written down. SAAMI website has great pdf’s for this info. Some reloading books do not contain the minimum case length. ALWAYS follow the instructions for die set up and the recipe for powder weight and overall length. Steel and aluminum cases are not reloadable, but can be recycled as metal. Nickel plated brass is reloadable. There's a couple types of primers, Boxer and Berdan. Boxer primers have once center hole on the inside of the case. These can be reloaded. Berdan has two holes inside the case and cannot be reloaded. If you run them through a sizing or decapping die you can break the decapping pin. There are different sizes and powers of primers, small pistol, large pistol, small rifle, large rifle, and then there's match, magnum, and so on. Know what you need and buy that. Clean up your equipment, dies, scale, caliper and bench when done. Then toss out the trash. Some of us deprime before cleaning, it gives a clean primer pocket. Lightly lube the press shaft and hinge points. In a big run, don’t wait to be done, but clean and lube once in a while. ALWAYS inspect your brass for cleaning media before reloading. If wet tumbling; make sure it is absolutely dry. Some of us swage/ream the primer pockets of all our 9mm, 40 S&W, 5.56 and other military/police cases unless we have done this to the case previously. Mashing a primer into a tight hole can set it off or give you a bad round. Some pistol brass has been bulged because of what firearm it was shot out of. (the dreaded Glock bulge for one) And because of the space between the shell holder bottom and the bottom of the die, not the entire brass gets resized. Lee has a bulge buster kit that's fairly cheap for eliminating this problem. (more costs, spend that money) NEVER mix different powders in a load or a powder feeder. If it happens accidentally, toss it. It is not worth the risk of blowing up a gun or getting injured. ALWAYS store your powder and primers in a cool dry location. Heat and humidity will damage them both. Some sizing dies have carbide inserts, this allows you to not have to lube your case before sizing. If you do not have carbide inserts you should lube the cases because they may get stuck in the dies. After resizing a lubed case you need to either wipe or wash off the lube. If you wash then you have to re-dry. If you lube cases, some of that lube will cake up in the die eventually. Clean it out. Legally unless you have a specific FFL you cannot LEGALLY sell your reloads. (just sayin') People will ask you to sell your reloads. If there is an incident do you want to be responsible? Keep your loaded ammo identified by the recipe you used. If (when) you have a problem you want to be able to isolate it. Tossing multiple runs of ammo into an ammo can is just asking for a problem. Also, record all you loads in a separate log. This will give you recipes you can reuse, or starting places for future recipes. Some ammo can be loaded with cast lead or plated or coated ammo. It is cheaper. But if you are using mixed manufacturer brass to load it your case length and therefore crimp may vary. This crimp variation can lead to the coating coming off and your barrel being leaded or exceptionally high pressure which can cause damage or injury. Therefore, some of us trim our cases to a uniform length before loading these bullets. A great source of information is The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI) You can find detailed cartridge drawings including tolerances, storage recommendations, and other good info there. Check it out. There's also questions like can I use this die for that load? 380 cannot be reloaded with 9mm dies. While they look close except for the length, they taper differently. Don't bother trying. however, 38 special can be reloaded with 357 magnum dies.

You did a nice job explaining things.

The best setup guide on YT. Thank You ! Now I´m going to setup my second hand reloading dies. No factory setup instructions added form last owner. Thank You again.

One of the better reloading tutorials I’ve seen. Thanks for the video

You explained this great thanks for the video

Looks like the tolerance in your press is really sloppy. When you raise it close to the die the shaft looks like it's moving around. And you need a solid mount for the press so you can feel the primers seat.

Looks to me like you should flare the case mouth a bit more. Just sayin'

You can get lock rings with set screws to replace the o ring type.

huge help thank you. even though there are no primers i figure ill buy everything i need for when they come back

Thank you, Good job!

Your last die is setup wrong. You setup the bullet seating first then the crimp.

What Brand is that press?? Watch the video @ 2:30!! When you are raising and lowering it the ram is wobbling back and forth. Is there a bushing missing or is it just really old and worn?

The setup of the last die is incorrect. I have been reloading for about 30 years and some of your information is correct and some is not and could have very negative effects.

Nice job! I do have a question though. I have a Lee 4 die set, and one of those dies is the Factory Crimp Die. If I can crimp in one fell swoop by simply using your method with the seating die... why would they sell the FCD as a "Deluxe" die set? Also... the Lee 9mm FCD puts a roll crimp on the case, rather than a taper. Just curious. Thanks!

In future videos will you cover powder charging?

This was a 9mm round right?

Your half turns are actually quarter turns and your quarter turns are eighth turns

Maybe you ought to think about mounting your press so it's not moving around !

Nice, I’m just starting to research reloading. So you are just using a single stage reloader? Once you get everything set how long does it take to say to do 50 rounds or reloads?

You didn't measure the amount of crimp!! That is a very important step. If you have it to tight you build excess pressure and if it's not tight enough you can have bullets coming loose when they are slammed into the chamber. Or they could come loose in the magazine from the recoil.

Help to test ammo 9mm MR

Looks as if your table isn’t sturdy enough for the press. The press shouldn’t move around so much, otherwise good job on the explanation.

Did you have to lube your cases prior to resizing?

What brand of dies are you using?

good video. all the others have way to much talk