if I were to start reloading 9mm......

[Throckmorton]

in the back of my mind are old posts about 'glock bulge'. People also talked of 'bulge busters' and other way s to process range brass.
Is this still a 'thing'...having to bulge bust all 9mm brass ,specifically range brass ?
we have a small self defense group and i would be getting their once fired brass but will be from various brands of guns.
and yes I know it's a time waster...I have the time.
thanks !

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[aasbra]

Maybe I've been lucky, but I have not had a problem with range brass in 9mm that I have harvested/mixed in with my spent brass. I do recall the glock smile on some fairly hot reloads I fired years ago in .40 or 10mm (my Dads Guns/loaded ammo).

 

[Ghoul]

in the back of my mind are old posts about 'glock bulge'. People also talked of 'bulge busters' and other way s to process range brass.
Is this still a 'thing'...having to bulge bust all 9mm brass ,specifically range brass ?
we have a small self defense group and i would be getting their once fired brass but will be from various brands of guns.
and yes I know it's a time waster...I have the time.
thanks !

I had to look up "Glock bulge".
Turns out its not a description of when I'm carrying my Glock22 IWB appendix at 11oclock.

 

[dangerranger60]

Mostly the bulge was on Gen 1Glock guns. I collect a lot of range brass and have not had to bulge bust any cases. The few I find I just toss. When You move to 40 cal brass I find many more bulged, but still has not been an issue. If you do find a lot of bulged cases the bulge buster die is not expensive. It is just a push through die like a bullet sizing die from Lee. DR

 

[SHPD_Retired]

The only cases I have had no bulge bust are 40 S&W. Have never had any problems with 9mm.

 

[DLS]

Early Glock barrels had more generously sized chambers and a larger unsupported area than later variants. This allowed the "bulge" to more easily form. It was more common with +P loads due to higher pressure.

I've reloaded thousands of cases that have gone through my Gen 2 G19 without any problems. They all exhibit some level of buldge but if after sizing the case would pass the plunk test they were fine.

In reality, for there to be a problem the previously unsupported area of the case would need to reindex exactly over the unsupported area of the chamber. This would allow the potentially weakened area of the case to be unsupported again, theoretically setting up a potential case rupture upon subsequent firing.

 

[Certaindeaf]

in the back of my mind are old posts about 'glock bulge'. People also talked of 'bulge busters' and other way s to process range brass.
Is this still a 'thing'...having to bulge bust all 9mm brass ,specifically range brass ?
we have a small self defense group and i would be getting their once fired brass but will be from various brands of guns.
and yes I know it's a time waster...I have the time.
thanks !

It's not an issue. If you do happen to pick up and then try to reload glocked brass it's obvious on inspection and all stages that follow.
These days glocked brass is pretty rare anyways.

 

[oremike]

You can't Bulge Bust 9mm cases, they are slightly tapered. You can use a Lee Factory Crimp Die but not the push thru.

 

[Pepe-lepew]

Bulge brass is more of a problem with the firearm or hot load than the type of firearm. It is mostly caused by early unlocking when the pressure is still too high. This expands the case near the base web, lower than the die can resize and many times causes the die to swag material into a lip on the outside of the case.

I find about the same amount of bulged cases in 9mm as 40 in range brass. It is not worth trying to fix the cases. If they size hard or have a step sized into them near the base, I toss them. If I miss one, I find it later when I case gauge the final reloaded case.

Pay attention to resizing force required and you can identify bulged cases.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Bulge brass is more of a problem with the firearm or hot load than the type of firearm. It is mostly caused by early unlocking when the pressure is still too high. This expands the case near the base web, lower than the die can resize and many times causes the die to swag material into a lip on the outside of the case.

I find about the same amount of bulged cases in 9mm as 40 in range brass. It is not worth trying to fix the cases. If they size hard or have a step sized into them near the base, I toss them. If I miss one, I find it later when I case gauge the final reloaded case.

Pay attention to resizing force required and you can identify bulged cases.

THIS, it's not worth the extra time and expense (however significant), toss em and move on.

 

[Mikej]

in the back of my mind are old posts about 'glock bulge'. People also talked of 'bulge busters' and other way s to process range brass.
Is this still a 'thing'...having to bulge bust all 9mm brass ,specifically range brass ?
we have a small self defense group and i would be getting their once fired brass but will be from various brands of guns.
and yes I know it's a time waster...I have the time.
thanks !

I've been loading 9mm since I began loading in 2011. All you'll notice is 9mm, I presume because of the taper, is much more difficult to size. Some brasses like S&B, GFL, CBC are harder to stroke. Others like Blazer and PMC are much softer. Could be because the brass is harder, or it's slightly thicker. the harder brass is also takes more effort to seat primers.

Time waster? Then just go grab you a few hundred rounds at BiMart? Do they still have some of that $20.00/50 stuff on the shelf? Here's another thing about 9mm.... Wait. Did you tell me when we were down there that you were getting a progressive? Any way, if your loading single stage, you're going to LOVE picking them little short cases out of the loading block to put in the press to seat the bullet.
And, you have found a use for that HP38 now too!

 

[DizzyJ]

I guess I've been flat out lucky. I don't reload for .40 and I've never ran into a problem case concerning "bulge" in all of the thousands and thousands of 9mm I've reloaded over the past 30+ years.

 

[Mikej]

I guess I've been flat out lucky. I don't reload for .40 and I've never ran into a problem case concerning "bulge" in all of the thousands and thousands of 9mm I've reloaded over the past 30+ years.

I started loading .40 early on. I bought 1000 once fired from a member and only later heard about the so called "Bulge". These were supposedly police range pick up, but I never saw any bulge that would seem extreme? I probably shot quite a few of them a second time. From what the brass does look like I almost think that any semi auto .40 cal might get a slight bump showing on the brass just because there's some pressure remaining when the brass starts coming out of the chamber during ejection. And .40 is a pretty high pressure little round.

I see now it's rated at 35,000psi, same as 9mm. Being a larger case may contribute to a slight bulge in any semiauto?

 

[DizzyJ]

I started loading .40 early on. I bought 1000 once fired from a member and only later heard about the so called "Bulge". These were supposedly police range pick up, but I never saw any bulge that would seem extreme? I probably shot quite a few of them a second time. From what the brass does look like I almost think that any semi auto .40 cal might get a slight bump showing on the brass just because there's some pressure remaining when the brass starts coming out of the chamber during ejection. And .40 is a pretty high pressure little round.

I see now it's rated at 35,000psi, same as 9mm. Being a larger case may contribute to a slight bulge in any semiauto?

Possibly? I figured it was more do to the chamber design, but I could be 100% incorrect on that assumption.

I don't recall reading about this type of issue with 10mm auto though I fully admit I haven't searched for it either.

 

[Mikej]

I figured it was more do to the chamber design, but I could be 100% incorrect on that assumption.

Not necessarily. It's just that I've never seen this bulge they speak of other than in pictures on the web. I reloaded a bunch of .40 that I bought used, and never saw a bulge like I'd seen on the net. That was back in 2012, I'd say. I kinda figure at that time, if the bulge were that big of an issue, I should have seen some of it in that 1000. IF it was from a police range?

It's a shrug from me. Loading single stage gives me more chances to inspect brass, so I'll just keep going how I have been.

 

[DLS]

You won't have the bulge from a fully supported chamber.

The police surplus brass was probably fired from the same type of gun, whatever the department issued. So any amount, or lack of a bulge would be consistent across all the cases.

 

[ma96782]

For ME.
In 9mm......I worry more about the irregular sized primer pockets. Yeah.....different brands of brass have a way of being, hard or easy, to seat a primer in it.

Aloha, Mark

 

[v0lcom13sn0w]

if your 40 caliber glock barrel has a pentagon with a dot on it, the barrel has more chamber support

 

[Caveman Jim]

I guess I've been flat out lucky. I don't reload for .40 and I've never ran into a problem case concerning "bulge" in all of the thousands and thousands of 9mm I've reloaded over the past 30+ years.

I do reload for 40 S&W but I only load the cases I have fired from my own gun, which is not a Glock or a Sig. I sell all the range pickups I've found over the years… Lol

 

[jekemi]

in the back of my mind are old posts about 'glock bulge'. People also talked of 'bulge busters' and other way s to process range brass.
Is this still a 'thing'...having to bulge bust all 9mm brass ,specifically range brass ?
we have a small self defense group and i would be getting their once fired brass but will be from various brands of guns.
and yes I know it's a time waster...I have the time.
thanks !

I have read the same as many other responders to your question. Older Glock's did have some issues with bulge but newer models seem to be able to handle range brass just fine. Try it out and let us know what your experience is. I don't own a Glock but I reload 9mm for 4 other brands of 9mm pistols - two Smith & Wesson M&P's, one of which is the new EZ, a High Point, and a Ruger LC9. I know some of you may find this incredulous but out of the four 9mm pistols the High Point is the smoothest operating and most reliable of the bunch.