Congrats, I'd say you had positive success. I can't tell you what to or not to check but I've often learned the hard way when I don't follow the rules, be safe than sorry because being safe usually does not take much more time. Happy New Year!

Originally Posted by joshx22

As most know I am taking up the art of reloading... I loaded up about 40 on saturday and shot 39 of them.... one of them FTF I think it didn't get any powder in it, my auto-disk powder measure was sticking or something and kind of gave me a slight headache along with my nervousness of just reloading in general and blowing up my glock... But anyway to the question, when I was reloading I was measuring each round overall length, then the diameter at the top of the casing where the bullet was seated and the bottom above the little lip and comparing them to my reloading books measurements.. All the measurements were right there with them and I didn't have any big abnormalities but my big question if I am going to randomly measure every 5th, 10th, or 25th round what should I measure ( or do I even need to) and what should i keep that measurement between ( min and max). But I feel good about reloading, I just need to increase the powder a tad I think and thats it... but Thanks for the help guys I plan on getting out tomorrow and loading some more and trying to find that right powder load.

On your auto disk sticking. There are two things you can check and do to help. Get some powdered graphite, Lock-ease is a name brand. Make sure to get the powder (dry only) not the silicone graphite spray. Take your powder through die apart and apply graphite to the bushing that activates the auto disk. Then slide the disk out of the powder measure and apply graphite to the channels that the disk rides on and to the top of the disk were it slides under the hopper. This will help the action of the powder measure.

As far as measuring, there may be other opinions, but for me I measure OAL (over all length). I try to get as close as possible to the data in the manual, but not over. It is better to be a couple of thousandths under but my no means over. I measure each round until I have my seating die dialed in and then spot check ever 5 to 10 rounds just to make sure I am still within spec. I don't worry about measuring case diameter with a micrometer. I haven't found it to be necessary. I do take the barrel out of whatever handgun I am loading for and use it as a go-no go gauge. I just drop a loaded round in the barrel and if it seats all the way I let it go. I have never had a round not pass this test. They make go-no go gauges, but I accomplish the same thing using the barrel.

Play around with the powder charge and see what works for you. Just be sure not to overstep the min or max loading data, and record your recipe. I save old ammo boxes and write on the box with a shipping label what my load data was for reference. I find that handgun ammunition isn't as particular as rifle ammo is regarding varying powder charges effecting accuracy, but it doesn't hurt to experiment. I haven't seen a huge swing in performance from one load to another on handgun so I normally use a medium load. Different powders do tend to make more noticeable variations. Some powders burn cleaner, take less grains to load, burn faster or slower which may result in different point of impacts.

Welcome to the science of reloading, best of luck and be safe.

I do take the barrel out of whatever handgun I am loading for and use it as a go-no go gauge

Why do I always have to learn the hard way ???? I've always used my G17, (put one in the mag and cycle it out of the gun), as a go/no-go gauge .... LMAO

Thankx for the tip brother ! !

Josh22 also remember to keep check on your powder drop tool. I normally hold off for a 50 count before making measurements, (with a caliper and weighing a drop charge on the scale to verify it, that way if there is no prob carry on and if there is, you only have at most, 50 to knock apart ....

LOL

What Tactworld45 said! Regarding the FTF: I would guess you had a bad primer. With a good primer and no powder you probably would have had a squib round (bullet stuck in the barrel). You would have heard a slight pop, and no recoil. If you don't have a powder checker in your set-up, it's a good idea to look
into each casing to check the powder before seating the bullet. Confidence will come after you load and fire a couple hundred of your own reloads.

Originally Posted by joshx22

yeah I would say it was a bad primer, it didn't do anything at all.... I had 10 clean brass left over from saturday so I loaded them today and took a tray of 50 and loaded them also... so I loaded a total of 60 today and I checked each primer after seating it, and checked the powder before I seated the bullet. I loaded 10 this morning and test fired 2 out back then loaded the 50 after lunch and test fired 2 of them ( I say test fire.... it was more of just go out and shoot the glock for some fun, test fire just gives me a good reason of doing it) but all 4 felt good. I looked at Lee's table for the auto disk's and the charges went from 4.3 to 4.6 and 5 I believe for HP-38 so I am loading 4.6 grains of HP-38 into mixed brass with 115gr round nose hornady's. So pretty much my 3 day weekend I loaded up just about 100 rounds ( I kinda screwed 1 or 2 up.. hehe the first one I didn't exactly adjust the bullet seater before I seated and all I have to say is... oops, then I had a primer not seat right)

But I gotta say to you guys thanks for the help and advice! after today I feel pretty good about the process and I will feel better after I shoot all the ones I have loaded up. I am sure there will be more questions along the road and especially when I jump into some more calibers down the road... Thank you again!!!

Glad to hear you are enjoying a new aspect of your hobby. Remember learning to handload is like learning to ride a bike. You have to use the training wheels for a while until you get enough confidence to go full tilt. After you load and shoot a few sets you will trust yourself in wht you are doing. You will have rejects. That is part of the process. Don't swet a few duds. Over time you will get your process down to a science.

And remember that powerhouse loads are cool to watch, they are hard on you and the gun prolly would complain if it could.

Not only that, I have found that the middle of the road towards the lower end of the load chart will usually give better groups than running close to the speed of light.

Originally Posted by joshx22

Otintx the load says a min of 4.3 and max of 4.7 and the disks have the option of 4.3 and 4.6 then the next is 5.0..... The ones i loaded at 4.3 didn't eject to far from the gun and I think one FTE.. do you think 4.6 is too much for it?

I am not Otintx, but I'll step in and say that as long as you are under the max you will be fine. Just check yourself on the scale before capping them off with a bullet. Start you run and check the first 5 to 10, then spot check every half a dozen rounds. Don't go over 4.7.