I have metric shlt-ton of 9mm brass for plinking and a bunch of nickel that I’m getting ready to load JHP rounds.
While loading a ladder test for the nickel cases I noticed that none of them, after a full length resizing/loading and a light crimp fit in the case gauge completely. 99.9% of the brass passed this test so I’m wondering WTH is going on?
I don’t remember having that problem with the 40 smith and Wesson 38/357 nickel cases. See the pics.

I'm guessing that the issue is the rim. What happens if you turn it around and try to put just the rim into the gauge?

That's wierd, I've never noticed any problems with nickel not resizing like brass. Mostly Glock barrels here though.

ETA: it occurred to me, do these rounds pass a "plunk" test in your barrels? Case gauges are great, but ultimately that is what matters most.

I've been reloading for about 17 years now, and I've never owned a case gauge.

I recall reading years ago that the nickel plating process may limit the number of times a case can be resized.
Like said above. A case gauge is just a go - no go. It does not tell you the problem.
With calipers ,Measure the rim diameter, rim thickness and check for case bulge just above the rim.
And also the over all length of the sized case.

I do not own a single case gauge. Been Reloading more then 30 years. As suggested do a plunk test and measure with your calipers. My guess is that the problem is your case gauge because you have been reloading long enough to know how to set your dies to get full sizing. Brass or nickel the only difference is the brass will take more reloading before the necks split. Heck I even reload aluminum cases.

Well the plunk test (barrel) did not work at all in fact I had to punch the bullet out with a rod. The next test I measured from head to the curvature of the bullet (seated at 1.120”) which showed that edge was actually hitting on the case gauge.
I was told when loading these Montana gold bullets to use the load data for XTP bullets. As far as the powder weight it was fine but the COAL is wrong. In the book under 124g XTP bullets it shows the COAL at 1.120”, obviously that did not work so taking the advice of one members I tried to seat it deeper by .010 increments. Gradually I noticed the bullets rounds were sitting lower in the case gauge with every adjustment and the magic number was 1.095” seating depth to pass the go-no go test.
The reason that I like to stay it is close to the book is because of pressure when going below the stated guideline.

Oh and to another member advising me to see if the head fits into the case gauge, indeed it does thanks.

Thanks to all who replied and gave their advice. It’s all been entered into the memory banks, how long it stays there is up for debate. Just to make sure I’ll go ahead and write this in my loading book. Lol

Good to know

Glad you got it worked out, and thank you for posting all the details

Seating depth wasn't even on my radar but now I know

Sounds like the plunk test worked perfectly, and showed you a problem that your case gauge didn't. Doesn't matter whether the ammo fits the gauge or not, it only matters if it fits the barrel.

You've got those bullets seated out pretty far. There are definitely some barrels that won't fit in. Like most CZ75 barrels for example, with their fairly short throat.

That kind of thing is exactly why a lot of us don't like case gauges.

This is really important: you can sometimes use powder charges for a different bullet (like XTP data for that Montana Gold), but you can NOT use OAL data from a different bullet. That's why you've got them seated out too far.

As I found out, that’s why I posted to get advice here, I wasn’t born with a Dillon 1050. We all started somewhere.

Nice job figuring it out, Jim.

Now in my defense with the hypothesis about the rim, the original post did say/imply that you had done this before with brass cases and they worked fine.

I looked at my 9mm loading data, and I did load some Montanta Gold JHP bullets at one point. I loaded them to 1.08". I've had issues with a number of bullets hitting the rifling in my 9mm barrels, so I do tend to load a little shorter than "normal" with some of them.

As for case gauges . . . I'm a big fan, and I have many of them. They don't tell you the whole story (you still want to check in your barrels), but they are certainly a help. Any single barrel from your collection won't tell you the whole story, either.

That all makes sense Jim, glad it's worked out.

I load 124gr XTPs to 1.10. That with 4.2gr Titegroup is one of my staple defensive loads. Very accurate.

Montana Gold bullets are fantastic. I've loaded alot of them over the years, back when they were cheap and locally available. My 115gr JHP load was very accurate as well. Still have some of those, can't remember the charge though.

I'm sure you're already on it, but just remember when you shorten your COL you may not be able to go as high with the powder charge weight.

Thanks Steve, I cross posted this thread and got a lot of feedback and the ultimate post that hit it out of the park was this one

“DLS said:
Just to ensure clarity...

The nickle cases did not guage AFTER resizing but BEFORE loading? In other words, and unloaded, resized case failed?

I have no idea what would cause that only with nickle cases when the die and methods used are the same as when using brass cases.

I've reloaded many thousands of nickle plated cases over the years without a y issues whatsoever.

Now, assuming the above is not the case and the nickle cases are dimensionality correct
...

It does look to me that your bullets are seated long (picture in post 10). The shape of those hollow points required a bit shorter OAL than a typical RN profile.

But ... if you use the same OAL with the same bullet and the brass cases guage and the nickle does not the problem lies elsewhere.

I'd try reseating some of those rounds a few thousands deeper and test again. I'm betting this is your issue. If you see the round deeper in the guage but still not flush keep nudging the bullet deeper until it fits.

Go slow as you reseat and you will be fine since you used a taper crimp. Test before recrimping and keep going until the proper depth is.obtained.

Then crimp and test again to see if your crimping method is causing problems. With the Lee FCD and can't see how that would be, but who knows without testing?“

I love TG, although I have quite a bit of Bullseye also so will start a ladder test soon.
When I bought 2,000 of these on another board I had a conversation with seller about load data, I did not remember his entire comment but I recollect he mentioned XTP’s data. I’ve loaded mini 40 smith and Wesson with XTP’s but not 9mm, I’m fairly new to this caliber.

I mentioned that in another post, I do like to stay close to the parameters set by the books. Caveman no wildcatter.