I strongly echo the comments about getting and using a reloading book. GET A CURRENT EDITION of any book you plan on using. The formulations for powders change over time, and the publishers of the book reflect info that is current.
I use TITEGROUP powder (Hodgdon) for my 9mm's. I used to use 231 but found that I can use a slight bit less of the Titegroup (more rounds per pound). Always start off at the lowest end of the scale suggested in the book, especially in the 9mm brass, which the books will tell you, is VERY susceptible to case pressure/bullet seated depth issues.
What I always do it select bullet that are close to what known commercial bullets are. "Known" meaning you know the commercial round functions in your gun. I then set the reloaded bullets to that same depth, using a marked commercial round (marked "AS REFERENCE ONLY, DO NOT FIRE!" - keep it with your reloading tools, so it doesn't get misplaced) to help set the seating depth when setting up the press.
So, if you are shooting round nosed bullets, find a box of commercial round nosed rounds, and take one apart (using an Inertial Bullet Puller - you should get one of those right away!), and make sure the bullet is the same weight, and dimensions. Then, fire some in your gun to make sure they cycle ok. Then, once that is confirmed, mark a round as a "REFERENCE ONLY" round, and use that to set your seating die. You'll probably find that when you gently turn in the seating portion of the seating die (for bullet length), the result will come up a bit long. You'll need to further adjust to get the rounds to come out the same as the commercial reference round.
DO NOT set to a cannilure as a reference. That's always a big mistake. Seat only to the depth that a "known" round is set to.
Load maybe 10 rounds, and then test fire those at the range.
Look for:
- Did the gun cycle ok?
- Pick up the brass, and check those out
- Did the brass get side dented in any way that's different than a known commercial round? Differences in denting could be under pressure/over pressure indicators.
- Look at the primer on the fired round. If the edges are flattened against the brass, it's overpressure.
- Look at the sides of the brass, and examine for bulges. Bulges are indicators of overpressure and or head space issues. Your book will explain head space, and why it's important.
- Look for sooting issues. freshly shot brass, loaded up with powder soot on the sides is an indication of improper brass length, loose crimp, and other issues.
- Shoot a few rounds at a paper target from a muzzle distance of 3 feet. If there's just a clean hole, then you taper crimped OK. If you get a neat spiral of powder residue on the paper, around the bullet hole, you didn't crimp tight enough. The spiral is powder that didn't burn inside the brass, but did so after the fact.
Only after you have confirmed by testing that all is well should you continue loading. If you have inadvertantly loaded too much pressure into a round, the first few rounds might be ok, but gun failure could occure unexpectedly. You don't want to have your gun explode into pieces weeks after using reloaded brass that wasn't done correctly. Some testing will tell you how it;s doing, if you know what to look for.
That's why you have to read a couple of books, end to end, a couple of times. And, then ask questions before treading into dangerous areas if there's something that you don't understand.
Don't use any simple "recipes" on the label of a jar of powder. It's simply not enough information!
A very accurate scale for measuring dumped powder weight in an absolute must have.
DO NOT reply on Lee's chart of powder weights for safe loading. I have proven their charts wrong over and over and over. Letters to John Lee have gone ignored! Use the disk references on that chart ONLY as a starting point.
CONFIRM the actual dumped powder weight, and be sure you have consistency (in actual dumped powder weight) over about 50 tests before you start cranking on that handle. And, then, once you start loading brass with powder, test every 10th load for 50, and then every 20th for another fifty, until you have absolute certainty that your powder is dumping accurately. I tend to like the digital scale these days better than the balance beam type. But, get a scale before you shoot round #1.
Lee's Pro 1000 presses DO NOT come all set up. They come with the parts installed (well, you have some things to assemble), but you have to double check all the screws that are supposed to be tight. AND, most importantly, you have to set up every die station. Bell mouthing pistol brass, and proper taper crimping is essential to long brass life, and safe shooting. Don't overlook that in your setup.
Bullet seating length is just one of about 200 things that you need to be checking for.