Reload for Ruger PC carbine 9mm

Welcome.

My PC9 will shoot pretty much anyrhing. 25 years ago when I first started reloading I used the minimum recommended powder charge of Bullseye under 115gr Winchester fmj bullets in my first batch of 9mm. Of course I was excited so I loaded up 500 or so rounds before taking them out to test. In 25 years my Ruger PC9 is the first gun I have owned that will cycle with these very weak rounds. That first batch of 9mm's is finally gone... thanks to the PC9.

I have also shot Gold dots loaded to +p pressures to carry in my Kahr in the PC9 without issue... it just eats them up and asks for more.

Some day I look forwards to being able to sit down at a bench and see what kind of accuracy I can get out of the PC9 with some custom tuned loads.

Can't help you with a specific load for the Ruger, but I have worked up a load for my 16" 9mm AR. I normally use plated bullets for 9mm, but since I was expecting higher velocities than what most plated bullets are rated for, I went with the 115gn FMJ bullet from RMR. The chamber in my AR is a little tight, so I have to seat them to 1.100" OAL, but they have been very accurate with 6.1gn of Power Pistol, and just under 1500fps. I get very consistent 1.1" groups @ 50 yards with it. That is a mid-range load, max is 6.6gn, but the groups opened up with a higher charge. I also tried 147gn bullets, but the 115 shoots flatter out to 100 yards, and I did not get the accuracy I did with the 115.

My new Ruger PCC seems too have a very short chamber. Because it's a takedown model it's very easy to "plunk" your loads to make sure they chamber. Conical shaped bullets like XTP's must be seated quite deep for them to plunk so I avoid them for the carbine. For this reason I like the RMR 124 JHP's. I have to seat them to 1.09" inches. I had a great load with Herco powder but that old powder is gone, so I'm working up a new load with new Herco. I'm going to start at 5.5 grains.

I would really like to hear if your's has the same short chamber as mine. (not sure from your post if you've purchased it yet). Rounds that easily plunk in my SR9e, are not even close to plunking in my new Ruger Carbine.

I also use BE-86 at about 5.5 grains with the same bullet and OAL.

To better take advantage of the 16" barrel I've thought about developing a load with Blue Dot. I'll let you know if I ever do that.

Welcome pat to thr. If u are just plinking id start with low dada only making like 3 of each untile it runs the action. Have the action dirty. Then stop and try to find the best shooting one.

This is what I and the guy I regularly shoot with use - RMR 124gr jhp mpr over 5.0gr of BE86. COAL 1.120. Winchester small pistol primers. Winchester and PMC brass. Very accurate out to 50 yds, which is as far as we have tried it so far. Will be running over a chrono soon.
The ladder for this load went from 4.8 to 5.7gr . We ran it twice, once in each PC9 and both guns shot the 5.0 the best.

Don't think you can make your 9mm carbine into a rhino roller. Most loads only pick up 150 fps or so in the longer barrel. If you use 147 gr bullets at subsonic velocities the bullet may actually slow down in the longer barrel.

I'm using 4.0 grn of wsf under a 125grm lead bullet. My carbine picks up 160fps over the pistol barrel.

My SAAMI spec PCC will cycle all factory loads.
The pet load that I like
6.4grains of power pistol @1.120 124gr ega jhpv2.

I played around with a home made cartridge measure(aka 9mm comparator)made from scrap metal laying around.
Speer 115 gold dots with a loaded oal length of 1.122
I got 1.5855 on the home made tool
Barnes solid copper 115gr loaded @1.150 oal
Again with my tool came in @ 1.5945

Welcome to THR,
lots of great people here.

Been thinking about getting one of the Rugers, just haven't yet.
My go to load for pistols is 4.4gr WSF with a Rocky Mountain Reloading (RMR) 124gr MPR JHP.
This is a mild load for matches/practice and is about 1040 fps from a 5" 1911. WSF meters well and works good across it's load range.
RMR is a great place to do business with and offers THR member a 5% discount with a code. PM me if your interested in it.
RMR has free shipping and ships quick.

One thing nice about 9mm is lots of combos seem to work well.

Hope you like your carbine,

Code sent

Walkalong said:

It uses a somewhat fast powder (N320) and doesn't get any more velocity from the 16" barrel than it does from 5" barrels. If you want to make use of the longer barrel as far as velocity goes a medium/medium slow speed powder such as AA #5, HS-6, N340, Unique, Silhouette, BE-86, etc are better.

Click to expand...

Slower powder definitely!

FWIW, with my loads (6.1gn Power Pistol, RMR 115 fmj) I get 1491 fps with my 16" AR carbine, and 1241 fps from my 4.75" Witness. That is exactly 250 fps difference! Part of that may be that the jump-to-lands is less with the carbine as it has a fairly short leade.

I tried AA#7 which is a slower powder than PP, and was able to get about 40 fps more at max charges. The PP load at 6.1gn was not max charge, but it was the most accurate.

YBOT said:

New member here with a new interest in the Ruger PCC and wonder if anyone has worked up a load for it that they like and maybe willing to share or point to a link that may have some data?

Click to expand...

Welcome to THR and world of Pistol Caliber Carbines.

Compared to 115/124 gr bullets, I prefer lighter bullets which produce flatter trajectory and less vertical stringing at longer distances. FYI, RMR now manufactures their own 95 gr FMJ which I hope to load test when I get a chance (Recent family issues have kept me from doing range tests) - https://www.rmrbullets.com/products/496213195874304-380-95-gr-rmr-fmj-round-nose-bullets-new

Currently, these are my 9mm carbine plinking loads - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...n-9mm-40s-w-45acp.799231/page-3#post-10245856



I have several 16" 9mm ARs and 17" Just Right carbine and have tested the following W231/HP-38, Promo, BE-86 loads - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...carbine-bullet-velocity.810127/#post-10358295

100 gr RMR HM RN 5.2 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.050": 1459-1424-1423-1465-1413 fps (56 F - JR carbine)
100 gr RMR HM RN 5.5 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.050": 1493-1468-1432-1479-1454 fps (58 F - JR carbine)

100 gr RMR HM RN 4.5 gr Promo @ 1.050": 1442-1428-1478-1431-1462 fps (58 F - JR carbine)
100 gr RMR HM RN 4.5-4.7 gr Promo @ 1.050": 1478-1475-1480-1471-1467 fps (58 F - JR carbine)
100 gr RMR HM RN 4.5-4.7 gr Promo @ 1.050": 1458-1450-1445-1442-1448 fps (71 F - JR carbine)

115 gr Hornady HAP 4.8 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.075": 1342-1202-1339-1327-1304 (65 F - JR carbine)
115 gr RMR FMJ 4.8 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.130": 1256-1214-1240-1316-1252 (65 F - JR carbine)
115 gr RMR FMJ 4.8 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.130": 1251-1279-1257-1254-1272 fps (79 F - JR carbine)
115 gr Winchester FMJ 4.8 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.135": 1315-1234-1334-1307-1296 fps (59 F - PSA carbine)
115 gr Zero FMJ 4.8 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.130": 1259-1243-1268-1343-1326 fps (65 F - JR carbine)

115 gr Berry's HBRN 4.6 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.135": 1264-1270-1233-1246-1288 fps (59 F - PSA carbine)
115 gr Berry's HBRN 4.8 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.130": 1306-1328-1322-1313-1317 (75 F - JR carbine)

115 gr Berry's HBRN 3.9-4.0 gr Promo @ 1.135": 1275-1261-1316-1287-1294 fps (59 F - PSA carbine)
115 gr Berry's HBRN 4.5-4.6 gr Promo @ 1.130": 1414-1377-1375-1420-1372 (75 F - JR carbine)

115 gr RMR HM RN 4.6 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.135": 1187-1240-1290-1239-1260 fps (59 F - PSA carbine)
115 gr RMR HM RN 4.8 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.130": 1275-1263-1253-1290-1248 fps (56 F - JR carbine)
115 gr RMR HM RN 4.8 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.130": 1303-1289-1298-1311-1323 fps (79 F - JR carbine)
115 gr RMR HM RN 5.0 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.135: 1380-1368-1378-1387-1399 fps (71 F - JR carbine)

115 gr RMR HM RN 3.9-4.0 gr Promo @ 1.135": 1204-1276-1259-1273-1247 fps (59 F - PSA carbine)
115 gr RMR HM RN 4.0-4.2 gr Promo @ 1.135": 1331-1358-1346 fps (59 F - PSA carbine - ran out of test rounds)
115 gr RMR HM RN 4.5-4.7 gr Promo @ 1.135": 1351-1364-1363-1357-1342 (71 F - JR carbine)

124 gr RMR JHP 3.2 gr W231/HP-38 @ 1.125": 820-838-784-807-860 fps (59 F - PSA carbine)

124 gr RMR HM RN 4.3 gr HP-38 @ 1.160": 1078-1116-1124-1104-1103 fps (59 F - PSA carbine)

124 gr RMR HM RN 3.9-4.0 gr Promo @ 1.160": 1231-1201-1210-1227-1193 fps (59 F - PSA carbine)
124 gr RMR HM RN 4.2-4.3 gr Promo @ 1.160": 1258-1263-1251-1244-1266 fps (68 F - PSA carbine)
124 gr RMR HM RN 4.2-4.3 gr Promo @ 1.160": 1298-1277-1261-1276-1293 fps (68 F - JR carbine)

124 gr RMR HM RN 5.2 gr BE-86 @ 1.160": 1179-1149-1178-1170-1197 fps (59 F - PSA carbine)

While there is nothing wrong with developing a carbine specific load it runs counter to my personal theory regarding a pistol caliber carbine. I have a carbine so I can run my handgun ammo through it interchangeably.Therefore, I develop my 9mm loads to fit the tightest chamber in the collection and shoot them in everything.

Stumper said:

While there is nothing wrong with developing a carbine specific load it runs counter to my personal theory regarding a pistol caliber carbine. I have a carbine so I can run my handgun ammo through it interchangeably.

Click to expand...

I agree. My reference 9mm load is 115 gr RMR FMJ with 4.8 gr W231/HP-38/Sport Pistol and general purpose range practice/plinking load is 115 gr RMR FMJ with 4.0-4.2 gr Promo. Both loads are comparable to Winchester white box and will readily work in my carbines.

But carbine specific load with lighter 100 gr bullet (soon with 95 gr RMR FMJ) produced less vertical stringing and smaller shot groups, especially at 50 and 100 yards compared to 115/124 gr loads.

Here are comparison 50/100 yard targets with 115/124 gr loads vs 100 gr loads (keep in mind there were many variables such as different carbines, barrel twist rates of 1:10 vs 1:16, bullets, adjustable vs fixed stock, etc.) -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...lets-in-9mm-40s-w-45acp.799231/#post-10195002

50 yard 115/124 gr groups






50 yard 100 gr groups


Slight powder increase and changing to fixed stock tightened shot groups



100 yard 115 gr group


100 yard 100 gr group


I am hoping for even smaller shot groups with less vertical stringing with lighter 95 gr RMR FMJ.

I run my pistol loads in my carbines,lever guns etc.Never an issue

Whether or not you develop a special load for your carbine really depends on just what you want to do with the carbine. Just plinking, longer range shooting, competition???
I shoot competition and for the longest I just used the same load for my pistol and the carbine. I was too lazy to bother making up a special load with another bullet just for it. This year I got more serious about shooting the carbine so I worked up a lighter load to keep the same power factor but have less recoil and dot bounce. Remember, I'm lazy, so all I did was use a reduced powder charge of the same powder and bullet. FWIW, I use WSF powder, 4.6gr for pistol and 4.2 for pcc. I use the RMR 124gr rn fmj bullet set at ~1.135 oal for both. Too lazy to change settings on the press.

Keep in mind that with full power loads.
The fastest that you can push most jhps
is around 1500 fps.

MikeInOr said:

Welcome.

My PC9 will shoot pretty much anyrhing. 25 years ago when I first started reloading I used the minimum recommended powder charge of Bullseye under 115gr Winchester fmj bullets in my first batch of 9mm. Of course I was excited so I loaded up 500 or so rounds before taking them out to test. In 25 years my Ruger PC9 is the first gun I have owned that will cycle with these very weak rounds. That first batch of 9mm's is finally gone... thanks to the PC9.

I have also shot Gold dots loaded to +p pressures to carry in my Kahr in the PC9 without issue... it just eats them up and asks for more.

Some day I look forwards to being able to sit down at a bench and see what kind of accuracy I can get out of the PC9 with some custom tuned loads.

Click to expand...

My PC9 won't shoot any of my 9mm reloads that I have loaded for my Dan Wesson P9. The Ruger chamber is very short and tight. I had ordered Berrys plated 124 and 147 grain .356 diameter bullets to load for it .. but they are flat point with high shoulders and would have to be seated way too far into the case to chamber in the PC9 carbine .. so I'll be loading them exclusively for my 1911. Really thought I would have flexibility .. same ammo for all 9mm .. but this PC9 is really finicky on ammo. Factory ammo that I have (don't like buying ammo .. prefer to use my handholds) will run. Just need to get the right bullet / profile so I can start loading with the Power Pistol I got for 9mm. Looks like RMR might have what is needed. Any input on crimp diameter and OAL's would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.