Created a special load tonight

vaalpens · May 13, 2021

Tonight I loaded a special 25 load rounds based on the following load that has been tested in my Sig SP2022:

9mm, SP2022, 3.9"
Case: WIN
COL: 1.125"
RMR, 115gr, FMJRN, W244, 4.5gr, FED100M
Average: 1068
ES: 11
SD: 5.1
Force: 291
PF: 122
Velocities: 1064, 1063, 1073, 1067, 1074
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.38"
Test Date: 03/05/2021

The reason for this special load is that I bought a Sig P365 X RomeoZero, and these loads will be used to christen the gun, and zero in the red dot.

I decided on the 115gr RN bullet since it is very common in factory ammo, and will probably be a staple for my P365X. The W244 load was selected since I have limited tested loads with the RMR 115gr RN bullets, The W244 load tested well, and the W244 load should be just a tad bit milder than my 115gr Power Pistol loads. I have a lot of loaded up 124gr loads, but decided to load something special for the first P365 loads.

I will obviously share my first test results after the initial outing with the P365. This is my first striker fired gun, and first sub compact/micro compact gun.

Mark_Mark · May 14, 2021

vaalpens said:
Tonight I loaded a special 25 load rounds based on the following load that has been tested in my Sig SP2022:

9mm, SP2022, 3.9"
Case: WIN
COL: 1.125"
RMR, 115gr, FMJRN, W244, 4.5gr, FED100M
Average: 1068
ES: 11
SD: 5.1
Force: 291
PF: 122
Velocities: 1064, 1063, 1073, 1067, 1074
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.38"
Test Date: 03/05/2021

The reason for this special load is that I bought a Sig P365 X RomeoZero, and these loads will be used to christen the gun, and zero in the red dot.

I decided on the 115gr RN bullet since it is very common in factory ammo, and will probably be a staple for my P365X. The W244 load was selected since I have limited tested loads with the RMR 115gr RN bullets, The W244 load tested well, and the W244 load should be just a tad bit milder than my 115gr Power Pistol loads. I have a lot of loaded up 124gr loads, but decided to load something special for the first P365 loads.

I will obviously share my first test results after the initial outing with the P365. This is my first striker fired gun, and first sub compact/micro compact gun.

View attachment 998395

love the micro high cap pistols for summer carry. Shorts & Tang top. but still packing heat

vaalpens · May 14, 2021

Mark_Mark said:
love the micro high cap pistols for summer carry. Shorts & Tang top. but still packing heat

It is a first for me, and I am looking forward to evaluating some loads for the P365 X. Thanks.

lordpaxman · May 14, 2021

vaalpens said:
It is a first for me, and I am looking forward to evaluating some loads for the P365 X. Thanks.

Great choice. I run 124 Gold Dots in my original P365EDC. I see they finally are milling the slides for optics should you choose that path. My first striker was a G43, then I switched to the P365 because of capacity. My 226 broke a firing pin in a Tier IV match 2nd to last stage and they let me shoot the rest with the P365. I only had two 10 rd mags with me so every shot count, kinda like real life. Good luck.

Walkalong · May 14, 2021

When I broke in/function tested my P-365 I used a mix of bullet weights and loads, one of which was a lighter plinker load. The P-365 prefers full power ammo, but the only issue I had in lots of round was one failure to lock back with the light load with a weak one handed grip.

First range trip.

vaalpens · May 14, 2021

lordpaxman said:
Great choice. I run 124 Gold Dots in my original P365EDC. I see they finally are milling the slides for optics should you choose that path. My first striker was a G43, then I switched to the P365 because of capacity. My 226 broke a firing pin in a Tier IV match 2nd to last stage and they let me shoot the rest with the P365. I only had two 10 rd mags with me so every shot count, kinda like real life. Good luck.

Thanks. I did pick up some Hornady 115gr Critical Defense bullets, which will be tested at some point. I also have some 124gr pulled Gold Dots I loaded a while ago. All my loads I have passed the plunk test, so I will cycle through them at some point in time.

vaalpens · May 14, 2021

Walkalong said:
When I broke in/function tested my P-365 I used a mix of bullet weights and loads, one of which was a lighter plinker load. The P-365 prefers full power ammo, but the only issue I had in lots of round was one failure to lock back with the light load with a weak one handed grip.

First range trip.

Thanks for sharing. Nice picture. I should probably also take a family picture of all the different ammo/loads that will be used during the first outing.

I have 4 different bullets loaded up in 9mm. They all passed the plunk test, so I will test a few of them during my first outing. I don't have any light plinking loads, so hopefully there won't be any cycling or locking back issues.

I still need to decide if I want to chrono any of the loads. I probably won't until the red dot has been zeroed in. It will be interesting to see what velocities I get out of the 3.1" barrel.

Walkalong · May 14, 2021

vaalpens said:
It will be interesting to see what velocities I get out of the 3.1" barrel.

Yes, it was, and my 3” EMP before that. I would shoot loads through the EMP, a 4/4.5/5” gun, and my 16” AR. Really interesting looking at the results of different powders/loads

vaalpens · May 14, 2021

Walkalong said:
Yes, it was, and my 3” EMP before that. I would shoot loads through the EMP, a 4/4.5/5” gun, and my 16” AR. Really interesting looking at the results of different powders/loads

Thanks! Do you have any powder/bullet weight combination that you feel works well in the shorter barrel P365?

Walkalong · May 14, 2021

Silhouette and 124s (4th round from right in pic above). Most testing was 124s.

vaalpens · May 14, 2021

Walkalong said:
Silhouette and 124s (4th round from right in pic above). Most testing was 124s.

Walkalong, thanks for sharing your load data. I don't have Silhouette as a powder, but I normally load PowerPistol at 5.5/5.6gr. Velocities look similar, except PowerPistol is probably much louder.

Since you like 124gr with the short barrel, it is strange that Sig went with a 115gr bullet for their P365 specific ammo.

Walkalong · May 14, 2021

Well, I used to shoot 115s exclusively because they were cheaper, but then finally tried 124s and my EMP loved them over 115s, and I found other pistols liked them as well, and I stumbled into a N320/124 Gr load that shot great, with a great recoil impulse, and it dropped brass at my feet from my 5" Colt, so I switched to 124s. When I got my P-365 I mostly had 124s/125s/90s, although I do have some 115s leftover stashed back somewhere, so I did not specifically choose 124 Gr over 115 Gr for my P-365, it was what I had. It shoots everything well, and I am sure 115s would be no different. Maybe Sig chose 115s to get more velocity to help the hollow point work. Dunno.

Walkalong · May 14, 2021

Power Pistol should work well, and I bet BE-86 would as well. I don't have any more PP, and haven't played a lot with BE-86 in 9MM.

vaalpens · May 14, 2021

Walkalong said:
It shoots everything well, and I am sure 115s would be no different. Maybe Sig chose 115s to get more velocity to help the hollow point work. Dunno.

I think you hit the nail on the head. It is specifically for CC, so the 115gr velocity is probably good enough for the V-Crown expansion. Maybe the 124gr is different. V-Crown also has the 125gr, specifically for the 357sig.

I bought the 115gr bullets purely for 9mm since I don't use them in 357sig. I will probably do some load work-up with all my powders to find that sweet spot for the P365.

Thanks again for your comments.

vaalpens · May 14, 2021

Walkalong said:
Power Pistol should work well, and I bet BE-86 would as well. I don't have any more PP, and haven't played a lot with BE-86 in 9MM.

Those are some serious velocities in 9mm. A little hot for how I load, even though the load is the same as what I tested. My velocities were just lower:

9mm, SP2022, 3.9"
Case: WIN
COL: 1.075"
RMR, 124gr, JHP, BE86, 5.7gr, SBPRSP
Average: 1123
ES: 13
SD: 5.1
Force: 347
PF: 139
Velocities: 1132, 1123, 1120, 1123, 1119
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.73"
Test Date: 03/17/2017

Walkalong · May 15, 2021

vaalpens said:
Those are some serious velocities in 9mm.

To the right of my load numbers (In this case Load # 113 in 9MM), I put nothing (not worth pursuing) 1 or more red stars (3 being a good load), or in this case dashes (----). The dashes mean a no go, the more dashes the more it's a no go.

vaalpens · May 15, 2021

Walkalong said:
To the right of my load numbers (In this case Load # 113 in 9MM), I put nothing (not worth pursuing) 1 or more red stars (3 being a good load), or in this case dashes (----). The dashes mean a no go, the more dashes the more it's a no go.

Thanks for the explanation. It seems with BE86 you have to load it in the upper range for good accuracy, which is maybe a bit much for me in 9mm. Maybe that is why I mostly use BE86 in 357sig.

Spare Parts · May 16, 2021

FWIW, my HST 147 (pulled) clone uses 6.2 Blue Dot, COL 1.125", no-crimp (i.e. de-bell). Have heard that BE-86 might be better, but it's unobtanium here. As usual, work up to that load - HST is a high-performance commercial load.

The tricky thing with 9mm is to fill the case adequately so it doesn't carbon-foul your chamber. Minimal clean-up. Use a faster powder for 115/124.

vaalpens · May 19, 2021

Spare Parts said:
FWIW, my HST 147 (pulled) clone uses 6.2 Blue Dot, COL 1.125", no-crimp (i.e. de-bell). Have heard that BE-86 might be better, but it's unobtanium here. As usual, work up to that load - HST is a high-performance commercial load.

The tricky thing with 9mm is to fill the case adequately so it doesn't carbon-foul your chamber. Minimal clean-up. Use a faster powder for 115/124.

Thanks for the comments.

I have a few loads that fills the case quite well, and they normally perform better also. My BE-86, PowerPistol and WST loads all use +.5cc powder for a 124gr bullet. It fills the case nicely.

vaalpens · May 23, 2021

So I finally decided on the loads/bullets I was going to test today. I completed my testing today and will post a range report a bit later. I decided to start with some of the heavier hitters since the P365 is still tight, and did not want any cycling issues. The first round was shot in the order as numbered on the image:

I normally test my loads at 15 yards, but today I decided to test at 10 yards since this is a subcompact/micro gun. I also did not use the chrono.

The test basically today was to zero the red dot, do some accuracy testing, get a feel of the P365 with these loads, and then just shoot some more to see how easy it is to pick up the red dot.

Range report will be posted a bit later.

vaalpens · May 23, 2021

These are the first 10 shots with the P365X. The aim here was to zero the red dot, and then see the results.

The groupings were not very good for 10 yards, but it is a new gun and a new trigger I have to get used to. I could definitely feel the PowerPistol load. There were no issues at all with the first 10 rounds:

vaalpens · May 23, 2021

These were the second pair of 5 shots each. The red dot is nearly dialed in. I was surprised with the grouping with the small gun and these pulled bullets. This load did not feel as severe as the PowerPistol loads. I think I have another 100 or so loaded up of this load, so I will definitely use the remainder of these loads in my P365.

There was one minor issue where the P365X did not go completely into battery, but this was the only time. With the new gun I am not concerned at this time.

vaalpens · May 23, 2021

This is the third pair of 5 shots each. The red dot was now zeroed, and this was also the best load for the P365. The load felt good and grouped well. No issues at all with this load. next time I will test this load at 15 yards and also get some velocity readings.

vaalpens · May 23, 2021

This was the fourth set of 5 shots each. The load wasn't as harsh as the PowerPistol load, but it also did not group that well. The zero also seemed a bit off, but I assume it will be different for each load. I still need to decide which load I want to set my permanent red dot zero to. No pistol issues with this load.

vaalpens · May 23, 2021

The fifth set of 5 shots did not perform well, but these were also the last of this load. I had 3 rounds left after the 10 shots, and tried those also. The groupings were not terrible, but definitely not good. With these rounds I also got a light primer strike, so I'm not sure if this due to primer or maybe just one of my earlier loads, or the Ammoland brass. For now I am not concerned.

Created a special load tonight

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