Loading 9mm for S&W shield

What OAL are you using for your shield?
Are you sure your seating your bullets straight?

Are you crimping the crap out of them? What’s your OAL? Mixed brass? Try a different powder? Who made the bullets?

I have loaded several thousand 124 gr 9mm, but with Unique and for 3 different Shields. The accuracy on a defensive pistol in my case depends almost entirely on me. Sometimes I shake, sometimes I am dead on. I can't remember having any problems that were not operator error. My wife and daughter would probably agree with me. We shoot bad sometimes because we don't shoot enough, or we are tired, upset or just, in my case, get the shakes. I can be steady as a rock on minute and shaking like a leaf the next.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

I don't like plated bullets or Titegroup. The OAL has a lot to do with accuracy in the 9mm too.

Buy a good FMJ or JHP bullet from RMR Bullets and try a different powder like W231, BE-86, AA#5 or the like.

I use the 124gr JHP MPR round from RMR over W231. Many shooters are also using the 124gr Matchwinner bullet from the same vendor.
https://www.rmrbullets.com/product-category/bullets/pistol/9mm-355/

Like said above, be sure the bullet is straight and don't over-crimp.

Waterboy3313 said:

I will have to double check my log book but I think off the top of my head oal is 1.16x. the bullets look seated straight to me and the crimp is just about as much as it takes to straighten out the bell. Bullets are magtech. And cases are Winchester.

I don't think it's my shooting on this one. I can usually shoot pretty decent and I have been keeping the distance at 7 yards with this workup.

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Sounds good to me, try a different powder and play with the OAL. Just be careful, small changes in bullet depth will raise pressures.

I assume you’ve plunk tested them?

You have 3 issues really working against you....

1. In general, plated bullets never perform as well as jacketed. WWB uses jacketed.
2. TiteGroup is really a second tier powder. Lots of people use it, but it's primary attraction is that it's really cheap. Secondly, it's fast burn rate and high density mean that it has an extremely narrow load range. It you want accuracy from TG you had better buy some extremely accurate powder measuring equipment, because even tiny variations make big differences. If you'll shoot over a chrono, your SD numbers are probably larger than 30 within a 10 shot group.
3. You may be using mixed range brass. The internal volumes of cartridge cases vary by brand.

If every cartridge is the same, then each bullet should go to the exact same place on the target. So accuracy is nothing more than each cartridge behaving identically. Sometimes the differences are introduced in by the components we choose, sometimes our equipment allows variation to slip in, sometimes it's our process that allows variation. But variation from any source always brings inaccuracy.

Who’s bullets are you using.

Personally I use RMR bullets and BE86 and had great results in all of my 9mms.

A friend of mine has a Ruger pc9 rifle that we check my Titegroup loads with. We loaded 750 rounds of 124 grain plated round nose bullets on my LNL-AP with sorted S&B brass, and CCI small pistol primers and 4.1 gr of Titegroup and he shot a one hole group with the Ruger PC-9 at 25 yds that measured an inch in dia from a bench and rest. He put at least 15 rounds through that hole so I know my ammunition and Titegroup recipe is good and consistent when made on my normal Hornady equipment.

I took his rifle and fired 5 shots with it standing and all 5 holes were touching each other. Again, ammo is consistent and accurate.

It is a matter of tuning for barrel leade and with my Shield it happens at 1.130 with Berry's, Extreme, or RMR's round nose bullets.

A Shield is no where's near as accurate as a Ruger PC-9 rifle is, but mine is pretty consistent and on a good day I can hit the 6" steel plates with it about 50% of the time at 25 yds shooting off hand and standing.

I know I'm the reason why that percentage drops when I miss them all and lately with taking cold medicine that has been the case.

Finger placement on the trigger is paramount with my 9mm Shield to get consistent results. It is very touchy about finger placement on the trigger. I've found that my Shield can tend to shoot low and left and it's usually finger and/or hand placement or bad shooting habits when that happens. My Shield is one of the original ones that has a crappy trigger. The 2.0's have much better triggers.

At this point you need to figure out if it's you, your ammo, or your gun. You will have get some body to help you prove the ammo and the gun part, then you will know what you need to work on.

Waterboy3313 said:

I've noticed this as well.

I loaded up another 10 rounds last night and now I'm sitting at the range waiting for the sun to come up.

As far as titegroup goes I have had very good look with it in .45 acp as well as Berry's plated 230 gr plated RN bullets.

After today hopefully I will be on or I'm going to have to start over.

Pretty sure the problem is something to do with the reloading process. I can shoot Winchester white box junk consistently better.

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45 acp is totally different "ballistics" than a 9mm. 45 acp is a low pressure round with a heavy bullet, 9mm is the opposite. Try a slower powder and some decent bullets.

Waterboy,
I load and shoot 9mm reloads thru 2 different pistols regularly. One is a Taurus PT92C and the other is a Springfield XD Mod2 4.0.. Before I start shooting my reloads in any new to me gun I always shoot a box of factory loads thru them and it is usually the cheap stuff. I do this as a control to check function and initial accuracy.

I load all 9mm with either Berry's or Xtreme plated bullets and have used RN, FP, RNFP and all the Berry's hollow base. All of them in both 115gr and 124gr versions and in complete honesty I haven't found one that was more accurate than the other. Though most after a work up have been more accurate than any of the factory loads out to 15 yds. I have also loaded all of these bullets with powders ranging from AA#2, AA#5, HP-38 and Ramshot Silhouette. Of the bunch of powders I found the Ramshot to be the most consistent and accurate throughout the whole range of bullets with the HP-38 very close behind.

These loads are loaded to be optimal in both guns and not load specific for either gun which if I did that I am sure there would be room for improvement. So for you it may mean a change in powder, a change in bullet or both.

May not be the direction you want to go, but I've found my Shield is very happy with 147 gr XTreme plated RN bullets over CFE Pistol or Longshot (I like the CFE Pistol better). Haven't done as much load development and shooting with 124 gr plated bullets, but it did fine with 124 gr FP plated bullets over HP-38 before I switch to the heavier bullets.

Some times it takes a little component experimentation to find what your pistol likes best. As others mention above, reloading is about consistency and for auto pistols setting the bullet seating depth to a point the bullet is neither set too far back in the case or jammed into the rifling on chambering. I haven't loaded a ton of powders in the 9mm yet but of those I've used, CFE-P is doing really well for me with 124 grain and heavier. I'm always looking at powder maker's load data and try to find something that gives the highest velocity with reasonable pressure, then validate the results with a chronograph and inspection of fired cases for excess pressure indicators.

For future reference, another good source for target JHP bullets is Precision Delta.

I had a lot of trouble finding a load for a Ruger SR9 until I discovered it had a very long leade and needed the bullets set way out. You might try finding where the lands are and see if the bullet if having to make a long jump to the lands, as with my SR9. And I have a Taurus PT99 which has a large bore and does not like plated bullets of any size, even bullets for .38 Special. Good luck experimenting.

Walkalong said:

I don't remember ever shooting my 9MM Shield for groups while I had it, but I did shoot it a good bit at 10" steel at 18 yards a good bit. N320 and a plated 124 gr HP, either Powerbond or X-treme, as well as the RMR MPR with either N320 or Silhouette, were easy enough to keep on the plate.

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That right there make a it clear. The Shield is not a target or Bullseye gun, is a concealed carry SD gun. Small groups were never the aim of this pistol, the ability to put rounds on target center mass if required is its function. 3 or 4 rounds center mass which are shot in a 6" circle or so at SD distances is a very effective result.