Lehigh bullet in 9mm Mak?

merlynski said:

Collecting info for loading 9mm Makarov, Soviet era E. German Makarov, with:

Bullet: Lehigh Defense Xtreme Penetrator Bullets 9x18mm (9mm Makarov) (364 Diameter) 95 Grain Solid Copper

Brass: new Starline

Primer: probably Federal SPP, maybe CCI SPP, a few other types available.

Powder available: Unique, Bullseye, some 700x, maybe some Titegroup
Anybody have some advice on powder charge, OAL, case (pre-)treatment, or anything else I might need to know?

I am not new to reloading, but new to loading for semi-auto pistols.

Pistol has a little bit of holster wear, bore and interior are pristine.

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MAK is such a cool looking gun!

Lehigh publishes load data: https://www.lehighdefense.com/lehigh-defense-load-data-library

The Mak is no different to load for than order pistol rounds.

Because of the free floating firing pin I don't use Fed 100 primers.

W231 / HP-38 was always good to me in 9x19Mak.
But any of the faster powders mentioned for 9x18Luger should respond similarly in a Mak.
Slower powders tend to be a waste in non-locking breach ("blow-back") guns.

I tried probably 4 different powders for the 9mak including Bullseye, Red Dot, Green Dot and TiteGroup. All made acceptably working loads but TiteGroup was noticeably better in the range I was comfortable with so that's what I settled on. I don't have the exact load in front of me though

I want to say 3.3gr but I can't confirm, notes are on the ammo boxes with my son as they were for his pistol. I remember I used the smallest Lee dipper .2cc with black tape inside to reduce capacity a little bit. I don't remember there being much data at that time either and in some cases I may have started with .380 data as it's basically same weight bullet with a little more case capacity in the 9x18. I know my start loads for almost everything were on the light side (real sooty cases and not always cycling)

3.8 gr Universal and 95 gr. Berrys plated bullet .970 OAL has worked good for me. Never used copper bullets before though.

merlynski said:

Did you have an actual problem with Federal 100 primers in the MAK?

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No, I just try to avoid them.

merlynski said:

Collecting info for loading 9mm Makarov, Soviet era E. German Makarov, with:

Bullet: Lehigh Defense Xtreme Penetrator Bullets 9x18mm (9mm Makarov) (364 Diameter) 95 Grain Solid Copper

Brass: new Starline

Primer: probably Federal SPP, maybe CCI SPP, a few other types available.

Powder available: Unique, Bullseye, some 700x, maybe some Titegroup.

Anybody have some advice on powder charge, OAL, case (pre-)treatment, or anything else I might need to know?

I am not new to reloading, but new to loading for semi-auto pistols.

Pistol has a little bit of holster wear, bore and interior are pristine.

Click to expand...

This is HP data from Hornady 9th Edition. Might help.

merlynski said:

Is that because you consider them too soft?

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Yes.
I backed off a strain screw of a S&W m-10 CCI 500 and WSP had unreliable ignition, but the F-100's worked fine.

Never saw a follow-up to this. How'd it work out? Midway has those on clearance so I might pick up a box to play with. Still a bit pricey but not as horrible... hardly.