40 S&W / 9mm loads with berrys

[shadowalker]

Hello everyone, I'm getting ready to load some 40 S&W and 9mm with Berry's plated bullets and Titegroup / Unique, I've checked online and both Speer and Lyman manuals.

These are the loads I'm considering:

9mm 115 gr. RN 1.135 OAL
Titegroup: 4.0 grains
Unique: 5.2 grains

40 S&W 165 gr. RN 1.13 OAL

Titegroup: 5.0 grains
Unique: 6.5 grains

I'm looking for a nice midrange load for range use. The interesting thing is Lyman specifies a lot lower start and max charge than Speer. Both Speer and Steves pages put me between start and max loads but I wanted to see if anyone had similar loads.

9mm 115 gr. Total Metal Jacket (TMJ) - 1.135 OAL

Titegroup

3.7 gr. (steves, min)

4.0 gr. - 1046 fps (lyman, min)
4.1 gr. - 1061 fps (speer, min)

4.5 gr. - 1119 fps (lyman, max)
4.5 gr. - 1121 fps (speer, max)

4.8 gr. (steves, max)


Unique

4.4 gr. (steves, min)

4.4 gr. - 996 fps (lyman, min)
5.5 gr. - 1168 fps (alliant, max)
5.6 gr. - 1166 fps (speer, min)

5.8 gr. - 1233 fps (lyman, max)
6.3 gr. - 1244 fps (speer, max)

7.0 gr. (steves, max)

40 S&W 165 gr. Total Metal Jacket (TMJ) - 1.13 OAL

Titegroup:

5.0 gr. (steves, min)

5.0 gr. - 957 fps (speer, min)
5.4 gr. - 1035 fps (speer, max)

5.4 gr. (steves, max)

Unique:

5.2 gr. (steves, min)

5.4 gr. - 952 fps (lyman, min)
6.2 gr. - 882 fps (speer, min)

6.0 gr. - 1034 fps (lyman, max)
7.2 gr. - 1064 fps (speer, max)

7.2 gr. (steves, max)

 

[Steve C]

For thinly plated bullets from Berrys or Ranier you should use data designed for cast lead and not jacketed. Lead runs faster out the end of the barrel per given charge than a jacketed bullet of the same weight.

Your loads are pretty much middle of the road and would be OK to use though you may miss a very accurate load. It would be better to work up your load by starting at the low end and increasing by .1 gr for Tightgroup and maybe .2grs for Unique. Load a good sample of say 10 rounds each. Take them to the range and shoot from a rest to find the most accurate. Once you've found the load your pistol likes you won't have to guess. On the other hand if you just want blasting/plinking ammo then go with the loads you've listed.

 

[RustyFN]

I shot some Berry's 115 gr RN with 4.1 gr of titegroup set at 1.135 tonight and they shot great.

 

[HSMITH]

As long as you are shooting them in something with conventional rifling it should be fine. Plated bullets in poly rifled bores can be a real adventure......

 

[cherryriver]

In line with the current conventional wisdom of heavy bullets and fast powder to maintain power while reducing recoil, my now-standard 9mm load is a Berry's 147gr RNTMJ with 4.0gr WSF or Unique for 940-960 in my mid-size 9mms. Both function perfectly with this load and being subsonic, it is far less blasty to shoot. Recoil is not much different than WWB 115gr.
If you're forced to shoot at an indoor range, the blast reduction is even nicer.
Bill

 

[gandog56]

I've done alright using Berry's in both 9mm and .40 S&W using Winchester 231. Using my Lee auto disk they both use the 0.46 cc with 124 grain HP's for the 9mm and 180 grain HP's in the .40 S&W. I like not having to change disks!

 

[TonyT]

You might want to check the powder manufacturers websites. I always appreciate looking at data which has been pressure tested. Both Alliant and Hodgdon have data on their websites.

 

[shadowalker]

Thanks everyone, both loads worked well, the 40 S&W was fired in a Sig P229 and the 9mm in a Springfield XD. The XD did jam once in 100 rounds but the factory ammo it likes OAL is 1.10 vs 1.13.

The interesting thing was the wide range of load information with Titegroup for example the label had load information that did not match the manufacturer's website, OAL and max load were different.

Lyman and Speer in particular had a large difference with Speer's starting load being near or above Lyman's max load and Lee being somewhere in the middle.