9mm handloads

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I've had good luck with Berry's 115 RN over 4.5g Bullseye, that's been my go to target load

I'll try to stick to the powders, projectiles and purpose you actually asked about: second the 4.5gr. of Bullseye for 115gr. and I drop it down to 4.1gr. for 124gr., lead, coated, jacketed or plated in either weight. I've also had good luck with 4.2gr. of TiteGroup for 115gr. backed down to 3.7gr. for 124gr, jacketed, coated or plated. TiteGroup does'nt get along well with lubed bullets, as you already figgered out.

Hope this helps.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Any 9mm pistol powder will do just fine for general usage. Get what you can, they have a long self life if stored like potatoes

 

[fxvr5]

Pretty sure what is being said is, be careful loading heavy projectiles at near max charges, as the small case capacity of 9mm can lend itself to large pressure increases with small variations in seating depth or charge weight. I'd say that's pretty sound advise and not something to be derided.

OAL and case capacity applies to ALL bullet weights, not just heavy bullets.

 

[Hugger-4641]

OAL and case capacity applies to ALL bullet weights, not just heavy bullets.

I think the point was that the margin of error is slightly better with lighter bullets. Generally, lighter bullets have higher max charge weights, so the margin of error with heavy bullets is down to 1 or 2 tenths of a grain.

 

[DMW1116]

Berry's 115gn plated over 4.5gn of Win231 or 5.0gn of CFE Pistol. Nice accurate plinking loads. Both are in the middle of Hodgdon's load range data. Ran a ladder of Bullseye and found 4.2gn - 4.5gn to work also.

I’ve been using CFE Pistol since I started reloading 9mm. I use the 115 gr Berrys as well with 5 grains of powder. I’ve wanted to try the 231 but haven’t seen any. Is there a big difference?

 

[markr6754]

The owner of this site has tested a large number of common (and some not so common) powders for the 9mm 9x19. Loads tend to be hot, as he readily points out. When powders were getting scarce last year I used this site to get some ideas for alternates. Pretty interesting read, and he is very responsive to questions, though I'd prefer he posted in our forum.

9MM (natoreloading.com)

I do not have any relationship with the site. This is for educational purposes only, use any posted loads at your own discretion and risk.

I found it interesting that he has not tested 700-X, and refuses to do so, as he feels it is much too fast and unpredictable. That said, it's rapidly becoming one of my favorite powders...and the new Hornady 11th ed manual has loads for nearly every pistol caliber I shoot (and therefore handload).

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I've been using HS-6 because I couldn't get Titegroup for a while. Been happy with the performance, it meters well in my Autodrum, but it is a little more prone to static and sticking in the powder pan.

I am a HUGE fan of HS-6 but I'm afraid they might discontinue it like they did with HS-5 and HS-7. I've found that the fairly new W572 is very close in performance to HS-6. I think HS-6 lasted this long because it's primarily a shotgun powder but W572 is also listed as a shotgun powder. I might be changing over to W572 to replace HS-6 when I use up the 4 lbs of HS-6 I have left. That won't happen until I test every application where I use HS-6. W572 doesn't require a magnum primer and generates less pressure than HS-6 to achieve similar velocities.

.38 Special +P, 45 Colt, heavy 12 ga loads and a few others.

 

[brutus51]

Well I went against my better judgement of waiting for primers to make a comeback and reloaded 200 rounds of 9mm, dipping into my supply of 38 Super bullets.
Loaded up 100 rounds of Xtreme 124gr. plated flat points using 5.1 gr.'s of CFE Pistol. First time trying out this powder.
The other 100 rounds were with the same bullet over 3.9gr's of Titegroup.
Hope it proves to be worthwhile, sure hated parting with the components.

 

[Charlie98]

Tough times call for tough decisions...

 

[Blue68f100]

If you see they are not working, stop and break them down to save components.

 

[packetloss]

I've used WW-231, Universal, Autocomp, AA#7 and #5 in the past during the last shortage.
Also have Bullseye, Titegroup, Power Pistol and a can of CFE pistol on hand.

I've tested all of those except for Titegroup as well as a few others and my favorite powder is True Blue. It burns very clean and has a smooth recoil profile. I haven't seen it show up in stock in the last 8 months though.
Of the others you have mentioned, I do like WW-231 and Bullseye (231 was slightly cleaner than Bullseye but both were good). Just not quite as smooth or as clean as True Blue but I would absolutely use either one. Power Pistol produces quite a bit of muzzle flash. It wasn't as clean as any of the others and for my purposes wasn't any more accurate. I have also used quite a bit of CFE Pistol. It works really well for me in .40 and .357 Sig. All of my 9mm loads with it were extremely dirty and left lots of carbon buildup in my gun. It's a slower powder and just didn't produce a good seal in any of my 9mms even with close to max loads.

 

[Spare Parts]

Feel free to translate this into English. Can you share a measured pressure curve that demonstrates this? Thanks.

Sorry, missed the question until now.

I measure milligrams because my scale repeatably measures milligrams. When in Rome... Low standard deviation (SD) over the chronograph indicates the loading process is repeatable. Powder weight variation = big SD.

I don't have a direct way of measuring pressure, but I do have the chrony. The curve is change-in-fps divided by change-in-powder-weight. Let me give an example.

Speer has load data for 9mm 124gr Gold Dot and Blue Dot:

Start 7.1 gr for 1121fps
Max 7.9 gr for 1238fps

I loaded 7.1, 7.5, and 7.9gr (5 each) and sent them over the chrony.

Results (4.5"bbl):

7.1gr 1125fps,SD16
7.5gr 1170fps,SD35 (1170-1125)/(7.5-7.1) = 114 fps/gr
7.9gr 1235fps,SD20 (1235-1170)/7.9-7.5) = 182 fps/gr

Hope this helps.

 

[fxvr5]

Sorry, missed the question until now.

I don't have a direct way of measuring pressure, but I do have the chrony. The curve is change-in-fps divided by change-in-powder-weight. Let me give an example.

Speer has load data for 9mm 124gr Gold Dot and Blue Dot:

I loaded 7.1, 7.5, and 7.9gr (5 each) and sent them over the chrony.

Results (4.5"bbl):

7.1gr 1125fps,SD16
7.5gr 1170fps,SD35 (1170-1125)/(7.5-7.1) = 114 fps/gr
7.9gr 1235fps,SD20 (1235-1170)/7.9-7.5) = 182 fps/gr

Hope this helps.

Yes, thank you for that explanation.

Okay, that’s one powder. Let’s look at another powder in 9mm.

115 HAP and Silhouette. No data for this specific bullet but Western shows a +P max around 6.5-6.6 grains for 115 grain bullets. data from my 5.0” barrel. loaded at 0.3 grain increments. Velocity and SD is the average of 15 shots.

5.0 gr = 1090 fps, SD 10.7
5.3 gr = 1131 fps, SD 12.5; change of 40 fps
5.6 gr = 1222 fps, SD 7.6; change of 91 fps
5.9 gr = 1267 fps, SD 7.9; change of 45 fps
6.2 gr = 1322 fps, SD 5.1; change of 54 fps
6.5 gr = 1361 fps, SD 5.8; change of 39 fps

Another 9mm example;

115 Sierra FMJ and True Blue. Western shows a max of 6.2 grains in their +P data, so I’m past that. Loaded in 0.5 grain increments. Velocity and SD is the average of 10 shots.

5.5 gr = 1185 fps, SD 12.1
6.0 gr = 1279 fps, SD 17.1 change of 94 fps
6.5 gr = 1350 fps, SD 10.3; change of 71 fps

Conclusion: different powders can produce different results.

 

[joneb]

I mostly load 124 and 135gr for 9x19, Accurate #5 and BE-86 work well for me with 124gr plated and Accurate #7 did very well with 135gr plated in a XDS to mimic a Hornady critical duty load.

 

[WeekendReloader]

I’ve been using CFE Pistol since I started reloading 9mm. I use the 115 gr Berrys as well with 5 grains of powder. I’ve wanted to try the 231 but haven’t seen any. Is there a big difference?

I find that Win231 feels like it has a softer recoil. It is a faster powder, so the recoil impulse is shorter.
I prefer 231 over CFE P for casual plinking loads.

 

[EricBu]

Titegroup is my go to powder for 9mm. It's just hard to beat for consistencies, and shooting suppressed....very very clean, plus a little goes a really really long way. 8 lbs of titegroup will last most normal folk a long time.....and you can do 32 acp, 9mm, 38 spc, 45 acp, 45 Colt, and about a bazillion other handgun cartridges with it...not just "make it work so I can use the same powder" loads, but good solid well performing loads. I've personally replaced 3 other long time powders with it. And I can't say enough about how clean it runs suppressed.

 

[Fishingted]

At $50 bucks a box of 50 I've come to the conclusion I'm going to need to start reloading the 9mm again. Going to start as soon as primers become available, meantime my SPP are spoken for in other calibers.
I've used WW-231, Universal, Autocomp, AA#7 and #5 in the past during the last shortage.
Usually just bought factory ammo when it was $10 bucks for box a 50, especially when I was to lazy to reload anything else. anyway I never got that serious about it but times have changed.
Have a good supply of .355 plated bullets both 115gr. and 124gr. which I've been using in my 38 supers. Also have Bullseye, Titegroup, Power Pistol and a can of CFE pistol on hand.
Interested in hearing about other peoples favorite target loads.

Favorite 124 RN load 4.1 Gr. TiteGroup. Favorite IDPA Load 3.5 gr. Tight group under 147 RN. Both accurate and run my guns well. Don't go Lighter than 3.5 on 147 RN or it may not run some guns.

 

[vsteel]

My Glock 17 really loves 5.1 grains of AA#2 with a 115gr RN.

 

[DMW1116]

I find that Win231 feels like it has a softer recoil. It is a faster powder, so the recoil impulse is shorter.
I prefer 231 over CFE P for casual plinking loads.

There was some 231 available at the local gun shop so I grabbed a pound. It looks like it takes slightly less per round and gives slightly lower velocity. My 9s seem to prefer heavier bullets or perhaps just a little lower velocity, so that might work out. I have a few cases prepped so maybe I’ll be able to test it this weekend. I’m planning to use it for range loads with Berrys bullets and save the CFE Pistol for the more expensive projectiles where I’d like higher velocity.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

There was some 231 available at the local gun shop so I grabbed a pound. It looks like it takes slightly less per round and gives slightly lower velocity. My 9s seem to prefer heavier bullets or perhaps just a little lower velocity, so that might work out. I have a few cases prepped so maybe I’ll be able to test it this weekend. I’m planning to use it for range loads with Berrys bullets and save the CFE Pistol for the more expensive projectiles where I’d like higher velocity.

That's a good plan. I use W231 with swaged lead 125gr. RN-NLG bullets and it gives good accuracy at 25 yards with very little smoke and no barrel leading. I keep the velocities down around 700fps and the empties fall at my feet.

 

[Charlie98]

and the empties fall at my feet.

What fun is that? Any good range session should end with the Great Treasure Hunt... trying to find all that brass.

 

[MakBaba]

I’ve had very consistent results from W244 with 124s and 135s. True Blue works good too but makes a mess from my Lee AutoDisc.

 

[DMW1116]

That's a good plan. I use W231 with swaged lead 125gr. RN-NLG bullets and it gives good accuracy at 25 yards with very little smoke and no barrel leading. I keep the velocities down around 700fps and the empties fall at my feet.

My minimum loads with CFE Pistol do the same out of one gun. It does make clean up easier at a public range. I’d be tickled if this powder would do that and give minute of saucer accuracy out to 25 yards with minimal charge.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

My minimum loads with CFE Pistol do the same out of one gun. It does make clean up easier at a public range. I’d be tickled if this powder would do that and give minute of saucer accuracy out to 25 yards with minimal charge.

For my FEG PJK-9HP "Hi-Power" I'm actually under the starting load: 3.5gr. of W231 with a 125gr. swaged RN-NLG. Rapid fire is like shooting a .22.

 

[DMW1116]

I see a squib in my future.