Hi! 1st post.
I have 500 bullets by Everglades. 115gr rn plated v2 (heavy plated, their web site). I also have some Hodgdon Titegroup. Is there a recipe for light loads, just for plinking at the range? First gen Shield. Searched internet can't find an exact match. New to pistol reloading, all my experiance is shotgun shells and even w/that its been years. Looks like I picked a pretty bad time to get into this, no primers or much powder to choose from. A friend gave me an old Rock Chucker (70th b-day) so very therapeutic. Anyway any help would be great. Thanks.
1.
Welcome Aboard ! and welcome to the world of metallic reloading.
2. Unlike shotgun reloading, you are not stuck with a specific hull/wad/shot formula. You can freely make some substitutions
*. For 115gr "thick plating" you can use the data from any same weight bullet, and because the plating is
thick you should use the data for 115gr
FMJ. (If they were thinly plated, then use 115gr lead data.) This is "
generally understood" and is why you won't find an exact load listed.
3. You can freely make some substitutions.
BUT, the
BIG caveat is this.... you must begin at the
Starting Load and work your way up in small increments !! All guns are different. All bullets are different. All barrels are different. No one can tell you about your exact load, because no one but
you is using that specific combination of ingredients.
4. Now here is another HUGE word of warning. 9mm Luger is an extremely high pressure cartridge, and therefore small changes in bullet seating make BIG differences in the resulting chamber pressure. I'd prefer you to start with 38Spcl or 45ACP (which have half the chamber pressure), but it is what it is.
5. As if Warning #3 and #4 weren't enough... Your choice of powders is not great. Titegroup is one of the faster powders. As such it has a VERY narrow load window (typically 0.4gr from Min to Max) and so it must be measured with extreme care. Now some users are going to follow this post and poo-poo this statement. They will tell you that they have been using Titegroup in 9mm for XX years. But their skill level is
not your skill level. And their equipment setup is
not your equipment. And they have XX years of reloading notes to look back on which are
not in your notebook.
All I'm saying is: 1. go slow, 2. begin at the
Starting Load and work up in 0.1gr increments, 3. "zero" your scale with care, 4. please be careful, and 5. take good notes.
