Adjusting OAL

[mohunter55]

Hello,

I have been frustrated with this for a while now. I am reloading Missouri Bullet 115 grain LRN bullets for 9mm Luger. I am using LaserCast data which says starting grains is 3.8 with W231 and OAL is 1.10". I have been loading these using the starting grains and using the 1.10" OAL. They function fine in my glock 19 with Lone Wolf barrel, but they do not fit my dillon case gauge. I asked about this a while back and the general consensus was if they fit your barrel, you are good to go. Well tonight i was experimenting and found that at 1.095 i can get the rounds to fit in the case gauge perfectly. My question now is, if i want to seat these to 1.095 what would i need to reduce the W231 too. I noticed many books have warnings about seating 9mm deeper than the suggested OAL.

 

[Tilos]

3.8 grains of W231 is under the starting weight listed for a 115 LRN at the Hodgdon website.
http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

.005 in OAL will have little if no affect on pressure unless the load is at or near maximum.

I load 125 LRN MBC bullet with 4.1 grains of W231 to an overall length of 1.080 without any problems.

If you think your loads need to fit a gage, go ahead and shorten the OAL.
My barrel is my gage (Glock 23, Storm Lake 40/9 conversion barrel).

Not to worry load and shoot...repeat.

 

[LiveLife]

I Agree, Lone Wolf barrels have much tighter chambers than many other factory barrels and if the loaded rounds drop in freely, you are good to go at 1.10" OAL.

As Tilos stated, 3.8 gr and 1.10" OAL is below the published load data - You could do some test loads at higher charges to see if your accuracy improves over the 3.8 gr charge.

115 GR. LRN Winchester 231 1.10" OAL Start 4.3 gr 1079 fps Max 4.8 gr 1135 fps

FYI, I have load tested 125 gr MBC Small Ball from 1.08" - 1.12" OAL (benefit of the new "rounder" nose profile instead of the older "step" nose) with 3.8/4.1/4.4 gr of W231/HP38 with good feed/chambering and accuracy in G22/G27 with LW 9mm conversion barrels - The 4.4 gr loads at 1.10" OAL had a definite FIRM recoil and now I prefer the 3.8 gr load for accuracy.

 

[ranger335v]

" My question now is, if i want to seat these to 1.095 what would i need to reduce the W231 too. I noticed many books have warnings about seating 9mm deeper than the suggested OAL."

No handgun made will ever notice a bullet that's set .005" deeper, that little is totally insignificant.

 

[mohunter55]

i have been using 3.8 and it seems to be working just fine. My data is from Oregon Trail.

Here is what it lists:

115 Grain Round Nose
Powder Type: 231
Start Grains: 3.8
velocity fps: 1010
Max Grains: 4.2
velocity fps: 1115
OAL: 1.1
Test Gun: P-35, 4.5" barrel, WSP.

Are you sure that I'm not okay to be using 3.8 grains? does anyone else use this light of a charge? I see that hodgdon recommends a starting grain of 4.3, which is over max what Oregon Trail-LaserCast recommends.

 

[mohunter55]

okay, found something a little strange after looking at both data sets closer

Oregon Trail also has data for HP-38, which to my understanding is very similar to W231. for HP-38 they list 4.4-4.8 (velocities: 1085-1195) Hodgdon lists 4.3-4.8 (1079-1135)

Maybe i will just buy a container of HP-38 and call it a day. I can save the 231 for .45

 

[LiveLife]

mohunter55, W231 and HP38 are now the same exact powder.

 

[Tilos]

mohunter55:

I would also suggest that you try to move away from the 'puter and step on over to your reloading bench:banghead:

Reload, shoot...repeat

...or just keep checking back here, read the new posts that say the exact same thing.

Sorry, I don't have the patiences of bds

 

[1SOW]

.005" change in OAL using 231/HP38 doesn't show any significant change in speed on a chronograph.

Many presses will vary .003"-.005" regularly.

Shorten it. It won't make a noticeable difference in speed or pressure.