Berry's 9mm 115gr plated FP's

[Dreaded]

OK i have a few noob questions, I ordered 1000 of these bullets per a reloading friends suggestion. I loaded them with 4.1 gr of titegroup at a OAL of 1.125 per my manual. The only thing i was worried about was the OAL because i know 9mm is very picky with this. I went to the range and shot a dozen and about half of them were holding the slide open. A light tap on the slide cured the problem and all fired well with no signs of excessive pressure.

Now here is my question, I mic'd the bullets and they were in the high .356" to low .357" dia. Do you think this was what was holding the slide open or was it the OAL because its a FP bullet? I suppose a chamber drop is in order.

I wonder why they don't just give seating depths with loads instead of OAL. It would be much easier to figure out if they gave me a .XXX seating depth and do the math for the height of my bullet in a given weight.

 

[Steve H]

for what it's worth......I just picked up 1000 Berrys 115gr 9mm rnds. I use a lot of Unique but I wasn't too sure about the load or OAL with a plated bullet. Berrys gave me the phone # of a fellow in So. Calif. that has worked with them and can give advise on loads for their bullets. I loaded up some of the 115's RNDS with 5.6 grs. of Unique and set the OAL at 1.135. They worked great. This pretty much follows the load in the Speer books, NOT the Lyman books. If you want/need PM me and I will give you the name and # of the Berrys guy that has the info.

 

[depoloni]

PM me if you like - have chronograph worked-up loads with Berry's 115 RN and Rainier 115 RN and HP (very similar) using W-231 (HP-38), Unique, and a handful of other powders in a CZ-75B.

 

[Walkalong]

I load the Ranier 115 Gr RN at 1.130 to 1.135 O.A.L. with good results in my 9MM's.

Welcome to THR

 

[Dreaded]

PM's sent, Walkalong that sounds right for the round nose bullets. Im shooting the flat points, out of curiosity what is the height of the bullets your shooting.

 

[helg]

It may occur if you do not crimp enough after flaring case mouth. Compare neck diameter of your reload with factory round.

 

[philbo]

My suggestion is to shorten the OAL, especially if you're feeding these through a double stack magazine. I've used Berry's 115 HP and 124 FN, and with both I've had to shorten the OAL to 1.080 to get reliable feeding in anything other than a single stack magazine. Load a few at various lengths with your starting load until you see results you like.

 

[Dreaded]

Thanks guys, i will check the crimp dia. Im using a Lee FCD. Ill also go load 10 each and reduce the OAL by .01 until i get down to 1.08 and see how it goes.

 

[Dreaded]

OK, i pulled my barrel out and tried one of the dummy rounds i made up and it stuck about a 1/16" past what a factory load does. I seated the bullet deeper in .01" increments until i could drop it in the chamber just like the factory round. My final length came in at 1.09" so now im wondering if im safe with the 115gr FN bullet seated at 1.09" with 4.1gr of titegroup. Does anyone have a load that fits the parameters that i need?

 

[RVenick]

I am loading 124g's with 4.1g Titegroup with a OAL of 1.095 and they work great in my Hi Power. The last 115's I loaded I was using W231 but the OAL was the same. I don't think the OAL will cause you any problems and that 4.1g is a starting load according to my Speer #14.

 

[71Commander]

I believe that you should have kept the OAL at 1.125. When you were doing the chamber drop test, you should have been using the FCD. Your problem sounds like the crimp, not length.

 

[helg]

I would still suggest to check neck diameter. However, in order to have the same max chamber pressure as you get with [email protected]"OAL, you may use [email protected]". This drops muzzle speed from 1127 to 1102 fps. See attached pictures. The third picture shows that [email protected]" gives overpressured load. Note that the data are for 115gr FMJ, and bla-bla-bla - I have not loaded Berrys.

 

[Steve H]

Dreaded, Check you PM's name & number is there. Berrys 115gr RNDS is .552" "tall" but I only chceked one of them.

 

[Walkalong]

The Ranier 124 Gr TrFP that I tried was .535 long by .356. I loaded it at 1.060.

The Berrys 124 Gr HP that I tried was .549 long by .3555. I loaded it at 1.030.

 

[The Bushmaster]

I'm using Rainier's 124 grain plated HP and seating them to 1.095" to 1.100". The Rainier 124 grain HP is .555 to .560 in length and .355 to .356 in diameter. My favorite load is 4.7 to 4.9 grains of W-231. 1050 to 1070 fps from a 3.39" barrel. With no signs of over pressure.

Using a 115 grain flat nose bullet seated to 1.090" should be just fine. My Winchester 115 grain HP bullets are .540" in length.

 

[Dreaded]

Neck dia. is .002" larger then some factory bullets i have, .378" on factory rounds and .380" on my reloads. This is what i expected with the bullets being .357" dia vs .355" factory bullets.

 

[The Bushmaster]

My 9mm X 19 Rainier cartridges are crimped to .376 to .377"...

 

[helg]

With Berrys 115gr bullet, which length was kindly reported by Steve H, you have to reduce your TG load from [email protected]" to [email protected]" to get similar speed and pressure. See attachments.

Maximum neck diameter for 9mm cartridge is 9.65mm or 0.380" (see link) - so your reloads are exactly on the edge. A little extra crimp should not deform a bullet but keep the recommended OAL with reliable feeding.