Considerations loading 9mm with 147gr bullets

[johnandersonoutdoors]

Hello all,

I am thinking about ordering some 147gr RMR Plated RN bullets. This will be my first step away from 115gr FMJs. I use mixed brass and this ammo will be fired from several M&P 9s and a Glock 34.

I am hoping to hear from folks who have used these bullets and hear about 147gr 9mm loading in general. I will be using Ramshot Silhouette. I have my 2nd Ed. Modern Reloading manual, a couple of year old Speer manual, and access to the Ramshot data online.

I am curious about the avg length of round nose and flat point 147gr bullets, would anyone be able to provide info about the length of their bullets? And possibly the oal you settled on for your gun.

The Modern Reloading manual has data for 147gr plated, jacketed, lead, and xtp. I believe the Ramshot data shows the Golden Saber and Speer TMJ.

Thanks in advance.

 

[WessonOil]

Whether it be 115, 124/125, and 147, all my RMR Round Nose jacketed/plated have been about 1.15 OAL for my M&P Compact, Pro, CORE, CORE Ported, and FX-9 carbine.
Really do like the light recoil of 147, but with all the shooting my wife and I do, settled on 124/125.

 

[johnandersonoutdoors]

Whether it be 115, 124/125, and 147, all my RMR Round Nose jacketed/plated have been about 1.15 OAL for my M&P Compact, Pro, CORE, CORE Ported, and FX-9 carbine.
Really do like the light recoil of 147, but with all the shooting my wife and I do, settled on 124/125.

That is good to know, as I have always liked to load my 115s long. It sounds like you have used plated bullets before, what do you do for data? Did you seek out plated data (there is some in the Modern Reloading manual)? Or did you compare jacketed and lead data for a similar bullet and go somewhere in between?

 

[Hokie_PhD]

Whether it be 115, 124/125, and 147, all my RMR Round Nose jacketed/plated have been about 1.15 OAL for my M&P Compact, Pro, CORE, CORE Ported, and FX-9 carbine.
Really do like the light recoil of 147, but with all the shooting my wife and I do, settled on 124/125.

I recently tried the 124s with BE86 and found them nicer to shoot than the 115s. Are the 147s that much softer than the 124s? And what powder do you use, and how much (if you don't want to share the exact load, can you tell me at least where in the load range you load them and the source)

 

[redbullitt]

Not sure if it helps any, but my 147 xtps all get loaded at 1.100, spec listed on hodgdon. I can go longer, but these will plunk in all my 9mms without question.

 

[Dudedog]

I like 124s the best in 9mm. (but everybody has their favorite)
I do prefer 147s over 115s. The 147s just have a different recoil feel.
Lots of people like them for gun games where you need a certain PF. PF is computed by bullet weight * velocity so since velocity is not squared as when computing muzzle energy you can have a load with less ME with a 147 that still makes PF.
In general for plated bullets I have found somewhere between start and midrange jacketed charges work best.

Since you have a couple 9mm pistols I would plunk test and load to an OAL that works in the one that requires the shortest OAL.
Sometimes I find a slightly shorter OAL than will plunk shoots better for me but as long as will plunk - a hair is a good place to start.
I loaded RMR "Target HP" 147s to 1.10 and the RNs to about 1.13.
Have fun with your 147s.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I load RMR 147's with 3.8-4.0 grains of VV N340. Don't recall the COL but I had to get them pretty short for a couple of my 9's.
They are very soft shooting but I have loaded 124's that were almost as good and cheaper.

 

[sbwaters]

You will be real happy with the way the Ramshot Silhouette measures. I use it for all my 9MM. The OAL varies by gun. My CZ needs a shorter length to plonk and twist with most bullets, compared to my XDs.

I haven’t used the RMR 147, but the RMR 115 and 124 RN will load 1.160 okay.

 

[berettaprofessor]

I load Berrys 147 plates behind 3.8 grains CFE pistol, OAL 1.140, velocity 844fps, SD 14.3. FYI Remington umc commercial is OAL 1.093 and goes 926.5 fps.

 

[mstreddy]

I load a variety of 147 gr over 3.5 grains of W231. I'm loading them at 1.12 - 1.135 in OAL.

 

[wally]

I use 4.1 gr Unique with a variety of 147gr plated and FMJ bullets, I need COL of about 1.125 for my Glock and Kahr mags which seem to be the shortest of all my 9mm guns. I refuse to make gun specific loads, the "worst" sets the limits for the rest. Using 3.9gr worked great in everything but my Glocks. where it usually wouldn't lock back and sometimes closed on an empty chamber failing to pick up the next round.

Soft shooting and quiet when suppressed in pistols and SBRs.

 

[johnandersonoutdoors]

Thanks for sharing your experience guys. I appreciate it.

I reached out to RMR and asked about the diameter of the 147 plated bullets. Jake indicated that they measure .3565. Seems like a good bullet for the price.

I have loaded many thousands of 115 fmj from Montana Gold as long as 1.160. I currently have a couple of cases of RMR 115 fmj waiting in the wings, which are basically identical in size and shape. And I think my next case will be the 147 plated from RMR. I may even throw in a case of 124s and see how they feel. I have always stuck with 115s, so I really don't know how anything else will feel, although I shot a few of a friends 147 reloads (somewhat light loads) and I carry 147 Federal HST. I think overall I will like the feel of the recoil better with 147 and perhaps I may like the 124s too.

 

[LiveLife]

I am curious about the avg length of round nose and flat point 147gr bullets, would anyone be able to provide info about the length of their bullets? And possibly the oal you settled on for your gun.

OAL that will work for your pistol will depend on the barrel's leade/freebore length and start angle of rifling.

Use your barrel to determine the max OAL then function test by feeding dummy rounds from the magazine and incrementally decrease OAL (I usually use .005" increments) until you have reliable feeding/chambering - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...l-with-your-bullet.506678/page-2#post-8864541

Various 124 gr FMJ/RN bullets at 1.160" will fully chamber in my KKM/Lone Wolf barrels with longer leade but I need to use shorter than 1.120" to chamber in the newer Lone Wolf barrel with almost no leade.

 

[WessonOil]

I recently tried the 124s with BE86 and found them nicer to shoot than the 115s. Are the 147s that much softer than the 124s? And what powder do you use, and how much (if you don't want to share the exact load, can you tell me at least where in the load range you load them and the source)

I used 3.8 grains of WST with the RMR 147 plated Round Nose, as less than that was not operating the slide reliably.
I use Lee Auto Disks and 3.8 was the next step up.
Since I load on the light side for competition, exceeding the maximum velocity on a plated was not an issue, although RMR has a generous upper end velocity on their plated.

 

[Hokie_PhD]

WessenOil thanks. I'm still learning about loads, would you mind explaining why you chose WST? I've seen that powder mentioned some for competition loads but not as often as Win231 and a few others so, I'm just curious as to what benefits you get from it.

 

[Walkalong]

Lightly colored and easy to see in case, good fill, less position sensitive than many powders, clean, accurate. Good stuff.

Fast for 9MM and especially with heavy bullets, which means start low and go real easy.

 

[johnandersonoutdoors]

johnandersonoutdoors said: ↑
I am curious about the avg length of round nose and flat point 147gr bullets, would anyone be able to provide info about the length of their bullets? And possibly the oal you settled on for your gun.
OAL that will work for your pistol will depend on the barrel's leade/freebore length and start angle of rifling.

I should have edited those 2 sentences, bds, and taken out the second one altogether. I was looking to see if anyone has measured the length of their 147gr projectiles. And if so maybe they can share the measurement and which bullet it was. Mentioning oal may have muddied the water.

 

[WessonOil]

WessenOil thanks. I'm still learning about loads, would you mind explaining why you chose WST? I've seen that powder mentioned some for competition loads but not as often as Win231 and a few others so, I'm just curious as to what benefits you get from it.

Actually, it was for no other reason than it was recommended to me by a guy who was a highly ranked shooter and who he and his friends used that as a favorite load.

 

[Hokie_PhD]

Actually, it was for no other reason than it was recommended to me by a guy who was a highly ranked shooter and who he and his friends used that as a favorite load.

Well having a recommendation by someone who knows what they're doing and has good results is a great reason.

 

[LoonWulf]

I load a variety of 147 gr over 3.5 grains of W231. I'm loading them at 1.12 - 1.135 in OAL.

Thats basically the same load i used with 147mbc. I havent chronod them yet, but out of my witness p-s they function the slide perfectly with an 8lb spring and the shot cycle is slow, but really smooth.