Need a'little help, 9MM 122 H.Cast & OAL...

[Red_Dog_Leader]

Hi all,

bullet is a Shooter's Choice 122grn hard cast truncated flat point. .547 tall.

I've loaded 3 dummies of these, they seem awfully short...??
But they hold in the mag and feed/eject OK. (M&P full size)

Their @ a OAL of 1.075, had to be to get them deep enough to just cover the lube channel, right? Thats the correct way I assume, hence my ?'s

I've got TiteGroup in the hopper, going to try 3.7 of it. Planned on a few of these and then trying W231, Unique and maybe Clays.

Looking at the LEE and Lyman book at 124's or 125's (but not exact shaped) bullets their loaded a little longer, ~1.090- I'm just worried about the pressure, those books don't show too many that short.
But if their loaded longer, the lube shows...





Just want a more experienced comment on these...
Many TIA, Tom

 

[ReloaderFred]

That bullet is very similar to the old D&J 122 grain FP bullet. I use them for lever gun loads for cowboy action shooting, since they feed so well through the carbines. Just start low and work up your load with the OAL that works through your gun.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Red_Dog_Leader]

Thanks Fred,

I got them at Kempf's the other day. Their big on CAS.

I've reloaded the Raniers 124's, thought I'd get some experience working with the lead stuff.

Pouring over the books and searches on THR for TG and 122 leads, 3.7 is about 10% less than the Jacketed 124 or 5's.

 

[Steve C]

I'm just worried about the pressure,

Hodgdon's on line data says 3.6 to 4.0grs of Tightgroup with a 125gr LCN bullet with velocites running 1,002 fps to 1,098 fps with pressures from 22,900cup to 30,400cup. Not a powder that's going to give you much of a load range. Tightgroup is such a low volume high density powder that there should be plenty of room for it to rattle around in the case and even if volume is reduced shouldn't result in higher pressure.

 

[Red_Dog_Leader]

Hodgdon's on line data says 3.6 to 4.0grs of Tightgroup with a 125gr LCN bullet with velocites running 1,002 fps to 1,098 fps with pressures from 22,900cup to 30,400cup. Not a powder that's going to give you much of a load range. Tightgroup is such a low volume high density powder that there should be plenty of room for it to rattle around in the case and even if volume is reduced shouldn't result in higher pressure.

OK Steve, sounds good.

I see your point about not having much room to work with TG, although of the powders I currently have, 231 seems to have the most latidude.

 

[ReloaderFred]

You may want to weigh those bullets and see how much they actually weigh. It's not uncommon for an advertised 122 grain bullet to actually weigh 124, or 120 grains. You'll be safe using the 124 grain data for them, and working up the load from the start is the smart thing to do.

As for seating depth, I've had to seat similar bullets even deeper, due to a couple of 9mm pistols I own with very short throats. The exposed shank of the bullet would contact the rifling and increase pressure. Since the dummy rounds you loaded up chamber, then you shouldn't have any problem with them.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Walkalong]

I have loaded a very similar 122 Gr. lead Trunacated Flat point as well as Raniers 124 Gr. TrFP to an O.A.L. of 1.060 with good results. That may be a good starting point for you. I used W231 for the lead bullets.

 

[rangerich]

OAL much shorter than usual

I had a box of shooters choice 122gr bullets like this, the same as brassmanbrass 122gr.
Used my normal Titegroup load for 125gr lead rnd nose and went to the range with 10 each of various powder charges ( oal 1.125 ).
They worked for a couple of rounds in my Beretta 92g, then the gun would not go into battery to fire.
The slide was not all the way forward, and would not come back, the round had not fired.
With much effort, I got the slide back and unburnt powder flew everywhere.
The bullet was lodged in the barrel.
The bullet oal was too long and was being forced into the lands of the barrel, ejecting it pulled the case out but not the bullet.
On return to my bench, I removed the barrel from the gun and tested the rounds. They did not seat all the way.
I adjusted my loading oal until the bullet seated correctly in the barrel and made a new bunch of test loads with reduced charges due to the shorter oal.
Ended up with an oal of 1.050 and 3.4 to 3.8 of Titegroup, all cycle well in other guns also.
My lesson learned is when developing a new load, test in in a barrel for fit.

rich

 

[Vern Humphrey]

This is one time where a chronograph comes in handy. Pistol cartridges will not show "pressure signs" like rifle cartridges. (If you see "pressure signs" on a pistol cartridge, get down on your knees and thank God you still have all your fingers.)

But generally speaking, if you're getting max velocity out of a load, you're close to max pressure. So chronograph your loads, and if you start hitting max velocity for the powder and bullet weight listed, stop there.

 

[armoredman]

rangerick, had the exact same thing happen when I very first loaded lead in my PO1. I did the same thing, too, and the rest of those worked fine. When I get my 9mm mold up and running, I will see how well it works there, too.
Your rounds LOOK normal. If within all published data norms, and chamber fine, go for it.

 

[Red_Dog_Leader]

Thanks for the replys'...T

 

[Travis Two]

This bullet is a cast duplicate of the original Air Force design from Hornadays 124 gr. Truncated Cone Bullet. The OAL. spec in the Hornaday is 1.040. And there are load specs in the Hornaday book at this Oal. This Oal was set so that the contact point of the Ogive would duplicate the feed reliability of round nose ammunition But the flat on the nose would give a higher degree of stopping power over traditional round nose designs which is what the Air Force was after when the military was switching over to the 9mm. Since they could not use hollowpoints the TC design was used.

 

[halvey]

This bullet is a cast duplicate of the original Air Force design from Hornadays 124 gr. Truncated Cone Bullet. The OAL. spec in the Hornaday is 1.040. And there are load specs in the Hornaday book at this Oal.

I use these bullets and load them to 1.040.

I've tried this in 4 different Glock replacement barrels, and depending, I can load these to 1.040, 1.070 and 1.090.

The first barrel I could load to 1.090, so when I got the 2nd barrel and could only load to 1.040, I thought it was out of spec. First I called the bullet manufacturer (Meister I think), and they would not give the OAL out. Damn lawyers I bet... Anyway, I sent the barrel back as defective. When the 2nd barrel arrived, I couldn't load to 1.090, but to 1.070. Whatever, I can live with that. So on my last barrel, again, it would only load to 1.040.

I then found some old Winchester lead reloads I bought from Cabelas years ago, and the bullet was similar and the OAL was 1.040

So, that's what I'm sticking with.

 

[Red_Dog_Leader]

Every rnd. fed, fired and ejected.

Tried just 1, then 1 more then 5 in a clip, then 10, no problems.

Very pleasant to shoot...

Again, thanks to all for the help, Tom

 

[davinci]

that's my favorite 9mm plinking load...exactly what you're doing, down to the powder. Even the TCBB bullet your using matches mine, and yes...they are the right length. I had to seat them to the point where they look like yours just so they would chamber.

There's nothing wrong with that load. good, accurate...solid load. works in all 9mm's I've tried.

 

[evan price]

I used the Meisters 122 9mm with 4.0 of Titegroup at 1.04 OAL. Worked great in 4 different 9mms from 3" to 4" bbl.

Did have ONE that I must have missed that obviously doubled...wow!
I am so surprised that the gun didn't blow up. Case flowed like lead and primer was nowhere to be found. Slide locked up tight. Once I got it open and extracted I had a perfect mold of the chamber and slide face and a primer pocket large enough that a large pistol primer might be too small.
Talk about thanking God for all my fingers.