One last 9mm question (Need help!)

[mugsie]

I just started loading 9mm and I'm using the Speer manual. I have Meister LRN 115g bullets, blue dot powder. I loaded 5.8g of bluedot (according to info given to me on this website from a Lyman manual as Speer doesn't have 115g, only 125g LRN). I set the OAL to 1.037. I got this from miking up a commercial Winchester 9mm JRN and the OAL was 1.035. I set my depth for about the same thing.

It looks like an awful lot of powder in there (almost compressed). Since I don't have a manual showing the 115g lead bullet, can anyone tell me what powder charge, for Bluedot, and OAL I should be working to. I made 5 rounds with 5.8g and 10 rounds with 6.2g of blue dot, again according to info from a previous post. Before I go to the range to see if these will work, I want to do a sanity check with some experienced reloaders. I'll be firing these in a S&W 4" barrel autoloader.

Thanks for the help guys....

 

[50 Shooter]

www.loadswap.com

 

[Steve C]

Your loads will work fine though you may find them somewhat light and maybe a bit smokey and dirty. Blue Dot performs best and cleans up well at higher pressures. You won't start getting the best out of Blue Dot untill you're above 7.0grs with a 115gr bullet. Blue Dot's as slow a powder as you'll generally find data for in the 9mm. Slow powders like Blue Dot or AA#7 work best high velocity jacketed loads in carbine length barrels. The amounts of Blue Dot needed produce loads that may be compressed or run at near 100% density. For best velocity performance in the 9mm handgun the best burn rate will be in the medium pistol powder range like Unique, AA#5, Power Pistol, Universal or HS6. For low velcity target loads get a faster powder yet, like W231, HP38, Clays, Bullseye, Red Dot, Green Dot, AA#2, etc.