Ed Jaws
Member
I was thrilled with the range report results on my Ruger Flattop 357 and AA #7.
Love that ball powder, going back to my WW296 days, so I got some AA #5 to handload some 9mm rounds seeing how AA #7 performed and metered previously in 357 MAG.
The specifics:
Ruger 9e barrel length 4.14“
X-Treme 124 gr. HPCB RN (Heavy Plate, Concave Base)
Accurate AA#5 powder
CCI 500 primers
Speer brass, once fired
OAL 1.133“
Distance to target 7 YDS.
I loaded up 6 rounds at 6 different powder charges, 5.2, 5.4, 5.6, 5.8, 6.0, 6.2. I boogered up two cases, one 5.2 charge, the other 5.4 by not flaring the case enough after I already loaded all the powder charges so those are 5 shot rounds on paper. These are all thrown powder charges from an old Lyman No.55 with a home made baffle. I used a light taper crimp.
I started off getting the barrel warm with a few magazines of factory rounds then started loading my handload while the wife was blasting away with a SR22. I rested my forearms and began putting rounds down range. Right from the get go I noticed now much lighter the recoil was compared to factory. All the rounds functioned flawlessly at each charge weight. There was no excessive pressure signs after inspection and ejected cases didn’t fly into the next zip code.
I’ll let the pictures speak to the accuracy of each charge weight but after shooting the first two charge weights I felt a little disappointed. Things really picked up with the 5.6 rounds and it looks like I hit the sweet spot with 5.8 at a little under 1.25“. 6.0 opened up a little to a hair over 1.6“ but is most likely on me and my piss-poor eye sight than the loads. I wouldn’t hesitate to make a run of 5.8 or 6.0 for our everyday practice rounds.
These are light and pretty clean loads in my handgun.
Please use reasonable precautions and work up loads for your weapon of choice. In no way am I or THR endorsing the use of these loads in any way.
Love that ball powder, going back to my WW296 days, so I got some AA #5 to handload some 9mm rounds seeing how AA #7 performed and metered previously in 357 MAG.
The specifics:
Ruger 9e barrel length 4.14“
X-Treme 124 gr. HPCB RN (Heavy Plate, Concave Base)
Accurate AA#5 powder
CCI 500 primers
Speer brass, once fired
OAL 1.133“
Distance to target 7 YDS.
I loaded up 6 rounds at 6 different powder charges, 5.2, 5.4, 5.6, 5.8, 6.0, 6.2. I boogered up two cases, one 5.2 charge, the other 5.4 by not flaring the case enough after I already loaded all the powder charges so those are 5 shot rounds on paper. These are all thrown powder charges from an old Lyman No.55 with a home made baffle. I used a light taper crimp.
I started off getting the barrel warm with a few magazines of factory rounds then started loading my handload while the wife was blasting away with a SR22. I rested my forearms and began putting rounds down range. Right from the get go I noticed now much lighter the recoil was compared to factory. All the rounds functioned flawlessly at each charge weight. There was no excessive pressure signs after inspection and ejected cases didn’t fly into the next zip code.
I’ll let the pictures speak to the accuracy of each charge weight but after shooting the first two charge weights I felt a little disappointed. Things really picked up with the 5.6 rounds and it looks like I hit the sweet spot with 5.8 at a little under 1.25“. 6.0 opened up a little to a hair over 1.6“ but is most likely on me and my piss-poor eye sight than the loads. I wouldn’t hesitate to make a run of 5.8 or 6.0 for our everyday practice rounds.
These are light and pretty clean loads in my handgun.
Please use reasonable precautions and work up loads for your weapon of choice. In no way am I or THR endorsing the use of these loads in any way.
