Rmeju said:
I recently bought an M&P Shield in 9mm, and plan to shoot 124gr JHP out of it, both for practice (using Precision Deltas) and to carry (using XTP, Gold Dots, etc.).
While my reloads are indeed more accurate than factory ammunition, for defensive loads, I prefer to use factory Speer Gold Dot HP and Remington Golden Saber JHP ammunition. We discussed the pros/cons of using factory vs reloaded rounds for defensive use to death on multiple threads so I don't think we need to discuss it further here.
With that said, for decades I have been using WSF to produce duplicate factory loads using the same Gold Dot/Golden Saber projectiles for range drills and practice (for higher velocities WSF achieves). While I have tested AutoComp/CFE Pistol/PowerPistol for full power loads, recently BE-86 has been performing well accurately in 9mm/40S&W so I may transition to BE-86. For those that claim they prefer to practice with same POA/POI rounds as factory, I have done testing with factory vs reloads at 7 yards and difference in POI has been less than one inch.
So now I use Red Dot/Promo for practice loads which tend to produce similar recoil impulse/felt recoil as many factory ammunition for more realistic range practice.
Reloading 9mm for short barrels, anything I should know?
All of my handgun loading has been for full sized guns with full sized barrels mostly 1911s in .45 and 10mm.
I've done a little looking around, and I've seen that short barrels can be tricky to get up to velocity, making faster powders a better bet. I'm less concerned about my practice rounds in this regard, but I want to make sure I'm doing it right for my carry loads.
With smaller internal volume of 9mm case, small changes in OAL/seating depth/powder charge/etc. can result more noticeably in chamber pressures and accuracy.
While compact/subcompact with stiffer recoil springs require high-to-near max load data to reliably cycle the slide and extract/eject spent cases, looks like you will be loading at higher range load data so this may not be an issue for you.
Have I identified all the issues for loading 9mm out of a short barrel? Anything else I need to know? Will I need to tweak loadings and/or OAL?
In general, I do not tweak my loads just because I am shooting them in subcompact vs full-size pistols.
Here are some reloading tips specific for 9mm:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=10232332#post10232332
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=10298638#post10298638
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=10045817#post10045817
I'm planning on using Unique for the practice rounds, but I have ... Power Pistol, VVN340, Win231, Titegroup, Bullseye ... 124gr JHP out of a 3.1" barrel.
Any of my listed powders an obvious choice for this task?
I would suggest you load practice rounds so it has similar recoil impulse/felt recoil to defensive loads for more realistic practice. Unique vs Bullseye/Titegroup has different recoil impulse/felt recoil. Bullseye/Titegroup will produce snappy recoil, especially in subcompact pistol and I rather use W231 for practice loads that will be kinder to wrist, especially for practice session lasting several hundred rounds shot with snappy subcompacts. But keep in mind that premium JHP ammunition will produce snappy recoil in subcompact 9mm no matter what.
While Unique is a good powder choice, Walkalong would prefer N340 for higher velocities it can produce (and I would agree). While Power Pistol can produce higher velocities, basketball sized muzzle flash may not be desirable for defensive loads, especially shot from short barrel pistols.
While N340 will produce higher velocities, I would suggest you consider BE-86. I consider BE-86 the modern Unique that meters well and produces very accurate higher velocity loads, even at below near max/max loads. BE-86 has been used by many ammunition manufacturers for decades and recently made available to us reloaders and has a large following -
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=760289
plan to shoot 124gr JHP ... for practice
Consider RMR HM bullets for practice. These are thick plated bullets (
on par with Speer TMJ used for many factory ammunition) rated to 1500 fps. With harder 11-12 BHN alloy core, they resist bullet setback when bullet nose slams on the feeding ramp and produce accuracy up to 1500 fps without plating failure at substantially lower price (They are now my designated reference bullets for accuracy and for carbine loads to 1500 fps) -
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=10245856#post10245856
RMR 124 gr HM RN $76.95/1000 shipped (with 5% THR discount) -
https://rmrbullets.com/shop/bullets...24-gr-rmr-hardcore-match-round-nose-plated-2/
BTW, RMR also sells jacketed bullets. While I have used Montana Gold jacketed bullets for decades, I am transitioning to RMR jacketed bullets as I use them up.