Self defense 9mm loads

[Mycin]

Since BE-86 is unobtanium, I bought a pound of Ramshot Silhouette to try for this, but haven't gotten around to loading it. Recipes for it look promising. Anyone used Silhouette for defense-class 9mm loads?

 

[Lennyjoe]

I load 147gr XTP over 5.0gr BE-86. 1060fps from a 4" Glock 19 barrel. Extremely accurate with extremely low flash and report.

I settled at 5.1 gr of BE-86 under 147 XTP’s for my full size 9’s and Kel-Tec Sub 2K

 

[bullseye308]

I load be-86 and 124 gold dots and have for years. It is not a max load, but very accurate and what It may lack in penetration, I will gladly make up for in volume of rounds dispensed should that unfortunate day come. This would not be a time to be stingy, as comparatively ammo is still the cheapest component in a self defense shooting.

Look at it realistically, the odds of you being in a shooting are still very low. If you are forced to shoot in self defense, the odds of anyone questioning your ammo is even more statistically minute. Odds are there have been quite a few shoots with reloads, but so far it has not been a legit concern, just an internet scare of what could happen. Except it hasn’t been an issue, so far. Could it be, absolutely, but what are the odds with all the shootings that happen in this country, and you being in one, where they question your ammo and actually have an anti or rotten defense use you as the first example of saving yourself or family with reloads?
It is a choice you have to make for yourself, and personally I trust my ammo much more than any factory I have seen, I carefully inspect every case, weigh every charge on a balance I trust, I measure every round, and I have tested several thousand in the guns they will be fired from. If you have any doubt about your skills, process, or competency to load your own, carry whatever makes you comfortable. You will have to (hopefully) live with whatever choice you make.

 

[Airborne Falcon]

I know that there are schools of thought regarding not loading your own self defense ammunition. Please do not reply that “you should not load your own defensive ammo.” The reasons have been covered many times.

With that being said, do any of you have defensive loads for 9mm using 124 and 147 gr bullets? Most of the loads I have seen do not seem to be going very fast. I load some 9mm but my stuff is milder practice stuff.

I load 147 V-Crowns over 4.2 grains of N330 and it is the most beautiful personal/self defense load I can imagine. It is incredibly accurate out of my SIGs, low recoil, great performance.

I use nearly the same load for my practice loads, 4.1 grains of N330 under an 147 grn Xtreme Range Fodder HP.

Back in the day, before I switched to V-Crowns and when I was shooting competitively, I used HP/XTPs over 4.1 grains of N330.

The common denominator(s) for all three loads?

Low recoil
Low muzzle flash
Incredibly accurate out of all my SIGs and both of my Shields
... and all the SIGs clocked those loads between 950-1000 fps.

The thing about the V-Crowns ... they expanded in our tests like the old Talons but with even better penetration in gel through denim.

I did like the XTPs but when we started comparing gel test results the V-Crown was superior to anything we tried. They're not all I shoot these days but they are all I'll load in my carry piece.

Sierra projectiles and VihtaVuori propellants are a tough combo to out-do.

 

[kcofohio]

I load 147 V-Crowns over 4.2 grains of N330 and it is the most beautiful personal/self defense load I can imagine. It is incredibly accurate out of my SIGs, low recoil, great performance.

I use nearly the same load for my practice loads, 4.1 grains of N330 under an 147 grn Xtreme Range Fodder HP.

Back in the day, before I switched to V-Crowns and when I was shooting competitively, I used HP/XTPs over 4.1 grains of N330.

The common denominator(s) for all three loads?

Low recoil
Low muzzle flash
Incredibly accurate out of all my SIGs and both of my Shields
... and all the SIGs clocked those loads between 950-1000 fps.

The thing about the V-Crowns ... they expanded in our tests like the old Talons but with even better penetration in gel through denim.

I did like the XTPs but when we started comparing gel test results the V-Crown was superior to anything we tried. They're not all I shoot these days but they are all I'll load in my carry piece.

Sierra projectiles and VihtaVuori propellants are a tough combo to out-do.

I found this article about the V-Crown 147 gr ammo interesting.
https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/ammo-test-sig-sauer-elite-performance-v-crown-9mm-147-grain/

 

[Charlie98]

I load either the 124grn XTP or the 124grn Speer Gold Dot over Unique. Why Unique? It's the slowest appropriate powder I have for the 9mm.

I used to be a big fan of 147grn bullets in the 9mm, but since I've switched to shorter barrels (3.1" and 3.6", respectively...) I've had to go down in bullet weight to get reasonable velocities. If I was carrying a 5" 9mm... (think BHP, 1911, etc...) I would probably go back to 147's.

My normal factory carry ammos is 124grn or 135grn, which you can still find here and there.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Hornady 124 grain HP/XTP. 4.9 - 5.0 grains of W231. 1080+ fps from a 3 1/3" barrel (Firestar)

 

[Airborne Falcon]

I found this article about the V-Crown 147 gr ammo interesting.
https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/ammo-test-sig-sauer-elite-performance-v-crown-9mm-147-grain/

Hey thanks, yeah, good read. I could have written those same words based upon what we did here on the home range. They're just really good pills in the 147 grain weight but all the guys are telling me the 124s are equally good at supersonic speeds.

I like slower heavier, (for all the reasons stated in that article and I'm even running an Ospry 45), and once I tried these it was game over for me in my search for rhe best bullet.

 

[DMW1116]

I’ll

Since BE-86 is unobtanium, I bought a pound of Ramshot Silhouette to try for this, but haven't gotten around to loading it. Recipes for it look promising. Anyone used Silhouette for defense-class 9mm loads?

I have some and have tried it with 115 grain Berrys for practice. The upper end of normal pressure loads seems accurate for my pistols. I want to try the Lehigh 65-68 grain bullets with Silhouette. That’s my next pistol reloading project after 38 Special loads now that I found some brass.

 

[Airborne Falcon]

I bought 1000 of the new "MPR Nukes" the 124 gr JHPs from RMR today. I'll try to run those up somewhere in the 1100 fps range but at 11.3 cents per they are cheap yet their performance, based upon the pictures RMR provided, seems to be exemplary.

If these work out and perform at various velocities from 950-1250 fps .... I can run these in the pistols and run these in the carbines.

These appear to be impressive. These may be the best deal out there right now.

 

[Lennyjoe]

Here’s the text from the RMR article for those not aware of the above bullet offering from RMR:


“We have been wanting to make a really good self defense HP for a while now. In the past our biggest issue with the MPR (Multi Purpose Round) was that it required 1150-1200 fps to reliably expand. This was doable through full size firearms, but left the short barrel conceal carry guns without much hope of success. So, we went full out and redesigned our bullet. We pre-cut the lead core so that it will easily open upon impact. Our NUKE is unique in that we gave it three internal petals and six external jacket cuts. The result in ballistics gel is pretty impressive. At 1100 FPS we’re getting about 14″ of penetration with a diameter of about .630″ in total expansion. At 1000 fps we are getting 16-17″ of penetration with a diameter of about .590″ in total expansion. Our three petal design leaves the expanded bullet with a very distinct design that kind of resembles the international symbol for radiation. We’ve been testing it for a while now and we’re pretty confident that it is THE bullet for short or long barreled self defense loads. Whether you’re shooting for practice, competition, or self-defense, make sure you’re always hitting with a NUKE!

The meplat is only a tiny bit bigger but the taper into the hp cavity is considerably improved. We wanted to get the lead away from the tip for those customers who had complained about the lead causing hangups in feeding for some of your guns. This will also help with some of the discoloration that can happen during shipment. Sometimes the post office puts our packages through a tumbler and the lead exposed tips can rub on eachother and cause the jackets to look leaded and dirty. Hopefully this will solve that issue. These are available in both 124 and 115 grains and will replace the original MPR. This new MPR(NUKE) is being made on a newer machine with a completely different tooling setup so we are currently working with the old machine to make a 135 grain MPR. We aren't sure if we can make a 147 on that machine though.”

 

[mrawesome22-250]

I'm hoping for a bonded 147gr XTP one of these days.

 

[RashQuestion]

These appear to be impressive. These may be the best deal out there right now.

They look great! Please let us know what you find. I currently have a good supply of the older MPRs so I won't be ordering the "Nukes" right away.

Thanks in advance of you letting us all know!