Unique in 9mm with 124 plated berry's/xtreme or similar?

[1KPerDay]

I've consulted several sources (including recommended loads for lead, plated, FMJ, JHP etc.) with pretty widely varying max loads, starting at 4 grains, starting at 4.5 grains, max of 4.5 grains, max of 5 grains....

I'm starting around 4 but just wondered if anyone could give me a clue what to expect, and what works for them. I just ran out of my 8-lb jug of American Select, which I'd been using for my range loads with great success.

I have Promo/Red dot which I use for MBC smallball in my outdoor loads (smoky), and HP38 (rather save for .38 special and .380), WST (rather save for .40), bullseye (rather save for .38 special), Ramshot silhouette (haven't used yet), power pistol (don't like very much so far for my typical low-end target/plinking loads), Autocomp (haven't used yet).

No more than one or two pounds of any, other than red dot and unique, though... so I'd like to find something that works well in those powders ideally.

 

[rcmodel]

I am running 5.0 Unique with Berry plated 124 RN seated 1.120".

Good load in my guns.

rc

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

Jebus! Whatta ya gotta do to beat RC to the punch?

His and mine are the same....mixed 9mm brass, CCI small pistol primers, and Berry's 124 gr. plated flat noses over 5 gr. of Unique @ an OAL of 1.119. Runs my G26 and Beretta Px4 SC very sweetly. I think I started at 4.3 gr. and worked up. I have not chrono'd these but they are just beginning to get "hot" at 4.9 gr. I have not seen any signs of excess pressure or indications that I'm at or near the upper limit.

VooDoo

 

[340PD]

MY 9mm load,
124 Berrys RN
over
4.0 gr Titegroup
or
5.0 gr. Unique
No leading, fouling, feeding, extraction, or accuracy issues in any of my 9mm pistols
YMMV.

 

[Schwing]

With my xtreme 124 Grain rn bullets I found the best accuracy with 5.3 grains of unique. Unfortunately, I have never found a really good load in 9mm with red dot. I am sure others have but it just never worked well for me.

 

[1KPerDay]

Thanks all.

 

[Walkalong]

Jebus! Whatta ya gotta do to beat RC to the punch?

You gotta be fast.

 

[rg1]

Unique with 124 plated works well for mild loads at the 4.8 grain level and cycles and feeds fine at that level. I'd load plated up to 5.2 grains of Unique with CCI primers and mixed cases. Just be careful watching pressure signs and ejection distance and careful going any higher. Of course looking at accuracy from 4.5 starting loads and going up. Using 5.0 grains makes a nice load with 124 gr. bullets. Lightly taper crimp plated bullets.

 

[Jlr2267]

I am running 5.0 Unique with Berry plated 124 RN seated 1.120".

Good load in my guns.

rc

This ^^^

 

[DudeRick]

I used to load 5.1 gr of Unique on 124 gr Xtreme plated projectiles that worked well.

 

[snakeye]

I am close to the rest...running 9mm at 5.2 Unique with 124 gr Extremes at 1.15 oal

 

[Kosh75287]

I kinda got the impression that 5.0-5.4/Unique/124 was as prevalent a combination as the 2.7/BullsEye/148HBWC load in .38 Special, or 8.0/Unique/255 in .45 Colt. I've tried RedDot/Promo in 9x19, but got better groups with Unique and really very nice groups with Herco (but it sounds like you'd rather not add another powder to your inventory, just now). It seems to work very well for .357-level loads to be shot in short barrels.The harder I push my reloads with it, the cleaner it tends to burn.
If the Red Dot/Promo loads are smokey, try putting as much crimp as good reloading practice allows on the case. In MY experience, it seems to make the powder burn more completely, which reduces a good portion of the soot. YMMV

I hope this helps.

 

[Dudedog]

I have loaded Unique 4.3 and 4.6 with Extreme 124 truncated cone and MBC lead cone. prefered 4.3 with the lead 4.6 with the plated.

 

[Quags]

I ran these two combos last night:

124 gr CPRN X-treme
5.0 gr Unique
1.15" OAL

and

124 gr CPRN x-treme
4.6 gr Unique
1.12" OAL

I like the 4.6 gr at 1.12" better. Ran in the following:

CZ SP-01
M&P9 Full Size
M&P Shield

I also load:

124gr LRN MBC
4.0 gr Unique
1.07" OAL (fits the CZ)

 

[Dudedog]

Also used 3.7 and 4grs of Promo with the 9mm MBC cones. Prefer the 3.7 load. I was suprised, the sample of Promo BDS gave actually meters better than Unique in my Lee Pro disk.
Don't know if Red Dot would behave the same.

 

[1KPerDay]

I have found this to be the case also in my PAD. Unique meters worse than any other powder I've tried, including the "big flake" Herco, Red Dot, Promo, American Select, etc.

Don't know why, but my measure doesn't like unique.

 

[vaalpens]

I did some initial testing with Xtreme 124gr CP RN with Unique this weekend starting with a min of 4.5gr and a max of 4.9gr and a COL of 1.150". They all cycled without any issues through my SP2022, although recoil and ejection was weak at 4.5gr/4.6gr. Grouping at 10 yards were good for all loads. My next round of testing will be from 4.7gr to 5.0gr which will be tested at 10 and 15 yards. Hopefully I will then have a better idea of a preferred load for this combination of powder and projectile.

 

[1KPerDay]

Initial results for any interested:

I loaded 20 each at 4.3, 4.6, and 5.0 grains (the steps my PAD throws; which BTW are a full grain lighter than the chart indicates, which occurs with no other powder).

Compared the off-hand accuracy, function, recoil impulse, etc. to my "standard" range load of 4.1 grains of American Select, through S&W M&P CORE 9L.

124 extreme xtreme plated seated 1.15", mixed brass, CCI SPP, loaded on LCT with Lee 3-die set.

4.3 Unique: slightly lighter than 4.1 American select baseline. Good function and accuracy. Probably a bit soft for reliable weak-hand shooting.

4.6 Unique: very similar to 4.1 American select. Recoil maybe a bit more abrupt but hits to similar POA and is easy to hit steel plates quickly. Good load.
5.0 felt hotter than standard load but not at all sharp. Good load. Didn't perform formal accuracy testing but didn't miss many plates. All seemed adequately accurate for my purposes.

All brass looked good, no malfunctions. Will probably stick with 4.6 for range and informal competition use where no power factor is measured.

 

[LiveLife]

Jebus! Whatta ya gotta do to beat RC to the punch?

You gotta be fast.

Many of us think rcmodel is a secret government experiment and actually a database machine posing as a human ...

124 plated berry's/xtreme ... Promo/Red dot which I use for MBC smallball in my outdoor loads (smoky)

Not to hijack the thread, have you tried Promo/Red Dot for plated bullets? Since they are plated, smokiness would be less of an issue.

 

[1KPerDay]

Think so, and I'm sure it would be great, but I want to save my current stock for my "proven" MBC load, of which I shoot a lot through my SIG in outdoor matches.

 

[Quags]

1K - Care to share "proven" MBC load?????

I'll be shooting these tonight:

124 gr CPRN x-treme
4.6 gr Unique
1.12" OAL

 

[vaalpens]

It seems Unique has a sweet spot around 4.6gr using Xtreme 124gr CP RN, depending on the COL. I'm not sure how reliable the cycling will be at 1.15" COL, so the 1.12" COL should five more pressure, and if the same accuracy, then it could be the load. I will try out the lower COL at some time. Here are my results from 10yards using a COL of 1.15".

 

[1KPerDay]

1K - Care to share "proven" MBC load?????

I'll be shooting these tonight:

124 gr CPRN x-treme
4.6 gr Unique
1.12" OAL

in my pistols with .357" bores (SIG and Beretta) I load MBC "smallball" sized .358" over 3.8 grains of red dot or Promo, seated 1.089" or thereabouts. You generally have to seat these bullets deeper than other 9mm bullet profiles. Very accurate and reliable for me. 4.0 Bullseye also works, and is more accurate in the Beretta but not as accurate in the P226. These would not chamber in my S&W M&P9L, though, even though the ones I tried were sized .356". I imagine to get them to work in that pistol I'd have to seat them even shorter.

BTW I wager that 4.6 grains Unique load will be a shooter for you.

 

[Quags]

Thanks for the info.

I have to seat the 9mm MBC LRN at 1.07" to fit my CZ SP-01. I have some red dot and plan on working some loads with it next months. This helps.

 

[Drop45]

4.9-5.1 gr Unique with 124gr plated round nose @ 1.136 oal. Just loaded 1300 rounds tonight; I hope they chamber:banghead: