What powders to try for 9mm?

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I swung by the Gun Stop on my way home today. I bought a pound of HP-38. From my understanding HP-38 has the same load data as Winchester 231. I hope to do some loading next week and make to the range.
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My first reloads for the 9mm were 4.0gr W231/HP-38 under a 124/125gr LRN bullet and 4.4gr W231 under a 124gr FMJ bullet. Both worked well, were accurate and were on the light side used mostly for target practice. If you're using a pistol with a farily heavy slide or want a round that's more like a SD round then I would charge 4.4gr HP-38 under a 125gr LRN bullet and up the charge under a 124gr FMJ bullet to 4.7gr or 4.8gr of HP-38.

Those charge weights worked extremely well for me. I think you will like the results you get with HP-38/W231...
 
I've shot a lot of unique, bullseye and blue dot through my 9mm. All with good effect. I think bullseye is the most rounds per pound.
 
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frankge said:
I'm running 6.5g of poer pistol under a 124g fmj and find it a little hot.
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That load is really suspect. The Alliant site lists 6.4 as the number, while the Hornady book lists 5.7 as the max. I thought 5.7 was a bully load with way too much flash and I dropped back to 5.4 and then 5.2, all with the same 124 gr FMJ bullets.
 
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I just got done doing some loading. I loaded 20 rounds with 4.5 grains of HP-38 and 20 rounds with 4.7 grains of HP-38. The powder is pushing Montana Gold 115 grain FMJ RN bullets. I hope to make it to the range on Tuesday to try them out.
I really like how the HP-38 metered. I hope I like how it shoots. I will report when I have a chance to shoot these 40 rounds.
 
["The main reason for me is the large range from min to max load."]

Unique is a great powder & leaves room for +/-.1gr or 2, As I don't have no problem
metering it, It's not as dirty as it use to be And as stated already great range of cal.
380/9mm/38 & 357 is what I use it for. I clean my guns every trip to the range so
no problems at all ; )
Y/D
 
my rounds are hot. How does power pistol perform at a reduced load?
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It does not do well at all. It has a "critical mass" of sorts. If you reduce the pressure it doesn't burn consistently. Great powder for full tilt loads though.

I am sure I am rehashing stuff other people have listed.

Bullseye-->Works great for 9mm. Can do reduced loads.
Power Pistol--> Meters well and makes good velocity. Misbehaves with reduced loads
Unique--> Makes pretty good velocity and fills the case (no chance of double charging).
TrueBlue-->Nuclear powder.
IMR 7625-->Slowish powder. Meters awesome
Blue Dot--> Didn't like this one. Was too touchy for my taste.

Bullseye is often over looked. People want new and sexy.

Zip is interesting. On my list to try once I use up the 32lbs of Unique I have left.
 
Great thread...

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Vihtavuori 3N37. There is a lot of free reloading data out there for 3N37 (here on the High Road too), it meters well, and it can be used for mellow loads/high velocity loads. 3N37 can be pricey and sometimes hard to get but, I dig it.

On the flip side (cheap/easy to find) I like Blue Dot. The powder is pretty cheap ($80-$90 for 5lbs). Blue Dot may not be as powerful as Power Pistol and the like but, I load mostly for carbine barrel lengths and the slower burning Blue Dot yields better results.
Good luck and have fun!
 
I bought some 3N37 at the last show, but the first thing I intend to try it in is actually .32 ACP.

3N37 should work great in 9MM (and by all reports it does). I know N320, N330, & N340 work great in 9MM. I also like True Blue and AA #5 for medium to full loads. N320 and 700X for light loads.
 
My earlier recommendations for Accurate #2, #5, #7, and Universal were based on the OP's original request where I assumed he was looking for economy and good performance.

VihtaVuori 3N37 is my go-to powder for SD factory duplication loads, primarily with the Speer 124gr GDHP. I've found I can duplicate the performance of the factory Speer 124gr GDHP +P load in my semi-autos at less than the SAAMI standard load max average pressure limit (35,000 psi). I found that 3N37 is just a tad slower than Alliant Power Pistol in the 9mm Luger (requiring .2gr more to attain equal velocity), but 3N37 does its work with MUCH less muzzle flash. YMMV.
 
I have used Tightgroup, Bullseye, Power Pistol and AA #5. For 9mm, .40 S&W and .380. They all work fine but, I favor Power Pistol and AA #5.
 
RidgwayCO said:
My earlier recommendations for Accurate #2, #5, #7, and Universal were based on the OP's original request where I assumed he was looking for economy and good performance.
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You are correct, my main reason to start reloading is to save money in the long run.
 
The most economical powder for 9mm is Alliant Promo. It is also clean-burning and accurate. (top velocity will be mediocre but not bad.) Promo measures about the same as Unique.
 
zxcvbob, although I prefer W231/HP38 first for 9mm (especially for 124/125 gr) and Bullseye second (especially for 115 gr), the more I use Promo the more I like it!
 
If you shoot cast lead I hear Winchester WST is tough to beat and will cut down on the smoke.
I have been shooting bullseye and it smokes horrible when shooting cast lead but is accurate and econimical. I now shoot at an indoor range otherwise I would keep using it.
I bought some WST today so it looks like i'll find out.
 
The bulk of my 9mm loads are for IDPA/USPSA shooting and practice. Because of spotty availability over the past few years I've worked up equivalent loads (~1030fps for 124g bullets from a Glock 19) for AA#5, W231, HS6, PowerPistol and TiteGroup. All of them meter like water in my Lee disk and Dillon measures.

TiteGroup works out to be the least expensive per round, and gives the lowest standard deviation in my loads. TiteGroup was also the most commonly used powder among competitors at the IDPA national matches a few years ago (haven't seen a report on the most recent matches.)

All powders can push a 124g bullet to ~1080fps, which is what Speer Gold Dot non +P loads do out of my gun, but only PowerPistol has room to spare above the charge needed to do this. The others are at or within 0.1-0.2g of their max load at this velocity. Still, for my mostly-target purposes, they all do the job well.
 
I've used 6.5 grs. of PowerPistol w/124 gr. XTP bullets and yes they are on the warm side but its not hard to control recoil in a full size pistol. If I want to practice with loads that comes close to some of the expensive +P SD ammo, this is what I use. LM
 
+1 Power Pistol

Clean and accurate with all bullet selections . Load em a little hot , and watch every head turn , big ole Hollywood sized flash ..... BUT not so good for night ops :fire:
 
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