9mm Nosler 115gr JHP range report

M

MightyMO1911

New member
So earlier this week I purchased an M&P Shield in 9mm. Then I went to Graf's and purchased some accoutrements to begin loading 9mm. One of the bullets I purchased is the Nosler 115gr JHP sporting handgun bullet. I pulled load data from their website and, since I just love Unique, I began my quest there.

Nosler lists a starting charge of 5.1 and a max a grain heavier at 6.1. In my past experience Unique straightens out and runs better closer to the top, but I didn't want to start too high. I also felt like I was waiting my time starting at 5.1 so I compromised and started at 5.4.

All seated to a COAL of 1.105" and used Sellier and Bellot spp.

5.4 grains:
1044, 1037, 1063, 1051, 1008, 982, 1037, 1016, 1069 and 993.
Average: 1030
ES: 87
SD: 29.

I wasn't terribly surprised by this and all cases looked good. Excellent function in the gun, all brass landed within reason of each other. Very manageable recoil as well.

5.6 grains

1072, 1095, 1097, 1082, 1049, 1062, 1073, 1061, 1055 and 1059.
Avg: 1070
ES: 48
SD: 16

As I suspected, it's starting to clean up. The only surprise is velocity. I am coming in 10 FPS faster and with a 7/8" shorter barrel than what Nosler advertises. But again, they ran very well. Let's try 5.8.

5.8 grains

1117, 1061, 1113, 1094, 1112, 1079, 1112 and 1098.
My graph didn't pick up 2 rounds of this group so there is only 8 readings. I sure hope it's not because I shot one of my diffuser rods in a previous test. Ugh. But anyway.

Avg: 1098
ES: 56
SD: 19

I expected that run to be a little cleaner than it was. But like the others, they functioned perfectly and I saw no problems.
 
In my past experience Unique straightens out and runs better closer to the top, but I didn't want to start too high. I also felt like I was wasting my time starting at 5.1 so I compromised and started at 5.4.
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I probably would have done the same thing. It was not some egregious safety violation by any means. You're dealing with an intermediate speed powder (as opposed to fast), and a light bullet. Nottaproblem.

Your numbers look good.

For what will this load work up be purposed? (e.g. general target range fodder? low recoil practice? high recoil practice? Defense?) What's your next step?
 
It's intended purpose is higher recoil practice to mimic that of defensive ammunition. In fact, after I set this load and become more familiar with it, I could potentially use this as my carry load.

I think I am going to make some small changes and just play around with this for a little bit. I'll probably try a few different primers. Possibly tweak the seating depth a little and possibly the crimp. My feeling is, while these numbers are pretty good, I think I can still clean it up some.
That may or may not really be necessary but I see a good learning experience in this and that's kind of the plan for now.
 
higher recoil practice to mimic that of defensive ammunition.
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Cool. That being the case, I'd try more propellant and see how that goes. Unique is capable of screaming 115's. As always, proceed with observant caution.
 
When I loaded the noslers once, they had a very long shank that impinged on the rifling when loaded to the accepted OAL. There went an entire box of fifty. I loaded the rest of the box of bullets with shorter oal.
 
I loaded some of the 115 Noslers in front of some Power Pistol.
No chrono work though. OAL 1.115
I've really enjoyed the little Shield and find it has handled several different load combos without a hiccup.
 
I just chrono'd some Nosler 115gr jhp that I loaded up. I don't have the numbers in front of me for ES and SD, but at 1.150" OAL and 6.6gr of Power Pistol, average velocity out of my Glock 19 was 1243fps.
 
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