HELP! with Hi-Power

S

swampyMO

New member
To all,

I am a long time shooter of rifles & pistols and a re-loader for 25 years. Just recently got the bug to get a 9mm and picked up a really nice Browning Hi-power std model. Today the weather was really fine and I played hookie from work to go out and shoot my new gun. Was looking forward to something really good. My initial impression of shooting from sandbags off a bench to check zero was VERY good. Mild recoil and cycled well with my reloads. When I went down to the 20 yard target I was pretty shocked to see that there was no nice little group of holes as I'm used to seeing with my .45acp, but a scattered group that was about 8-9 inches across.

With me I had 3 different loadings on a Rem. 115 gr. FMJ bullet. One with Unique, one with Red Dot, and one with W-231. After shooting all three loads, I was pretty chagrined to find that none of them would group inside an 8-1/2 X 11 inch sheet of paper at 20 yards.

The bore seems to be nice & clear. The sights seem tight enough (adjustables). The slide-frame slop doesn't seem to be any worse than my 1911. The trigger is crisp enough.

What am I doing wrong??? Does this gun just have a bad case of pukes with the Remington bullet??? or is there something else I'm missing.

Just to bring my spirits back up and to prove to myself that I could still do it, I shot a 7 round group from the same bench with the 1911 and made about a 3 inch pattern.

Anybody have any ideas here???

Thanks in advance
Swampy
 
That lack of accuracy is troubling. Why don't you see about getting the use of a Ransom rest or have another shooter try or try zeroing at 5 yd then move back to 10 yds and then 15 and so on till you get back to 25 yds.

Also, try some factory ammo and let us know what happened. Good luck.
 
Greetings, In shooting my BHP Practical model
with fixed sight's and factory ammo in 115 gr
or 124 gr., I find that it shoot's a litle
high at 50 feet. Otherwise, it will keep a
pretty tight group. Try some factory practice
ammo yourself; then have another shooter to
try your weapon out. I don't think that you
have a bad gun; just probably needs a little
getting use to? :)

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member
 
It can be a wide variety of things including crimp. 9mm is pretty fussy on that and bullet depth. I stick to factory measurements as often as I can. I had a load in my Glock G17 that would KEYHOLE with FMJ at 21 feet.
Didn't think the gun could do that. Live and learn. I found it was the crimp I was using with a hot load. I back off both and NO problems sense. All guns are fussy about ammo. My Series 80 does NOT like military FMJ I have. It shoots a 6 inch pattern at 50 feet, under two inches with anything else including modern ammo of the same type. Guns are like women. Very fussy somedays.
 
Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

Since I've never loaded for a 9mm before, all three of the loads I used were on the conservative side. Maybe they were just a bit too light to get full stabilization from the rifling.

I'll definitely be doing some more testing with various handloads and factory rounds. I like the Hi-Power WAY too much to give it up without a fight.

If anyone else out there has any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear them....

Best regards to all,
Swampy
 
Hello, SwampyMO! The following handload is on the warmer side, but has proven safe in my HPs over the years. It is also one of the most accurate loads fired in several 9mm pistols I own: 124 gr Hornady XTP/6.0 gr Unique/FC or WW cases/Fed small pistol primers. LOA ~ 1.11". Velocity is in the 1240 ft/sec range. This groups very, very well from HPs. Good luck and best.
 
I have had good results with Hornady's 124 grain FMJ FP in my HP. I load it over 4.2 grains of TiteGroup.

Good luck!
 
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