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+P in a BHP
- Thread starter AndABeer
- Start date
Stephen A. Camp
Staff In Memoriam
Hello. Some advise against it including (I think) Wayne Novak and the head man at Cylinder & Slide (cannot remember his name). This is due to some of the older guns having "soft" steel. The new MkIIIs do not suffer from this malady I'm told. Plus P rounds will accelerate wear in any firearm including the HP.
I've been shooting BHPs for 31 years now. Much has been with standard ball, but untold thousands of hot handloads have been fired by me in my two oldest HPs, built in '71 & '76. I've fired many more thousands of these warmer handloads in my later HPs including MkIIIs. I've never had a part break nor or my guns' falling apart from use. The weak point I'm told is the support bar that the barrel's feed ramp rests on and the locking lugs and their recesses in the slide. The bar can break and the recesses/lugs can get rounded. This comes from accelerated unlocking and added impetus when the slide/bbl move rearward from the hotter loads.
For years, I've routinely replaced the standard HP 9mm recoil spring (16lb) with a Wolff conventional 18.5lb to combat this and have recently added shok buffs from Buffer Technologies.
Plus P ammo is quite expensive in factory trim, but over the years, I've fired quite a bit of it......with no problems in my HPs. I think that if you practice with it regularly and then use it for only hunting and/or self-defense, you'll have no problems.
If, on the other hand, you prefer to stay with standard pressure ammunition, effective loads included Federal's 124 gr Nyclad HP and 115 gr JHP. Probably the fastest standard pressure round is Winchester's 115 gr Silvertip. Some like the Remington 124 gr Golden Saber in either standard trim or Plus P. Of the loads listed, I'd likely go with the Nyclad as it groups rather well from my HPs and has reliably expanded well in several informal expansion tests.
My personal carry load in my HPs is Triton's 124 gr +P JHP.
Best.
I've been shooting BHPs for 31 years now. Much has been with standard ball, but untold thousands of hot handloads have been fired by me in my two oldest HPs, built in '71 & '76. I've fired many more thousands of these warmer handloads in my later HPs including MkIIIs. I've never had a part break nor or my guns' falling apart from use. The weak point I'm told is the support bar that the barrel's feed ramp rests on and the locking lugs and their recesses in the slide. The bar can break and the recesses/lugs can get rounded. This comes from accelerated unlocking and added impetus when the slide/bbl move rearward from the hotter loads.
For years, I've routinely replaced the standard HP 9mm recoil spring (16lb) with a Wolff conventional 18.5lb to combat this and have recently added shok buffs from Buffer Technologies.
Plus P ammo is quite expensive in factory trim, but over the years, I've fired quite a bit of it......with no problems in my HPs. I think that if you practice with it regularly and then use it for only hunting and/or self-defense, you'll have no problems.
If, on the other hand, you prefer to stay with standard pressure ammunition, effective loads included Federal's 124 gr Nyclad HP and 115 gr JHP. Probably the fastest standard pressure round is Winchester's 115 gr Silvertip. Some like the Remington 124 gr Golden Saber in either standard trim or Plus P. Of the loads listed, I'd likely go with the Nyclad as it groups rather well from my HPs and has reliably expanded well in several informal expansion tests.
My personal carry load in my HPs is Triton's 124 gr +P JHP.
Best.
J.T.Hartsfield
New member
I have a very old Ingals HP, the canadian HP clone. I run handloaded +P through it and I haven't had a problem, and bare in mind my HP is probably 50 years old, but it still holds a 5 inch group at 25 yards with the +P.
Ernest T. Bass
New member
Have shot alot of +P in my Browning. Best loads to date are the Pro Load 115 +P and the 124 +P. My pistol seems to prefer the 124gr. load. From 25 yards can literally place shots within a 1/2 in. area. The gun has been tuned by Novak's. As far as standard pressure loads, nothing on the market can touch the Pro Load 115 gr standard pressure load. From my Browning I get 1285 fps. That is almost +P speed (1300 fps) in a standard pressure load! I do not work for Proload or have any affiliation with them. I just shoot they line of excellent ammno. I recomend checking them out.