where to start with 9mm

N

nhyrum

New member
so ive been reloading match 6.5 creed for a while here now, and am looking into getting a 9mm pistol, and want to start working up loads now, so i can get the pistol, and go straight to the range.

where im stuck at is bullet and powder combinations. the 6.5 creedmoor was easy. get the go to powder EVERYONE said to get, and look at bullets with the best BC's(real, not necessarily advertised) and boom. powder and bullet chosen.

I want a defense load, and a plinking/match load.

I dont care if they use the same powder or not, i just want the best. while i probably wont actually enter any matches, i want a round that will be relativley inexpensive, and accurate, with accuracy being more important.

right now i have a box of hornady 124 grain XTP's and a pound of titegroup, that i got from recomendation of a friend. should i have gotten power pistol? it will be used in a semi auto. I hear speer gold dots are a great defense ammo(boxed) but its hard to find the bullets themselves local(I prefer to buy everything local).

anyway, any recomendations are helpful. Im just lost as to what is great for this application.
 
Start at a gun shop trying the fit of the gun in your hand. How it feels is much more important than most anything else.

If you start with the load, you may not like the gun.
 
Agree. You are putting way to much emphasis on bullets and powder. It's way over hyped, but then again this is a reloading forum. Ask ten people and you'll get twenty "best" loads. Spend your time and money on picking a good gun.
 
Definitely try out the feel of different guns in your hand and the triggers. The triggers will feel a lot different than a rifle.
 
I don't reload defensive loads. I use mostly the Federal HST 124 gr.

For practice/plinking I like plated bullets. They are less expensive and don't develop a lead vapor when fired. They are offered as a round nose or hollow points. TightGroup is a good powder for 9mm and will load a lot of reloads.
 
ok, for the sake of this thread, i have it narrowed down to a sig sauer sp2022.

I just want to know good bullets(projectiles) and what powders are good for 9mm
 
In 9mm, I prefer a true jacketed bullet...and Montana Gold is one of the best out there in my view. You could save a little bit if you go with a plated bullet - but the only one I like is Berry's --- many of the plated bullets are inconsistent in shape and weight ( just weigh a handful of them out of a box...like Rainier -- the can be several grains plus or minus even on a 115 great bullet...) ....and that will not give you great consistency or accuracy.

I like TiteGroup as a very good powder for 9mm / but you need to be careful with it, often min & max are only 0.3 or 0.4 grain apart...

I don't think it's smart to load Defensive ammo either...go with a good commercial JHP - Federal, Winchester, etc...in 124 or 147gr...

In 9mm I load all of my range ammo - all 115gr FMJ Montana gold with Titegroup...and my primary range / carry gun is a full sized 1911 from Wilson combat...but I shoot my 9mm reloads in a Kimber 1911, a Sig 239 or a Sig 226 as well - and while none of them are more accurate than my Wilson....the ammo will shoot very good groups in all of my 9mm guns...
 
Thank you Big Jim p. I'll take a look at the Montana's.

I made a fudge and bought small pistol MAGNUM primers... Glad I caught it before loading.

Hodgdon's website has a min to max of .7 grains. My bother with that is I can't do even increments of .2 or .3 grains...
 
You have to understand something about 9mm.

In the grand scheme of things, as a very common caliber it has a very small case capacity and frankly can be very picky with OAL, bullet shape and powder charge.

When I first started reloading it, the powder charge was in .1gr increments until I found what my particular gun liked. Yes...one tenth. This isn't 45acp or 38 Special here.

You'll want to make a few dummy rounds sans powder and primer, or use a fired case with bullet. Once that passes the 'plunk' test you can start working up powder charges.
 
Hodgdon's website has a min to max of .7 grains. My bother with that is I can't do even increments of .2 or .3 grains...
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And that's a good thing you understand that . Hand gun is a whole other animal then rifle . Rifle has a lot of wiggle room both in charge weights and seating depth . Hand gun ammo is MUCH more temperamental Even more so when using temperamental powders like Titegroup . I love Titegroup but I'll tell you right here don't go racing to max charge in .2 and .3 increments with it .

In fact for guys just starting I'd suggest a tad slower powder that is a bit more forgiving

Like powders in these powders burn rate areas
N-320
Win-231/HP-38
Unique

As for bullets . I shoot a lot of plated bullets do to cost and just how fast you can go through hand gun ammo . They seem to do all right for me . I would agree that Rainier does have some consistency issues but they shoot fine for my needs but there again I can't shoot ragged holes at 25' so maybe that's why ;). Well I can with my 1911 but none of my polymer guns ( XD , S&W ) shoot ragged holes .
 
Get some 115 gr. plated bullets such as berrys and load them on top of 4.3 gr of your titegroup and set the oal to 1.135. This load has worked for all of my guns and has been quite accurate.

For defensive loads try a low flash powder such as silhouette or Vihtavouri's powder. If memory serves 3n37 will yield higher velocities. I have heard good things about be86 as well. Silhouette meters well and I don't t recall any issues with vihtavouri.

Brass head stamp doesn't mean much of anything except amerc, aluminum, steel, or military with crimped primers in which case get a lee decapper.
Primer brand doesn't matter much either, generally.
Don't crimp 9mm
Do the plunk test and function test before you load a bunch of rounds

I also recommend the hornady powder cop to verify charges.
 
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I have several 9mms from different makers - but they all like 124 gr bullets better than the "standard" 115. I reload plated for practice and jhp for serious stuff.. There are a lot of powders that will work, your gun will let you know what it likes best.
 
Get some 115 gr. plated bullets such as berrys and load them on top of 4.3 gr of your titegroup and set the oal to 1.135. This load has worked for all of my guns and has been quite accurate.
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Second this load. I shoot it from my 4 9mm semi autos and use Xtreme 115 gr plated bullets.
 
Chainsaw. said:
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com
Check your titegroup load here. Its great powder.

http://www.evergladesammo.com/ac-9mm-115gr-fmj-bullets-330.html
Use these bullets for range foder. Real nice stuff.

Pick the perfect powder is like picking the perfect woman, her hair cut might not be just right. Just go with one that treats you well. Titegroup is a great start. Experiment with others later if you want.
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I got my load from Hodgdon's site. My hornady manual doesn't have titegroup listed under the 124's, didn't check the others, but that's something I'm used to, as the 6.5 creed is still just coming out of being a wildcat and becoming a standard round. When I bought the rifle, the the major manufacturers had only 2-3 rifles in the caliber, savage just released I think 9 more.

And I totally understand the whole"find what works for the gun" and I totally believe in that, I was just wondering what were the golden eggs of powder, if they existed

Another question. With my stupid mistake of buying small pistol magnum primers, could I use them with a slower burning powder, such as unique?

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Get some 115 gr. plated bullets such as berrys and load them on top of 4.3 gr of your titegroup and set the oal to 1.135. This load has worked for all of my guns and has been quite accurate.
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I'm running 115 gr plated bullets with 4.3 gr (TiteGroup)with an OAL of 1.130 with CCI 500's. They work well in all five of my 9mm's.

There is no "Golden Powder" for the 9mm. In addition to TightGroup, I also use 231/HP-38 and Bullseye for 9mm withe the same bullets and primers.
 
I am one that is not fond of Titegroup. It is a tedious powder to work with.

I shoot mostly Nosler jacketed bullets and once in a while Gold Dots.

But, mostly use home made cast bullets that cast 135 gr with my alloy.

I have used several different powders, but have settled on VV N340 as it is a very clean powder and has no muzzle flash out of 3" and 4" barrels. This has been observed in the darkness of after sundown shooting.
 
Personally, I wouldn't load any ammo until I have the gun in front of me. When you pick up our new gun get a couple boxed of factory ammo and start with that. One of the easiest tests for reloaded ammo is the "Plunk Test", and you'll need your gun's barrel for that. I would not suggest plated bullets for a new reloader as I've seen way too many questions/problems on forum from new reloaders and plated bullets ("what powder do I use for plated bullets?", "how do I crimp my plated bullets?", "why do my plated bullets fall into the case?", etc.). Start with a tried and true load with maybe a 124-125 gr jacketed bullet, plain old round nose and check your manual for a powder and start at book starting loads (I have used a bunch of W231 and Universal in my 9mms, but have tried 700x, HS-6, and CFE Pistol) and get used to loading safe accurate ammo with this combo. It won't take long before you get the hang of it and can try different bullets and powders...

Go slow, double check everything, and most important, have fun...
 
mikld said:
Personally, I wouldn't load any ammo until I have the gun in front of me. When you pick up our new gun get a couple boxed of factory ammo and start with that. One of the easiest tests for reloaded ammo is the "Plunk Test", and you'll need your gun's barrel for that. I would not suggest plated bullets for a new reloader as I've seen way too many questions/problems on forum from new reloaders and plated bullets ("what powder do I use for plated bullets?", "how do I crimp my plated bullets?", "why do my plated bullets fall into the case?", etc.). Start with a tried and true load with maybe a 124-125 gr jacketed bullet, plain old round nose and check your manual for a powder and start at book starting loads (I have used a bunch of W231 and Universal in my 9mms, but have tried 700x, HS-6, and CFE Pistol) and get used to loading safe accurate ammo with this combo. It won't take long before you get the hang of it and can try different bullets and powders...

Go slow, double check everything, and most important, have fun...
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I totally understand. This isn't my first reloading rodeo, Just my first pistol rodeo. But thank you for the reminder. Even though I have a turret press that will auto index, I've disabled it and load like a single stage, one thing at a time, check everything, measure everything. Even for pistol(I've thrown a few charges and loaded 10 rounds). I just don't trust a charge unless I weigh it and it's spot on. Especially since I've heard how hot titegroup can get.

As usual, I tend to over analyze and try to over prepare. Same thing happened when I got my rifle... I'll just have to get it and see what works

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"...you'll get twenty "best" loads..." None of which will necessarily shoot well out of your pistol any more than 20 best loads for a rifle will.
As mentioned, buy the pistol first and worry about working up the load later. However, loading for pistols is slightly different(not by much though) than for a rifle. So read your manual's handgun how-to chapter.
Those slight differences are primarily that you rarely need to trim, there's no chamfering/deburring(the flare/belling does that), pistol cartridges like the 9mm never use a roll crimp, taper crimping only and OAL can be critical. You set the dies up the same way, load for the bullet weight and cast or jacketed. Plated bullets are not jacketed and usually use cast data. And you're using powder charges that are really tiny. Something you just get used to doing.
There is no "Golden Powder" for any cartridge. Partial to Bullseye myself, but only because I use it for nearly everything. I only load cast bullets for 9mm too.
 
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