Bad Ammo Tested in a match

[Ganderite]

I made a dumb mistake last week.

I ran low on my regular DRG lead 135gr lead bullets I usually use to make my 9mm pistol ammo.

I had a box of DRG 130 gr RNFP bullets on the shelf, that I use to reload my 357 Sig ammo. These bullets are intended for the 38Spl and are sized .358” This bullet develops adequate neck tension in that very short neck.
I loaded some 9mm ammo using these 358 bullets. I did not touch the press adjustments. The OAL was the same setting that I used for the 135 g RN bullet and I left the powder charge at 4.2 gr of Power Pistol.
The result shot much better groups than I had ever got before. Velocity and recoil was down, but the pistol (Canik SFx) still cycled just fine. I loaded a couple bags of this and trued it again at the range. Same thing. Great groups. But one round did not want to feed. It looked the like the bullet was seated rather deep at that seater setting (1.075”) so I made another bag at 1.10”, thinking it would guarantee feeding. (Note: Feeding was perfect at this length.)

I had an IPSIC match coming up, so I decided to take my new, super accurate ammo. That was the mistake.

As you seat pistol bullets deeper, pressure increases noticeably. The reverse is also true. By seating the bullets to a longer OAL, I reduced pressure, and 20% of the rounds did not cycle the action. My first match stage was not so good. I then reloaded the mags with the older version of the ammo and carried on. Results were good.

The mistake was not trying the ammo with the longer OAL. The mistake was trying something unproven in a match.

 

[Sniffer]

I made a dumb mistake last week.

I ran low on my regular DRG lead 135gr lead bullets I usually use to make my 9mm pistol ammo.

I had a box of DRG 130 gr RNFP bullets on the shelf, that I use to reload my 357 Sig ammo. These bullets are intended for the 38Spl and are sized .358” This bullet develops adequate neck tension in that very short neck.
I loaded some 9mm ammo using these 358 bullets. I did not touch the press adjustments. The OLA was the same setting that I used for the 135 g RN bullet and I left the powder charge at 4.2 gr of Power Pistol.
The result shot much better groups than I had ever got before. Velocity and recoil was down, but the pistol (Canik SFx) still cycled just fine. I loaded a couple bags of this and trued it again at the range. Same thing. Great groups. But one round did not want to feed. It looked the like the bullet was seated rather deep at that seater setting (1.075”) so I made another bag at 1.10”, thinking it would guarantee feeding. (Note: Feeding was perfect at this length.)

I had an IPSIC match coming up, so I decided to take my new, super accurate ammo. That was the mistake.

As you seat pistol bullets deeper, pressure increases noticeably. The reverse is also true. By seating the bullets to a longer OAL, I reduced pressure, and 20% of the rounds did not cycle the action. My first match stage was not so good. I then reloaded the mags with the older version of the ammo and carried on. Results were good.

The mistake was not trying the ammo with the longer OAL. The mistake was trying something unproven in a match.

This is true.

I learned this years ago while competing in other sports.

I once made some fairly sizeable changes to my motorcycle race setup before a major event. Big mistake. New setup felt totally alien to me and my results reflected that.

 

[Burton Urnie]

Not trying something before it counts, I've learned that lesson on many other items.

 

[J.Hancock]

When I was a competitive youth, competing nationally in taekwondo, the final tournament I completed at had a booth where people were taping fighters ankles for like $2 or something. I thought heck why not, it will look cool on the podium. Little did I know they would essentially pin my Achilles to the back of my leg, completely eliminating my hops. I lost the fight I had trained for my whole life and never competed again. Don't try new things on game day.

I still wakeup some mornings and can't help wonder what could've been.