Newbie reloading 9mm

[nickorette]

Ok, I rolled out my loads last week and was able to take them to the range this past weekend.

I think the loads are a bit weak, and I also need to work on my taper crimp. I think the "shelf" is a bit too big on mine.

My OAL is around 1.162" (varies between 1.158 and 1.167) and I use 3.5 grains of Hodgon titegroup. Press is hornady LNL AP. Dies are hornady. Bullets are Plains hard cast 24 grainers. Brass is mixed.

My average velocity over a 22 shot string was 932 fps





I also noticed some black on my ejected cases. I'm guessing that gasses are escaping around the crimp before the bullet leaves the casing.




The rounds fed and ejected about 80% of the time. Accuracy was about minute of gong at 15 yards. Benching would get me around 5-6" at 25 yards.

 

[colinjw]

I just checked the Hodgdon site.For the 125 grain lead RN the starting load is 3.6 of titegroup up to 4.0 grains. AOL should be 1.125.

Your powder charge is a little on the light side but IMO the main reason for your loads being weak is that you need to seat the bullet deeper & get some more pressure in the case.

The 9mm is capable is very good accuracy but having brass of different makes, probably different lengths & case capacity is going to give you so so results. Either stick with one make of brass or sort them by make.

 

[acrashb]

I also noticed some black on my ejected cases.

That's the "titegroup stain". You can't do anything about it, and it doesn't harm anything, so don't worry about it.

titegroup has a low starting pressure, so the brass doesn't seal completely at first.

 

[NSRA Member]

9mm

My OAL is around 1.162" (varies between 1.158 and 1.167)


The rounds fed and ejected about 80% of the time.

Your OAL is really long for that bullet, keep it under 1.125". And your powder is a bit light, for 124gr (and not "24 grains, right?) lead try 3.6 to 4.0 gr of Titegroup.

Did you mean that 20% of your rounds did not feed properly? That is likely a matter of being too long for your chamber. (As long as they are re-sized properly).

Try making a couple (or twenty) dummy rounds (no primer, no powder) try them for feeding issues. Load one at a time, cycle a mag full through the chamber etc. Once you get to a OAL that doesn't give any feeding issues than you can work on the powder question.

Are you loading for IPSC? If you are you need to get your velocity up to 1020+ fps to make minor PF.

Great pictures by the way, very helpful.

 

[nickorette]

Your OAL is really long for that bullet, keep it under 1.125". And your powder is a bit light, for 124gr (and not "24 grains, right?) lead try 3.6 to 4.0 gr of Titegroup.

Did you mean that 20% of your rounds did not feed properly? That is likely a matter of being too long for your chamber. (As long as they are re-sized properly).

Try making a couple (or twenty) dummy rounds (no primer, no powder) try them for feeding issues. Load one at a time, cycle a mag full through the chamber etc. Once you get to a OAL that doesn't give any feeding issues than you can work on the powder question.

Are you loading for IPSC? If you are you need to get your velocity up to 1020+ fps to make minor PF.

Great pictures by the way, very helpful.

No, I'm just loading for plinking right now. It'll be a little while before I get into IPSC.

What kind of accuracy could I expect from 9mm reloads? I'm shooting a Sig P226.

I did make a few "match" loads where I sorted the bullets by .4 or a grain and the brass by company and .7 of a grain. When I benched those, groups were better, but still maybe 2-3" at 25 yards.

I'm going to see what happens when I seat the bullets deeper, and get a better taper crimp on them. I'm now going to sort all of my brass by manufacturer. I'm also considering de-priming all the brass ahead of time because of the vibrations and force of de-primng on the downstroke could be throwing things off in other areas of the stations, like powder drop and bullet seating.

 

[medicstimpy]

As they said... seat your bullets a bit deeper.

Around 4.0 gr of Titegroup is good. Play with the load. Some guns/bullet combinations like them hot (around 4.6gr MAX) and other like mid-range loads (4.0-4.2 gr). 3.5 while it would work might not give the best groups.

The gas stains.... don't worry about it. Most guns will do that. It looks normal.

OOPS... (additon): Sorry, that is with a 115gr plated and jacketed bullets those loads. It would be a bit less for heavier bullets. And since you are using lead boolits, it would be less anyways. I run 4.2 gr in both my 124gr LRN and 105gr LSWC's.

 

[colinjw]

BTW: What gun are you using ?? Have you tried some groups with factory loads to get an idea of how accurate the gun can actually be ??