Ruger PCC and +P ammo

powdergun

powdergun

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
245   0   0
Just a question for you folks that have put some mileage on you Ruger PCC's

Just got one and had it out today. I ran some handloaded +P 115 gr loads through it and was very happy with accuracy and function. They rang the small gong at 100 yrds every shot.


My question is: Does extensive use of +P loads put any significantly more wear and tear on the gun that regular loads ?

Thanks in advance for the info
 
it definitely will. I'm at about 1100 rounds with regular 124gr loads and I noticed a little bit of wear on the rear recoil pad and on the bolt carrier. My cousin had his break the bolt carrier and extractor pins. If you're going to use +P rounds I suggest you at least change to the m*carbo hardened steel pins, recoil pad and retaining plate
 
The Ruger is rather primitive blowback action, there’s no barrel-to-bolt lockup to absorb the extra energy. The tungsten insert in the bolt works as a dead mass, so it might help to some extent.

On my 6.5” shorty, I have tried hotter loads with 115gr hollow points and HS6 (thinking the extra gas would pump the comp), and didn’t like how harsh the recoil cycle felt. A faster powder like Titegroup might work better. Is it worth the extra wear and tear?

OTOH, light pistol loads (~127 PF) sometimes fail to cycle, so I ended up using my regular pistol load of ~135 PF with VV N320 and 124 gr.
 
FarmerDanz said:
Hand loaded plus p.
Sounds pretty sketchy
Click to expand...

Hodgdon site has load data for +P and I have been doing this for decades and I still have most of my fingers and one good eye left lol...


115 gr campro 6.1 gr Ramshot silouhette
 
Last edited:
I have run at least 4,000 rounds of +p ammunition through my PCs. No parts are broken in either yet. I actually bought spares expecting my hot hollow point loads to break something sooner or later but haven't had an issue so far. YMMV of course.
 
The whole long barrel - 9mm PCC thing is kind of a farce if a person is looking for a bunch more power from the 9mm. I have chronographed a number of loads through my Ruger and found that more often than not, it typically produces lower velocity that a 4.75" barrel out of one of my 9mm pistols. I have done this experiment using a number of different ball loads as well as heavier 147 grain loads and even the Hornady 135gr +p's and was disappointed in almost every instance. The only load that actually bumped up the velocity a bit was 147 grain ball ammo and that was only about 35 fps. Hardly an improvement of sorts. The fast burning 9mm powders seem to suck even more. My experience with Silhouette powder and +p loads provided slower velocities out of the carbine that I was getting with my CZ pistol. All this to say that I abandoned my quest for high velocities out of a 9mm PCC and am now just shooting whatever I have on hand at the time.

The only one that I have yet to try is a powder that is on the slowest end of the spectrum for 9mm and load it to the nuts just to see what happens. My prediction is that if there is any improvement, it will be mediocre at best and dangerous at worst. That being said, it does seem that the PCC soaks up 9mm +p pressures without a hickup.

Just my $.02 worth. YMMV.
 
saskcop said:
The whole long barrel - 9mm PCC thing is kind of a farce if a person is looking for a bunch more power from the 9mm. I have chronographed a number of loads through my Ruger and found that more often than not, it typically produces lower velocity that a 4.75" barrel out of one of my 9mm pistols. I have done this experiment using a number of different ball loads as well as heavier 147 grain loads and even the Hornady 135gr +p's and was disappointed in almost every instance. The only load that actually bumped up the velocity a bit was 147 grain ball ammo and that was only about 35 fps. Hardly an improvement of sorts. The fast burning 9mm powders seem to suck even more. My experience with Silhouette powder and +p loads provided slower velocities out of the carbine that I was getting with my CZ pistol. All this to say that I abandoned my quest for high velocities out of a 9mm PCC and am now just shooting whatever I have on hand at the time.

The only one that I have yet to try is a powder that is on the slowest end of the spectrum for 9mm and load it to the nuts just to see what happens. My prediction is that if there is any improvement, it will be mediocre at best and dangerous at worst. That being said, it does seem that the PCC soaks up 9mm +p pressures without a hickup.

Just my $.02 worth. YMMV.
Click to expand...

All valid points. My Lyman manual has a section on reloading for 9mm rifle (including +P loads). I did not chronograph any, but the 115gr +P loads with Blue Dot have a noticeable difference in impact point compared to regular loads (115gr) with Bullseye at 100 yards.

I've been using my Ruger PC Carbine as my rifle for 3-gun and sighted it in for 100 yards to hit the steel.

YMMV
 
Blazer 124gr from

p320 x5 - 1126.89fps avg
18.5in NR raven 9 1303.44 fps avg


Pretty significant. Same ammo same day same chrono
 
I've chrono'd loads using N320 and Longshot in my Shadow and Ruger PC Carbine. I did find a 11% increase in speed with N320 and almost 18% increase with +P load using Longshot. Those are the last 4 columns on the right. The columns on the left I was testing the effects of a stronger recoil spring in my Shadow.

124gr Shadow Spring testing.png
 

Attachments

  • 124gr Shadow Spring testing.png
    124gr Shadow Spring testing.png
    40.1 KB · Views: 113
With 115 and 124grn bullets there is a lot of speed to be gained from the longer barrel. It's less noticeable with 147 for sure but if anyone is seeing the same or lower speeds from a carbine than a pistol they are doing something wrong. Not all +p produces higher velocity than a standard pressure equivalent though. Hornady is especially bad for that.
 
The 9mm cartridge is over 100 years old and most factory ammo and published loads will reflect that this needs to work in old guns as well as new. So there is a bit of room to horse the 9mm up in pressure a bit. Whether you should or not really depends on what you want to achieve.

I have no doubt that the Ruger PCC can handle +P loads, the thing is built pretty solid. I have several of them and they all have round counts of well over 8000 rounds. So my experience with Ruger carbines is around 35K rounds overall. I don't use +P ammo in them as I don't have any need to as they are only getting shot at targets and don't need to meet any PF ratings. The same load that will hit a target at 25 yards will hit a target at 100. I mostly use 124gr and sometimes 115gr if that's what is cheap and available. Never tried 147gr.

Any time you increase pressure you will increase wear and tear but when it comes to a 9mm rifle the question is how much will it increase it? You won't burn the barrel out, you won't ruin the receiver. Maybe you will need to replace the extractor sooner rather than later.
 
tested some Titegroup loads and some commercially reloaded 147gr rounds in my Grand Power X-Calibur vs the PC Carbine. All showed ~10-14% increase in speed.

X-Cal vs PC Carbine.png

IMG_9029.jpg
 

Attachments

  • X-Cal vs PC Carbine.png
    X-Cal vs PC Carbine.png
    50.8 KB · Views: 52
  • IMG_9029.jpg
    IMG_9029.jpg
    95 KB · Views: 51
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom