9mm: Pistol vs Carbine

[crabo]

I just bought the new Ranchdog 9mm boolit mold. I have never reloaded 9mm but I have plenty of brass. I am going to load for my 9mm AR. Any suggestions on what powder to use since I am going to be shooting through a 16" barrel instead of a 4 or 5 inch, or does it matter?

Thanks,

[felix]

From the posts on our board, it appears that BD (or speed equivalent) would be your choice. ... felix

[Doby45]

I am working on the same thing for my HiPoint 9mm carbine. I am using BlueDot and the 135gr Mihec 358 RFN. So far I think I tried 7th and it had more recoil than I want. I have not worked down yet but u think I am going to try so 6 and 6.5 rounds and see how they do.

[HeavyMetal]

Bluedot is my powder of choice in the 9mm. Ought to give some nice velocity with the 16 nch barrel but I don't know how "fussy" the AR will be with case lengths.

I have found that pistols can be real ugly with group size if you use mixed case's for your loads. I will suggest sorting by Brand and then by length for best perfromance.

Avoid rifle primers they are not needed.

[FWest]

I'm working up some loads with Accurate No. 7 and 231 for my HP carbine.
Lee RN TL with 7.7 grains no.7 went 1340 FPS.
1210 with 4.1 grains 231. Shooting the same load out of a XD sub compact ran 985.

[GabbyM]

Yes the long barrel does matter as to what powder to use. Fast powders will see zero velocity gains with long barrels.

How heavy is the Ranch Dog bullet?

I’m playing with my magma 147 grain FP over VV 3N38 at close to 1200 fps from a 4" S&W. I need to load the same case ten times to see what sort of head expansion I get. That and figure out my eye glasses so I can see pistol sights once again. Argh. This heavy bullet laod is what I'd use in a 9mm carbine.

3N38 is a bit high price but should work well in a long barrel. AA#7 would be good also at a far cheaper price. I ran blue dot at 7.7 to 8.0 grains under 124 grain bullets for about thirty years. Worked very well.

Power Pistol by Alliant is designed to give recoil impulse to positively work SMG actions. As per NATO Ball requirements. Which is why it kicks more than necessary in a hand gun. For 124 grain bullets that would be my choice. Since it is the specific designed powder for blow back 9mm SMG's. Of all the powders I’ve shot through 9mm since 1975 AA#5 gave the book velocity value with the least flash, recoil and was clean. You'd of thought it was a powder puff load until you shot it over a chrony. Lot's of other powders I've not tried though. AA#5 may need some study to see if it kicks enough to work a blow back action.

I've also been playing with Alliant 20/28 for 122 grain loads. This as a replacement to Unique loads as the 20/28 is about the same burn rate but less dense for the small 9mm case. Made in USA powder. If I could see the sights I'd know if it was accurate.

Let's see? can I confuse the issue anymore. nah/.

Since you are in Texas the cold weather issues of Blue Dot should be of little concern. And no to you all Texans. It does not get cold in Texas. Never has and never will until after the next big meteor strikes. LOL Funniest thing I ever heard in my life was a Texan telling the tale of how cold it gets as Water actually froze . Anyway Blue dot should light just fine.

I’d only use Blue dot with a 124 grain NATO Ball profile bullet like my Magma 124-RN. Since they are shallow seating bullets which leave plenty of powder capacity. With 122 and 124 grain TC’s they seat deeper and highly compress full up loads of Blue Dot. Not saying it won’t work as I loaded Hornady 9mm-124-TC-FP-FMJ for years over 7.7 grains of Blue Dot.

[crabo]

The Ranch Dog is 135 grains

http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_6_25&products_id=23

Thanks Gabby, I have a lot of those powders.

[fecmech]

Longshot and Blue Dot!

[robertbank]

I have the Beretta Storm with a 16" barrel.

Here are some results shot over a F 1 Chrony all lead boolits sized .357. Win cases and Federal SPP.

4.1 Gr of Win 231 Lyman 356402 Avg Vel 1283, SD 6
5 gr 800X Lyman 356402 Ag Vel 1241 SD 8

Out of a FN Hi-Power:

4.1 gr of Win 231 Lyman 356402 Avg Vel 1091, SD 7
5 gr 800X Lyman 356402 Avg Vel 1093, SD 22

My experience has been you gain anywhere from 100 to 150 FPS using a longer barreled carbine over a handgun across the board. Slower powders performed better out of the rifle vs handgun.

Take Care

Bob