Has anyone ever tried for accuracy in 9mm carbine?

[MeestaSparkle]

I've been looking all over the internet and I can't seem to find anyone who has actually tried handloading for accuracy out of a 9mm carbine at 100 yards. Most people just get 2-3" with factory at 50m and are happy. Is there some inherent problem with straight walled pistol cases, or is it actually possible to get decent groups at 100 yards?

It seems really tempting since I already load and am accumulating casting equipment for 9mm pistols.. but I want do know what I could hope for if I want to even consider the investment. I never shoot past 150 yards, it seems like an ultimately cheaper, better option. I used to enjoy shooting shotgun hulls at 100 yards with my 5.56 ar, but feeding it is too expensive (and I had to sell it for books :(). Even with handloads I can't even approach how cheaply I can load 9mm, but could i even hope to achieve that sort of accuracy?

I've also considered building a 9x23 ar...but only if I have some sort of idea what I could hope for at 100-150 yards.

So what say you. If you cast your own, tune a load, and have a decent barrel (maybe even free floated, i don't know), how well could this work?

[45 2.1]

Works fine. I did this with the early Uzi carbines in thew mid 80's and they could shoot a 1 to 1.5 MOA group with quite a few different boolits. You'll have fun...........

[crabo]

I would be interested in this thread, but my 9mm AR is 2 guns down on my waiting list. I even made a brass catcher so I don't have to hunt the little things. I am thinking about trying a Ballisticast in the H&G #81--.38 Super "Auto Colt". 127 grains in 1-15 mix, at .585" length. Semi-wadcutter patterned after #68 for .45ACP. Plain base or gas check base. One rounded grease groove, no crimp groove.

http://hgmould.gunloads.com/molds/81.jpg

This design works so good in the 45 acp, it just keeps calling my name.

[JohnH]

What kind(s) of 9 carbine ar we talking about? I have a CM 11 taht shoot cast into 3" at 15 yards. Think that's bad, won't do better with facctory jacketed either, combination of lousy sights and non locking blowback action, a surefire recipe for lousy groups, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. Rememebr aswell, that this rig and many like it (the HighPoint 9mm Carbine for example) were intended to shoot popcans, claytargets adn the occasion intrudeer at ragnes fo 25 yards and less. Someting that fired from a locked breech I'd expect greater accuracy from, but I wouldn't be shooting one at 50 yards, it a play thing.

[crabo]

Works fine. I did this with the early Uzi carbines in thew mid 80's and they could shoot a 1 to 1.5 MOA group with quite a few different boolits. You'll have fun...........

What bullets and type worked the best for you?

[jack19512]

Rememebr aswell, that this rig and many like it (the HighPoint 9mm Carbine for example) were intended to shoot popcans, claytargets adn the occasion intrudeer at ragnes fo 25 yards and less. Someting that fired from a locked breech I'd expect greater accuracy from, but I wouldn't be shooting one at 50 yards, it a play thing.





My HighPoint 9mm Carbine is actually quite accurate at 50 yards.

[45 2.1]

What bullets and type worked the best for you?

Saeco #384 IIRC. RN 122 gr. with a big lube groove shot quite well with WW 231.

[Sundogg1911]

Jack19512,
Tried a few times shooting lead out of my Wifes Hi-point Carbine. Really heavy leading when I tried. (Tried 115 - 147 grain, as well as different sizing) end up with a mess, especially in the comp. I switched to plated and havent had a problem. Its a pretty fun little inexpensive weapon. I was pretty suprised how accurate too. I may pick up one of the .40's just to play around with. I seem them as cheap as $200

[MakeMineA10mm]

I never had high expectations of accuracy out of pistol-caliber carbines at that long of a range, because of their velocity (bullet drop) and stubbiness of their loaded length (poorer alignment down the bore, compared to a rifle).

However, that all changed when I shot a buddy's UZI carbine one day. We were shooting it at the pistol range, out to 35 yards, and we were testing a suppressor that he had gotten. I was fairly impressed with the whole thing (other than the weight of it), and eventually we got around to looking for things to shoot at longer ranges.

The range we were using was a 25 yd. range, but you could squeeze 35 yards out of it, if you shot from beneath the elevated Target controller's house. Behind the backstop was a creek, and on the other side of the creek was a very large and steep hill, probably 100-125ft. high. The hill was dirt-covered and had trees, but I believe there was also cliff-face/rock immediately underneath, because in several places little tips of rocks stuck out.

Well, I found one of those tips of Rock about 1/2 way up the hill, and let fly. I'll be darned if that Uzi didn't drill round after round into that little rock tip! If we missed, it was clearly our own fault. The rock outcropping eventually was chipped away and rolled down the hill. The piece that broke off was about the size of a man's head, and it was probably 120 yards, or so, away.

With the issue iron sights on that Uzi, we were able to hit that rock every time, which means the gun and loads were MORE accurate than "minute-of-head" at 120yrds. I gained all kinds of new respect for the 9mm that day.

The loads we were shooting at long range were loaded with my Saeco 122gr Spire Point RN bullet (#43 is the catalog number I think).

We also shot 147gr FPs cast from a Magma mould that came with my Ballisti-Cast machine, through the suppressor. Worked great, though since then, we've given up on cast bullets and suppressors... They just don't work together. Lube and leading inside the suppressor reduce it's effectiveness awful fast.

[MeestaSparkle]

That's interesting. Seems like there are some goos reports about the uzi being accurate. I was leaning more towards a 9mm ar15. Anybody have any experience with one of these? I would think the quality would be (at the very least) equal to that of an uzi. Was leaning towards an RRA midlength. Thought about the 14.5" from cmmg but I heard mixed reviews about their customer service.

[MT Gianni]

I shot an Uzzi this spring at Knob Creek on the river walk. They used the cheapest 115 gr fmj they had. It was no trouble bouncing the last plate at 70 yards. [3"-4"] I would have felt confident with out out past 100 yards easily. It is the first time in my life that I ever thought seriously about owning a class 3 gun. Gianni

[Bret4207]

After seeing the groups shot with 2 different Hi-Points I determined it would be a nice house rifle for my wife. 1.5" at 50 yards with those lousy sights and flexible stock if pretty good. That was with jacketed white box Winchester, but should work fine for her. Finding one in 40S+W to match her EAA Witness is the hard part. I also hear that those aftermarket stocks tighten things up. Just rumor on that.

[cohutt]

Sorry no 9mm AR info, but........

I've had decent luck with most anything that has run through my IMI B s/a UZI-
*jacketed, few as they have been, have been very accurate, 125 fmj zeros over titegroup &/or unique.

**lee 125 rn tl - ok, not great some leading if i size them so they reliably run in my g17 lone wolf barrel. various powders and charges, same deal

***RCBS 147g - extremely accurate, bore clean as a whistle. as cast they weigh 155g (50/50 ww/pure), lars red, sized 356, so far WST 3.6g is the sweet spot. They run just under 1000fps in the glock but i haven't chronied them through the uzi yet. 90-95% of the time they are just subsonic, get the beginnings of a sonic crack on 5-10%.
i have only iron sighted these out to about 35 yards; this thread has me wondering exactly how accurate they would be further out, so i may mount a red dot and shoot some off bags the next time out. Add it to the list.....

btw the 45 conversion for this has been accurate with everything i've run through it. Unfortunately, the extractor is very rough on the brass, so it hasn't come out in a while. I'm just cheap that way.