Best Load for 9mm 125 Gr Lead Round Nose BHN 17

[timeuler]

Not finding a whole lot of data out there regarding 125 Gr Lead Round Nose and Powder combinations or recipes. Can anyone lend an opinion on what they would recommend. I was given 500 Match Grade hard cast (BHN 17) alloy bullets and want to work up a load for my SW Sigma 9mm. I can find 124 grain Lead Round Nose out there and heavier load recipes but I cannot find what I need. Your help is greatly appreciated.

[NuJudge]

I like a light load of 231 in my Beretta and Walther pistols. Just enough powder to get the pistol to function.

[dragon813gt]

There are 14 loads listed for 124 grain lead bullets. And 15 loads listed for 125 grain lead bullets in Lee's manual. And there are two listed for 124 grain LRN in Winchester's 15th edition manual.

A one grain difference in bullet weight isn't going to make much of a difference. Start low and work up. No one can tell you what will function best in your pistol.

[bobthenailer]

3.8gr of Tightgroup or Bullseye
4.0gr of WSF
4.5gr of Power Pistol

thes are not max loads just the most accurate from my guns.

[S&W-629]

I have had good luck with 4.3 Green dot

[MaineJim]

Four grains Red Dot works great,not too light ,not too heavy.

[winelover]

I like Unique and AA#7 of my nines.

Winelover

[FergusonTO35]

I've discovered my 9's like the Lee 356-120-TC over 3.2 grains of Bullseye with a Federal Gold Medal primer seated to an OAL of 1.050. I bet the 124 you have would work great too.

[GBertolet]

A couple of years ago Mike Venturino wrote an article in Handloader magazine, on handloading military pistol cartridges. In the 9mm, 3.9 gr of Bullseye, with the 125 gr cast bullets shot the best in the military handguns he tested. I tried that load, and found he was right. My bullet was the Lyman 356402. Velocities in the 1050 fps range can be expected.

[smkummer]

I am using 4.2 grain 700X with a Lee TL356-125RN bullet and good results in a M9, Sig Sauer and Colt 2000. If my lee pro 1000press would meter well 3.9 works well also but sometimes 700X doesn't flow well in the powder measure so with 4.2 grains I have had zero function problems. Some manuals may show this as slightly over max. but that is with a jacketed bullet and generally lead bullets give lower pressures. I am getting very little leading if any and a cleaning with patches is all thats needed after 150 rounds to make the bore shiney. If any lead depostits and run with a copper brush and the bore is spotless. I was going to say this load works perfect in my buddies SW sigma also.

[dougader]

4.0 - 4.5 grains WW231

[bcp477]

4.0 grains of HP38/ W231. Dead nuts accurate in all of my 9mm's.

[Case Stuffer]

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp


I use 4.4 to 4.8 gr. WW231 and 5.7 to 6.2 HS-6

with 125 - 135 lead hard cast RN (round nose) ,SWC (Semi Wad Cutters) and even JHP and jaccked and cast troncated flat nose /point.

[warboar_21]

I have had good luck with 4.0gr of Win 231 under the Lee 124gr round nose tumble lube bullet out of my Sig 290. The max listed in my Lyman manual is 4.2gr for their 125gr RN. If I went lower than the 4.0gr I didn't have reliable cycling with the stiff spring on the little Sig.

[Ed_Shot]

My CZ loves Lee's 125 gn RN over Blue Dot 5.8 gr.

[Bzcraig]

My CW9 and Beretta PX4 9mm full size both love 3.8 grn of Accurate#2 at 1.100 oal. Not only is it accurate, it shoots very soft with the Lee 356-124.

[bcp477]

The 125 grain, BHN 12 - 15 boolits I use (in my 9mm pistols) like 4.0 grains of HP38/W231 best of all. 3.7-3.8 grains of Bullseye also works very well. As my barrels are at or very close to 0.355" groove dia., I use 0.356" pills. COL on both is 1.09", in order to chamber in the pistol I have with the shortest chamber.

I am working on loads with TiteGroup, 700X and American Select now - but I have no hard data as of yet.

[Buzz64]

Shooting same boolit in my S&W Shield sized to .356 in front of 4.0 gr of Green dot. Nice load for the smaller guns and never fails to function correctly.

[Blintersifrid]

Four grains Red Dot works great,not too light ,not too heavy.

I get keyholes like mad with 4 grains of red dot under a 125gr boolit.
3.5 grains, and my 9mm behaves, but barely.

What's your OAL?

'Sifrid

[nhrifle]

I've been loading the lee 358-125 and my Taurus 24 7 loves it. Didn't like the performance of Red Dot. Then I tried Clays and I found a charge of 3.5 grains to shoot and function well, but I had to contend with leading, which I was attributing to a powder that produced high pressure too quickly for my alloy. Powder selection has been rather limited lately and I discovered a bunch of Winchester WST available, so I picked up a pound to try. When I discovered there was no data listed for 9mm with this powder, I thought I had made a mistake. I looked through data for faster powders and settled on a load of 3 grains to start. Bingo! Good function, clean burn, little to no leading, and I can keep shots around 2" at 25 yards. This being my carry pistol until I get my 1911 paid off, I called it good there and have shot a whole bunch since. Great load that shoots fairly softly. Rapid doubles and triples are back on target quickly and my pistol isn't beating itself to death. I seat the boolits to just under the crimp groove.