145- to 150-gr Lead in 9mm?

[Grump]

What are the results/experiences with heavier lead pills in 9mm?

I have use of an H&G 73 mould that's supposed to be a 145-gr SWC but my last batch weighs closer to 150. They seem to shoot well enough in .38 Special loads--three or four different loads hover around 3-inch groups at 50 yards.

Trying them out in 9mm in lower-velocity loads (780-830 fps depending), which turns out to be fine since my last pistol powder on the shelf is pretty fast. Not sure that 296 counts as pistol powder since I use more in .30 Carbine than .357 Mag lately, but I digress.

Shooting in a SIG P226 and no, I haven't slugged the barrel yet but using TAC#1 lube these boolits seem to be grouping a little better sized to .358 than .356 or .357. One more round of tests and I hope to have it nailed down whether this gun, boolit and load can do better than 6 inch groups at 50. The pistol has had some accuracy tweaks but with jaxteded still seems limited to 4 inch groups at 50. I would love to match the jacketed group sizes with my own cast boolits like I have with .45 and .38 Spl.

So how have you guys done with this weight boolit in 9mm?

Thanks!

[tazman]

My pistol likes the Lyman 358212(145 gr) and the new NOE 358-155-tc over medium loads of AA7, WSF, and HS6(850-900fps). I can't claim great groups at 50 yards because I am not capable of shooting that well. I can say that these 2 boolits group the same as or better than jacketed at the distances I shoot.
These are also the best 2 boolits in my 9mm carbine.

[GoodAlloy]

4.5 power pistol with 145~155 and don't worry you will be pleased

[dubber123]

Been shooting a 150 gr. RF design, (360640 BRP), with Green Dot in a 3.6" 9mm. Shoots the best of any weight I have tried. I have not tried it at 50 yds. In theory, based on the 25 yd. groups, it could match or beat 4" at 50, but theory doesn't always work out.

[Geezer in NH]

I like 147's and 3.5 red dot for my 9mm camp 9 short rifle & silencer.

In my Mac 10-9 9mm same bullet and 5.6 grains of H6 is Hollywood quite

[Grump]

Cool.

I tried three charge weights of 700-X and 825 fps out of a 4.4 inch barrel looks like the limit. Closer to 805 is best accuracy, but I'm still working on the lockup on the thing. 785 or so FPS cycles and blurps the cases out at my feet, but the slide didn't hold back on one string.

Wish I could find some other pistol powders. Maybe I shouldn't have passed on the Bullseye that popped up last month--despite a reputation as a "fast" powder, it gives higher velocities at the upper end of pressure than a lot of other propellants. But I've never used it and it's still too rare for me to justify starting load development AGAIN. Or that's what I thought at the time.

It's nice to have a 9mm load that close to duplicates my .38 Special target loads...

[dubber123]

It may well depend upon the particular mold and lube choice, but I worked up to 3.5 grains of Green Dot, and got excellent accuracy and velocity. (Well over 900 fps. from a 3.6" barrel). I had hoped for as much as I can use a single powder drop setting to load for my standard velocity .38 Spl's and my 9mm's.