I started casting and reloading in 9mm and i went through bunch of powders, projectiles, different COL, crimps etc but i dont think I will ever get it to be as accurate as other calibers. Yesterday i tried new load with 3.8-4.2gr of Vectan GM3 under Lee 356-125-2R and i was getting about 3" groups @ 7 yards. My other loads produce about 2" groups maybe a tad smaller but its still not what my RIA Tac Ultra in 10mm can do or even my Ruger GP100 MC. My best 5 shot group from RIA ended up being under 1".
To compare I shot my 9mms (Canik TP9 SFX , P320) on steel 10" target with 3" free hanging bullseye @ 25 yards standing two hand grip unsupported. I could hit bullseye but not consistently with my 9s. I changed to my RIA and I shot 11 bullseyes in a row before I missed one and that wasnt a one time accurance because I was getting 5 , 6 shot strings without a miss all day long. I was having so much fun with that gun I shot all my cast 40 and 10mm ammo I had with me. I just couldnt believe the difference. I guess I kept thinking a lot of that was me but now I'm starting to think thats not the case. I dont know if I could do better shooting 9mm FMJs.
I'm not one to give up and I've been working on 9mm for a while. Every time I go to the range which is at least once
a week I have a new 9mm batch to test. Sized to .3575 PCed and water dropped I'm guessing BHN around 16 or so. Slower powders seem to be more accurate with HS6 being most accurate for me so far. I also tried TG, W231/HP38, WSF, Unique, HS6, Power Pistol, AutoComp, Vectan GM3. I still have Vectan A0 that i didnt try yet so thats next.
I'm not looking for any specific tips here i think I went through them all so I'm just venting at this point.
As time goes by I'm starting to think that if you want really accurate handgun you need a solid 1911 or a good revolver with a fairly heavy bullet. 9mm just wont do that especially with cast but maybe its just me. I dont know