Heavy boolit 9mm loads

[Burnt Fingers]

I love shooting heavy 9mm boolits over a pinch of fast powder. I have the NOE ELCO, which I only cast in the hollow point version. Those are dropping at 151 grains for me. I wish I had gotten a four cavity of this mold when they were available. I did manage to cast up over 800 of them this afternoon with my two cavity.

I load this boolit over 2.7 gr of Ramshot Competition. I had been using 2.6 gr but found that as the gun got dirty I would start having problems. This load works in my Canik TP9SFx with the standard recoil spring assembly.

I also have the MP 147 RN NLG mold. These are dropping at 148 for me. I use the same load as above and the two loads pretty much hit to the same aim point.

I love this MP boolit...mainly because I have a six cavity mold. But sizing at .358 I have to seat them a bit deeper than I would like to get them to function in my Canik. I'm not seeing any pressure signs though.

The NOE boolit I'm loading to 1.1" and the MP I have to drop down to 1.085".

Either one of these loads is very soft shooting and very accurate. The brass lands about 2-3' away.

I also have the Lyman 358212, 358250, 358311, and 358480 molds but have not loaded them into 9mm yet.

What are your favorite heavy 9mm boolits and loads?

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Loaded some Lee TL 158 grain boolits over a pinch of Red Dot once. They shot real well, but you had to make sure to get the crimp just right or the case would spit the boolit back out! Very quiet out of a carbine, but still had a nice tump on steel targets!

[Cast_outlaw]

I’m currently working up some loads with the lee tl-358-158-swc right now currently standard deviations are at 10 with 2.5 and 2.3gr of vectan A1 in a 5” Ruger P89 and I also use blue dot with a gas checked 158 GE it’s real hot at 1100 FPS always did a good job knocking down the silhouette at our club shoots when I was young

[RED BEAR]

I have never tried a heavy bullet in 9 mm basically because i am to cheap to use the extra lead. I know its a shame but there it is.

[GhostHawk]

I've done the same as silvercreek. 158 gr rn over Red Dot, 3 to 4.5 gr. Most in the 3 or 3.5 gr area.

Soft shooting, plenty accurate. My Hipoint carbine loves em.

[tazman]

I have used the NOE ELCO9mine drops at 147gr) and the 358212. Both work very well for me. I have been loading them in 9mm with 5.7 grains of AA7.
Soft shooting and accurate. The diameter I use depends on the pistol.
My notes show I am getting just under 900fps with this load.

[sigep1764]

Elco boolit over 2.8 grains of Red Dot. I only cast the HP as well. Soft shooting, locks back on all the pistols, and is pretty accurate.

[Burnt Fingers]

Elco boolit over 2.8 grains of Red Dot. I only cast the HP as well. Soft shooting, locks back on all the pistols, and is pretty accurate.

I'll have to give that one a try.


The same for the Vectan A1 load. I've got several pounds of the A1. I've been using it in .45 ACP where it's a very soft shooting powder.

[Burnt Fingers]

I have never tried a heavy bullet in 9 mm basically because i am to cheap to use the extra lead. I know its a shame but there it is.

Ya know, I have the NOE 155 gr SWC for the .45 ACP and love that little boolit. If I could just get it to group I'd shoot a lot more of them. I'm guessing that I need to drive them a lot faster than I am. I'm getting a lot of keyholing. But that would mean I have to use more powder.

I'm kind of cheap too. I like to minimize my powder and lead usage. I'm not sure why as I have plenty of both.

[lotech]

The Lyman #358212 design has already been mentioned here as being a good 9mm bullet, but I'll add a little to that based on my results.

#358212 is an obsolete .38 Special RN plain base design; weighs about 147-150 grains in WW alloy. I size to .358". These bullets have been accurate in several 9mm pistols. Feeding reliability is fine and accuracy may be the best I've experienced in comparison with many, many bullets I've tried in the last thirty years. I've found more than a few 9mm pistols shoot low at 25 yards with the light 115 - 130 grain bullets. The #358212 shoots to point of aim with a moderate charge of Bullseye powder. Muzzle velocity is about 850-900 fps.

[marek313]

I started with Lee 358-158-RF with 3gr of W231 and those worked great in my P320 and Canik TP9 SFX. There is definitely difference in felt recoil between shooting 115gr and 160gr. Slower more of a push like a small 45 and not snappy at all. Recently I got a good deal on that NOE 358-155-TC ELCO and while I did cast over 1K of those I havent shot any yet. They look great though.

Problem with loading these in 9mm is that small cartridge space so you have to load these long or have your guns throats reamed or both. My Sig P320 was fine from factory shooting .3575 160gr pills but my Canik had to have its throat reamed before i could shoot anything in .3575. Make sure you carefully work your way up because your working with very small case space available in this case so pressure could potentially spike very quickly.

I cant wait to try these NOE 358-155-TC (ELCO) and I got this 4 cavity mold from this forum for $55 shipped which was a great deal

[Burnt Fingers]

I started with Lee 358-158-RF with 3gr of W231 and those worked great in my P320 and Canik TP9 SFX. There is definitely difference in felt recoil between shooting 115gr and 160gr. Slower more of a push like a small 45 and not snappy at all. Recently I got a good deal on that NOE 358-155-TC ELCO and while I did cast over 1K of those I havent shot any yet. They look great though.

Problem with loading these in 9mm is that small cartridge space so you have to load these long or have your guns throats reamed or both. My Sig P320 was fine from factory shooting .3575 160gr pills but my Canik had to have its throat reamed before i could shoot anything in .3575. Make sure you carefully work your way up because your working with very small case space available in this case so pressure could potentially spike very quickly.

I cant wait to try these NOE 358-155-TC (ELCO) and I got this 4 cavity mold from this forum for $55 shipped which was a great deal

Who did the throat on your Canik? I'd love to have mine done. Do you know if the barrel is hardened in any way?

[KVO]

I like the Mihec 360-640 over 4.2gr of CFE Pistol (Max load per Hodgdon online load data for a 147gr XTP). 155gr solid, 151gr shallow penta, 145gr deep HP pin. The ogive is steep enough to clear the short throat in some of the current 9mm pistols and feeds well. Also my favorite 357 magnum boolit. It offers great versatility with the option of an 8 cavity mold.


Above load with out of a 3.5" barrel shot into gel, cast from 20:1 with the deep HP pin:





Edit: The far left boolit in the above lineup had the HP cavity intentionally completely filled with powder coat to test the effect on expansion. All were shot though 2 layers of T-shirt material.

[tazman]

Impressive results. Thanks for posting.

[Hick]

My Walther P1 likes the Lee 358-150-1R round nose, powder coated, which runs about 153 grains with the alloy I'm using. I get 910 fps with 3.2 grains of titegroup. I have to size down to 0.356 after PC to get them to chamber, but they shoot very nice with no leading.

[trapper9260]

I use the Lyman 147gr in my 9mm semi. Also works in my 38spl/357 mag also.

[joebaja]

MP's 359-147 runs and shoots well over 3gr of 700x in my TP9SF. Same with the Lee 358-150-1R over 4.4gr Power Pistol. I think the Lee / Power Pistol load is a bit on the hot side, and not nearly as pleasant to shoot as the fast powder loads. The 147 MP the OP mentioned runs great over 3.1 gr of Titegroup for me with a PC'd boolit.

[Burnt Fingers]

MP's 359-147 runs and shoots well over 3gr of 700x in my TP9SF. Same with the Lee 358-150-1R over 4.4gr Power Pistol. I think the Lee / Power Pistol load is a bit on the hot side, and not nearly as pleasant to shoot as the fast powder loads. The 147 MP the OP mentioned runs great over 3.1 gr of Titegroup for me with a PC'd boolit.

I'm curious what OAL you're loading that MP too.

Thanks.

[Iron369]

Is this the mould you guys are using?

[Cast_outlaw]

My oal on my loads is 1.125 with the lee tl358-158-swc and if you do use the A1 loads I’d be interested in your results I worked up mine higher but my crono was acting up it only registered properly on 6 of 20 shots I’d be interested in your results