What is your preferred powder for 9mm

[1Iron]

I just bought a 9mm pistol. I haven't loaded for 9mm in over 40 years. I have several powders on hand that I can use, but wanted to see what others are using. I plan on using my H&G #7 molds to cast 125 grain cast boolits.

Thanks.

1Iron

[Bosshaug]

I like TiteGroup myself. Meters well and is available locally for $29.99 a pound. I use it for both jacketed and cast.

[hades]

True blue for me, (135gr cast RF).

Buddy got into reloading and he picked up silhouette. Works nicely as well.

[txbirdman]

For target loads I use WST; 231; and 244. For higher performance loads I use Unique.

[MT Gianni]

Aa2 because I have a lot of it. Ramshot Silhuette does good work also.

[Ed_Shot]

I like WSF, Blue Dot, Promo/Red Dot in that order.

[anothernewb]

N320/W231 for target
HS6/power pistol for power

[jsizemore]

Started with SW Clean Shot (double base) and have moved to Vihtavuori N310 (single base). Both powders meter really good on the Dillon.

[upr45]

Lots of powders work well in 9mm, my usual is CFE pistol.

[Plate plinker]

Titegroup or 231. Usually 231 is my go to.

[parson48]

231 or Clean Shot here.

[Freischütz]

CFE Pistol and HS-6

[schutzen-jager]

RED DOT for many decades -

[dverna]

Mostly have used W231/HP38, but as mentioned, there are plenty of powders that will work.

[P Flados]

My google effort shows the #7 to look a lot like the Lee 120. I have loaded a ton of my powder coated Lee 120s. These are not really ideal "self defense" bullets, so I will just assume that you are interested in range ammo.

For me, getting leading free full power loads from the 9mm took a lot of effort. I played with all my powders in the process with no improvement from one to another.

I eventually determined that I needed a bigger expander die.

Once I worked out a process that worked, I found that any powder I had would work for "full power" loads with my range scrap alloy. When I say full power, I am not talking about maximum possible velocity, just a load that is not "reduced".

If you are interested in "just shooting" ammo, comparing what it takes for various powders to get the same predicted velocity is an interesting exercise using Quickload. My bet is that each of the loads below will all perform about as good as any other for plinking / making holes in paper. I would tend to go with one of the faster choices (the upper half of the list) just because they give you the same end result with less powder used.

Cartridge          : 9 mm Luger (SAAMI)
Bullet             : .356, 120, LEE 356-120-TC
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 1.075 inch = 27.31 mm
Barrel Length      : 4.0 inch = 101.6 mm

C A U T I O N : any load listed can result in a powder charge that falls below minimum suggested
loads or exceeds maximum suggested loads as presented in current handloading manuals. Understand
that all of the listed powders can be unsuitable for the given combination of cartridge, bullet
and gun. Actual load order can vary, depending upon lot-to-lot powder and component variations.
USE ONLY FOR COMPARISON !

Powder type          Filling/Loading Ratio  Charge    Charge   Vel. Prop.Burnt P max  P muzz  B_Time
                                      %     Grains    Gramm   fps     %       psi     psi    ms
---------------------------------  -----------------------------------------------------------------
Accurate Nitro 100                  87.2      3.6     0.23    1050   100.0    27799    3696   0.461
Alliant RED DOT                     93.6      3.7     0.24    1050   100.0    28647    3585   0.464
Alliant GREEN DOT                   89.7      4.0     0.26    1050   100.0    26901    3773   0.473
Hodgdon TiteGroup                   62.4      4.0     0.26    1050   100.0    29249    3512   0.456
Vihtavuori N320                     86.0      4.0     0.26    1050   100.0    26438    3701   0.473
Shooters World Clean Shot           71.2      4.0     0.26    1050    99.5    27578    3898   0.460
Alliant BULLSEYE                    77.3      4.1     0.26    1050    96.0    23570    4516   0.486
Hodgdon Universal                   84.6      4.3     0.28    1050    99.8    23869    4306   0.498
Hodgdon HP38                        64.9      4.3     0.28    1050   100.0    26283    3896   0.472
Ramshot Zip                         65.4      4.4     0.28    1050   100.0    25915    3974   0.474
Winchester 231                      72.9      4.4     0.28    1050   100.0    25915    3974   0.474
Shooters World Ultimate Pistol      56.4      4.4     0.29    1050    96.6    23542    4508   0.493
Vihtavuori N330                     85.4      4.4     0.29    1050    99.9    23167    4235   0.491
Accurate No.2                       84.9      4.5     0.29    1050    93.7    26504    4222   0.465
Alliant UNIQUE                      90.1      4.6     0.30    1050    94.9    22543    4708   0.505

[P Flados]

And here is a repeat of the previous, but with a higher velocity and with more of the slower powders included.

Cartridge          : 9 mm Luger (SAAMI)
Bullet             : .356, 120, LEE 356-120-TC
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 1.075 inch = 27.31 mm
Barrel Length      : 4.0 inch = 101.6 mm

C A U T I O N : any load listed can result in a powder charge that falls below minimum suggested
loads or exceeds maximum suggested loads as presented in current handloading manuals. Understand
that all of the listed powders can be unsuitable for the given combination of cartridge, bullet
and gun. Actual load order can vary, depending upon lot-to-lot powder and component variations.
USE ONLY FOR COMPARISON !

Powder type          Filling/Loading Ratio  Charge    Charge   Vel. Prop.Burnt P max  P muzz  B_Time
                                      %     Grains    Gramm   fps     %       psi     psi    ms
---------------------------------  -----------------------------------------------------------------
Accurate Nitro 100                  93.4      3.9     0.25    1100   100.0    32011    3908   0.432  ! Near Maximum !
Alliant RED DOT                    100.6      4.0     0.26    1100   100.0    33167    3803   0.435  ! Near Maximum !
Shooters World Clean Shot           75.5      4.2     0.27    1100    99.9    31756    4083   0.431  ! Near Maximum !
Alliant BULLSEYE                    81.9      4.3     0.28    1100    97.4    26628    4804   0.459
Alliant GREEN DOT                   96.0      4.3     0.28    1100   100.0    31019    3977   0.443  ! Near Maximum !
Hodgdon TiteGroup                   66.9      4.3     0.28    1100   100.0    33937    3714   0.427  ! Near Maximum !
Vihtavuori N320                     91.9      4.3     0.28    1100   100.0    30785    3887   0.443  ! Near Maximum !
Hodgdon Universal                   89.8      4.6     0.30    1100   100.0    27287    4506   0.467
Hodgdon HP38                        69.2      4.6     0.30    1100   100.0    30233    4081   0.443  ! Near Maximum !
Accurate No.2                       89.3      4.7     0.31    1100    95.4    30272    4469   0.438  ! Near Maximum !
Shooters World Ultimate Pistol      59.6      4.7     0.30    1100    98.0    26696    4775   0.465
Winchester 231                      77.6      4.7     0.30    1100   100.0    29762    4157   0.445  ! Near Maximum !
Ramshot Zip                         69.7      4.7     0.30    1100   100.0    29762    4157   0.445  ! Near Maximum !
Vihtavuori N330                     90.5      4.7     0.30    1100   100.0    26703    4407   0.461
Alliant UNIQUE                      95.1      4.9     0.32    1100    96.5    25514    4996   0.475
Vihtavuori N340                     94.6      5.0     0.32    1100    97.3    27594    4649   0.456
Ramshot Silhouette                  78.3      5.4     0.35    1100    94.7    26733    4862   0.460
Vihtavuori N350                    100.0      5.8     0.38    1100    89.8    25933    5012   0.461
Alliant POWER PISTOL                92.7      5.8     0.38    1100    79.2    24594    5436   0.473
Ramshot True Blue                   73.4      5.9     0.38    1100    89.6    26923    4948   0.459
Accurate No.5                       71.3      5.9     0.38    1100    84.2    26431    5111   0.461
Vihtavuori 3N37                     96.2      5.9     0.38    1100    89.3    25593    5103   0.467
Shooters World Auto Pistol          71.3      5.9     0.38    1100    84.1    26431    5112   0.461
Hodgdon Longshot                    74.6      6.0     0.39    1100    89.3    26519    5000   0.462
Hodgdon HS-6                        78.2      6.1     0.40    1100    87.1    26781    5001   0.460

[gwpercle]

All of the following are good , and depending on what powders I can get / or what I have ... I will use with
124 gr. cast ... NOE 358-124-TC GC or RCBS 09-124-CN

700X
Bullseye
Red Dot
HP38 / W231
Unique ..................... old favorite
Acc Arms #2 (AA #2).. new favorite
Acc Arms #5 (AA #5).. might be a good powder , need more testing .

If I have it ... my first choice is Unique .
Accurate Arms powders are new to me but seem to work fine in the Nine !
Gary

[farmbif]

ive got some of just about all the powders that there is load data for 9mm and have settled on be-86, and in past ive used a lot of power pistol, bullseye and others, silhouette gives excellent performance with cast bullets, ive tried cfe pistol its pretty good too. but be-86 gives reduced muzzle flash and top performance. about 5.3 grains with mp 359-125 From old group buy. one powder that I do not have and would not mind trying is sport pistol.

[DaveTNC]

I've had good luck with 231/HP38 and Bullseye in 9mm (but have lately been saving what little Bullseye I have left for 38 special wadcutters.)

I remember seeing somewhere that Red Dot/Promo works and need to work up a load with it since I have a few pounds of it on hand.

[lightman]

231 or Unique for me.