95 gr. boolits for 9mm?

[natty bumpo]

Does anyone load 95 grain boolits for a 9mm? I'm thinking of a light target load and wondering if anyone has any input on this. I'm under the impression that this boolit is normally a .380 load.

[Recycled bullet]

In the past I have loaded the Lee 95 grain 380 bullet into 9 mm casings to be shot from 9mm guns. I had to seat the cartridge very short in order to fit the guns chamber aka the plunk test.

I had to run powder charges (power pistol, unique) higher than I initially wanted in order to get cycling. In my example (CZP09) it's a recoil operated gun and if you can't make the recoil from bullet Mass you make it from velocity and powder charge ejecta Mass.

Long story short it's much easier to load three and a half grains of fast pistol powder under 115 grain or 124 grain bullet to make a light target load.

[gwpercle]

The lightest boolit I have had great luck with in the 9mm Luger is the
Lee # 358-105-SWC ... now it says SWC but the nose profile is more a Truncated Cone and feeds and shoots accurately in my WWII era Walther P38 pistol ... the P38 just loves this boolit , sized .357" . Nice easy shooting loads , they don't pound the old gun or the old shooter ! 10 shots will group into 1 1/2 inches at 25 yards and I'm half blind .
Give this one a try ... a 2 cavity mould is not expensive and it can be used in 9mm and 38 cal. handguns . It's a light-load winner
Gary

[mnewcomb59]

The Lee 95-RF works great in 9mm handguns when cast with 4% antimony and powder coated. With upper end loads of fast powder it will go around 1350 fps and shoot 2-3" at 25 yards. With slower powders it will go 1450 fps+ but there is a huge muzzle blast and flash. The little bullet with 13-14 BHN lead will turn into a wadcutter at 1300 fps + impact and penetrate to upper FBI spec for self defense. I also had decent accuracy with softer lead, but the bullet mushrooms and penetrates super shallow. If this nose opens up any further than a wadcutter, it is not going to penetrate.

The main problem with the bullet, which is why I don't load too much of it any more, is that it seats too shallow in the case to have great neck tension. In blowback rifles the bullet gets cockeyed in the case after getting hammered into the feed ramp. Sometimes the bullet gets knocked so far out of true that the round won't even chamber. When you single feed them they shoot around 2" at 50 yards but mag fed they shoot wild like 8".

Keep in mind the original "western frontier" rifles were 36-40 cal such as the Ohio rifles. These 70-90 grain round balls with a BC of 0.05 extirpated mountain lion, buffalo, elk, black bear, etc. from the Ohio territory from the middle 1700s to about 1830.

[mdi]

I have some 95 gr FMJ I got for my 380. I did load some in 9mm and fired about 20 in my Masada. I only shot for function and not velocity as I had some other favored 9mm bullets in 115 gr. and 124 gr. I used Hodgdon data for a Barnes 95 gr. TAC-XP BULLET. IIRC they worked OK but didn't run them over my crony...

[natty bumpo]

Thanks to everyone for that very good information. Lots of what I needed to know and hadn't thought of before. I really appreciate the info.

[fredj338]

I have played with 88-100gr bullets in 9mm but really no reason. You can get a pretty light load with 115gr but if you want a stupid light recoiling load that functions the gun without spring mods, go heavy, like 160gr.

[Charlie Horse]

I never could get the light boolits to feed in either of my 9mm's. I've tried Lee 105 swc's, 95 grain RNFP, and 100 grain RN.

But that's just me. I've heard other people do it with no problems.

[T.J.Smith]

I load a cast 100 grain HP in a AK-V. 4.5 grains of Winchester 231 has very light recoil & is accurate. Mold is from MP molds / powder coated.
Played with that load in a STI Steelmaster but didn't like the recoil impulse.