Anybody hand load 9mm Luger ?

[Indybear]

The wife has put over 10,000 Lee 105 SWC, sized .358, 45/45/10 or Darr, Unique or Universal and WSP down range out of a S&W 915. They look ugly when loaded but they punch a great hole and work just as well in 38/357. We have a new SR9 that does not like them but I'm still working on it.

The key is always fit and OAL is extremely important in a 9mm. Unless you a one of the lucky few and have a .355 sized barrel stay away from the tumble lube designs or anything .356 or less unless you like cleaning up leading....

[bcp477]

Interestingly enough, I JUST did post on another thread about my first outing with cast boolits in my 9mm's. I tried BOTH 0.356" and 0.357" plus boolits......and got NO leading whatsoever, with either. So, it seems that I might be one of the "lucky few" with 0.355" barrel(s).

By the way, I tested my cast loads in two different pistols.....my Stoeger Cougar and my Sig Sauer P250. Both had NO leading - so I guess I lucked out TWICE. I opted to NOT slug my barrels, but to go ahead and test fire the loads.

I also found that, in early testing with "dummy" loads, boolits of 0.358" diameter will NOT chamber in my Sig Sauer....but WILL in my Stoeger. They also WILL chamber in my other 9mm, an S&W 3rd generation pistol. But, my testing (at least, so far) indicates that 0.356" pills will probably be large enough. I may well just use 0.357" dia. ones though, as I can also shoot those in my 38 Spl revolver (a 1980's S&W).....which has a barrel slightly tighter than 0.357" (it does just fine with 0.357" dia. cast boolits).

As for loads, I used HP38, as I do for J-word 9mm loads. 3.6, 3.8 and 4.0 grains tried, with COL at 1.12" for all. 4.0 grains was the best all 'round....and shot nearly to POA (only about 1/2" or so, low, but dead centre). 4.0 produced 2" or smaller groups @ 10 yards. My normal load with J-words is 4.8 grains of HP38, under a 124 grain HP (for SD).....or a 115 grain FMJ (for targets)....COL about 1.10" - both shoot superbly from my pistols. So, I will take my 4.0 grain cast load and "push" it a bit. I will try 4.2 and 4.4 grains....and perhaps 4.6.....with the same 0.356" and 0.357" plus boolits.

[Indybear]

What alloy did you use? Must be just soft enough to slug up and seal the barrel. A really bad combo is a hard and small bullet in any gun. Have you fired a lot of Js?

All the Sigs, Taurus and Beretta 9mms I have worked with needed a really fat bullet and some up to .359 to shoot well. I know some like you do get by with .356 but my guess is most do not. I have always wondered why 9s vary so much in size and when 38s & 357s tend to be right on the money @ .357. Never heard a good explanation and it seems the imports are worse.

[bcp477]

I don't cast my own bullets, I buy them. But, my supplier lists on their website "92 %, 2 %, 6 % "..... and they are said to have a BHN of 12 - 15.

To date, I have put over 900 rounds of jacketed through the Stoeger...and over 800 through the Sig. As you may know, the Stoeger is made in Turkey (by a subsidiary of Beretta) and the Sig is made here in the US, by SigArms (in New Hampshire).

I am with you on the mystery of the oversized 9mm barrels. I haven't a clue. But, I am happy as can be that I seem to have "normal" sized barrels.

By the way, I have a mid 80's S&W revolver (38 Spl)....and it's barrel is just a bit undersized (closer to 0.356 than 0.357). It actually shoots 0.357" cast bullets just fine.

[marklyftogt]

I load Lees 124 gr RN with Accurate #2 and it shoots clean as a whistle out of my XD9.
My 92-FS Beretta leads like hell. Guessing it depends on the gun.
My mix is about 94-3-3.

[popper]

Anybody use WST in 9?

[justcharlie]

i use wst in my 9 sti and springer 5.25 works fine but i think i like hs6 better
still testing. have a 3 gun match this weekend will shoot the sti with wst.
just my $.02
justcharlie

[Petrol & Powder]

My all time favorite, always go to powder for 9mm is WSF. A good all around load for 115gr. FMJ (sorry about the J-word reference) is 5.4 grs. A little less for cast boolits that are about the same weight. It works with 124gr but you have to tweak the charge weight and I can't remember it off the top of my head but it's close to 5.4 as well. I never cared for heavy bullets in 9mm. 115 - 124 gr are what I like. I haven't loaded many 9mm cast boolits but I've loaded and shot 10's of thousands J-words. WSF just works in that cartridge IMHO. I suspect WST would work too but I see no need to upset the cart.

[A1armorer]

Thanks for all the information.
We are adding lead cast boolits to our mix of rounds and this thread is very timely for us.

[1Shirt]

Yep, I do also!
1Shirt!