9mm Luger can be a problem child when it comes to reloading and it can be an evil problem child when you add cast bullets to the mix.
As for powders, I've used just about all of them but always came back to WSF for 9mm. I finally just landed the plane and just always use WSF for 9mm.
I am not a fan of 147 grain bullets in 9mm. Yes, they can be very accurate but that's about the only good thing I can say about heavy for caliber 9mm loads. The 147 grain bullet was originally designed as a subsonic load for suppressed 9mm weapons and that's where it should stay - IMO.
The 9mm does its best work with the 115-125 grain bullets and my preference may be slightly tilted towards the 125 grain end of that range.
I totally agree with Tazman concerning the differences in chambers/barrels for various 9mm pistols. The barrel dimensions for 9mm pistols are all over the map. I can create a 38 Special cartridge that will perform well in multiple guns but when it comes to 9mm Luger and a
cast bullet, I have to load for a specific firearm.
So for 9mm Luger the first criteria is the cartridge must fit in the magazine and reliably feed in the pistol. That's generally a function of cartridge length and bullet shape. Even when loading round nose FMJ bullets I tend to keep my COL on the long end of the COL range for 9mm. Then, that COL and bullet type must be safe in terms of pressure; this brings up another issue with 9mm Luger and that it is a high pressure cartridge with a small case capacity. You can get into trouble fast if you're near the upper limit of the powder charge weight and the lower limit of COL.
OK, that's the warnings and the bad news - here's the good news: Once you find the perfect combination of bullet style, COL, powder charge weight, etc. - you can end up with excellent performance.
I can load 115-125 grain FMJ bullets into various casings with a COL between 1.130" and 1.160" (generally closer to the 1.160" if the magazine & chamber will allow it) and get a round that will function in just about any 9mm pistol. If a hollowpoint bullet is used you have to make sure the profile will function with your pistol. I've hand loaded a few different HP designs but frankly it's just not worth it to me for a practice round. If I need expanding bullets for a 9mm I'll just buy a box of factory loaded cartridges of a type that I know will function in my pistol. Good news here - A Glock will work with a large variety of factory loaded HP's.
With a cast bullet I experimented with several different bullet types and the 120 grain truncated cone [TC] is still the top performer for me, YMMV. However, with a cast bullet you have another issue and that's bullet diameter. Again, 9mm pistols tend to be all over the map in terms of barrel dimensions and jacketed bullets tolerate those variances better than cast bullets.
So - to sum up:
With a jacketed bullet my advice is to stay in the 115-125 grain range.
Keep your COL on the long end of whatever works with your mag and pistol.
Use just enough taper crimp to securely hold the bullet in the casing.
I recommend staying with WSF powder.
With a JHP - same as above but select a HP profile that is close to a round nose FMJ profile (The old Federal 9BPLE 115 gr would feed in just about any pistol - just saying
).
When using a cast bullet, same as above but size the bullet to the largest possible diameter that will fit you barrel and chamber.
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Using Winchester's data for 9mm and WSF powder:
115 gr FMJ; 4.9 - 5.7 grains of WSF (5.4 works well for me)
124 gr FMJ; 4.7 - 5.3 grains of WSF (with a COL of 1.160" I run 124gr FMJ right at 5.3 grains of WSF)