Best Load for 9mm 125 Gr Lead Round Nose BHN 17

[timeuler]

Not finding a whole lot of data out there regarding 125 Gr Lead Round Nose and Powder combinations or recipes. Can anyone lend an opinion on what they would recommend. I was given 500 Match Grade hard cast (BHN 17) alloy bullets and want to work up a load for my SW Sigma 9mm. I can find 124 grain Lead Round Nose out there and heavier load recipes but I cannot find what I need. Your help is greatly appreciated.

[NuJudge]

I like a light load of 231 in my Beretta and Walther pistols. Just enough powder to get the pistol to function.

[dragon813gt]

There are 14 loads listed for 124 grain lead bullets. And 15 loads listed for 125 grain lead bullets in Lee's manual. And there are two listed for 124 grain LRN in Winchester's 15th edition manual.

A one grain difference in bullet weight isn't going to make much of a difference. Start low and work up. No one can tell you what will function best in your pistol.

[bobthenailer]

3.8gr of Tightgroup or Bullseye
4.0gr of WSF
4.5gr of Power Pistol

thes are not max loads just the most accurate from my guns.

[S&W-629]

I have had good luck with 4.3 Green dot

[MaineJim]

Four grains Red Dot works great,not too light ,not too heavy.

[winelover]

I like Unique and AA#7 of my nines.

Winelover

[FergusonTO35]

I've discovered my 9's like the Lee 356-120-TC over 3.2 grains of Bullseye with a Federal Gold Medal primer seated to an OAL of 1.050. I bet the 124 you have would work great too.

[GBertolet]

A couple of years ago Mike Venturino wrote an article in Handloader magazine, on handloading military pistol cartridges. In the 9mm, 3.9 gr of Bullseye, with the 125 gr cast bullets shot the best in the military handguns he tested. I tried that load, and found he was right. My bullet was the Lyman 356402. Velocities in the 1050 fps range can be expected.

[smkummer]

I am using 4.2 grain 700X with a Lee TL356-125RN bullet and good results in a M9, Sig Sauer and Colt 2000. If my lee pro 1000press would meter well 3.9 works well also but sometimes 700X doesn't flow well in the powder measure so with 4.2 grains I have had zero function problems. Some manuals may show this as slightly over max. but that is with a jacketed bullet and generally lead bullets give lower pressures. I am getting very little leading if any and a cleaning with patches is all thats needed after 150 rounds to make the bore shiney. If any lead depostits and run with a copper brush and the bore is spotless. I was going to say this load works perfect in my buddies SW sigma also.

[dougader]

4.0 - 4.5 grains WW231

[bcp477]

4.0 grains of HP38/ W231. Dead nuts accurate in all of my 9mm's.

[Case Stuffer]

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp


I use 4.4 to 4.8 gr. WW231 and 5.7 to 6.2 HS-6

with 125 - 135 lead hard cast RN (round nose) ,SWC (Semi Wad Cutters) and even JHP and jaccked and cast troncated flat nose /point.

[warboar_21]

I have had good luck with 4.0gr of Win 231 under the Lee 124gr round nose tumble lube bullet out of my Sig 290. The max listed in my Lyman manual is 4.2gr for their 125gr RN. If I went lower than the 4.0gr I didn't have reliable cycling with the stiff spring on the little Sig.

[Ed_Shot]

My CZ loves Lee's 125 gn RN over Blue Dot 5.8 gr.

[Bzcraig]

My CW9 and Beretta PX4 9mm full size both love 3.8 grn of Accurate#2 at 1.100 oal. Not only is it accurate, it shoots very soft with the Lee 356-124.

[bcp477]

The 125 grain, BHN 12 - 15 boolits I use (in my 9mm pistols) like 4.0 grains of HP38/W231 best of all. 3.7-3.8 grains of Bullseye also works very well. As my barrels are at or very close to 0.355" groove dia., I use 0.356" pills. COL on both is 1.09", in order to chamber in the pistol I have with the shortest chamber.

I am working on loads with TiteGroup, 700X and American Select now - but I have no hard data as of yet.

[Buzz64]

Shooting same boolit in my S&W Shield sized to .356 in front of 4.0 gr of Green dot. Nice load for the smaller guns and never fails to function correctly.

[Blintersifrid]

Four grains Red Dot works great,not too light ,not too heavy.
I get keyholes like mad with 4 grains of red dot under a 125gr boolit.
3.5 grains, and my 9mm behaves, but barely.

What's your OAL?

'Sifrid

[nhrifle]

I've been loading the lee 358-125 and my Taurus 24 7 loves it. Didn't like the performance of Red Dot. Then I tried Clays and I found a charge of 3.5 grains to shoot and function well, but I had to contend with leading, which I was attributing to a powder that produced high pressure too quickly for my alloy. Powder selection has been rather limited lately and I discovered a bunch of Winchester WST available, so I picked up a pound to try. When I discovered there was no data listed for 9mm with this powder, I thought I had made a mistake. I looked through data for faster powders and settled on a load of 3 grains to start. Bingo! Good function, clean burn, little to no leading, and I can keep shots around 2" at 25 yards. This being my carry pistol until I get my 1911 paid off, I called it good there and have shot a whole bunch since. Great load that shoots fairly softly. Rapid doubles and triples are back on target quickly and my pistol isn't beating itself to death. I seat the boolits to just under the crimp groove.

[beex215]

I get keyholes like mad with 4 grains of red dot under a 125gr boolit.
3.5 grains, and my 9mm behaves, but barely.

What's your OAL?

'Sifrid
i also use red dot/ promo and used 3.8 to 4.2 grain loads with various oal from 1.10 to 1.15. never got a keyhole.

[Blintersifrid]

i also use red dot/ promo and used 3.8 to 4.2 grain loads with various oal from 1.10 to 1.15. never got a keyhole.

Guess I'll have to try some 3.8s and see if I still have a problem.
Thanks.

'Sifrid

[Treeman]

4 grains of Red Dot has worked in a lot of guns for me. OAL depends on the boolit design but seat them as long as you can get good chambering/feeding with.

[bruce drake]

My Taurus 99 and FEG Hi-Power would both keyhole with a 4gr load of Red Dot with either Lee's 124gr TC or RN sized at .357 I switched to using Unique and the tumbling issues stopped. Same size boolit and same powder weight so I'm thinking my two pistols had issues with my Wheelweight based alloy with Red Dot. Nothing scientific but the Unique load works for me out to 25 yards.

My RIA 9mm 1911 also likes the new Unique load as well so I know the powder question is almost settled for me in 9mm Parabellum, although I'd like to see if anyone has completed results for Alliant's American Select powder that was referred in a previous post.

Bruce

[Finster101]

Four grains Red Dot works great,not too light ,not too heavy.

I'll second that.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

4.7-4.8 grains of 4756 just about fills the 9mm case and with a 120 grain round nose like Lyman 358242 will cycle a Luger without beating it to death and the group is at least 9 ring or better-at 25 yards. Pressure is low and the load burns clean; no leading. Also works very well in a 92 Baretta and a Smith 952. LLS

[smokesahoy]

I like to tailor my powders by what fills the case on a max charge so invariably go for slower powders but it keeps pressure down without me shooting lead that feels like a .22, i never got that, if you want it so light why not just throw the projectile and leave the powder out of it?

[farmerjim]

I like herco.

[krag35]

I'm shooting 5.6 gr Blue Dot under the Lee 125 gr RFP. I like it

[rintinglen]

Herco, Unique and Power Pistol have been my powders of choice for the 9 millimeter and cast. 4.5 grains of Unique or Herco and a 358-242 120 grainer works very well as does 5.2 grains of Power Pistol with the same boolit.

[tfpblaster]

I am using 4.2 grain 700X with a Lee TL356-125RN bullet and good results in a M9, Sig Sauer and Colt 2000. If my lee pro 1000press would meter well 3.9 works well also but sometimes 700X doesn't flow well in the powder measure so with 4.2 grains I have had zero function problems. Some manuals may show this as slightly over max. but that is with a jacketed bullet and generally lead bullets give lower pressures. I am getting very little leading if any and a cleaning with patches is all thats needed after 150 rounds to make the bore shiney. If any lead depostits and run with a copper brush and the bore is spotless. I was going to say this load works perfect in my buddies SW sigma also.

what is oal of bullet

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I get keyholes like mad with 4 grains of red dot under a 125gr boolit.
3.5 grains, and my 9mm behaves, but barely.

What's your OAL?

'Sifrid

what does your barrel slug at I had some that would shoot fine in ,my .355 barrel and key hole in a .357 barrel both 9mm , a lot of newer 9's are using .357 barrels and you need to have a fatter bullet , the good part is these new 9's generally also have a sloppy chamber so you can chamber the over sized bullet in most any brass

if your using a factory crip die , put it back in the box and get a taper crimp and use it just enough to take the bell off the case mouth and get reliable feeding

there is a great sticky in wheel guns ,pistols and hand canons that MTgun44 did about loading cast for the 9 if anyone is having problems in a 9 and it applies well to 40 also

[Canman]

I have some 125gn lrn I want to load with bullseye between 1.12-1.10 OAL. lee load data states Min OAL of 1.15 and 4.7-4.9gn of Bullseye. What would be my safe powder charge if I drop my OAL in the 1.12-1.10 range?

[Forrest r]

5.0gr of wst and the Mihec 125gr rfn cast bullet chews bugholes in paper for me in a nm 1911.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/ro9mm50ft_zpslprjmumk.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/ro9mm50ft_zpslprjmumk.jpg.html)

I've shot countless 1000's of this powder/bullet combo. It actually has a pretty good smack to it considering it's nothing more than a "target" load.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t242/forrestr-photo/9mm_zpspljbrgxj.jpg (http://s162.photobucket.com/user/forrestr-photo/media/9mm_zpspljbrgxj.jpg.html)

[winelover]

My 9mm load using Bullseye is 4.0 grains under RCBS 125 RN, OAL of 1.10"

Accurate and gives 100% reliability in both my full size and subcompact pistols.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Guess I'll have to try some 3.8s and see if I still have a problem.
Thanks.

'Sifrid
+ one more with 3.8 RedDot

[GARD72977]

That is a lot harder bullet than i like to shoot im my 9mm. You will want to push that bullet pretty hard. I would use jacketed loads.

I load soft bullets about 10bnh at 135pf

[Shingle]

Can't go wrong with that load.

[Rodfac]

Win 231 or WST work well in my 9mm guns (Colt Combat Commander, 3 Sigs, and a Ruger fitted with a Barsto bbl.). Loads from 3.8 to 4.2 grains give pretty close to 1000 fps and minimal leading with commercial cast RN's (Missouri Bullet Co.) Groups run less than 1" at 10 yds from a Weaver two-hand stance, offhand).

But, I haven't found a good load with Lyman's venerable 356402 yet, as cast from WW's (about 3" @ 25 yds is the best it can do even with a good inspection but not weighed). Of the two powders mentioned, Win 231 at 4.2 with Phoenix 124 hard-lead alloy Rn gives me ~2" at 25 yds in a Sig P226 (all Federal brass, Win caps, & .356" dia., lubed over the commercial hard stuff with LLA)...as good as my best JHP loads. HTH's Rod

[TCLouis]

A guy here whose picture depicts a guy astride a horse wearing a big ol sombrero suggested 3.2 grains of Red Dot in answer to my inquiry.
My PROMO matches my Red Dot so I substituted it and have not looked back.

Dang, it shoots real good outa the pocket gun and PT99.

[vmthtr]

I just bought a S&W Shield, sale at Brownells. I have the 124g RN tl bullet from Lee. I tried Clays at 3.0G and they tumble at 7 yards. I am going to try 4.3G of Greendot next. I don't have any other "fast" pistol powders.

[Grmps]

you might want to start with 3.8G of green dot and work up from there.
check http://castpics.net/dpl/index.php/reloaders-reference/cast-bullet-data-lookup and see if you have another powder that might work.
some people recommend running 100+ fmj bullets through a new gun first, clean it then go with lead

[armoredman]

Finding this thread was very timely - I was just given about 1000 Missouri Bullet Company 125gr TCFP bullets, and have an odd assortment of powders to try, including Unique, Bullseye, 700X, Win 231, Accurate Arms #2 and #7. Data involving those are greatly appreciated. I did load some testers already, and to not hit the rifling they had to be loaded about 1.035, about where that ogive would be if it was a ball round, not truncated cone. Testing tomorrow, using ideas found here, thank you! :grin:

[Walks]

Why do we constantly reinvent the wheel.

I realize there are new powders coming out all the time. More efficient & cleaner.
But I subscribe to the theory if it ain't broke;
Don't Fix It.

120gr-125gr Lead Bullet. 4.0+yrs of Bullseye

[ackleyman]

3.7-3.8g of Tight group for my 124 cast, very accuate.

Play with seating depth in .005 increments, you will find a length that will be amazing. Shocking how so little adjustment will change the accuracy...

Bullseye is accurate, but it is also filthy to deal with and clean up. 231 is not too far behind Bullseye.

Tightgroup with ligher loads for lead is clean. Then AA#7 for 1200 + fps on jacketed is so clean you will not believe it!

Flake shotgun powders bridge in my powder measure at times, one charge will be light, the next heavy. I have learned to avoid Large flake powders for "bridging" issues using a Redding Br 30 powder measure with the pistol insert.

[Low Budget Shooter]

My experiments with that weight bullet in 9mm showed 4.6 grains Unique and 3.6 grains Bullseye work great.

[GooseGestapo]

vmthtr;
Dump the Tumble Lube mold.
Get the 120gr Truncated Conical with standard lube groove.
Get a pound of 95/5 Tin/antimony wire solder.
Add about 2oz of solder to your pot and flux well.

I’ve got a half dozen of 9mm and .40/10mm TL molds and they all tumble unless cast VERY hard and run just fast enough to cycle action. It doesn’t help that they run undersized, too.

I’ve won many matches with the Lee TC. 4.9gr of LongShot...
My S&W’s want .357” bullets, too. Though .356” shoot well too.

[Patricklaw]

vmthtr;
Dump the Tumble Lube mold.
Get the 120gr Truncated Conical with standard lube groove.
Get a pound of 95/5 Tin/antimony wire solder.
Add about 2oz of solder to your pot and flux well.

I’ve got a half dozen of 9mm and .40/10mm TL molds and they all tumble unless cast VERY hard and run just fast enough to cycle action. It doesn’t help that they run undersized, too.

I’ve won many matches with the Lee TC. 4.9gr of LongShot...
My S&W’s want .357” bullets, too. Though .356” shoot well too.

I have a bunch of TC’s in 40 on my bench that I’m planning to load soon. I also have 2-3k of the TL’s, PC’d and loaded and they tumble like crazy. I pulled a few and it would appear that the case is sizing them down slightly. I suppose the small surfaces of the TL’s yield much easier to the brass. I’m thinking change molds or get an “M” die.

[340six]

My go to loads for one of my 1st molds is.
Lyman 358242 sized to .357 with 3.6 grains of Red Dot. Or 4.0 of WW231 Both at 1.160" OAL

[sghart3578]

My favorite is a 124 gr LRN over 5.4 gr of Accurate #5.

[Cast_outlaw]

I’m loading 3.5gr tight group with the lee TL356-124-RN in one of my nines It’s ok but that gun is is only ok with every thing I try the other is great with it so ymmv

[Charlie Horse]

Anyone have luck with the Lee 124g TC TL bullet? I'm struggling with it. It wants to tumble and the accuracy is far from acceptable for me. I've tried mostly Unique so far and I've sized .357 and .358.

[Hogtamer]

Fortune cookie 45 on you tube uses it over ? 5.3 ? gr longshot with good results. See his video.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EiBReP6I2OY

[Charlie Horse]

Ok. So, it can work. I'll keep trying. I have to. I've got a whole mess of them cast up.

Going to try 6 grains of Blue dot with the Lee 124 g tumble lube truncated cone.

[Charlie Horse]

I tried that 6.0 grain load of Blue Dot with some unsized 124 grain Lee TC TL bullets. All I can say is Hot Dog! My groups tightened up nicely.
Its a good thing, too. A couple months ago I sat down on a rainy day and cast up a whole bunch of those boolits. I was afraid I was going to have to melt them down.:(
I did have one issue. Out of 20 shots, one case stayed in the chamber and jammed up the gun ( a Taurus PT 92). This gun never jams. The case flicked right out of the chamber with my fingernail. It wasn't stuck. Only thing I could think, maybe the low power of the load failed to fully expand the case, then it wobbled a bit in the chamber and the extractor was able to slip off. Think that might have happened?
I'll up the charge a couple 1/10's and see how it performs.

[marshall623]

I tried that 6.0 grain load of Blue Dot with some unsized 124 grain Lee TC TL bullets. All I can say is Hot Dog! My groups tightened up nicely.
Its a good thing, too. A couple months ago I sat down on a rainy day and cast up a whole bunch of those boolits. I was afraid I was going to have to melt them down.:(
I did have one issue. Out of 20 shots, one case stayed in the chamber and jammed up the gun ( a Taurus PT 92). This gun never jams. The case flicked right out of the chamber with my fingernail. It wasn't stuck. Only thing I could think, maybe the low power of the load failed to fully expand the case, then it wobbled a bit in the chamber and the extractor was able to slip off. Think that might have happened?
I'll up the charge a couple 1/10's and see how it performs.6 gr. Blue Dot shoots tight groups under the lee 124 TC ( lube groove not TL) in my EC9 , but it's pretty snappy in the little light pistol . 4.7 gr. of unique gets the nod for plinking and groups good also . I tried Tite Group , it did OK and I would use it in a pinch . I'm planning on buying a full size 9 and the Blue Dot load would be the first try in it .

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