9MM Help Part 2

[LAH]

After much soul searching & brain picking decided to start with 3.0 grains of Promo. Loaded 10 rounds & added .1 grain to each 10 till I came to 3.5 grains, 60 rounds total. Slugged the barrel @ .356, sized the bullets to .357, lubed with Carnauba Red. Made up a dummy round & found the correct OAL for the little pistol @ 1.127". Loaded everything on a Dillon 550 with HMF primers. I'll try to fire these tomorrow.

Pistol, CZ75
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05958.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/Creekerpics/media/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05958.jpg.html)

The press, 550 Dillon
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05959.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/Creekerpics/media/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05959.jpg.html)

Bullet, Saeco 928
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05960.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/Creekerpics/media/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05960.jpg.html)

Primer HMF
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05951.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/Creekerpics/media/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05951.jpg.html)

Powder, Promo
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05950.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/Creekerpics/media/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05950.jpg.html)
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05947.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/Creekerpics/media/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05947.jpg.html)

OAL 1.127"
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05952.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/Creekerpics/media/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05952.jpg.html)

Loaded round
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05955.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/Creekerpics/media/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05955.jpg.html)

Looking good
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h244/Creekerpics/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05957.jpg (http://s66.photobucket.com/user/Creekerpics/media/Ammo%20Loading/9MM/DSC05957.jpg.html)

[9.3X62AL]

It all looks copacetic from this side of the country.

I REALLY LIKE my CZ-75B in 40 S&W. It has been the most accurate 40 S&W I've ever fired to date, and I've owned and/or run most of the major makes during my work, recreation, and retirement shooting activities. The NICE thing about the CZ 40 is its rifling twist--1-16" instead of the usual 1-10" or 4 turns/meter form, which is twice as fast as necessary for the squatty bullets the caliber uses.

I don't think the 9 BHn alloy you mentioned in your PM will cause issues for you at the intensity of your loads given. I use the harder alloy in response to the fast twists in most 9mm barrels, but I'm running 125 grainers to 1250 FPS. Those shorter boolits (esp. the RN ones) don't have the well-defined drive bands the SAECO #928 features, nor do they have the engagement length of your boolit. My rationale for favoring TC over RN forms in the 125 grain-class 9mm boolits is their longer engagement length.

[Jailer]

One thing that wasn't mentioned in your post. Did you seat a dummy round and pull it to make sure it wasn't getting swaged down after it's seated? This seems to be the most prevalent problem with new 9mm cast boolit loaders.

[LAH]

This .357 die is a SD Star which has sized untold thousands of bullet to the point it is a little on the large size so the bullets are just a tad under .358 including spring back. The pulled bullets show no change from the unloaded ones.

[LAH]

Back from the range. 60 rounds fired. I didn't figure the 3 grain load would function the slide but it did. At 3.4 grains the little pistol was sounding & running great. 3.5 grains shot just fine, the primers looked ok. I think for now with this bullet I'll load 3.3 grains till I'm more comfortable with the NINE.

[Jailer]

Any leading?

[LAH]

Any leading?

It was in the 30s with much wind. Came home, laid the CZ on the cleaning bench, ate supper, took the wife to the store & just got home so I won't know till tomorrow afternoon. I'll tear it down after my preaching appointment & see.

[Cherokee]

Lynn - welcome to the 9mm world. Cold day here as well. Interested in how the powder worked for you. I have been using my old stock of 540WW (HS6) with good results and the Lee 120 TC.

[LAH]

Any leading?

I have no idea what this pistol was fed or how much. Before firing I ran a patch soaked with Hoppes & then 2 dry patches, followed by the 60 rounds.

So I took the little pistol down this afternoon & found a little lead in the barrel. Wasn't much but lead none the less. Also found a "place" in the barrel. Cleaned the barrel from all powder residue & let it soak in Bore-Tech ELIMINATOR while I went to Church this evening. Came home, ate some Angel Food & ice cream, ran a couple patches through the barrel & it really looks clean. Going fishing tomorrow for a few days but did load some more ammo a few minutes ago so when I'll return I try these bullets again.

[LAH]

Lynn - welcome to the 9mm world. Cold day here as well. Interested in how the powder worked for you. I have been using my old stock of 540WW (HS6) with good results and the Lee 120 TC.

I'm out of Bullseye & Unique but I have about 18 or 19 pounds of Promo so I want to use it for everything I can. The powder does fine in my 38s. It's not as good as Bullseye but it works well enough. I'm also using it in 45 ACP loads for my Blackhawk. So far I have no complaints.

[9.3X62AL]

Promo is--for all intents and purposes--the generic equivalent of Alliant Red Dot. As such, it should do good work with castings in 45 ACP and most other handgun calibers that run 12K-18K PSI, using Red Dot data by weight. It would make a great shotshell powder, too--18.0 grains of Red Dot/Winchester AA white column/1-1/8 oz of shot/209 primer in a Win AA hull/12 gauge was an old-school standard trap load for many years, before the clay snots got all drippy over ultra-light shot weights in their 12s. Sissy-la-las. It makes a very fine dove and quail load loaded with #7-1/2, #8, or #9 shot. I have no idea how many THOUSANDS of such loads I've assembled and fired since 1971. These days my 12gun gets fed Herco and 1-1/4 oz of shot at a time.......chukars are tougher customers than are doves or quail, and chukars make up 90% of my game bird hunting. 1-1/4 oz can be a good pheasant load, too--#5 shot is a better bet for the cackle units, though.

[9.3X62AL]

Promo is--for all intents and purposes--the generic equivalent of Alliant Red Dot. As such, it should do good work with castings in 45 ACP and most other handgun calibers that run 12K-18K PSI, using Red Dot data by weight. It would make a great shotshell powder, too--18.0 grains of Red Dot/Winchester AA white wad column/1-1/8 oz of shot/209 primer in a Win AA hull/12 gauge was an old-school standard trap load for many years, before the clay snots got all drippy over ultra-light shot weights in their 12s. Sissy-la-las. It makes a very fine dove and quail load loaded with #7-1/2, #8, or #9 shot. I have no idea how many THOUSANDS of such loads I've assembled and fired since 1971.

These days my 12gun gets fed Herco and 1-1/4 oz of shot at a time.......chukars are tougher customers than are doves or quail, and chukars make up 90% of my game bird hunting. 1-1/4 oz can be a good pheasant load, too--#5 shot is a better bet for the cackle units, though.

18#-19# of Promo is a shiPload of one powder type.

[bhn22]

18#-19# of Promo is a shiPload of one powder type.

Yea, verily!

[LAH]

It was 'bout 70.00 for an 8 pound jug. After speaking with the Alliant Tech I decided I get 3 jugs & finish the order off with primers.

[Low Budget Shooter]

LAH, your whole set-up seems great, but when I read "9 BHN" I kinda knew you would have to report leading. In my 9mm experiments, everything had to be right including alloy up about 12 BHN or so in order to handle the pressure of 9mm, EXCEPT if you use a very light bullet, where pressure can be down under 20,000. Then an alloy of 9 BHN works. I think you will have to do something to get your hardness up just a bit in order not to have any leading. YMMV. LBS

[LAH]

LAH, your whole set-up seems great, but when I read "9 BHN" I kinda knew you would have to report leading. In my 9mm experiments, everything had to be right including alloy up about 12 BHN or so in order to handle the pressure of 9mm, EXCEPT if you use a very light bullet, where pressure can be down under 20,000. Then an alloy of 9 BHN works. I think you will have to do something to get your hardness up just a bit in order not to have any leading. YMMV. LBS

In your experience what is the pressure of my load?

[scattershot]

I like 4.0 Red Dot with that bullet, for about 1050 fps. Same powder, BTW, just without the dots.

[9.3X62AL]

In your experience what is the pressure of my load?

Not certain, but if 3.5 grains of Red Dot under a 148 grain wadcutter in the longer 38 Special case gives in the area of 14K-15K PSI, I would think it a safe inference that your load is running north of 20K PSI in the smaller 9mm case. If you or someone else has a Quickload program, the pressure gradient could be estimated with fair accuracy.

Getting back to my old idea of "treating the 9mm like a rifle"--because the %^$# cartridge acts so much like one--I use harder alloys than 9 BHn. My 9mm and 40 S&W boolits are poured in 92/6/2 metal, which runs BHn 14-15. Size these harder boolits to fit, and 9mm pressures and fast rifling twists won't beat up your boolits so badly. Always have in the back of your mind with the 9 and 40 with castings......."It's a rifle".

[LAH]

I loaded 200 rounds last evening. Now that I have a spotless barrel I shall see how they do. Seems I read somewhere the Pre-Bs have a 1-10 twist. I may have to water drop this alloy which gives a fairly consistent 16BHN.

[9.3X62AL]

I loaded 200 rounds last evening. Now that I have a spotless barrel I shall see how they do. Seems I read somewhere the Pre-Bs have a 1-10 twist. I may have to water drop this alloy which gives a fairly consistent 16BHN.

Not sure about the pre-B series pistols, the current specs on the CZ-75B show 1-10" twist. Pretty common in 9mm and 40 S&W.