Seeking 9mm TL365-124-2R over Unique Load advice

[Pooka]

Hi all,

I'm planning on loading some 9mm this weekend and am seeking advice on my proposed load which will be used in a Glock 19.

The boolit is TL365-124-2R cast from wheel weights, powder coated and sized to .367.

Powder will be Unique.

My proposed load is 4.8gr with a OAL of 1.15

What say you all?

[Pooka]

Make that a OAL of 1.118. The proposed 1.15 did not plunk well...

[winelover]

Been Unique for most of my 9 mm loading.......at 5.0 grains. So you should be good to go. My OAL is also close to yours. I think you mean to size at .357 diameter. BTW, I don't PC.


Winelover

[Pooka]

Been Unique for most of my 9 mm loading.......at 5.0 grains. So you should be good to go. My OAL is also close to yours. I think you mean to size at .357 diameter. BTW, I don't PC.


Winelover

Yes .357... thanks for pointing that out, just a typo [emoji854]

[Cary Gunn]

Pooka,

I'm not sure what .365" diameter cast boolit you're using, but I've had decent results in the 9/19 mm with the Lee 358-125-RF, an ogival flat-nose 125-grain slug that's really intended for use by cowboy-action shooters using single-action revolvers and lever-action rifles in .38 Special/.357 Magnum caliber.

I just size the "cowboy .38" bullet to .3575", tumble lube with Ben's Liquid Lube, and load to a COAL of 1.105" in the 9 mm Luger cartridge. My currently-used "favorite" powder charge is 5 grains of Alliant Unique, but I've also had good results with Bullseye, Red Dot, and Herco powders.

The Lee 125-grain RF bullet actually weighs closer to 130 grains with my alloy from my 6-cavity mold, and my Kahr CM9 pocket pistol really likes that bullet with the 5-grain Unique charge. My twelve-yard, 5-shot, off-hand groups run 2 to 3 inches from the little 16-ounce, 3-inch-barreled Kahr, and I've no doubt the pistol shoots tighter than I can hold.

You mentioned that you currently size your 9mm cast slugs to .367" diameter, and I'm wondering how you stuff such a fat slug into a 9 Luger case and still chamber the round. The .367" diameter seems much too large to me. Could that .367" diameter actually be .357"?

Happy trails,

-- Cary Gunn --

[Pooka]

Hi Cary, yes .367 was supposed to read .357....complete typo goof on my end. I’ll keep that boolit it in mind. I’m thinking of getting a second mold for my 9mm. I’m actually in the garage now loading up a few different OAL to see what the G19 likes the most. All over 5gr of Unique.

[vincewarde]

I use the 356-125-2R. It usually drops somewhere around .358 with the fairly hard alloys I use. As others have mentioned, it is critical to have a bullet sized about .001-.003 over bore diameter. Also as others have said, slugging your bore is critical. Between the wife and I, we have 5 pistols in 9x19. Two have tight bores that need bullets sized .356, and 3 that need bullets sized .358. All 5 do fine on the popular 5 grains of Unique.

[Pooka]

Went to the range today and tried out two different OAL over 5 grains of Unique. This was the first time shooting powder coated boolits, which I had sized to .357.

One load was 1.11 and the other was 1.147.

Both shot great and more accurate than the factory ammo I had on hand. No failure to feed, no keyholing, no leading, no unburnt powder that I could detect and no signs of over pressure on the spent cases and primers.

For me, that is a win. I do not have a chrono so I'm left to the above-mentioned observations to determine if the load is good or not. I'd be interested to learn how you all determine if a load is good.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

With a full mag and the slide locked back, it should always feed that 1st rd. when you release the slide.
It should always lock the slide open on the last round. With the results you mention if it does the above two things you got a winning load.

[Pooka]

Thanks CC

[Low Budget Shooter]

Pooka, congratulations! Conquering 9mm is a bit of a challenge for the bullet caster---sounds like you've done great.

[Pooka]

Thanks LBS!

[c1skout]

kudos to you! I fought and fought with that bullet, from light 38spc loads to hot 38 super stuff, made out of a bunch of different hardnesses and always had some that would hit sideways. I gave up on it.

[Cary Gunn]

Howdy "c1skoyt,"

Something you said -- specifically, that you "always had some that would hit sideways" -- brought to mind a situation that's been puzzling me.

I too, very recently, had some 9/19 mm slugs striking close-range targets "sideways." I've been hand-loading pistol and revolver cartridges, in numerous calibers, for many years and never before had my cast slugs "keyhole" through paper. That changed, though, a few months ago when I had some heavy-for-caliber cast bullets tear oblong holes in 15-to-20 yard targets while plinking with CM 9 Kahr pistol.

I truly love that little Kahr "pocket 9mm" pistol, and it had always previously shot with what I consider outstanding accuracy for such a tiny (16-ounce) bellygun. As stated in my earlier post, I'm getting very satisfying performance from the pistol with the Lee 358-125-RF slug sized to .3575,'' with 5 grains of Unique, at a COL of 1.105." It also shoots the Lee 358-105-SWC well, but below point of aim, a situation for which the Kahr's sights allow no easy correction.

In my search for a bullet that would "shoot to the sights" (the Kahr is drift-adjustable for windage, but has no provision for elevation adjustment), I tried the Lee C358-158-SWC bullet intended for the likes of .38 Special/.357 Magnum revolvers. Sure, the bullet is "heavy for caliber" in the 9/19mm pistol, and was not designed for use in semi-autos, but I figured that -- with proper sizing (.3575"), appropriate powder charge, and fiddling with seating depth to allow proper feeding in the pistol -- it might work.

I did get that heavy slug to feed and function in the Kahr, but the bullets tumbled through targets sideways. I've never, ever, had that happen before in many years of loading for many other handguns, both semi-autos and revolvers, in numerous calibers.

So, what went wrong here? The bullets were sized to the same diameter that gave great results with other bullet designs, and the Kahr's 1-in-10 rifling twist-rate should certainly have been fast enough to stabilize even the heavy 158-grain bullet.

In the .38 Special and the .357 Magnum, both with significantly slower twist-rates, the 158-grainers obviously stabilize properly. Why do they tumble in the 9/19mm?

I'm truly perplexed and am hoping for an answer.

Happy trails,

-- Cary Gunn --

[Pirate69]

Pooka,

Ran your two loads through Quickload. Since you indicted that you used greater than 5 grains Unique, I assumed 5.1 grains Unique for the evaluation.

COL PSI FPS
1.11" 33,091 1,105
1.147" 28,046 1,059

Length can greatly affect the pressure as you see. Even at just 5.0 grains, this indicates a compressed charge.