9mm Missouri Bullet Company 115gr

[ekg98]

I am loading 9mm 115gr LRN made by Missouri Bullet Company for two different handguns(Glock 19 aftermarket barrel and SD9VE) and quite possibly a sten gun. What is making me nervous is all of the websites and the information with my dies say to load to OAL of 1.10. I checked Missouri's website and they say 1.080. I originally started loading for these two but had issues with feeding at the said OAL. Loading for both of these pistols I found I had to drop down to a OAL of 1.040 to feed reliability. I am using clays powder and I am at maximum charge of 3.4gr to even get my glock to reliably cycle. With the shorter OAL than specified and at max charge it just makes me nervous. I keep hearing published data is very conservative because of legalities.

I took the aftermarket barrel out of the glock the other day and dropped in a projectile. Held it in the chamber with a pen and used another pen and measured from the top of the bullet to the crown. Measured that with a dial caliper. Then I measured from bolt face to crown. Took the two measurements and subtracted them to get my max OAL before I get to the rifling. I came up with 1.050. Would this just the Ogive just being weird for these lead projectiles? Why are seating dies based on Ogive but reloading data is given in OAL? OAL makes no sense besides for mag length. I quickly figured this out when loading .223. My OAL was all over the place and kept trying to adjust the die to fix it. Quickly found that it was Ogive that I really needed to measure.

I hopefully one day look to duplicate the load of the German 9mm or 9mm Nato. I have always found it hard to get NATO ammo where I am at. I also have found its hard to find anything that likes to run in a Sten gun. What powders do you guys like for 9mm. I have a ton of loudshot but need to finish the clays first.

[Grmps]

Your optimum OAL will vary with the shape of the boolit and the firearm you are using.

lyman cast #4 recommends N340 for the 120 grn, I like BE

[winelover]

O-give measurements are the way to go. However, most loading manuals don't even list COAL. Longer is usually safer, keeps pressures down. You can take measurements off of factory ammo, for reference,comparing similar nose profiles. Make some dummy cartridges up with your bullet choices. Remove barrel, if possible, and do a "plunk test". Load dummy's in magazine and manually cycle the action to test feeding. After that, start at or near minimum loads and observe for pressure signs.

I own six nines, one is a CZ Scorpion carbine. Two are sub-compacts. All will function with the same cast loads. Powders, I use are, Unique, Bullseye, and AA#7. Moulds are RCBS 125 RN, Lyman 120 TC and NOE's 115 RNFP with HP option. The 125 COAL is 1.10", the Lyman is 1.087" and the NOE is .998 inches. YMMV

Winelover

[Kenstone]

Yes, the reason MB bullet needs to be seated deeper is the ogive shape:
MB bullet no step:
216170
Other bullet with step:
216171
Aftermarket barrels are known to have tight chambers with short throats.
Many are returned to be "opened up" because of customer problems shooting reloads (lead), rather than reloader's changing their process.
that has been my experience,
:mrgreen:
Edit: you might consider switching from wax lubed to coated bullets (MB sells those too), as they are both cleaner loading and shooting.

[ekg98]

Thank you guys. Yes I am going to be buying the 124gr coated ones next time.

Now I am just worried about my aftermarket barrel. The barrel is stainless and seems to be made of some softer steel. I am getting deforming peening on the lower protruding lug and the upper forward section where it locks into the slide. I filed down the forward section thinking it might just need to be fitted but after noticing what its doing to the lower section I think this barrel is just not hardened. I contacted the manufacturer and got a cryptic reply they said that I should use hot rounds NATO to meld it to the slide. They heard of burrs from sub quality products. However no interest in sending the barrel back in or nothing.